For me Alice Cooper's career divided neatly into two parts: Alice Cooper the band and Alice Cooper the solo artist. I never was captivated by his solo career, but the Alice Cooper band was one of the best rock bands of the early Seventies. From 1971's Love It To Death through 1973's Billion Dollar Babies, the band produced a series of rock solid albums--and I even saw them in concert twice, including their Billion Dollar Babies Tour.

That's what makes this reissue such a treat. The second disc provides killer live versions of eight of the ten album tracks--only "Generation Landslide" and "Mary Ann" are not included. One track each is also included from their three earlier albums: Love It To Death ("I'm Eighteen"), Killer ("Dead Babies") and School's Out ("My Stars"). In addition you get the Elvis-inspired outtake "Coal Black Model T," which eventually evolved into "Slick Black Limousine" (also included here). The other outtake is "Son of Billion Dollar Babies," which is essentially an alternate take of "Generation Landslide" minus the lyrics from the second half of verse two.

The expanded 24-page booklet is also a treat. [Check out the photo on page 11 of Donovan recording the title track with Alice!]

Sure, Alice Cooper is probably most remembered for the mascara, boa constrictors and guillotines. However, if you listen to the music, you'll discover one of the tightest rock bands of the era. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Warner Brothers has done a superb job with this deluxe edition reissue of "Billion Dollar Babies", arguably the pinnacle of Alice Cooper's influential career. Every aspect of this product is top-notch, and an incredible value for the price.

First of all, the album itself still rocks with a tight, muscular power that puts all the pretenders and wannabes who have followed in Cooper's tracks firmly in their place. The original Alice Cooper group was captured at its peak here, with assistance from guitar virtuosos Steve Hunter and Dick Wagner (both of whom would later play on Lou Reed's legendary "Rock n Roll Animal" before becoming mainstays in Cooper's revamped band). "Billion Dollar Babies" spawned many of the band's biggest hits ('Hello Hooray', 'Elected', 'No More Mr. Nice Guy', and the title cut), and features 'Generation Landslide' - a wry piece of socio-political commentary from Cooper.

The package contains a generous second CD of well-recorded live material (taken from the tour supporting "Billion Dollar Babies"), as well as studio outtakes. The original album jacket artwork has been recreated, along with lyrics, photos and some illuminating commentary in a 24-page booklet. Remastering was coordinated under the supervision of the album's original producer, Bob Ezrin.

One listen to this beautifully restored classic, and you may well wonder what all the fuss is about characters like Marilyn Manson.

THE BAND: Alice Cooper / Vincent Furnier (vocals), Glen Buxton (guitar), Michael Bruce (guitar), Dennis Dunaway (bass), Neal Smith (drums & percussion).

THE DISC: (1973) 10 tracks clocking in at approximately 41 minutes. Included with the disc is a 6-page booklet containing song titles/credits/times, song lyrics, black & white band member photos, and thank you's. This is the band's 6th album. Produced by the notable Bob Ezrin (who has also produced band's like Kiss, Pink Floyd, Rod Stewart, Peter Gabriel and Lou Reed). Remastered in 2001 - containing an additional 14 tracks on a 2nd disc (57+ minutes - 11 live renditions of the album's songs, and 2 outtakes, and 1 unreleased song), and an extensive 26-page booklet. Label - Rhino / Warner Bros.

COMMENTS: I have two favorite albums from Alice Cooper - this one, and the earlier "Killer" from 1971. You'll see numerous reviews here raving about each... but they're both deserving of 5-stars and all the attention brought to each. Four Top 100 hits from "Billion Dollar Babies" - including the title track, "No More Mr. Nice Guy", "Elected" and "Hello Hooray". Not to mention some great deep album cuts in "Raped And Freezin'", "Generation Landslide", "I Love The Dead", and the strangely out-of-place piano tune "Mary Ann". The album was the band's most commercially successful album - reaching #1 in the US and the UK. Having tasted some fame with "Love It To Death" in '71, more fortunes with "Killer" and "School's Out"... the band was clearly at the height of their career with "Billion Dollar Babies". Polished, slick, and no filler to be found (okay, "Sick Things" is easily the weakest track here). The baby on the album cover - is that where Kiss' Gene Simmons got the idea for his make-up (looks pretty close to me... and we Kiss fans know they credit Alice Cooper for helping found onstage shock rock and theatrics). The four hits mentioned above plus "Generation Landslide" made it to Cooper's best single disc compilation "Monsters & Mascara" (2001)... the most from any one album of theirs. Rhino did it correctly in leaving the original remastered album by itself on disc-1, and the bonus tracks on disc-2. You will not go wrong starting your Alice Cooper collection here. This is classic Alice (5 stars).

