Alice Cooper - Welcome To My Nightmare: Special Edition review

Dream evil

Cover art for Alice Cooper - Welcome To My Nightmare: Special Edition

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As far as career landmarks go, Welcome To My Nightmare remains one of the best things Alice Cooper has ever done, the cunning combination of shock-rock and Broadway pizzazz spawning a classic with plenty of theatrical potential.

The 1976 Welcome To My Nightmare concert film, shot in London, is a bit of a cult favourite, capturing a show perfectly tuned to insidiously slipping Cold Ethyl, Steven and Devil’s Food further into the mainstream. What makes this Special Edition really worthwhile, though, is the inclusion of 1975’s rarely seen Alice Cooper: The Nightmare TV special on DVD for the first time. Featuring Vincent Price camping it up like a champion as the spirit of the nightmare and leading Alice around on a leash before The Black Widow, this every-expense-spared dip into the horror dressing up box looks deliciously cheap, but delivers the entire album plus a nifty version of the Ballad Of Dwight Fry. Tacky but brilliant fun.

Essi Berelian

Whether it’s magazines, books or online, Essi has been writing about rock ’n’ metal for around thirty years. He has been reviews editor for Classic Rock and Metal Hammer, rock reviews editor for lads mag Front and worked for Kerrang!. He has also written the Rough Guide to Heavy Metal and contributed to the Rough Guide to Rock and Rough Guide Book of Playlists, and the Guinness Book of British Hit Singles (13th edition). Most fun interview? Tenacious D – Jack Black and Kyle Gass – for The Pick of Destiny movie book. An avid record/CD/tape collector, he’s amassed more music than he could ever possibly listen to, which annoys his wife no end.