Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here

Andria (my editor) asked me what I wanted for Christmas this year (2013 for future readers), she needed a couple ideas. I said that I really wanted the Pink Floyd Wish You Were Here Emersion Box Set. The album I'm reviewing is going to be just the original album, but you can expect the full set to be coming in the future.

Let me start by saying that this is hands down my favourite Pink Floyd album. I love everything about this album and consider it pure genius. I love the symbolism. I love ignoring the symbolism and just listening to what's being said, and being played. I love the mild simplicity and complex arrangments. I love the time being taken, and the way it all breathes. God, do I love how the songs all breathe.

Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Part I-V) kicks off the album with music that just moves you. It's the perfect musical translation to the lyrics that eventually follow, but before that happens you get to hear some beautiful explorations by Dave Gilmour's guitar and Richard Wright's keyboards. This is one of those tracks that by the time you get to the opening verse, you already feel like you've flown through the cloud and drifted along the astral plain. The the story begins. "Remember when you were young, you shone like the sun. / Shine on you crazy diamond. / Now there's a look in your eyes, like black holes in the sky. / Shine on you crazy diamond. / You were caught on the crossfire of childhood and stardom, / blown on the steel breeze. / Come on you target for faraway laughter, / come on you stranger, you legend, you martyr, and shine! / You reached for the secret too soon, you cried for the moon. / Shine on you crazy diamond. / Threatened by shadows at night, and exposed in the light. / Shine on you crazy diamond. / Well you wore out your welcome with random precision, / rode on the steel breeze. / Come on you raver, you seer of visions, / come on you painter, you piper, you prisoner, and shine!" Then it's on to this great saxaphone solo played by Dick Parry. There's such a Jazz freeform vibe to me with the way he spirals and zig zags. I also love how they didn't even try to hide those odd high squeak notes. This section of the song then slowly fades out while the next track fades in.

Welcome To The Machine gears up with a synthetic machinery like pulse that pretty much drives the song, and is flows in and out. The sound and pulsing vibe is clearly the early inspiration for a tone that would move around through out The Wall, I'm think Empty Spaces in particular. But what really makes this song for me is the truly mechanical sound to the background music, the electric current like sound of the keyboards, and then a lovely accoustic guitar, which sound so human. It adds a sense of hope in a world going electronically mad. Lyrically this song is a warning even to the future generations, that the world refuse to heed to, and now the words have come to pass. "Welcome my son, welcome to the machine. / Where have you been? It's alright we know where you've been. / You've been in the pipeline, filling in time, / provided with toys and Scouting for Boys. / You bought a guitar to punish your ma, / And you didn't like school, and you know you're nobody's fool, / So welcome to the machine. / Welcome my son, welcome to the machine. / What did you dream? It's alright we told you what to dream. / You dreamed of a big star, he played a mean guitar, / He always ate in the Steak Bar. He loved to drive in his Jaguar. / So welcome to the machine. " Even thought the meaning I take from those words is different than what was meant, the timelessness of this song is what allows to keep seeing the lyrics in a new light.

My favourite song on this album that doesn't come in a multitude of parts, is Have A Cigar. I love the slow slightly off kilter funky swagger of the bass. Roger Waters lays down such a killer rhythm on this song that the keyboard and guitar can so easily dance and move around within it with a dreamlike mysticism. The drums are the only part of this song I find a little basic and boring, but that's perfectly fine because they do what drums often need to do, just keep the rhythm. Not to mention with everything else going on I really don't think there was much room for Nick Mason to add much in the way of flourishes. I will admit that much like many people I was always under the assumption that either Roger or Dave did the vocals on this song. I never owned a copy of the original album, so for the longest time I didn't know better. Later I came to discover that the vocals are being performed by English folk/rock singer Roy Harper. And what great and snide lyrics he sings. "Come in here, dear boy, have a cigar. / You're gonna go far, you're gonna fly high, / You're never gonna die, you're gonna make it if you try; they're gonna love you. / Well, I've always had a deep respect, and I mean that most sincerely. / The band is just fantastic, that is really what I think. / Oh by the way, which one's Pink? / And did we tell you the name of the game, boy? / We call it Riding the Gravy Train. / We're just knocked out. / We heard about the sell out. / You gotta get an album out, / You owe it to the people. We're so happy we can hardly count. / Everybody else is just green, have you seen the chart? / It's a helluva start, it could be made into a monster / If we all pull together as a team. / And did we tell you the name of the game, boy? / We call it Riding the Gravy Train. " I love when bands shoot the industry the big finger.

