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Toronto Sun
March 1995

Author: John Sakamoto

Go ask Alice

When's that CD box set coming out?

This week, every scrap of information we could lay our hands on and squeeze into this space, including the definative word on the chronically delayed Alice Cooper box.

ALICE COOPER: All right, here's the story, straight from Cooper's manager Toby Mamis.

The box will now be titled The Life And Crimes Of Alice Cooper. It will consist of either 63 or 64 songs, spread across either three or four CD's. But when will it be out?

"We're aiming for June, but every day that goes by, that gets less likely," Mamis said recently in L.A.

"It's been 95% ready for the past year and a half," he adds. "But due to internal business-related discussions at Warner as to what size, shape, cost and list price their box sets should be, it keeps getting postponed."

Once those details are resolved, fans will find a treasure trove of rare and unreleased material, including:

  • Slick Black Limousine recorded during the Billion Dollar Babies sessions and released only in the U.K., and only as a promo flexi-disc.
  • Respect For The Sleepers, a rehearsal tape that captures an early version of Muscle Of Love with a completely different set of lyrics.
  • A pair of tracks from the long out-of-print various artists release, Flash Fearless Vs. The Zorg Women, Parts 5 & 6. Cooper's tunes were Flash and Space Pirates.
  • No Tricks, the B-side to How You Gonna See Me Now?
  • No Time For Tears, recorded for Mae West's 1978 movie bomb, Sextette, but never used.
  • Studio demos of Levity Ball and Nobody Likes Me.
  • Cooper's version of The Beatles' Because, from another '78 movie bomb, Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band.
  • For Britain Only, a U.K.-only single from 1982.
  • Two songs from the 1984 cult flick, Monster Dog.
  • And the infamous unreleased ballad, Look At You Over There Ripping Sawdust From My Teddy Bear.

"We're also working on getting Alice's performance of (The Who's) I'm A Boy, with Roger Daltrey and an orchestra, from last year," says Mamis. "That's why we don't know if the box will be 63 or 64 songs.

"And for true, true fans," he adds, "we're even including one song without Alice on it: I Miss You from the Billion Dollar Babies band - after they left Alice."