Reviewed by David Cranson

. . .and I quote: "You can take your whisky soaked, foaming at the mouth, toilet talking, pea soup spewing, sweating blood, demon breath out of my face." Alice is upset at someone. Someone not very nice. . . This is a concept album telling the story of a boy called Steven and various other beings. There's a cartoon strip intro on the liner notes, then it's on with the music. The musicians have changed but the music is of the usual high standard. Ah, but what's an Alice Cooper album doing in Cross Rhythms? Let me quote some more for you, if I may: "When the trumpets sound and his light is all around/And the saints all raise from the graves in the ground/We'll be going downtown/Way downtown" ("Nothing's Free"); "My sins are etched in stone/I got no place to hide. . . you steal another minute from my life. . . You steal a little breath from my air/And you don't care. . ." ("Stolen Prayer"); "Lord took away my shame/I learned to bite the hand/That used to pull my chain. . . We ain't on the same side. . . I can break on through. . . with just an ounce of faith. . ." ("Unholy War"); "You think I don't know who you are/A fallen star. . . I can see right through you. . . What about truth. . .light. . .sin. . .Christ. . .faith in God above. . . It's over, you have no power/You're lost/And I'm found/And I'm heaven bound/Go back where you belong/To where you fell/Go to Hell" ("Cleansed By Fire"). I don't apologise for extensive quoting. This album is extraordinary. You think of Alice Cooper and you think of guts 'n' gore 'n' lots of nasty things. The dark side, if you will. This is by no means a 'light' album - by any definition; but it is, in the end, a very positive album. It's looked at from the perspective of a person who's been taken for a ride all his life. Suddenly he realises he's been had. The truth dawns on him and he gets stuck in to the perpetrator of his downward spiral. Nowhere does he say, "I'm a Christian now!", but the tone of the album leans very definitely in that direction. Whether you take the lyrics as echoing the character Steven of Alice himself, it's clear that there has been a radical turnaround in his outlook. Let me quote one more time from "Lullaby": "Get down - back where you started/Get down - back into Hell. . . You're black hearted. . ." Well worth a listen.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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