If you ask me what the worst song on the album is, I would say it's Wish You Were Here. The title track has alway been a little too mellow and sad for me. It's almost like listening to a light being exstinguished. It's the end credits/funeral music to every movie where the anti hero dies. It's just a beautifully crafted song about longing for something that is just never going to come back. Then there's the lyrics. "So, so you think you can tell Heaven from Hell, blue skies from pain. / Can you tell a green field from a cold steel rail? / A smile from a veil? / Do you think you can tell? / Did they get you to trade your heroes for ghosts? / Hot ashes for trees? / Hot air for a cool breeze? / Cold comfort for change? / Did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage?" This then moves into a sweet little solo before heading into the next set of lyrics. "How I wish, how I wish you were here. / We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl, year after year, / Running over the same old ground. / What have we found? / The same old fears. / Wish you were here." Then the song continues on with a great mix of music and some Scat. As in the vocal style of performance, for those that may be confused. Which continues as the song fades into a breeze.

Out of the breeze of the last song come the second half of the album's introduction song. Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts VI-IX). The track more or less picks up where the first half ended, but now it's the keyboards soloing instead of the sax. However, it soon moves into a great uptempo swing, that really dances around and gets the song flowing. Then there's Dave Gilmour's guitar playing. He just opens it up, and let's it scream and sing. One of my favourite things about Gilmour's guitar solo is that he doesn't feel the need to play a million notes a minute, instead he makes each note he hits count, and he keeps that up until the vocals kick in. "Nobody knows where you are, how near or how far. / Shine on you crazy diamond. / Pile on many more layers and I'll be joining you there. / Shine on you crazy diamond. / And we'll bask in the shadow of yesterday's triumph, / sail on the steel breeze. / Come on you boy child, you winner and loser, / come on you miner for truth and delusion, and shine". This then leads to the music that helps end the song. Which is this wicked, totally Jazz influenced jam. I mean this part of the song helps take the end of the album into a totally different direction than you would think based on every other part of the album. Then the song downshifts a bit and moves into a more dramatic, end of the movie like vibe that lets you know the story is done. The tale has been told and now it's time to fade to black.

By the time this album ends a play through, I'm always left feeling complete, and satisfied, and drained, and moved, and wanting to go make some wicked ass music and sounds of my own. I think that this album is the most over looked Pink Floyd album because of where it sits in the great pantheon of Floyd albums. It came right after Dark Side Of The Moon (which was beyond amazing), and then gets lost once The Wall (highly overrated) comes out. However, this album has the best of everything in it. The exploration, the jamming, the experimenting, the timings, the instrumentation, the story telling, and the sense of madness that comes with a musical masterpiece. If you don't own a Pink Floyd album yet, go get this one.

10/10 - content

10/10 - production

10/10 - personal bias

Jet - Get Born

I have been planning on doing this review since the summer(2013), but for various reasons it kept getting shuffled to the side, or pushed to the background, or put off until it finally ended up being reshelved all together. Then I was going through long selections of discs I still haven't reviewed yet, tying to figure out what I'm in the mood for, when I came across Get Born and I was all like, "Yeah, let's finally get this one done."

Let me start by saying I love this album in a mix, but the track listing leaves me annoyed during continuous play. I really think that it could have been planned out a bit better for flow purposes. Which I'll express my exact opinion at the end of the review of how this album should have gone.

To me the best part of this album is the fact that it sounds perfect in a mix with all my sixties and seventies Rock. Especially, The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, Bon Scott era AC/DC, David Bowie, or other simular musicians. The production recreates that time period perfectly.

The album opens with Last Chance. It's a good album opener, but on the whole I really find this album doesn't get started for a few more tracks. At least not for me. This song isn't overly strong for repeat playing and by the time you get to the next track you've already forgotten this one.

