| Love It to Death | ||||
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Original album cover |
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| Studio album by Alice Cooper | ||||
| Released | January 12, 1971 | |||
| Recorded | 1970 RCA Mid-American Recording Center, Chicago, IL |
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| Genre | Hard rock, heavy metal | |||
| Length | 37:21 | |||
| Label | Straight Records Warner Bros. Records |
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| Producer | Bob Ezrin, Jack Richardson | |||
| Alice Cooper chronology | ||||
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Love It to Death is the third album by Alice Cooper, released in 1971. Hits include "Ballad of Dwight Fry", "Is It My Body", and one of Cooper's trademark songs, "I'm Eighteen". After two failed albums, this was the album that brought the Alice Cooper band into the mainstream. Much credit is generally given to producer Bob Ezrin, cleaning up the band's sound with fresh ideas and making it more accessible, most notably on the track, 'I'm Eighteen'. It originally was a much longer song, and in more of a psychedelic vein like the band's first two albums, which contained several longer songs.
The album cover caused much controversy at the time of its release. Early pressings show Cooper's thumb sticking out of his pants, thus giving the illusion of a penis (see cover photo). This led Warner Brothers to censor it (four different versions of the front cover exist on LP). Alice Cooper's thumb along with his right arm is clearly airbrushed out on censored versions. The original CD release, uses the most common censored LP cover for the booklet cover.
In 2003, the album was ranked number 460 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. Both "Second Coming" and "Ballad of Dwight Fry" were covered by alternative metal band The Melvins for their album Lysol. "Is It My Body" was covered by Sonic Youth. On December 8, 2009, the album was reissed by audiophile label Audio Fidelity in a limited-edition 24-karat gold CD. Remastered by Steve Hoffman, it also featured the original uncensored artwork.
The first issue of the album was on Straight Records, a company created by Frank Zappa and manager Herb Cohen. By the time the album became a success it had already been re-issued by Warner Bros. Records, who were the original distributors of the Straight label.
Love It to Death reached #35 on the Billboard album chart.
Contents |
| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic | [1] |
| Rolling Stone | (favorable)[2] |
| Robert Christgau | (B-)[3] |
Rolling Stone's John Mendelsohn found it favorable. He explained that it "represents at least a modest oasis in the desert of dreary blue-jeaned aloofness served up in concert by most American rock-and-rollers." However, referring to "Black Juju" he also stated that "the one bummer on this album is so loud a bummer that it may threaten to neutralize the ingratiating effect of the aforementioned nifties."[2] Robert Christgau rated it a B-, stating that he "never would have figured this theatre type to come up with it" and calling "I'm Eighteen" "as archetypal a hard rock single as you're liable to hear in this flaccid year, or maybe ever."[3] Allmusic's Greg Prato rated Love It to Death four-and-a-half out of five stars. He explained that it "can be pinpointed as the release when everything began to come together for the band." He also stated that "it was an incredibly consistent listen from beginning to end."[1]