Billion Dollar Babies
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Billion Dollar Babies | ||||
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| Studio album by Alice Cooper | ||||
| Released | February 25, 1973 | |||
| Recorded | August 1972-January 1973 at The Cooper mansion, Greenwich, CT | |||
| Genre | Hard rock, heavy metal | |||
| Length | 40:51 | |||
| Label | Warner Bros. | |||
| Producer | Bob Ezrin | |||
| Professional reviews | ||||
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| Alice Cooper chronology | ||||
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Billion Dollar Babies is an album by American hard rock band Alice Cooper, released in February 1973. It is widely praised as one of the best Alice Cooper albums, and showcased the group at their artistic and commercial peak. Many songs from it remain staples of Alice Cooper's live act to this day: in particular, "I Love the Dead" is usually associated with Cooper's mock-execution, while "Elected" is often used as an encore.
'Billion Dollar Babies' was also the name of the band founded by Michael Bruce, Mike Marconi, Dennis Dunaway, Bob Dolin, and Neal Smith after they split from Alice Cooper in 1974. This band was embroiled in a legal suit over the usage of the name. They only released one album, 1977's 'Battleaxe', before disbanding.[1]
Billion Dollar Babies peaked at #1 on Billboard's Pop Albums chart. Four singles were released from the album: "Elected" (which peaked at #26 on the Pop Singles chart); "Hello, Hooray" (#35); "No More Mr. Nice Guy" (US #25); and the song "Billion Dollar Babies" (#57).
The original vinyl album came with a full-sized "Billion Dollar Bill" featuring the band members on the front and a political cartoon on the back.
The title track is a duet between Alice Cooper and Donovan. Years later, the song would be featured in the Xbox 360 version of the video game Guitar Hero II, although it was misidentified in the manual as "Million Dollar Babies".
"Hello, Hooray," written by Canadian singer/songwriter Rolf Kempf in 1968, originally appeared on Judy Collins' 1968 album Who Knows Where the Time Goes.
Megadeth covered the song "No More Mr. Nice Guy" for the movie Shocker.
The Quadraphonic LP has unique mixes and song versions not available anywhere else. Differences are longer song fades and endings, different lyrics (Raped And Freezin': "Alone with a bloody nose" on the last verse, vs. "Alone down in mexico" on the Stereo LP and CD versions, for example), and fades replaced by segues into following tracks ('Generation Landslide' into 'Sick Things').
Contents |
[edit] Track listing
- "Hello, Hooray" (Kempf) – 4:15
- "Raped and Freezin'" (Cooper, Michael Bruce) – 3:19
- "Elected" (Cooper, Glen Buxton, Bruce, Dennis Dunaway, Neal Smith) – 4:05
- "Billion Dollar Babies" (Cooper, Bruce, Reggie) – 3:43
- "Unfinished Sweet" (Cooper, Bruce, Smith) – 6:18
- "No More Mr. Nice Guy" (Cooper, Bruce) – 3:06
- "Generation Landslide" (Cooper, Buxton, Bruce, Dunaway, Smith) – 4:31
- "Sick Things" (Cooper, Bruce, Bob Ezrin) – 4:18
- "Mary Ann" (Cooper, Bruce) – 2:21
- "I Love the Dead" (Cooper, Ezrin) – 5:09
[edit] Deluxe Edition CD bonus tracks
The 2001 CD reissue includes a bonus CD with the following tracks:
- "Hello, Hooray" (Live) (Kempf) - 3:04
- "Billion Dollar Babies" (Live) (Cooper, Bruce, Reggie) - 3:47
- "Elected" (Live) (Cooper, Buxton, Bruce, Dunaway, Smith) - 2:28
- "I'm Eighteen" (Live) (Cooper, Buxton, Bruce, Dunaway, Smith) - 4:50
- "Raped and Freezin'" (Live) (Cooper, Bruce) - 3:14
- "No More Mr. Nice Guy" (Live) (Cooper, Bruce) - 3:07
- "My Stars" (Live) (Cooper, Ezrin) - 7:32
- "Unfinished Sweet" (Live) (Cooper, Bruce, Smith) - 6:01
- "Sick Things" (Live) (Cooper, Bruce, Ezrin) - 3:16
- "Dead Babies" (Live) (Cooper, Buxton, Bruce, Dunaway, Smith) - 2:58
- "I Love the Dead" (Live) (Cooper, Ezrin) - 4:48
- "Coal Black Model T" - 4:28
- "Son of Billion Dollar Babies" - 3:45
- "Slick Black Limousine" (Cooper, Dunaway) - 4:26
- Track 1 to 11 are recorded live in Houston 1973, previously unreleased on CD
- Track 12 is an early version of "Slick Black Limousine", previously unreleased
- Track 13 is a "Generation Landslide" outtake, previously unreleased
- Track 14 was previously released in the UK only in 1973 as a free Flexi disc in NME magazine
[edit] Personnel
- Alice Cooper - vocals, harmonica
- Glen Buxton - lead guitar
- Michael Bruce - rhythm guitar, keyboards, backing vocals
- Dennis Dunaway - bass, backing vocals
- Neal Smith - drums
- Donovan - vocals on the song "Billion Dollar Babies"
- Steve "Deacon" Hunter - guitar
- Mick Mashbir - guitar
- Dick Wagner - guitar
- Bob Dolin - keyboards
- David Libert - vocals
[edit] Production
- Bob Ezrin - producer
- Jack Douglas - engineer
- Robin Black - engineer
- Frank Hubach - engineer
- Ed Sprigg - engineer
- Logan Jervis - engineer
- Shelly Yakus - engineer
- Peter Flanagan - engineer
- Brian Kehew - editing, remixing
- Pacific Eye & Ear - design concept
- Greg Allen - art direction, design
- Hugh Brown - art direction
- David P. Bailey - photography, cover photo
- Neal Preston - photography
- Lynn Goldsmith - photography
- Jo Motta - project coordinator
- Steve Woolard - project coordinator
- Randy Perry - project assistant
- Vanessa Atkins - editorial supervision
- Norma Edwards - editorial research
- Shawn Amos - editorial coordinator
[edit] Chart positions
[edit] Album
| Year | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 1973 | Billboard 200 | 1 |
[edit] Singles
Billboard (North America)
| Year | Single | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1972 | "Elected" | Pop Singles | 26 |
| 1973 | "Hello, Hooray" | Pop Singles | 35 |
| 1973 | "No More Mr. Nice Guy" | Pop Singles | 25 |
| 1973 | "Billion Dollar Babies" | Pop Singles | 57 |
[edit] External links
Billion Dollar Babies at Allmusic
| Preceded by Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player by Elton John |
UK number-one albums 24 March 1973 |
Succeeded by 20 Flashback Greats of the 60s by Various Artists |
| Preceded by Lady Sings the Blues (soundtrack) by Diana Ross |
Billboard 200 number-one album April 21 - April 27, 1973 |
Succeeded by The Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd |
