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List Price: $18.96 | | Label: Rhino / Wea
Salesrank: 6255
Released: February 6, 2001 |
| Our Price: $10.71 |
| Used Price: $7.24 |
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| Media: Audio CD |
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Billion Dollar Babies Track Listing:
1. Hello Hooray
2. Raped and Freezin'
3. Elected
4. Billion Dollar Babies
5. Unfinished Sweet
6. No More Mr. Nice Guy
7. Generation Landslide
8. Sick Things
9. Mary Ann
10. I Love the Dead
Editorial Review:
This set features 3 discs entitled: Billion Dollar Babies, School's Out and Killer. 27 total tracks. Warner.
Description of Billion Dollar Babies:
The original Alice Cooper band was one of the finest hard-rock units of the early '70s, which is why the second disc of this remastered version of Billion Dollar Babies is such a treat. Eleven bonus tracks from the band's 1973 tour display the Cooper band's taste for pop-culture--and a sense of humor, as Alice quotes from Don McLean's "American Pie" on a wonderful version of "I'm Eighteen," while the band delivers a ripping "Theme from Perry Mason" during an extended workout of "Unfinished Sweet." Rounded out with session outtakes, the second disc will have fans praying that Rhino unearths more live material. As for Billion Dollar Babies itself, it may not be the Cooper band's best album, but it was the final release of a quartet of extraordinary Bob Ezrin-produced hard-rock records (rounded out by Love It to Death, Killer, and School's Out), and it captures the moment when the band was at their peak. Including three hit singles in "Hello Hooray," "Elected," and "No More Mr. Nice Guy," the album--from Donovan's exciting cameo on the title track to the closing "I Love the Dead" (probably the prettiest ode to necrophilia ever recorded)--still sounds terrific. And the packaging, production, music, and imagery has inspired followers as diverse as the Sex Pistols, Marilyn Manson, and Hole. --Bill Holdship
Billion Dollar Babies Reviews:
The End Of A Great Band 
2009-11-11 - this was sadly the demise of a seminal rock band. the voice was clearly going and their sound was being produced to appeal to the masses for a marketing blitz that carries on to this day.the album killer is where we close the book on a groundbreaking act. R.I.P
billion dollar babies 
2009-08-11 - even after 35 years die-hard alice fans still argue over which alice cooper album is the best - proving that alice's music touches people on a very personal level. about the only thing they probably do agree on is that the alice cooper group belong in the rock and roll hall of fame (true) and alice the solo artist hasn't made a decent album since "welcome to my nightmare" (not true). while we all hold our breath for a long overdue reunion, we can take comfort in the fact that @61, alice still performs most of his classics on tour and with each new studio release proves that he at least still has a sense of humor.
with their sixth release, "billion dollar babies", the planets aligned as the alice cooper group reached its creative and commercial peak. it was their first (and only) #1 album with four hit singles and snakeskin wallet packaging. with bad press fueling their rock and roll machine, alice became america's favorite degenerate among teenagers and the group had the years biggest tour. even his leopard skinned boots were famous.
connected together with alice's trademark wit, "billion dollar babies" had something for everyone making it his most popular album. recorded in august of 1972, the song "elected", a reworking of "reflected" from the "pretties for you" debut, was released four months early to coincide with the nixon presidential election that november. a short film was also made for the single that appeared on the "in concert" tv program. next came the great concert opener "hello, hooray" backed with the rockin' but underrated "generation landslide". the classic "no more mr. nice guy" was next, soon to be followed by the equally great, but slightly creepy, "billion dollar babies" with its signature drums and a duet with pop star donavan.
these songs helped alice dominate the airwaves but as stated in earlier reviews, the best songs are usually the deeper cuts. the incredibly theatrical "unfinished sweet", became a concert staple for years to come, including a giant toothbrush and dancing tooth. "sick things" was an ode to the fans and the tongue-in-cheek, "i love the dead" actually topped "dead babies" for disturbing suburban housewives.
the icing on the cake though was introducing the guillotine on the "billion dollar babies" tour. alice would appear to be decapitated every night during "i love the dead" with the executioner displaying the severed head to the audience. the band beat up a president nixon look-a-like at the end of the show. flo & eddie were the opening act. -- set list: hello hooray/billion dollar babies/elected/i'm eighteen/no more mr. nice guy/my stars/raped and freezin'/unfinished sweet/sick things/dead babies/i love the dead/school's out/under my wheels/god bless america (recording)
released february 1973 it reached #1 usa and #1 uk -- singles: elected b/w luney tune (#26) - hello hooray b/w generation landslide (#35) - no more mr. nice guy b/w raped and freezin' (#25) - billion dollar babies b/w mary-ann (#57)
every alice cooper album has great songs that never made radio. it's not the hits, but the deeper cuts that are the real black beauties... blinddog pick: unfinished sweet / generation landslide / i love the dead
Bonus material not worth it 
2009-05-18 - The bonus material on the 2nd CD is not very good. Most of the live material sounds as if Alice Cooper was at the end of a long tour and Alice's voice was hoarse. I love the original album, of course, but that would have been enough. The couple of demos and non-live tracks are interesting but not good enough to justify buying the bonus package. Also, the booklet could have been better and told more about each of the album cuts, as well as the group.
Billion Dollar Babies
2008-09-29 - If you lived back then, you understood Alice Cooper. This was his best. If you nevere heard it, give it a try.
The last solid Alice Cooper album 
2008-08-11 - "Billion Dollar Babies" used to be my favorite Alice Cooper album. It's still a good showing for the band thirty some-odd years later but the shock value tracks just don't hold up as one grows up.
The title track in particular is Alice at his best. Who would have dreamed that it's hippy-dippy flower child Donovan singing those backing vocals, "We go dancing nightly in the attic...". If you've got the four tracks that appear on "Alice Cooper's Greatest Hits", download "Raped and Freezin'" and "Generation Landslide" and be done with it. The rest you can live without.
"Unfinished Sweet" made for good television back in the day when Alice was promoting the album, but the song drags on longer than it should and I skip to the next track as soon as the sound of the dentist's drill comes on. "Sick Things" made for an entertaining performance when Alice did a cameo on the 1973 prime time show, "The Snoop Sisters", but as the memory of the performance fades I find that the song again goes on too long and isn't one I care to hear again.
The two last tracks "Mary Ann" and "I Love The Dead" were where Alice decided that if his market niche was shock value, his act was coming up against the principle of diminishing returns. Since he'd already sung about dead babies, perhaps necrophilia and gender confusion would sustain his appeal among his primary audience, teenage boys. Problem is, such an approach was a business decision, an attention-getter for the marketing of Alice's image; the songs themselves are filler.
So when a band looks to its image or antics to cover for the music, it's not surprising that this was the last great Alice Cooper album. But what a run it was; the four albums "Love It To Death", "Killer", "School's Out" and "Billion Dollar Babies" put Alice Cooper on the map and are the core of any Alice Cooper collection.
