Band:	Alice Cooper
Album:	Alice Cooper Goes To Hell
Style:	Hard rock, Glam rock
Release date:	June 1976

01. Go To Hell
02. You Gotta Dance
03. I'm The Coolest
04. Didn't We Meet
05. I Never Cry
06. Give The Kid A Break
07. Guilty
08. Wake Me Gently
09. Wish You Were Here
10. I'm Always Chasing Rainbows
11. Going Home

Just as with my Trash and Flush The Fashion reviews, I approached Alice Cooper Goes To Hell intending to rip it to shreds. I love Alice a lot more than the next guy, but some of his albums have fallen into subterranean depths. Yet, just as with those other reviews, the further I delved into this album, the more I came to understand and appreciate it.

It's surprising to learn that I actually enjoy that which I considered for some years to be Alice Cooper's worst album, but I guess it goes to show that everyone is capable of underestimating or misinterpreting Alice, no matter how big a fan one might be. I suppose there will come a day when I love every one of his works - but for now, back to Alice Cooper Goes To Hell. Alice clearly noticed how well the ostentatious theatricality of Welcome To My Nightmare went over, and subsequently careened headfirst into a pit of orchestral, Broadway-inspired whimsy. He definitely overdid the melodrama, however; instead of camp horror, Alice turned into mere camp. This whole album feels like a massive stage production that left the streets of the underworld a long time ago and forgot to bring the rock'n'roll with it.

"I'm Always Chasing Rainbows" actually is a proper showtune, once famously performed by Judy Garland. That fact alone goes a long way in explaining the attitude of the album. Songs like "Going Home" and "Wake Me Gently" sound purely silly; drenched in cloying choirs, pretentious piano, and a general sense of inflated importance, much of this album feels too ridiculous to take seriously. "You Gotta Dance" is also fairly self-explanatory; this song was meant for disco, not for people who like songs about insane murderers and the frustrations of youth.

I've often referred to the opening song, "Go To Hell," as the album's main redeeming quality. "Go To Hell" is fairly silly, somewhat purposefully and somewhat not, and the things Alice can accomplish with the song onstage outshine the pompous bindings of the studio recording. Nonetheless, the song stands head-and-shoulders above most of the material on Alice Cooper Goes To Hell. The groovy, highly percussive "Wish You Were Here" and laidback, low-key "I'm The Coolest" throw enough good ideas to keep the album rolling, and "Guilty" breaks up some of the boredom, sounding almost like old school Alice-style rock.

With all the pitfalls and cringe-worthy moments to be found on Alice Cooper Goes To Hell, I can't strongly recommend it to anyone. Over the course of revisiting the album for the purposes of this review, I do feel as though I have found the heart of the work and learned to enjoy it, so while I'd still consider this Alice's weakest album, it does have its merits and the potential to grow in estimation. More than anything else, Alice Cooper Goes To Hell feels like a highly-dated collection of mid-'70s pop shenanigans, but it shouldn't be entirely written off, if only for the curiosities in store.