A lot of Cooper fans dislike this album;thinking that it's a step down from BILLION DOLLAR BABIES.I believe the opposite.True,the Alice Cooper Group were on the verge of splitting up(Alice wanted to increase the theatrics;the rest of the band wanted them eliminated altogether).However,that did not stop them from trying out new types of music to mix with the ACG's brand of in-your -face rock.Dixieland rock(CRAZY LITTLE CHILD),elctronic music (WOMAN MACHINE)space rock(HARD HEARTED ALICE),a choir(MUSCLE OF LOVE)and the ultimate girl backup group (consisting of The Pointer Sisters,Liza Minelli and Ronnie Spector on TEENAGE LAMENT '74).This does not mean that the hard rock isn't there:witness MUSCLE OF LOVE,WORKING UP A SWEAT,NEVER BEEN SOLD BEFORE,and BIG APPLE DREAMIN'.MUSCLE OF LOVE is a loose concept album,the subjects are sex and making your way in the big,bad city.My favourite track on this album is THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN.All ACG members were James Bond fanatics and they submitted this to be the theme song for the second Roger Moore Bond adventure. Unfortunately,due to the Alice Cooper image,Lulu got the job instead(damnit!)MUSCLE OF LOVE still has Alice and the boys firing on all cylinders,with biting wit in the lyrics and determination in the playing.Don't just go on what some Alice fans tell you;take a listen and judge for yourself.As for me;I rank it highly in the Cooper canon.

Muscle of Love was the last album for Alice Cooper as a band; in its aftermath, the band would split, with frontman Cooper going on to success with Welcome To My Nightmare and the band themselves falling into obscurity as the Billion Dollar Babies.

Yet despite the bad reputation Muscle of Love seems to have, it's certainly a part of the band's golden era, and well worth exploring. It can be a bit of a shock in its chronilogical placing, though; it has little of the theatricality that so liberally peppered School's Out and especially Billion Dollar Babies. Indeed, I've heard (thanks, George S.!) that this decision is due to a comprimise made between Mr. Furnier and the members of his band, who apparently were a bit turned off by some of the excessive theatricality of the previous two albums, which makes a lot of sense. Thus, Muscle of Love has more in common with Love it To Death and Killer, which is certainly not a bad thing; the title track, Big Apple Dreaming, and many others are straightforward, excellent tracks with few pretentions, and even the ballades (Hard Hearted Alice) come off quite well.

The songwriting and execution aren't QUITE up to the level of those previous successes, but it's enjoyable enough, and for those who enjoy Cooper (but don't necessarily go for "I Love the Dead"), MoL is an enjoyable last-hurrah for the band.

As hard as it is to believe, I've run across several fans that simply don't remember this lp at all, plus a few not very well. 'Muscle Of Love' was the follow-up to their notorious 'Billion Dollar Babies' album. The seventh and final lp by the original Alice Cooper Group, before of course Alice went solo. I've always liked 'Muscle Of Love' for what it was. More straight ahead rock & roll, less glitter / shock like 'Billion Dollar Babies' or 'School's Out' was. Cuts I found to my liking were "Big Apple Dreaming", the title track "Muscle Of Love", the lp's single "Teenage Lament '74" and perhaps 'Muscle Of Love's reply to 'Billion Dollar Babie's "Mary Ann", the somewhat creepy, but well written ballad "Hard Hearted Alice". Did you also know the band actually did a three week tour in support of 'Muscle'? I've seen proof, a decent sounding bootleg. Not a bad find.

