Alice Cooper - From the Inside (1978)

I originally bought From the Inside from a cutout bin somewhere around 1980 - 1981; I was a stupid kid hoping to find something on par with “School’s Out”. Other than the gatefold cover nothing about it really piqued my interest so I ended up giving it to a buddy of mine who was big into Alice.

So here we are thirty years later, and thanks to the magic of Spotify I run across this again. I gave it another shot and you know what? It’s fucking fantastic. It may end up being my favorite Alice Cooper album.

Based on his stay in a sanitarium, the album is a combination of autobiographical songs and songs based on people he ran across. It’s pretty serious stuff with only a couple of songs (”Millie and Billie”, “Nurse Rozetta”) played for shock. Even “Veronica”, about an inmate who misses his dog tears me apart.

My personal favorite is “Serious”.

All of my life was a laugh and a joke
And a drink and a smoke
And then I passed out on the floor
Again and again and again and again and again

The song comes across as a party song but there’s such a tragedy beneath that.

The worst part of the album is the 1978 quasi-disco production but even that’s not overbearing.

Now if only I could track down a reasonably priced copy of Marvel Premiere that was based on this album…