Alice Cooper launches creepy video for 50-year-old song The Sound Of A

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The first song Alice Cooper ever wrote was mislaid for half a century. Revived earlier this year, it's now the subject of a typically creepy video

Alice Cooper
Alice Cooper (Image credit: Rob Fenn)

Rock legend Alice Cooper has released a video for The Sound Of A, his upcoming single, which will be released on February 23. The track comes from Alice’s Paranormal album, which was released in July, but was actually written by Alice for the original Alice Cooper band in 1967. The song was lost for decades, until bassist Dennis Dunaway rediscovered it and brought it to the singer’s attention.

“Dennis brought in the song and he played it for me and I said, ‘wow Dennis, I remember when you wrote this song in 1967,’” says Cooper. “He goes, ‘you’re right about the year, but you wrote it!’ He says, ‘this was the first song you ever wrote.’

“So, he brought it in and Bob Ezrin says ‘I love this, we gotta do this song.’ In the end, it became the most psychedelic track because during the recording of it, everybody just went off on these guitar parts and it just swirled at the end. It really ended up being one of the most interesting songs on the album - with a great story behind it. I totally forgot that I wrote it!”

The single will be released on limited edition CD single and 10” white vinyl, and will be backed by four previously unreleased live songs recorded in Columbus, Ohio, on May 6.

A week ago, Cooper was the recipient of the Best International Artist prize at the 2017 SSE Scottish Music Awards.

Speaking in a video statement, he said, “You have to survive this business long enough and rock’n’roll business is not the easiest thing. We’ve been doing it 50 years, and keeping the quality of the show and music up really is the whole trick to doing it. In my case though, they do cut my head off every night, so it’s a matter of survival! Thanks very much!”

The Sound of A CD Tracklist

  1. The Sound Of A
  2. The Black Widow (Live)
  3. Public Animal #9 (Live)
  4. Is It My Body (Live)
  5. Cold Ethyl (Live)

The Sound Of A 10” vinyl Tracklist

Side A
1. The Sound Of A
2. The Black Widow (Live)

Side B
1. Public Animal #9 (Live)
2. Is It My Body (Live)
3. Cold Ethyl (Live)

Alice Cooper - Paranormal album review

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