Alice Cooper will drop the first single from his upcoming Bob Ezrin produced Detroit Stories album today (November 13th). The lead single is cover of Lou Reed's 1970 Velvet Underground classic, "Rock N' Roll" — which tips its hat to Motor City's Mitch Ryder & The Detroit Wheels' 1971 cover. Guitar ace Joe Bonamassa plays on the new single.
Cooper explained to Rolling Stone why he decided to pay homage to Detroit this time around, "After not fitting in anywhere in the U.S. (musically or image-wise) Detroit was the only place that recognized the Alice Cooper guitar-driven, hard rock sound and our crazy stage show. Detroit was a haven for the outcasts. And when they found out I was born in East Detroit. . . we were home.”
Alice Cooper has always believed that producer Bob Ezrin's work with the Alice Cooper Band has led to the most effective and timeless music of his career: ["Bob Ezrin, who was our George Martin, basically. Everything before Love It To Death was, just, y'know, all over the place. And it had its own personality and it was definitely Alice Cooper and everything, but it wasn't definitively Alice Cooper until you really got to Love It To Death. That was the Alice Cooper sound after that."] SOUNDCUE (:22 OC: . . . sound after that)
Detroit Stories will be released on February 26th, featuring contributions from MC5’s Wayne Kramer, the Detroit Wheels' Johnny "Bee" Badanjek, and the Motor City Horns — best known for their work with Bob Seger.
Alice Cooper on Bob Ezrin :