On November the 20th, 2020 Cherry Red Records will reissue an expanded edition of the one and only Billion Dollar Babies album that was initially released in 1977. It will include lots of demos, a live performance and of course the original album. Here’s the press release:
In the beginning there was a band, and that band was called Alice Cooper. After being discovered by Frank Zappa, and originally hailing from Phoenix, Arizona, via Los Angeles and Detroit, The Alice Cooper band eventually nudged into the mainstream rock arena with the LPs “Love It To Death” and “Killer”, eventually finding worldwide success with the “School’s Out” (1972) and “Billion Dollar Babies” (1973) albums. Following “Muscle Of Love” in the 1974, the original Alice Cooper band took a break to consider solo projects outside of the band.
The plan had been for the original Alice Cooper band to regroup and record in 1977, but by this time the name of the band had become very much synonymous with its lead singer – Vincent Furnier – who now had very much morphed into Alice as far as the public were concerned. The “solo” Alice record “Welcome to My Nightmare” had firmly separated Alice Cooper the singer from Alice Cooper the band. Rather than abandon the intended album, drummer Neal Smith, guitarist Michael Bruce and bassist Dennis Dunaway joined forces with lead guitarist Mike Marconi and Alice Cooper keyboard player Bob Dolin, and signing to Polydor records, fashioned the abandoned Alice Cooper band album into “Battle Axe”, calling themselves Billion Dollar Babies, a very deliberate nod to their previous incarnation.
The “Battle Axe” LP was a creditable collection of a dozen original, commercial rock songs that would easily have served as a new Alice LP. Featuring the singles ‘Too Young’ and ‘Rock ‘N’ Roll Radio’, the latter co-produced by Jack Douglas (Aerosmith, New York Dolls, Supertramp), the LP unfortunately struggled to find an audience upon release, and the Billion Dollar Babies project was short lived.
The original album has now been augmented with a whole disc of demos made for the album, including non-album tracks ‘I Don’t Know Babe’, ‘Wallow Through This Madness’, ‘Only One Will Walk Away’ and ‘High Heels Hollywood’.
The Billion Dollar Babies only played four live shows before disbanding, but thankfully someone was around to record the very first of these shows, in Flint, Michigan on 6th July 1977. As well as playing tracks from the “Battle Axe” record, including ‘Too Young’, ‘I Miss You’, ‘Love Is Rather Blind’, ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Radio’ and ‘Rock Me Slowly’, unsurprisingly they found space in the set to play some Alice Cooper classics, songs that they were instrumental in forging; a medley of ‘No More Mr. Nice Guy’, ‘Elected’ and ‘School’s Out’, plus an encore of ‘Billion Dollar Babies’.
DISC ONE:
BATTLE AXE (1977)
TOO YOUNG
SHINE YOUR LOVE
I MISS YOU
WASN’T I THE ONE
LOVE IS RATHER BLIND
ROCK ‘N’ ROLL RADIO
DANCE WITH ME
ROCK ME SLOWLY
EGO MANIA
BATTLE AXE
(SUDDEN DEATH)
WINNER
DISC TWO:
BATTLE AXE DEMOS
SHINE YOUR LOVE
MISS YOU
WASN’T I THE ONE
DANCE WITH ME
WANT TO GO HOME
LOVE IS RATHER BLIND
ROCK ME SLOWLY
BATTLE AXE / SUDDEN DEATH / WINNER
ROCK ‘N’ ROLL PRISON
RUNAWAY INST.
I DON’T KNOW BABE
WALLOW THROUGH THIS MADNESS
ONLY ONE WILL WALK AWAY
HIGH HEELS HOLLYWOOD
DISC THREE:
LIVE: FIRST EVER SHOW FLINT, MICHIGAN, USA, 6TH JULY 1977
I MISS YOU
ROCK ‘N’ ROLL RADIO
LOVE IS RATHER BLIND
ROCK ME SLOWLY
ALICE COOPER MEDLEY: NO MORE MR. NICE GUY / ELECTED / SCHOOL’S OUT
BATTLE AXE SUITE: EGO MANIA
BATTLE AXE
NIGHTS IN CRACKED LEATHER / SUDDEN DEATH / WINNER
TOO YOUNG
BILLION DOLLAR BABIES