Are You Gonna Be My Girl is probably the second song I heard from Jet, at least as far as I can remember. I was never overly fond of the song. I mean it is a really good and fun Rock song, but it's not quite my thing.

Rollover D.J. Is yet another song that I was never fond of. I mean it's okay, but for the most part it kind of comes off as planned out commercial Pop to me. On the other hand I understand why so many people dig this track. It's a well planned and orchestrated Pop piece.

Here's one that would blow your mind if you are one of my regular readers, but at the same time, you wouldn't be overly surprised. I don't believe this album truly starts until you hit Look What You've Done, a really nice and mellow piano track. It's much in the vein of John Lennon, or MrCartney. You can hear both styles in this one. Plus the drums also remind me very much of Ringo.

Get What You Need follows that up and it's a lot in the same vibe as the second and third track, except this one has a Bass breakdown this time, and I like the Doors like keyboards in the background. I don't mind this track but most of the time it acts more as background music for me. This is one of those songs that should have had the vocals stripped out completely and redone, because the music with all it's individual parts is pretty decent, and the vocals just aren't hooky enough.

Move On reminds me of a mellower Rolling Stones song. There's a little Angie in there, a bit of Wild Horses and just a sprinkle of You Can't Always Get What You Want. Not a bad track the whole way around.

The biggest problem with Radio Song is that it follows Move On. It really puts a bit of a drag on the vibe and tempo of the album. If this album had been on vinyl this most likely would have closed the first side and that would have been a really bad idea, good closing track, but really bad order. As it goes with the compact disc it sounds like they buried it as an album filler. Placement is a real big deal with tracks and the way an album is layed out and this song was the right song in this spot, but gets screwed because of the track before it.

Get Me Outta Here is a great way to kick the album back in gear. It's a very solid album filler, and if this had been vinyl it would be a great way to kick off the second side of the album.

The first song I ever recall hearing from Jet was Cold Hard Bitch and I still love every part of it. This song screamed AC/DC even before that first scream is uttered in the lyrics. "Yeah! / Gotta leave town / Got another appointment. / I spent all my rent, / Girl you know I enjoyed it,yeah!! / Ain't gonna hang around till / there's nobody dancing. / I don't wanna hold hands and talk / about our little plans, alright! / Cold hard bitch /Just a kiss on the lips / And I was on my knees / Im waitin, give me / Cold hard bitch / She was shakin' her hips / Oh that was all that I need. / Gonna take her out / She's my latest attraction. / Gonna hang around / Wanna get a reaction. Yeah!! / Gonna take her home cause / she's over romancing / Don't wanna hold hands and talk / about our little plans alright! / Cold hard bitch / Just a kiss on the lips / And I was on my knees / Im waitin, give me / Cold hard bitch / She was shakin' her hips / Oh that was all that I need / My lady, give me / Cold hard bitch! / Just a kiss on the lips, / And I was on my knees. / Yeah Im waitin / Yeah Im waitin / Yeah Im waitin / Yeah Im waitin!! / Yeaaah!! / Cold hard bitch / Just a kiss on the lips, / And I was on my knees. / Im waitin, give me. / Cold hard bitch, / She was shakin' her hips. / Oh that was all that I need / My lady, give me / Cold hard bitch / Just a kiss on the lips / And I was on my knees. / I'm waitin' give me." I love Rock N' Roll this song is, and it captures the mentality of dirty bad boy Rock so perfectly. This is a crank it up tune for me the whole way through.

I enjoy Come Around, but at this point I'm a little annoyed about having the album slow down yet again. Just when you get a good groove on, it brings you right back down again.

Take It Or Leave It is a pretty basic high speed album filler. I'm not overly impressed with this one, and it might be the one song I would have left off the album.