The last album from the original Alice Cooper BAND. 1973-74. The band didn't really tour much to promote this album. they did 13 cities in the northeast usa and about 5 gigs in brazil and that was it yet it still made the top 10. if you can get a copy of billion dollar baby by bob greene he described the recording of the vocals to this album in the studio in detail in that book. The songs have got some swagger both in the vocals and the music. Bob Ezrin didn't produce this album rather produced by Jack Richardson and Jack Douglas. there a lot of long fading endings to songs here, some are noisy so I skip ahead to the next song but some endings if you listen to the fades have some great subtleties...some great guitar work with the addition of dick wagner and mick mashbir cameos by labelle sisters, liza minelli, ronnie spector and pointer sisters...it's not a bad touch...it's kind of a cut loose album trying something different. i've been playing this one a lot on my car cd player lately sometimes too much horns and strings...ex: Never Been Sold Before rocks from the start but towards the end is buried in horns and strings and get too noisy so i skip a head to the next song. Hippo rocks. it's funky 70's swagger it's cool, clever. heart hearted alice dueling guitars at break nice melody crazy little child big band dixieland? old show business again...alice seems to enjoy singing like a hollywood starlet...workin up a sweat and muscle of love rock out. golden gun has some moments as well lament 74. if you have love it to death, killer, school's out, billion dollar babies you should get this too. it's the same band trying a different tact for a change of pace. it's a light album not to be taken too seriously. it's only meant to be enjoyed as fun. despite the fragmented status of the band at this point, no glen buxton on this album, and all the tracks were laid down by the musicians separately it still holds together and the mix is suprisingly good. actually i think the mix is better on this album than the previous 4 albums by ezrin. the album shows a maturity. these were clever and witty rock stars with a sense of humour and some subtlety. it shows on this album. at times alice sings like mae west but the music also supports that...for all the personal differences the band was having with shep, the manager and alice, as a combined group they could generate some great sound...dennis Dunaway - bass, neal smith-drums, great rhythm section along with mike bruce on guitar and song writing plus the excellent addition of mick mashbir on guitar who really lifted the band to more sophisticated playing

For some reason time hasn't been very kind to Muscle of Love but let's be honest here folks, it's a classic. No it doesn't remind me of Barry Manilow or any other soft rock performers. It's probably slightly weaker than what's the normal high standard for Alice Cooper's songwriting, but with that in mind, it's still a near masterpiece. Nobody can really convince me this is a weak effort though. Maybe *weaker* but not weak enough to criticize or even bring the rating down to 4 stars. Nah, it's awesome. All the negative feelings and reviews definitely aren't ones I personally agree with.

"Big Apple Dreamin' (Hippo)" not only makes me wonder why the word "hippo" is in the song title, but opens with a memorable guitar riff that sounds very Deep Purple-like and an equally memorable verse melody. It eventually leads to a REALLY good chorus. "New York we're coming to see what you're made of, are you as great as you sound?" I also love the way Alice sings "Skyscrapers and subways and stations, staring up at the United Nations". These lyrics actually accurately describe the chaotic, fast moving and adventurous streets of New York City. "Crazy Little Child" is a nice experiment. It's a showtune of sorts with Broadway vibes and old-fashioned jazzy intentions. The piano work is really beautifully implemented which makes it much different from what an overrated ripoff like Marilyn Manson would create. This actually sounds very Elton John-like as well.

"Hard Hearted Alice" has really mysterious vocals that are simply superb. A song like this makes it VERY hard for me to believe or accept that this is supposedly a weak outing by Alice Cooper. I love around the 2-minute mark when the haziness of the vocals drifts away but the same exact melody remains in place but sung more aggressively. The chorus sounds very Beatles-like. Nice heavy guitar solo at the end. "Teenage Lament '74" has an awesome chorus. "What are you gonna do? Tell you what I'm gonna do. Why don't you get away? Well I'm gonna cry all day!" The verse melody has the same kind of sincere and highly exceptional vocal delivery. Weak stuff? I think not. The title song begins with another Deep Purple similarity in the guitar playing before shifting into a trashy verse melody with HILARIOUS lyrics "Holy muscle of love!" The way the pace just suddenly picks up really is cool. It illustrates a muscle... loving. :) "Man With the Golden Gun" has a James Bond atmosphere. Maybe it IS him? The aggressive nature of the guitar riff while Alice sings the verse melody is actually really authentic and not the least bit cheesy.

"Working Up a Sweat" shows another slice of Alice Cooper's diverse songwriting by being more rocking in a crunchy glam rock kind of way similar to Slade or Sweet. It's not rocking in the same way as, for example, "Man With the Golden Gun". It's really good. Yes it's hilarious that "Muscle of Love" and "Working Up a Sweat" go together very well, haha. How appropriate! "Never Been Sold Before" is probably the only weak moment since the verse melody is nothing special and actually resembles Rick Derringer, but it doesn't change the 5-star rating by any means. Generic mid-tempo rock at its most basic and the chorus repeats too many times at the end. "Woman Machine" is an unusually paced hard rock tune with a pretty decent chorus. This is actually a clever spin on the typical rock formula but I can't figure out exactly *what* makes it different. A song like this would sound out of place or filler-ish for most artists but not Alice Cooper. Perhaps the guitar riff resembles early Aerosmith but that's a stretch.

Overall, sorry folks, I can't join in with the crowd and criticize what strikes me as a mighty fine album. The songwriting's up to snuff, the genre variety is pretty impressive, the vocal melodies are really fantastic. Muscle of Love is a winner in my book.