Along Came a Spider (album)

Untitled

Along Came a Spider is Alice Cooper's 25th studio album, which follows his 2005 studio album Dirty Diamonds. It was released July 28, 2008 in Europe and July 29 in North America through Steamhammer Records/SPV GmbH and is Cooper's highest charting album since 1991's Hey Stoopid, charting at #53 in the US and #31 in the UK.

Cooper first revealed the album's storyline on his radio show Nights with Alice Cooper and that the theme revolved around a "cool, calm and collected" serial killer named Spider. The police are baffled by the bodies of Spider’s victims, which are cocooned in a silk web, and are each missing a leg. Spider's task is to collect eight legs in order to complete the construction of his own spider. However, things get complicated when he falls in love with his eighth victim. The theme of the album, i.e. that of a serial killer/psychopath terrorising female victims, could be said to be revisiting territory explored on 1987's Raise Your Fist and Yell. In addition, the last minute of the album, on the track "I Am The Spider" also makes reference, through a spoken outro by Cooper, to Steven. Steven was a character best-known from 1975's Welcome to My Nightmare - he also resurfaced on the final track of 1991's Hey Stoopid and again on the 1994 concept album The Last Temptation.

The album had originally been marked for release in 2007, but problems with producer scheduling and a busy touring schedule caused it to be delayed a year. A number of songs and demos for the album were prepared and short listed during 2007, and further recording and writing work took place on the album in February 2008. In an interview with Billboard Cooper stated that the album was 75% done as of April 18th, 2008. The album's first single, "Vengeance Is Mine", debuted on Cooper's official MySpace profile and website.

Slash and Ozzy Osbourne perform as guests on two tracks on the album. Cooper's backing band for the album's tour will feature guitarists Keri Kelli and Jason Hook, bassist Chuck Garric, and drummer Eric Singer. The full album was uploaded onto the official Alice Cooper Myspace page a few weeks before the album was released. Only three songs have been left on Myspace once the album was released.

2008 Tour

The 2008 "Psychodrama" World Tour, which started July 6 in Bulgaria, is a continuation of last year's Psychodrama tour with only 2 songs from Along Came A Spider being added to the setlist since August. The official "Along Came A Spider" Tour is set to begin in 2009.
Tour dates are available at the official Alice Cooper website , and photos of the first show in Bulgaria are online for viewing . Also, other dates have been announced for Australia and a show in Auckland, New Zealand.

Track List

1. "Prologue / I Know Where You Live" (Cooper, Saber, Hampton)- 4:21
2. "Vengeance Is Mine" (Featuring Slash) (Cooper, Saber, Hampton) - 4:26
3. "Wake the Dead" (Featuring Ozzy Osbourne) (Cooper, Osbourne, Saber) - 3:53
4. "Catch Me If You Can" (Cooper, Saber, Hampton) - 3:15
5. "(In Touch with) Your Feminine Side" (Cooper, Garric, Johnson, Kelli) - 3:16
6. "Wrapped in Silk" (Cooper, Saber, Hampton) - 4:17
7. "Killed by Love" (Cooper, Garric, Bacchi, Kelli) - 3:34
8. "I'm Hungry" (Cooper, Saber, Hampton) - 3:58
9. "The One That Got Away" (Cooper, Kelli, Lane) - 3:21
10. "Salvation" (Cooper, Saber, Hampton, Fowler) - 4:36
11. "I Am the Spider / Epilogue" (Cooper, Saber, Hampton) - 5:21

iTunes Bonus Tracks

1. "Shadow of Yourself"
2. "I'll Still Be There"
3. "Salvation" (Unplugged With String Section)

There is also a 10 minute video clip with "Vengeance Is Mine", "In Touch with Your Feminine Side" and "Killed by Love".

Tracks are encoded at 256kbit/s AAC and are Digital Rights Management free.

Personnel

• Alice Cooper - Lead/Backing Vocals
• Danny Saber - Guitars (Tracks 1,2,3,5,6,7,8,10 and 11); Slide Guitars (4); Ebow (4); Bass Guitars (1,3,6,8,10 and 11); Piano (7); Keyboards (1,3,6,7,8,10 and 11); Synths (4); String Arrangements (10 and 11)
• Greg Hampton - Guitars (2,4,6,8,9 and 11); Bass Guitars (4); Keyboards (4,9 and 11); Backing Vocals (1,2,3,4,6,8 and 11); String Arrangements (2 and 11)
• Keri Kelli - Guitars (5,7 and 9)
• Jason Hook - Guitars (5)
• Slash - Lead Guitar (2)
• Whitey Kirst - Guitars (8)
• Chuck Garric - Bass Guitars (2,7 and 9); Backing Vocals (2)
• Eric Singer - Drums (1,2,4,5,6,7,9 and 11)
• David Piribauer - Drums (8 and 10)
• Steffen Presley - B3 Organ (6)
• Ozzy Osbourne - Harmonica (3) (Credited as 'J. Osbourne')
• Bernard Fowler - Backing Vocals (1,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10 and 11)
• Calico Cooper - Backing Vocals (5); Spoken Word (9)

Charts

Year	Chart	Peak Position
2008	Billboard 200	53
2008	UK Albums Chart	31

Along Came A Spider Movie

A short 10 minute movie entitled "Along Came a Spider: the Movie" was released on the official Youtube-page for the new album on October 2, 2008. The movie featured three songs from the album: "Vengeance is Mine", "(In Touch with Your) Feminine Side", and "Killed by Love" and thus is considered an epic music video. The movie was co-directed by Piggy D and Gabrielle Geiselman and the video stars Alice Cooper, Slash, Hazmat, Roxxi Dott, Howie Pyro, Dave Pino and Peter Derek.