While Lazy Gun is a slower song, it's such a cool sounding one. It's got groove, it's got swagger, and it has a really nifty slinking vibe to it, and a cool mellow juxtaposition that helps break up all the fun naughtiness. I also totally find the lyrics mesmerizing in the mix. This song has one of my favourite vocal deliveries on this album. "Lazy Gun messed up my television yeah / You get no Younger from those colours in your hair / Teach your kids how they're all young enough to fight / Talk about the answer / Tell them they're alright / Change Nothing / Futures in / Close the door / Wear a name / Be the same / Take some more / Lazy gun messed up my television fun / Shoot the shotgun but the war is never won / Who's the enemy, who's sucking on my sun? / I'm the only one left now you've taken all my fun / Change Nothing / Futures in / Close the door / Wear a name / Be the same / Take some more / Change Nothing / Futures in / Close the door / Wear a name / Be the same / Take some more".

For all my bitching about the slower songs on this album, Timothy is the only song that makes me question Cold Hard Bitch being my favourite track on this album. Even though it follows Lazy Gun which finishes on a mellower note, and I've bitched before about how too many slower songs follow slower songs, these two tracks complete out the album perfectly for me. The simple mellow vibe or the instruments mixed with the lyrics are perfect to me. "Timothy, I took your place / Timothy, cause it's such a waste / Timothy, we found your spaceship / Timothy, it's the farthest you've ever flown / Never used your head / To find out what this whole thing meant / It's not what it seems / But it is / Timothy where have you been? / Timothy where have you been? / Timothy, where did you go? / Timothy, the boy can throw / Timothy, we found your spaceship / Timothy, did it hurt when you hit the ground / Never used your legs / To walk Round in this whole big mess / It's not what it seems / But it is / Timothy where have you been / She cried in the kitchen / To let you go / Timothy where have you been / Missed your photo / Missed your birthday too / Missed your photo / It's not what is seems / But it is / Timothy where have you been / She cried in the kitchen / To let you go / Timothy where have you been / Missed your photo / Missed your birthday too / Missed your photo / Missed your birthday too". There something that just grabs me and holds my heart so hard with this song and it has since the first time I heard the song. Oddly, I ended up with a cat a couple years after this album came out who's name was already Timmy , and had been for a few years. Since he needs a full name when he's being yelled out he's often referred to as Timothy, and I've sang this song to him once or twice over the years just for that reason. This is just great track and a super way to close out the album.

I know it sounds like I don't like this album in a lot of ways, but I really do enjoy it. I enjoy most of these songs when they are mixed in with 24 other discs on random, and if I were if I were in my mid teens this would probably act as a make-out, try and get to at least third base, album. It would work, like a classic Stones or Doors album.

As for that list of how I think the tracks should have gone.

1. Last Chance 1:52
2. Rollover DJ 3:17
3. Come Around Again 4:30
4. Move On 4:21
5. Are You Gonna Be My Girl 3:34
6. Radio Song 4:32
7. Get Me Outta Here 2:56
8. Look What You've Done 3:50
9. Get What You Need 4:08
10. Cold Hard Bitch 4:03
11. Lazy Gun 4:42
12. Timothy 4:32

8/10 - content

8/10 - production

7/10 - personal bias

Scorpions - Crazy World

This was the album that introduced me to the Scoprions, and of course, it was my dad that had this album first. He had the cassette and when I got my first CD player it was one of the early discs that I bought. Though I haven't listen to it much in the last decade, I still love throwing it on, and sitting back to enjoy. This is a great "Summer night" kind of album.

However, there is a depth to this album I find astounding. In retrospect this album could be considered a bit cliche of the Metal music at the time, but this is on the high end. Keith Olsen along with the Scorpions produced a mighty fine album.

Tease Me Please Me opens the album, and it's a great opener. It has an actual build up that leads to a smoothe quick, fun and totally enjoyable tune that's a little Popish, and a little cookie cutter, but it's really good. This is stripper music, when stripper music is good.

I often forget about Don't Believe Her, it's not a track I ever think of when I think of this album. When it first starts up I'm asking "Why don't I remember this song? Then when it hits the chorus I understand. It has a great dark vibe to it through out the entire song, but the chorus sounds way too singable and upbeat.

I don't mind To Be With You In Heaven. This is a nice track that is both boy and girl friendly. My only complaint is the drums sound electronic. Almost like they were programmed in Cakewalk.

