Top Artists – Alice Cooper

Alice Cooper – School’s Out

More of the Music of Alice Cooper

  • This early Green Label pressing boasts solid Double Plus (A++) grades from top to bottom
  • Surprisingly rich and full-bodied, the better copies really rock with big bass and punchy drums – just the right sound for Alice Cooper’s brand of hard-rockin’ chaos
  • The beloved title track remains the most-performed song in his concert history, and the presence on this copy will put the band right there in your listening room
  • Marks in the vinyl are sometimes the nature of the beast with these Classic Rock records – there simply is no way around them if the superior sound of vintage analog is important to you
  • 4 1/2 stars: “School’s Out catapulted Alice Cooper into the hard rock stratosphere, largely due to its timeless, all-time classic title track.”
  • If you’re a fan of the band, this title from 1972 is clearly one of their best

Yet another impossible-to-find record in clean condition with good sound has made it to the site, and those of you who are fans should scoop it up because it takes us about four years to find enough copies to do this shootout. Check back with us in 2024 if this one is sold by the time you get to the end of this sentence!

We had poor luck with the second and third label copies on this AC title. It seems that, unlike so many records we play, the originals are the only way to go on School’s Out. (more…)

These Stampers Can Be Good, But They Sure Don’t Win Shootouts

Hot Stamper Pressings of Classic Rock Albums Available Now

This is how we described a recent Hot Stamper pressing that we put up on the site:

Surprisingly rich and full-bodied, particularly on side one, the best copies really ROCK with big bass and punchy drums – just the right Alice Cooper sound.

The beloved title track remains the most-performed song in his concert history, and the presence on this copy will put the band right there in your listening room.

Yet another impossible-to-find record — impossible to find in clean condition, with good sound — has made it to the site, and those of you who are fans should scoop it up. It takes us about four years to find enough copies to do this shootout.

We had poor luck with the second and third label copies on this AC title. It seems that, unlike so many records we play, the originals are the only way to go on School’s Out.

The stampers you see above belong to a Green Label early pressing. It earned good, not great Hot Stamper grades.

1.5+ is four grades down from the top copy. That’s a steep dropoff as far as we’re concerned. 1.5+ only hints at how good the best copies can sound.

To see more records that earned the 1.5+ grade, please click here. (Incidentally, some of them are even on Heavy Vinyl. The better modern pressings have sometimes, if rarely, been known to earn Hot Stamper grades, and one shocked the hell out of us by actually winning a shootout. Wouldn’t you like to know which one!)

For those who might be interested, there’s more on our grading scale here.

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Alice Cooper – Billion Dollar Babies

More of the Music of Alice Cooper

  • A vintage Warner Bros. Palm Trees pressing with outstanding Double Plus (A++) sound from start to finish
  • It’s the impossibly rare copy that’s this lively, solid and rich… drop the needle on the title track and you’ll see what we mean
  • This copy is proof that finding the right balance of fullness and clarity on this album may not be easy but it can be done
  • Marks in the vinyl are sometimes the nature of the beast with these Classic Rock records – there simply is no way around them if the superior sound of vintage analog is important to you
  • 4 1/2 stars: “Song for song, Billion Dollar Babies is probably the original Alice Cooper group’s finest and strongest… It remains one of rock’s all-time, quintessential classics.”

Billion Dollar Babies can sound big and powerful, but not many copies bring the sound to life the way this one does. For once you can hear a big room around the instruments; the bass is tight and well-defined, and there’s plenty of tubey richness.

This was also one of the copies that managed to get real three-dimensional space in the soundfield, bringing Alice up front, with the rest of the band arrayed behind him from wall to wall.

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Billion Dollar Babies Often Suffers from a Case of 70s Warner Bros. House Sound

More of the Music of Alice Cooper

The last White Hot Stamper copy we put up had the two best sides back to back we heard in our shootout, with a killer side two that really brought this music to life.

Which is not easy to do, given that the average copy of this album is a sonic mess —

There are a lot of green label Warner Bros. records from the 70s that sound like that, one might even call it their “house sound.”

When you play most of the later pressings, it’s obvious that they’ve gone overboard in cleaning up the murk, leaving a sound that is lean, flat and modern — in other words, unmusical, inapt and more often than not disastrous.

Finding the right balance of fullness and clarity, especially on this album, may not be easy, but it can be done. This side two was far and away the best we heard and proves that the album can sound good.

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Alice Cooper – Killer

More Alice Cooper

  • Cooper’s fourth studio album finally arrives on the site with Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound on side one mated to an outstanding Double Plus (A++) sound on side one
  • Bigger and bolder, with more bass, more energy, and more of the “you-are-there-immediacy” of ANALOG that sets the best vintage pressings apart from reissues, CDs, and whatever else you care to name
  • 4 1/2 stars: “With Killer, they became one of the world’s top rock bands and concert attractions; it rewarded them as being among the most notorious and misunderstood entertainers, thoroughly despised by grownups.”

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School’s Out – Our Shootout Winner from 2014

More of the Music of Alice Cooper

This White Hot / Super Hot 2-pack is going to rock your world! School’s Out on this A+++ side has never sounded better.

Yet another impossible-to-find record in clean condition with good sound has made it to the site, and those of you who are fans should scoop it up because it takes us about five years to find enough copies to do this shootout. 

We had poor luck with the second and third label copies on this AC title.

It seems — unlike so many records we play — that the originals are the only way to go on School’s Out.

Side One – Record One

A+++. It rocks! Never aggressive or edgy, it’s big, it’s jumpin’, and it’s full of 1972 Tubey Magic. What’s not to like?

Side Two – Record Two

A++, big, clear and energetic – close to side one but not quite.

Notice how “real” the drum kit sounds on track two. The drums as a whole are punchy and solid throughout.

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Alice Cooper – Goes To Hell

Triple Plus (A+++) Shootout Winning sound on side one — it doesn’t get any better than this, folks! Huge, open and clear, yet rich and full-bodied, this is the sound you want for this Alice Cooper classic. At Double Plus (A++) side two is nearly as good – Alice’s vocals are especially clear and lively. The choruses are big and rich, just the way we like ’em – we guarantee you’ve never heard the album sound this good by a long shot.

I bought this album when it came out in 1976 and played it quite a bit as I recall, one of the few Alice Cooper records I actually used to listen to back in the day. It’s got that Big Production Rock sound that can be rich, powerful and energetic on the better copies.

The pressing we have here simply could not be beat on side one, with a side two that’s not far behind.

Both Sides

Spacious and clear, very 3-D, with solid, punchy deep bass, this side was doing everything right. On top of that it’s got the weight it needs to really ROCK.

Track three had the best sound on side one; check it out. (more…)

Alice Cooper – Welcome to My Nightmare

  • Alice Cooper’s debut solo album finally arrives on the site with Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound on both sides
  • This one is killer – it’s lively and rich, with plenty of deep punchy bass, a nicely extended top and a huge three-dimensional soundfield
  • 4 1/2 stars: “… a concept album tied into the story line of the highly theatrical concert tour he launched soon after the album’s release… there’s plenty of fist-pumping rock to go around.”

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