Product Details

Alice Cooper was unstoppable during the 1970s when the band released four consecutive platinum albums and five Top 40 hits like Im Eighteen, Schools Out, No More Mr. Nice Guy, and Elected. Rhino will reissue two of those platinum albums KILLER (1971) and SCHOOLS OUT (1972) with newly remastered sound, rare recordings, and previously unreleased live performances.Both Deluxe Editions will be released on June 9 as 2-CD sets and 3-LP versions on 180-gram vinyl.

Released in 1971, KILLER was the fourth studio album recorded by the founding quintet of singer Alice Cooper, lead guitarist Glen Buxton, rhythm guitarist/keyboardist Michael Bruce, bassist Dennis Dunaway, and drummer Neal Smith. Bob Ezrin produced all four of Alice Coopers platinum albums from the 1970s, including KILLER and SCHOOLS OUT.KILLER (DELUXE EDITION) introduces a newly remastered version of the original release, which peaked at #21 on the Billboard albums chart. Along with the singles Under My Wheels and Be My Lover, the record also includes Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Desperado, and the prog-rock-inspired epic Halo Of Flies. The bonus material features alternate takes for You Drive Me Nervous, Under My Wheels, and Dead Babies.The collection also gives fans an unreleased live recording of the bands performance at Mar Y Sol Pop Festival in Puerto Rico on April 2, 1972. Recorded a few months before the band returned to the studio to make SCHOOLS OUT, the show previews Public Animal #9 from the upcoming album. The band played most of Killer during the concert, including You Drive Me Nervous, Under My Wheels, and Halo Of Flies. They also tapped the groups 1971 album, Love It to Death, for live versions of Is It My Body?, Long Way To Go, and the smash hit Im Eighteen.

The vinyl versions for both Deluxe Editions recreate the original album sleeves down to the smallest detail. For KILLER, that means a gatefold sleeve that opens to reveal a detachable 1972 calendar with a photo of Cooper in the gallows. The cover of SCHOOLS OUT looks like a wooden school desk and opens to reveal the LP wrapped in a pair of panties. The band stopped including the underwear following a controversy as to whether or not they were flammable. Thankfully, the lacy unmentionables in the new Deluxe Edition are not a fire hazard.Both sets come with booklets that include track-by-track commentary by band members and former Creem Magazine editor Jaan Uhelszki, plus liner notes by Bill Holdship, also a former Creem Magazine editor. In KILLER (DELUXE EDITION), Holdship writes: Listening to Killer again after all these years to write these notes was rewarding because, like The Beatles and Elvis, its gratifying to realize I ended up wasting my life on something that, even in retrospect, really was that great. Fifty years later, Killer remains a perfect perfect! rock n roll record.