If youg know one song from Scorpions, it's most likely Rock You Like A Hurricane. However, there's a chance you may know Wind Of Change instead. If this is the only song from this German band, that you like I guess you can be forgiven as well. It's a damn fine song, and it's a mighty beautiful song to see and hear live. On this album it's just fantastic and captures a place and time in history that you never have to know about to enjoy or experience this song to it's fullest. "I follow the Moskva / Down to Gorky Park / Listening to the wind of change / An August summer night / Soldiers passing by / Listening to the wind of change / The world is closing in / Did you ever think / That we could be so close, like brothers / The future's in the air / I can feel it everywhere / Blowing with the wind of change / Take me to the magic of the moment / On a glory night / Where the children of tomorrow dream away / in the wind of change / Walking down the street / Distant memories / Are buried in the past forever / I follow the Moskva / Down to Gorky Park / Listening to the wind of change / Take me to the magic of the moment / On a glory night / Where the children of tomorrow share their dreams / With you and me / Take me to the magic of the moment / On a glory night / Where the children of tomorrow dream away / in the wind of change / The wind of change / Blows straight into the face of time / Like a stormwind that will ring the freedom bell / For peace of mind / Let your balalaika sing / What my guitar wants to say / Take me to the magic of the moment / On a glory night / Where the children of tomorrow share their dreams / With you and me / Take me to the magic of the moment / On a glory night / Where the children of tomorrow dream away / in the wind of change".

It's the dark and slithery vibe to the track that makes it sound so pefectly naughty and enjoyable when Restless Nights comes on. Except it has the same problem as To be With You In Heaven, the chorus is too upbeat compared to the rest, though not as bad in this case.

Of all the songs on this album the one that comes across the most as an album filler to me is Lust Or Love. While I had an issue with the last track and the second track on this album, so far, I find this song the most boring . It does have a nice stready and regular beat that's good for driving. Actually this album the whole way around is a good driving album.

Speaking of driving tunes, Kicks After Six, sounds like a fantastic chase track, with lyrics that are meant for good girls that like high speed driving too. It's not a very deep song by any stretch, but the guitars are totally killer on this track. "Late at night when you're all alone / Take a ride to the danger zone / If someone wants to cut you down to size / You never argue with a loaded .45 / Just when you've had enough / It's really getting tough / I'm ready for that hit between the eyes / Someone get me out of here alive / I'm ready for that hit between the eyes / Can't you see I'm much too young to die / You can feel the tension in the street / There's no escape, getting closer to the heat / You play with fire, get your fingers burned / It's too late, past the point of no return / Just when you've had enough / It's really getting tough / I'm ready for that hit between the eyes / Someone get me out of here alive / I'm ready for that hit between the eyes / Can't you see I'm much too young to die / Late at night when you're all alone / Take a ride to the danger zone / If someone wants to cut you down to size / You never argue with a loaded .45 / Just when you've had enough / It's really getting tough / I'm ready for that hit between the eyes / Someone get me out of here alive / I'm ready for that hit between the eyes / Can't you see I'm much too young to die / I'm ready for that hit between the eyes / Someone get me out of here alive / I'm ready for that hit between the eyes / Can't you see I'm much too young to die". I know those words aren't very deep, but they became implanted in my mind when I heard Hit Between The Eyes for the first time in a movie called Freejack. I fell in love with this song, even though it's totally cookie cutter, high speed, high octane, and full throttle adrenaline. I mean this one is bitching.

I like the come down of Money And Fame, it works really well and has a totally badass side to it. It's on this track they get the, what I will call, the "Restless Night formula" right. You could easily interchange those lyrics into this song's music and it would work perfectly, and be an even better song. Oh yeah, this song has a talk box, and I love talk box when it's done right. It's so totally awesome and well done.

I really like the way Crazy World is done. I mean it's pretty stock sounding for Metal of the time, but since I knew this before any of that other predictable stuff, I find this one real cool and fun. Also the guitars really drive it home in this one. I decided to grab the review I wrote for Send Me An Angel in a previous best of review I did. However I modified it a little bit, because it's on a different album this time.

