Alice Cooper’s much-anticipated Detroit Stories album finally has a confirmed release date. Delayed due to complications caused by the coronavirus lockdown, the album will emerge on February 26, 2021 on earMUSIC. Even better, the godfather of shock rock is offering up a first taste of the album on Friday, November 13, with the release of lead-off single Rock ‘n’ Roll, a cover of the Velvet Underground classic.
Named for the city that launched the original Alice Cooper group on the road to success, the Bob Ezrin-produced Detroit Stories follows last year’s Breadcrumbs EP as a homage to Alice’s hometown and its fecund late 60s/early 70s rock scene.
"Detroit was Heavy Rock central then,” explains Alice. “You’d play the Eastown and it would be Alice Cooper, Ted Nugent, the Stooges and The Who, for $4! The next weekend at the Grande it was MC5, Brownsville Station and Fleetwood Mac, or Savoy Brown or the Small Faces. You couldn’t be a soft-rock band or you’d get your ass kicked."
“Los Angeles had its sound with The Doors, Love and Buffalo Springfield,” he says, “San Francisco had the Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane. New York had The Rascals and The Velvet Underground. But Detroit was the birthplace of angry hard rock. After not fitting in anywhere in the US (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.”
Cooper and long-term producer Bob Ezrin gathered some legendary Detroit musician for Detroit Stories, including the surviving members of Alice’s original band, MC5 guitarist Wayne Kramer and Johnny ‘Bee’ Badanjek (drums, Detroit Wheels). Joe Bonamassa and Grand Funk Railroad’s Mark Farner also appear.
Detroit Stories will be available on CD, CD+DVD Digipak, CD Box Set (including CD, Blu-ray, T-shirt, face mask, torch light and 3 stickers), and 2LP Gatefold on February 26, 2021 on earMUSIC. The DVD and Blu-ray will include Cooper’s A Paranormal Evening At The Olympia Paris for the first time on video.
“I’m itching to get back out there,” Alice insists. “Rock ’n’ roll isn’t over, it’s just postponed.”
Detroit Stories track list:
1. Rock ‘n’ Roll
2. Go Man Go (Album Version)
3. Our Love Will Change The World
4. Social Debris
5. $1000 High Heel Shoes}
6. Hail Mary
7. Detroit City 2021 (Album Version)
8. Drunk And In Love
9. Independence Dave
10. I Hate You
11. Wonderful World
12. Sister Anne (Album Version)
13. Hanging On By A Thread (Don’t Give Up)
14. Shut Up And Rock
15. East Side Story (Album Version)
