Killer
The fact that Alice Cooper's fourth release housed the gritty "Halo of Flies" would be reason enough to buy the CD, even if the rest of it were garbage. An essential piece of the rock canon, it may not have served up the hits that his other releases did, but it still stands as a classic. Loud, brash, sloppy, and hard, it's the kind of listen that makes you check for grime under your nails. Cooper's rock/shock aesthetic was coming into full bloom here and "Dead Babies" shows he was satisfied with his formula of hard rock, bad taste, and images outside the realm of Middle America. The title track hints at the shape of things to come, laying the ground work for works as seemingly disparate as "Only Women Bleed," and "No More Mr. Nice Guy." Briefly ostracized by the "hipper than thou" sect, Killer is one of the reasons Cooper is now fully appreciated as the pioneer that he was. - -Steve Gdula
2009-06-09 -- 5/5:: Killer
Believe it or not I actually owned this on 8-Track. Finally found it online at amazon.com. Sweet!
2009-04-25 -- 5/5:: The first of many near-perfect Cooper albums.
This came out in 1971, the year I was born. So as you'd expect I didn't get into the album until much later, but I still love the thing. Aside from so-so "Yeah, Yeah, Yeah" which everyone in the world I think loves except me, and the lacking but still decent title track, this album is perfect. You have to give Alice some credit for having balls for releasing a song called "Dead Babies" 38 years ago. Definitely shocking for the time, and a sign of the over-the-top songs to come on later albums.
2009-03-09 -- 3/5:: Desperately In Need Of Remastering!
This is my favorite Alice Cooper CD. But as with "Love It To Death", the sound quality is less than desirable. When is Warner Bros. going to remaster this classic, as well as "Love It To Death" and "Muscle Of Love"?
2009-02-08 -- 5/5:: Killer? Without a doubt
I managed to come across this album in NY at a local Best Buy, a very rare find. Thank God this worked. This is probably the 2nd or 3rd best Alice Cooper Band album. 1st naturally goes to "Billion Dollar Babies" Killer is a really fun album. Everything is crisp and clear, ad the music flows smoothly track by track. Much like "Secret Treaties" by Blue Oyster Cult. I can't find one bad song on it. My favorite though is Dead Babies. I'd like to find an original version of that calendar. That's a damn good piece of memorabilia.
2008-12-03 -- 5/5:: Vaudeville Rock Anyone?
One of the top 100 Rock albums to date, and this is the Coop at his best (with the exception of Love it to Death). Pick it up, you won't be disappointed.