The album ends with Send Me An Angel. I normally wouldn't bitch about this song. I love it on the Crazy World album. The lyrical content is once again something that just totally draws me in. "The wise man said just walk this way / To the dawn of the light / The wind will blow into your face / As the years pass you by / Hear this voice from deep inside / It's the call of your heart / Close your eyes and your will find / The passage out of the dark / Here I am / Will you send me an angel / Here I am / In the land of the morning star / The wise man said just find your place / In the eye of the storm / Seek the roses along the way / Just beware of the thorns / Here I am / Will you send me an angel / Here I am / In the land of the morning star / The wise man said just raise your hand / And reach out for the spell / Find the door to the promised land / Just believe in yourself / Hear this voice from deep inside / It's the call of your heart / Close your eyes and your will find / The way out of the dark / Here I am / Will you send me an angel / Here I am / In the land of the morning star / Here I am / Will you send me an angel / Here I am / In the land of the morning star". I know people think this song is about worshipping Satan, but I think it's about needing an angel to help guide the subject of the song out of Satan's land. Telling the person to close their eyes and just follow the Angel, ignoring everything in the world controlled by Satan. But that's just my view.

If I were doing a road trip tomorrow this album would be in the collection of albums I brought with. When I grab this album and throw it on I enjoy pretty much every moment of it. It really is a shining example of music of it's time.

7/10 - content

7/10 - production

8/10 - personal bias

Alice Cooper - From The Inside

I like Alice Cooper. If you've ever read any of my past reviews you will know that. I'm sure in one or two different reviews I've said he's my ultimate "Rock God". Now mix that with Elton John's lyricist for all the great classic songs, Bernie Taupin, and you get one hell of a combo, then top that off with Dick Wagner also co-writing over half the songs, and a couple of other top notch musicians helping round out the mix, and it's all very exciting. Oh yeah, let's make the concept album about a bunch of people in a psych ward and I'm totally in heaven. This is Rock Opera that never had the chance to be the spectacle it should have been.

Let me start by saying that I love this album for the same reason I love Alice In Wonderland. I love when people are mad. I mean truly mad in the most pure sense of the word. It's the same reason I enjoy such pleasure from Salvador Dali and Dr. Suess. Life is so much more interesting when you make it just a bit madder.

The album opens with the title track. This song sets up the story for the album and let's you know why Alice is in the insane asylum. "I got lost on the road somewhere / Was it Texas or was it Canada / Drinking whiskey in the morning light / I work the stage all night long / At first we laughed about it / My long haired drunken friends / Proposed a toast to Jimmy's ghost / I never dreamed that I would wind up on the losing end / I'm stuck here on the inside looking out / I'm just another case / Where's my makeup where's my face on the inside / All got your kicks from what you saw up there / Eight bucks even buys a folding chair / I was downing seagrams on another flight / And I worked that stage all night long / You were screaming for the villain up there / And I was much obliged / The old road sure screwed me good this time / It's hard to see where the vicious circle ends / I'm stuck here on the inside looking out / That's no big disgrace / Where's my makeup where's my face on the inside". That last bit repeats for effect. Over all it's a really good set up for an album that only keeps getting wilder and weirder, and clearly a lot crazier.

Then it's on to Wish I Was Born In Beverly Hills. This song is just as relevant today as it was 35 years ago. I mean when you read the lyrical content you can picture Paris Hilton, or Britney Spears, or any other little lost drunken soul that was broken because they want to be, for the fun of it. "She looked so sleek and sassy / Rolling down Rodeo Drive / She got her daddy's black Corniche / And her tennis pro by her side / And she wants her mother's lover / To exercise her skill / And if she don't score him fast / She knows that her brother will / Oh I wish I were born in Beverly Hills / I swear I couldn't drink half as much as she spills / I want to live it up get my kicks and thrills / Be a gigolo lover and send her the bills / She says that she's an actress / Just never got a part / Now she's a teenage mess / With a burned out Gucci heart / She cracked one day at Cartier / When things came to a head / They put her trinkets away / And wrapped her up instead / Oh I wish I were born in Beverly Hills / I swear I couldn't drink half as much as she spills / I want to live it up get my kicks and thrills / Be a gigolo lover and send her the bills / She bit like a dog and she screamed like hell / "You ain't taking me to no padded cell / You better take all your hands off my high priced tail" / Oh I wish I were born in Beverly Hills / I swear I couldn't drink half as much as she spills / I want to live it up get my kicks and thrills / Be a gigolo lover and send her the bills".

