Since the original Alice Cooper band was a major catalyst in the creation of punk rock (Cooper's snide lyrics, the band's raw rock, etc.), by the early '80s Cooper decided to re-embrace the genre after such overblown albums as From the Inside distanced him from his roots.
The resulting album, 1981's Special Forces, was Cooper's most stripped-down and straightforward since his classic early-'70s work.
But without the original Cooper band to back him up and help out with the songwriting, it's an intriguing yet sometimes uneven set.
Cooper was heavily into the guns and ammo publication Soldier of Fortune at the time; hence the album title and lyrical subject matter.
The opening track, "Who Do You Think We Are," is one of Cooper's punchiest rockers, and one of his most overlooked, while "Seven & Seven Is," "You Look Good in Rags," and "Vicious Rumours" are also rocking highlights.
A faithful rereading of the Billion Dollar Babies nugget "Generation Landslide" is included as well, titled "Generation Landslide '81 (Live)," even though it was, in fact, entirely created in the studio (with added audience cheers).
While Special Forces didn't return Cooper to his earlier status as a chart-topping superstar, it is certainly one of the strongest and most interesting releases of his post-1975 period.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Who Do You Think We Are | Alice Cooper | Play | 04:21 | 9 MB | 0 MB |
| 2 | Seven & Seven Is | Alice Cooper | Play | 02:41 | 6 MB | 18 MB |
| 3 | Prettiest Cop on the Block | Alice Cooper | Play | 03:13 | 7 MB | 21 MB |
| 4 | Don't Talk Old to Me | Alice Cooper | Play | 02:54 | 6 MB | 19 MB |
| 5 | Skeletons in the Closet | Alice Cooper | Play | 03:42 | 8 MB | 24 MB |
| 6 | You Want It, You Got It | Alice Cooper | Play | 03:15 | 7 MB | 19 MB |
| 7 | You Look Good in Rags | Alice Cooper | Play | 03:35 | 8 MB | 23 MB |
| 8 | You're a Movie | Alice Cooper | Play | 03:37 | 8 MB | 22 MB |
| 9 | Vicious Rumours | Alice Cooper | Play | 03:43 | 8 MB | 25 MB |
| 10 | Generation Landslide '81 (Live) | Alice Cooper | Play | 03:50 | 8 MB | 25 MB |
| 34 mins | 79 MB | |||||
| 30 mins | 202 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Eric Blum | Photography |
| 2 | Alice Cooper | Arranger, Art Direction, Creation, Primary Artist |
| 3 | Bill Cooper | Engineer, Mixing |
| 4 | Donna Dobbs | Production Assistant |
| 5 | Jonathan Exley | Portraits |
| 6 | Shep Gordon | Executive Producer |
| 7 | Duane Hitchings | Keyboards |
| 8 | Danny Johnson | Guitar |
| 9 | Craig Krampf | Drums |
| 10 | Jim Moon | Production Coordination |
| 11 | Brian "Renfield" Nelson | Personal Assistant |
| 12 | Mike Pinera | Guitar |
| 13 | Richard Podolor | Arranger, Mixing, Producer |
| 14 | Erik Scott | Bass |
| 15 | Gene Sculatti | Liner Notes |
| 16 | Richard Seireeni | Art Direction |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |
| CD Quality | FLAC | 16bit 44.1kHz | FLAC is an audio coding format which uses lossless compression. Digital audio in FLAC format has a smaller size and retains the same quality of the original Compact Disc (CD). |