Lace and Whiskey

Lace and Whiskey
Studio album by
Alice Cooper
ReleasedApril 29, 1977 (1977-04-29)
Studio
Genre
Length41:17
LabelWarner Bros.
ProducerBob Ezrin
Alice Cooper chronology
Alice Cooper Goes to Hell
(1976) 		Lace and Whiskey
(1977) 		The Alice Cooper Show
(1977)
Singles from Lace and Whiskey
  1. "You and Me"
    Released: April 1977 (US)
  2. "(No More) Love at Your Convenience"
    Released: May 1977 (UK)[2]

Lace and Whiskey is the third solo and tenth overall studio album by American rock singer Alice Cooper, released on April 29, 1977, by Warner Bros. Records.

Background

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After many years of portraying a dark and sinister persona Alice Cooper decided to try something new and donned the persona of a heavy drinking comic PI named "Maurice Escargot" — a fictional character in the same vein as Inspector Clouseau. Cooper is pictured as Escargot on the back cover of Lace and Whiskey, which was still a rock-based album but was stylistically influenced by Cooper's love for 1940s' and 1950s' movies and music. The album only peaked at No. 42 in the US and No. 33 in the UK Albums Chart.[3]

The album's lead single, "You and Me", was an easy listening ballad which provided Cooper with his last US top-ten single for twelve years. "(No More) Love at Your Convenience", a disco-inspired pop song, was released as the second single — it did not chart in most countries. Music videos were created for both songs, at a time well before the advent of MTV. The song "King of the Silver Screen" features a quote of the main motif of the "Battle Hymn of the Republic".

Cooper's King of the Silver Screen tour in support of this album, featured a stage set designed as a giant TV, with its slit screen allowing Cooper and his dancers to jump into and out of it along to filmed choreographed sequences during songs, and had comedic mock commercials screened in between some songs. The tour only ran in the US and Canada, throughout the summers of 1977 and 1978, and for 1978 would be renamed the School's Out for Summer tour. Filmed highlights from the opening night of the 1977 tour, capturing a very inebriated Cooper, were featured in the Alice Cooper and Friends TV special. The tour's Las Vegas concerts were recorded, resulting in the live album The Alice Cooper Show (1977). With the exception of "It's Hot Tonight", which was a regular part of setlists on the following Madhouse Rocks, the 2001 Brutal Planet and the 2008–2009 Psychodrama tours, and "Road Rats" which was a regular during the 1980 Flush the Fashion tour, nothing from Lace and Whiskey has been performed since the close of the School's Out for Summer '78 tour. "Damned If You Do", "Ubangi Stomp", "(No More) Love at Your Convenience", "I Never Wrote Those Songs", and "My God" have never been played live by Cooper.

It was after the completion of the 1977 tour, that Cooper checked into a New York-based sanitarium for his first treatment for alcoholism.

During the initial stage of this album's era, when it was clear that Cooper was not going to return from his new success, original Alice Cooper group members Dennis Dunaway, Neal Smith, and Michael Bruce formed a new band with Mike Marconi and Bob Dolin called "The Billion Dollar Babies".[4] Michael Bruce sang their lead vocals.

Lace and Whiskey was digitally remastered and re-released on CD by Metal Blade Records in 1990.

The opening song "It's Hot Tonight" would be sampled by the rap rock group Beastie Boys for the song "What Comes Around" on their second studio album Paul's Boutique (1989).

Critical reception

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Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[5]
Christgau's Record GuideC+[6]
Rolling Stone(unfavorable)[7]

The Indianapolis News wrote that "Cooper is going across the board with ballads, love songs, heavy rockers, country rock and comedy."[8]

Classic Rock described the album as "A cry for help more than anything else" and "it also found Alice drifting ever further away from his glory days as the king of shock rock."[9]

Track listing

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All tracks are written by Alice Cooper, Dick Wagner and Bob Ezrin, except where noted

Side one
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."It’s Hot Tonight" 3:21
2."Lace and Whiskey" 3:14
3."Road Rats" 4:51
4."Damned If You Do" 3:14
5."You and Me"
  • Cooper
  • Wagner
5:07
Side two
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."King of the Silver Screen" 5:35
2."Ubangi Stomp"Charles Underwood2:12
3."(No More) Love at Your Convenience" 3:49
4."I Never Wrote Those Songs" 4:34
5."My God" 5:40
Total length:41:17

Personnel

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Credits are adapted from the Lace and Whiskey liner notes.[10]

Additional personnel

  • Prakash John — bass guitar on "Road Rats"
  • Tony Levin — bass guitar on "Lace and Whisky", "Damned If You Do" and "Ubangi Stomp"
  • Jim Gordon — drums on "Road Rats", "Damned If You Do" and "My God"
  • Jimmy Maelen — percussion
  • Al Kooper — piano on "Damned If You Do"
  • Allan Macmillan — piano on "I Never Wrote Those Songs"
  • Josef Chirowski — keyboards
  • Bob Ezrin — keyboards, vocals
  • Ernie Watts — tenor saxophone, clarinet
  • Julia Tillman, Lorna Willard, Venetta Fields — vocals on "(No More) Love at Your Convenience"
  • The California Boys' Choir — choir
  • Douglas Neslund — choir master

Charts

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Chart (1977) Peak
position
Australian Albums (Kent Music Report)[11] 3
Canada Top Albums/CDs (RPM)[12] 27
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[13] 32
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[14] 43
UK Albums (OCC)[15] 33
US Billboard 200[16] 42

Certifications

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Region Certification Certified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[17] Platinum 50,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References

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  1. ^ Guarisco, Donald A. "Clones (We're All) by Alice Cooper - Track Info". AllMusic. Retrieved February 18, 2023.
  2. ^ "Great Rock Discography". p. 171.
  3. ^ "Artists". Officialcharts.com.
  4. ^ Henderson, Alex. "( The Billion Dollar Babies > Overview )". AllMusic. Retrieved 2010-03-19.
  5. ^ Weber, Barry. "Allmusic review". Allmusic. Retrieved 2012-02-13.
  6. ^ Christgau, Robert (1981). "Consumer Guide '70s: C". Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies. Ticknor & Fields. ISBN 089919026X. Retrieved February 23, 2019.
  7. ^ Milward, John (July 14, 1977). "Lace And Whiskey". Rolling Stone.
  8. ^ Dunkin, Zach (Jul 20, 1977). "Rock Pile". The Indianapolis News. p. 35.
  9. ^ "Every Alice Cooper album, ranked from worst to best". Classic Rock. February 2, 2022. Retrieved November 17, 2024.
  10. ^ Lace and Whiskey (CD booklet). Alice Cooper. Warner Bros. Records. 1977.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  11. ^ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  12. ^ "Top RPM Albums: Issue 5421a". RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved May 25, 2024.
  13. ^ "Charts.nz – Alice Cooper – Lace and Whiskey". Hung Medien. Retrieved May 25, 2024.
  14. ^ "Swedishcharts.com – Alice Cooper – Lace and Whiskey". Hung Medien. Retrieved May 25, 2024.
  15. ^ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved May 25, 2024.
  16. ^ "Alice Cooper Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved May 25, 2024.
  17. ^ "Cooper LP" (PDF). Cash Box. July 16, 1977. p. 45. Retrieved November 25, 2021 – via World Radio History.
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