The album takes a softer twist when it get's to The Quiet Room. Andria comes into the room as I'm working on the review and says, "Hey, this could pass for Barry Manilow." She's not wrong, but she's sure as fuck not right either. Damn Barry Manilow, being a talented writer that is able to mimic Alice Cooper's styles so easy. (I'm not going to defend or support any part of that last sentence and claim it's all bullshit the whole way around.)

Next up is one of the sexiest songs I have ever heard. I mean musically it's all kinds of naughty, but then it's the lyrics that really grab you. "I'm a shepherd for the pentecost / I got my scriptures and my wires crossed / I got no kids and I got no home / They want us holy men to live alone / Since I've been here for a little stay / I see Rozetta day by day / She turns my head makes me cough / I want to tear my collar off / I just can't sleep at night / Rozetta dressed in white / She's got the Devil's light / Shining in her eyes / Screamed my sermon damning sin and vice / When underneath I was a regular guy / My pulpit melted like a block of ice / When a bolt of lightning hit me from the sky / From my stretcher when they wheeled me in / I stared directly in the eyes of sin / Nurse Rozetta standing over me / And I was helpless as a man of God could be / Nurse Rozetta I won't let her / Catch me peering down her sweater / Fantasizing silk suspender on her thighs / Nurse Rozetta make me better / Secretly my eyes undress her / Let me feel your tongue depressor / I'm suddenly twice my size / My pants are all wet inside / She's so creative with a bar of soap / And so inventive with a stethoscope / To check my pulse she gotta hold my hand / I blow the fuse on the encephalogram / Satan sent her from the bowels of hell / I should have recognized old Jezbel / I surrendered to the urges felt / She popped the buckle on my bible belt / I just can't sleep at night / Rozetta dressed in white / She's got the Devil's light / Shining in her eyes / I'd lick her nylon seams / Like a hungry cat with cream / Oh what a vivid scene / And I can't hold back no more ". Was it wise for my parents to let this song be my introduction into sexual fantasy? Sure why not. Really the song is honest, true, and only a little dirty. This is the type of song that reminds you why Alice was the master of the concept album. It's a madman's fantasy that any sane man and some women could totally appreciate.

Normally I'm not into duets, and especially if they are ballads. I mean there's the odd one I don't mind, but there's only ever been two that come to mind, and only one of them is an Alice track. Millie and Billie is one of the best sick and twisted stories of love you can imagine. I mean a ballad of two lunatics singing to each other about the violence they committed against their respective partners so they could be together. It's wonderfly deranged. Also a great way to finish the first side of the original album.

I think listening to this record on compact disc loses some of the appeal, and not because of the vinyl versus digital argument. I think it suffers from the loss of that small break that creates a sensation of Act I and Act II.

The second half of the album opens with Serious. This is a great upbeat number and the perfect way to kick off the second half of the album. Other than that, there's not too much to say about the song. It helps keep the flow of reminding you why Alice is in the asylum.

The Quiet Room was a softer song, which I've covered already. It's not bad. Millie And Billie is a great piece of love and romance, from a lunatic's point of view. Then when you hit How You Gonna See Me Now, you are hit with a major case of serious introspection and reflection. However, from my point of view this is just another Alice Cooper ballad that's on the album purely for the ladies. This is a song meant to pull at the heart strings, in the most cliche way they can that still works within the confines of the album.

The album takes a major upswing when it moves on to For Veronica's Sake. This would be the joke song of the album, is you pay attention to the lyrics. I mean really? The guy's locked up in the "psycho ward" and all he can do is think about getting out of there for Veronica's sake, because they will gas his dog if he doesn't get there soon. It's the story of a boy and his dog, set to a great rock beat. It's the kind of song you can really get behind, and has no real bad or sick thoughts behind it.

