Alice Cooper: Detroit Stories (Review)

So I bought the deluxe edition of Detroit Stories solely for the DVD of A Paranormal Evening At The Olympia, and decided I would review the base album of Detroit Stories because it was going to be the only way I’d really listen to it. And that’s not because it’s terrible, but because it scratches an itch I didn’t really have.

The album attempts to take things back to the classic rock era sound and style, and it totally succeeds at getting that feel. The things is that Dirty Diamonds did the same thing sixteen years before this album. And whereas Dirty Diamonds had a number of stand-out songs, Detroit Stories merely just does what it says on the tin. The songs are good, but unremarkable. Except for closing cover of Bob Seger’s “East Side Story”. Originally from the Breadcrumbs EP, this is easily my favorite song on the album. Alice is a terrific storyteller, doing some funny voices to boot. The album versions features added keyboards that aren’t on the original version that you can still get on iTunes, along with a slightly different solo.

At the end of the day, I enjoyed my listens to Detroit Stories quite a lot, and I still would were I to listen to it again. It’s just that I won’t really be possessed to grab it off the shelf much, especially at 15 tracks long. There gets to be an inevitable sameyness to the songs after a while. They’re good, solid songs, especially the first half of the album, they just make less and less of a case to be listened to as the album goes on.

The verdict- 3.5/5 stars

More of a playlist sampler than a full album listening experience, unfortunately.