1973 was a banner year for the Alice Cooper Group, and the theme for that year was excess:the biggest tour,hype and album that Alice and cronies could dream up.They were transformed into the Billion Dollar Babies,bad dreams of a warped society and they flaunted it for all they were worth.All aspects of modern life were victims of the Coop's satiric jabs:public image(NO MORE MR NICE GUY), the model family(GENERATION LANDSLIDE),male/female stereotypes(RAPED AND FREEZIN') and the political structure(ELECTED).Other topics given the ACG once over included:cross dressing,blow up dolls, showbusiness in the American Dream,various types of taboos,dentistry and of course,horror;all set to catchy rock riffs.The stage show was just as impressive with swords,fake dollar bills,and an Alice beheaded before returning for the encore. BILLION DOLLAR BABIES is the ALICE COOPER GROUP at the peak of their powers,and a must have for any novice Coop fan.

Let's skip the blather, shall we? "Billion Dollar Babies" stands shoulder to shoulder with the greatest rock albums of all time. Period.

As for Warner Bros./Rhino's 2-disc deluxe re-issue of this landmark album, it is a joy to hear and behold. Not only are we treated to re-mastered sound on the original classic album (thank you again, Mr. Ezrin), Warner Bros. has finally opened their vaults and unleashed an (almost) complete live concert on the second disc. Recorded in Houston and Dallas on April 28 & 29, 1973, "The Billion Dollar Babies Show starring Alice Cooper" is presented in the original running order, with all it's rock 'n' roll roughness intact. (This reviewer was lucky enough to have seen the Coopers on that tour 3 weeks earlier in Pittsburgh, and, after having seen hundreds of concerts since, this show STILL ranks as one of the best ever.) No doubt recorded by Warner Bros. with an eye toward a live release back in the day, the sound is as good as any live recording from the period - full, sharp mix, with all band members clear and present, including guest keyboardist Bob Dolin and "shadow" guitarist Mick Mashbir (sorry, Glen!) Alice himself sounds more raw here than on the studio recordings, and, even though they were just about the biggest act in the world at the time, the band still conveyed a sense of sexual menace in concert (a mood unfortunately lost as Alice embarked on his solo career the following year.)

Why 4 stars instead of 5? To tweak Warner Bros. for their frustrating omission of the final 2 songs from the "BDB Show." The live concert, as presented on this release, concludes with "I Love The Dead." However, the original show featured Alice rising again to sing "School's Out," and following with an encore of "Under My Wheels."

Yes, they had to make room for the additional demo and outtake tracks included here. "Slick Black Limousine," already available on the box set, (and originally released as a flexi-disc insert in England's "New Musical Express") is of interest to aficionados. However, "Slick" is a half-finished musical idea, and was rightly left off the final release of BDB. As for the inclusion of even rougher demos of "Slick" and "Generation Landslide," Cooper-holics will want to hear these - ONCE. Then they, like me, will wish Warners had instead been able to squeeze in the remainder of the live show.

The album's original fold-over wallet design is replicated in good, old-fashioned cardboard, with a few adjustments. This new package folds out twice to reveal 2 discs, both of which feature the original Warner Bros. logo, typeface and green-colored label. A booklet is included containing the original art from the LP's inner sleeve, extensive liner notes and more b&w photos from the era. The color photos from the original LP's inner jacket are here, albeit postage stamp sized. And, just like the original, they're perforated for removal, if desired! Now, in the original LP design, once a hungry Cooper fan removed those photos, underneath were revealed the liner notes for the album. The boo-boo with this CD release is that those original liner notes are here . . . but they're printed on the BACK of the perforated picture panel. And, there is no way to read them, unless the photos are removed (o.k., you can peek down the sleeve and recognize the old printing, but what were Warners/ Rhino thinking?) If you can't resist poking out the pictures, be aware that you'll be staring at a plain field of green in their place, while the backs of the mini-photos will comprise a puzzle of jumbled liner notes!

The only other design disappointment is the absence of the paper billion dollar bill, featuring the band's photo in the middle. Here, the bill is integrated into the print design of the inner-jacket.

My gripes over design and the choice of bonus songs are minor ones. This 2-disc release of "Billion Dollar Babies" is a wonderful package, and a godsend to long-time fans who knew . . . just KNEW . . . that Warner Bros. had a '73 show tucked away. Thank you, Warner Bros. and Rhino, for doing this classic album, and this classic band, justice.