Alice Cooper picks his favourite album of all time
In the 1970s, Alice Cooper established himself as the face of shock rock, but his favourite record of all time is a blues classic. Although it’s a genre Cooper has never experimented with as an artist, the blues remain close to his heart, and one particular album is a stand-out in his collection.
Cooper was indoctrinated into the blues early, thanks to his parents, and the love has never dissipated. He told NME in 2017: “I lived in Detroit and my parents were very much into music. My Dad was a big band guy. I remember my uncle coming over and putting a 45 on and it was Chuck Berry. I thought it was the greatest thing I’d ever heard. Chuck Berry was the basis of everything that we do and the greatest lyricist of all time –he could tell a story in three minutes. That’s how I learned to write.”
In the same interview, Cooper also discussed how The Beatles changed his life when he first heard ‘She Loves You’. The rock singer revealed: “The first song by The Beatles I ever heard and it literally changed something in my brain. It inspired what Alice Cooper became.”
However, as much as Cooper loves The Beatles and later befriended John Lennon in Los Angeles, the Fab Four are not responsible for creating his favourite album of all time. Instead, that accolade belongs to East-West by The Butterfield Blues Band, which was released in 1966.
Although the record only reached 65 on the Billboard Chart, it remains one of the most influential blues albums of all time. The group was led by Paul Butterfield, who passed away in 1987 from an accidental drug overdose and featured the talented guitarist’s Mike Bloomfield and Elvin Bishop.
In an interview with Rolling Stone, Cooper explained why no other album comes close to East-West. He said: “The further you get into music, you start listening and really listening to musicianship, and you realise that everybody in these top ten’s are magnificent musicians. But then, there are these guys who are at the top of the top, and I would have to say that if you listen to the East-West album, and realise Paul Butterfield was the most magnificent harp player of all time. Mike Bloomfield and Elvin Bishop were probably in tandem as the two best guitar players in America.”
Cooper continued: “Then, the thing that really topped it off after I’d worn the album out five or six times, and I still have it in my 1968 Mustang, I talked to Elvin Bishop, and he mentioned that most of those tracks were done live in the studio, one or two takes, maybe, which made it even more astounding.
“There’s not a mistake, the feel is magnificent on every single song, and then you get to a song like ‘Work Song’ or ‘East-West’, the very long songs where the band just takes off and jams like crazy. When you realise it’s live in the studio, and it’s just one take or two takes in the studio, it’s the most amazing piece of work that anybody has ever heard.”
Listen below to Cooper’s favourite album of all time, East-West.
