Alice Cooper - Ripping The Sawdust From My Teddybear (1986)

With the release of the 'Love It To Death' album in 1971, Alice Cooper had reinvented themselves as a shocking glam-rock band, with a stage show that was to become notorious in its ghoulishness. Hooking up with young producer Bob Ezrin, they released the single 'I'm Eighteen' in late 1970, which became a surprise Top 40 hit, and this lead to  Warner Bros  thinking that the band could be a viable commercial act, and so they invested heavily in that third Alice Cooper album. It was initially released on Frank Zappa's Straight Records, but was reissued on the Warner label following its buyout of the imprint from Zappa, giving the band even greater exposure. Under Ezrin's direction, their music moved from psychedelic rock to a tighter, guitar-driven hard rock sound, and much of the lyrical content continued to explore decadence, perversion and psychosis. Hit single followed hit single, with 'School's Out', 'Hello Hooray', and 'Elected' all hitting the top ten on both sides of the Atlantic, and while they were at the peak of their powers, readers of the New Musical Express in the UK were treated to a cover-mounted flexi-disc featuring the otherwise unreleased 'Slick Black Limousine'. This was the first of many exclusive tracks which started to grace soundtrack and tribute albums in the 70's and 80's, both as the band Alice Cooper, and then from 1975 onwards when the group broke up, as Alice Cooper the solo artist. I've gathered the best of these, and added a rare demo from the 'Killer' era, as well as a couple more demos from 1973 and 1981, a 1982 stand-alone single, a 1980 b-side, and of course that NME flexi, to make up an album of rare and hard to find songs covering the whole of the band's career. 

Track listing

01 Slick Black Limousine (NME freebie 1973)
02 Call It Evil (demo 1971)
03 Respect For The Sleepers (demo 1973)
04 I'm Flash (from 'Flash Fearless' 1975)
05 Space Pirates (from 'Flash Fearless' 1975)
06 No Time For Tears (from the 'Sextette' soundtrack 1977)
07 Because (from the 'Sgt Pepper' tribute album 1978)
08 No Tricks (b-side of 'How You Gonna See Me Now' 1978)
09 Road Rats (from the 'Roadie' soundtrack 1980)
10 Look At You Over There, Ripping The Sawdust From My Teddybear (demo 1981)
11 For Britain Only (single 1982)
12 Identity Crisis (from the 'Monster Dog' soundtrack 1984)
13 See Me In The Mirror (from the 'Monster Dog' soundtrack 1984)
14 Hard Rock Summer (from the 'Friday The 13th Part VI - Jason Lives' soundtrack 1986)
15 He's Back (demo for the 'Friday The 13th Part VI - Jason Lives' soundtrack 1986)