For the first time on Blu-ray comes the 1974 film Good to See You Again, which documents the 1973 Alice Cooper tour in support of their popular album Billion Dollar Babies. The original theatrical release also included a bizarre and quite silly storyline where Alice and the band were starring in a very cheesy film, and quit mid-way through, trashing the set in the process, which leads to the strange German director to follow them around the country and vow to 'stop the Cooper gang'. This original version is included here, and thankfully the Blu-ray lets the viewer have the ability to watch the entire concert uninterrupted without the ridiculous story (with its bad acting) mixed in between songs.
As for the performance, it's vintage footage of the 'classic Alice Cooper Band', featuring guitarists Glen Buxton & Michael Bruce, bassist Dennis Dunaway, and drummer Neal Smith, with extra help from guitarist Mick Mashbir and keyboard player Bob Dolin. Though the quality of the film is not the greatest, and the band members are often shrouded in darkness or just not shown much (the focus is clearly on Cooper and his antics), this is without a doubt a great performance, the band firing on all cylinders and rocking hard (the three guitar army certainly helped) and Alice sounding strong and adding plenty of the early macabre theatrics. Almost the entire Billion Dollar Babies album is played here, so look for red hot renditions of the title track, "Hello, Hooray", "Elected", "Raped and Freezin'", "No More Mr. Nice Guy", "Unfinished Sweet", and the lurid "Sick Things" and "I Love the Dead", the latter probably the highlight of the set. Other favorites played include "I'm Eighteen", "My Stars", "School's Out", "Under My Wheels", and a crushing "Dead Babies", which is another major highlight. Cooper is all over the place, manhandling dolls, mannequins, swinging a giant toothbrush, wrapping a huge snake around his neck, getting his head chopped off, and other suggestive, and sometimes disturbing gestures. Shock rock at its best!
Considering the source material is now almost 40 years old, the picture quality is probably about as good as it's going to get on this high-definition presentation. Still grainy and dark throughout, but highly watchable, and the sound is quite good, so be ready to crank this one up. If you had a chance to see this one in the theaters back upon its initial release, saw the tour, had an old VHS or DVD copy, or none of the above and just want to check out the original Alice Cooper Band and see what they were all about, you'll need to have this in your collection.
Track Listing
1) Hello, Hooray
2) Billion Dollar Babies
3) Elected
4) I'm Eighteen
5) Raped and Freezin'
6) No More Mr. Nice Guy
7) My Stars
8) Unfinished Sweet
9) Sick Things
10) Dead Babies
11) I Love the Dead
12) School's Out
13) Under My Wheels
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