Jackknife Johnny is a really slow number. This is a ballad in the truest sense of a ballad. This is one of those songs that when you are young you get it, but not totally. As a kid that grew up as part of a generation that saw very little of war with the exception of anything post 9/11, it was hard to imagine this really happening outside of movies. "From his army confessions of his military days / You still carry the shrapnel you're shell-shocked and dazed / Dear Johnny have you lost your way / Or like denim and leather are you faded and frayed / Institute lackies with hot bourbon breath / White coats and needles Johnny like to scare you to death / Dear Johnny do you feel your best / When you're strung out at night on your morphine and meth / Jackknife Johnny you're a floor moppin' flunkie / Tool of a dagger's drawn world / Jackknife Johnny them old vets gotta hate you / For bringing home that V.C. girl / Jackknife Johnny welcome to our world / From the tone deaf hearing of the draft board game / You were washing cars down in Dallas when the holocaust came / Dear Johnny your excuse was lame / All your friends sleep in boxes while you sleep in chains / Jackknife Johnny you're a bad jungle monkey / Tool of a dagger's drawn world / Jackknife Johnny them old vets gotta hate you / For bringing home that V.C. girl / Jackknife Johnny welcome to our world / Jackknife Johnny you're a floor moppin' flunkie / Tool of a dagger's drawn world / Jackknife Johnny them old vets gotta hate you / For bringing home that V.C. girl / Jackknife Johnny welcome to our world / Jackknife Johnny you're a bad jungle monkey / Tool of a dagger's drawn world / Jackknife Johnny them old vets gotta hate you / For bringing home that V.C. girl / Jackknife Johnny ". Now a days, it brings home images of so many shattered minds, because killing isn't easy.

When you finish an album, you are supposed to end it with a song that feels huge, massive, grandiose and epic. That song should cap off the album in a way that not only feels complete and magnificent, but it should leave you screaming and begging for more. Inmates (We're All Crazy) taught me that. This is a complex performance piece that brings this Rock Opera to a great dramatic close. "It's not like we did something wrong / We just burned down the church / While the choir within sang religious songs / And it's not like we thought we was right / We just played with the wheels of a passenger train / That cracked on the tracks one night / It's not like we ain't on the ball / We just talk to our shrinks / Huh they talk to their shrinks / No wonder we're up the wall / We're not stupid or dumb / We're the lunatic fringe who rusted the hinge / On Uncle Sam's daughters and sons / Good old boys and girls / Congregating waiting in another world / With roller coaster brains / Imagine playing with trains / Good old boys and girls / Congregating waiting in some other world / We're all crazy we're all crazy we're all crazy / Lizzy Borden took an axe and gave her mother forty whacks / And don't think we're trying to be bad / All the innocent crime seemed alright at the time / Not necessarily mad not necessarily mad / We watch every day for the bus / And the driver would say / "That's where lunatics stay" / I wonder if he's talking about us / It's not like we're vicious or gone / We just dug up the graves where your relatives lay / In old forest lawn / And it's not like we don't know the score / We're the fragile elite they dragged off the street / I guess they just couldn't take us no more / Good old boys and girls / Congregating waiting in another world / With roller coaster brains / Imagine digging up graves / Good old boys and girls / Congregating waiting in some other world / We're all crazy we're all crazy we're all crazy we're all crazy / We're all crazy we're all crazy we're all crazy we're all crazy / We're all crazy ". This is one of those songs that helped show me that madness is haunting, scary, beautiful, and so thrilling. I love a huge chorus singing "we're all crazy." It makes the world sound honest. This song is also a great marvel or production as well.

By the time this album ends I remember why it's one of my favourites. The only song on the album I ever skip is How You Gonna See Me Now. The only other song I have little to no use for is Serious, which is still a great song all the same. Other than that, every other song on this album seems like amazingly crafted pieces about life on the inside. My only real complaint about the album is there's too much keyboard. It sounds good, but I like later live renditions that are more guitar heavy instead. Nurse Rozetta in particular comes to mind when I say that.

If you don't own this album, I think you should. It's very rare I push albums just on lyrical content, but this is one of the ones I would really stand behind for that reason. Musically, it's a Rock Opera, so it's full and lavish and lush, and has great arrangements and compositions. I really would love to hear the original master tapes totally remastered with today's technology to really bring this album new life in the modern age.

8/10 - content

8/10 - production

10/10 - personal bias