With the 1974 disintegration of the original Alice Cooper group, Alice was free to launch a solo career.
He wisely decided to re-enlist the services of Bob Ezrin for his solo debut, Welcome to My Nightmare, which was a concept album tied into the story line of the highly theatrical concert tour he launched soon after the album's release.
While the music lost most of the gritty edge of the original AC lineup, Welcome to My Nightmare remains Alice's best solo effort -- while some tracks stray from his expected hard rock direction, there's plenty of fist-pumping rock to go around.
The disco-flavored, album-opening title track would be reworked on the stage as more of a hard rock tune, while "Some Folks" dips into cabaret territory, and "Only Women Bleed" is a sensitive ballad that became a Top Ten hit.
But the rockers serve as the album's foundation -- "Devil's Food," "The Black Widow," "Department of Youth," and "Cold Ethyl" are all standouts, as is the more tranquil yet eerie epic "Steven." Despite this promising start to Cooper's solo career, the majority of his subsequent releases were often not as focused and were of varying quality.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Welcome to My NightmareAlice Cooper, Dick Wagner | Alice Cooper | Play | 05:20 | 12 MB | 32 MB |
| 2 | Devil's FoodAlice Cooper, Bob Ezrin, Kelly Jay | Alice Cooper | Play | 03:35 | 8 MB | 21 MB |
| 3 | The Black WidowAlice Cooper, Bob Ezrin, Dick Wagner | Alice Cooper | Play | 03:37 | 8 MB | 23 MB |
| 4 | Some FolksAlice Cooper, Bob Ezrin, Alan Gordon | Alice Cooper | Play | 04:17 | 9 MB | 28 MB |
| 5 | Department of YouthAlice Cooper, Bob Ezrin, Dick Wagner | Alice Cooper | Play | 03:20 | 7 MB | 21 MB |
| 6 | Cold EthylAlice Cooper, Bob Ezrin | Alice Cooper | Play | 02:56 | 6 MB | 19 MB |
| 7 | Years AgoAlice Cooper, Dick Wagner | Alice Cooper | Play | 02:51 | 6 MB | 16 MB |
| 8 | StevenAlice Cooper, Bob Ezrin | Alice Cooper | Play | 05:46 | 13 MB | 35 MB |
| 9 | The AwakeningAlice Cooper, Bob Ezrin, Dick Wagner | Alice Cooper | Play | 02:31 | 5 MB | 11 MB |
| 10 | EscapeMarc Anthony, Mark Anthony, Alice Cooper, John Fowley, Kim Fowley | Alice Cooper | Play | 03:27 | 7 MB | 22 MB |
| 11 | Devil's Food (Alternate Version) | Alice Cooper | Play | 05:13 | 11 MB | 31 MB |
| 12 | Cold Ethyl (Alternate Version) | Alice Cooper | Play | 02:56 | 6 MB | 19 MB |
| 13 | The Awakening (Alternate Version) | Alice Cooper | Play | 04:20 | 9 MB | 21 MB |
| 50 mins | 115 MB | |||||
| 50 mins | 307 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Greg Allen | Art Direction, Design |
| 2 | Craig Anderson | Mastering |
| 3 | Marc Anthony | Composer |
| 4 | Mark Anthony | Composer |
| 5 | Johnny Badanjek | Drums |
| 6 | Bob Brown | Second Unit Director |
| 7 | Josef Chirowski | Clavinet, Fender Rhodes, Keyboards, Synthesizer, Vocals |
| 8 | Alice Cooper | Composer, Primary Artist, Vocals |
| 9 | Bob Ezrin | Arranger, Composer, Fender Rhodes, Keyboards, Mixing, Producer, Remixing, Remix Producer, Synthesizer, Vocals |
| 10 | David Ezrin | Vocals |
| 11 | John Fowley | Composer |
| 12 | Kim Fowley | Composer |
| 13 | Jim Frank | Engineer |
| 14 | Whitey Glan | Drums |
| 15 | Alan Gordon | Composer |
| 16 | Daniel Hersch | Mastering |
| 17 | Steve Hunter | Guitar |
| 18 | Bill Inglot | Mastering |
| 19 | Kelly Jay | Composer |
| 20 | Prakash John | Bass |
| 21 | Tony Levin | Bass |
| 22 | Bret Lopez | Photography |
| 23 | Gary Lyons | Vocals |
| 24 | Gerry Lyons | Vocals |
| 25 | Allan MacMillan | Arranger |
| 26 | Toby B. Mamis | Project Assistant |
| 27 | Jeff Morgan | Liner Notes |
| 28 | Brian Nelson | Project Assistant |
| 29 | Rod O'Brien | Engineer |
| 30 | David Palmer | Engineer |
| 31 | Vincent Price | Guest Artist, Special Effects, Vocals |
| 32 | Phil Ramone | Engineer |
| 33 | Mike Reese | Mastering |
| 34 | Michael Sherman | Production Assistant, Vocals |
| 35 | Ed Sprigg | Engineer |
| 36 | Corky Stasiak | Engineer |
| 37 | Julee Stover | Editorial Supervision |
| 38 | Drew Struzan | Artwork |
| 39 | Dick Wagner | Composer, Guitar, Vocals |
| 40 | Charlie Watts | Mastering |
| 41 | Gerry Yons | Guitar |
| 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). |