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List Price: $17.98 | | Label: New West Records
Salesrank: 61600
Released: August 2, 2005 |
| Our Price: $9.60 |
| Used Price: $4.18 |
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| Media: Audio CD |
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Dirty Diamonds Track Listing:
1. Woman Of Mass Distraction
2. Perfect
3. You Make Me Wanna
4. Dirty Diamonds
5. The Saga Of Jesse Jane
6. Sunset Babies ( All Got Rabies )
7. Pretty Ballerina
8. Run Down The Devil
9. Steal That Car
10. Six Hours
11. Own Worst Enemy
12. Zombie Dance
13. Stand
Editorial Review:
You’d think Alice Cooper’s demons would’ve been conquered by now—or maybe locked in a cage and fed undercooked meat. But the man who changed the course of rock music in the ‘70s with bloody guillotines, sparking electric chairs, slimy boa constrictors, and a little blood and eyeliner still has more to slay in 2005.
Description of Dirty Diamonds:
Although he never really left, it only felt that way because much of Alice Cooper’s 80s and 90s output has been, to be kind, forgettable. Hard rock fans were put off by the turn towards frigid techno and all but gone by Cooper’s slash and burn metal years.
2005’s return to the stinging hard rock that put him on the map is a welcome look back in anger. Kicking off with the gritty, driving guitars and snappy lyrical twists of "Woman of Mass Distraction," Cooper’s sleazy voice sounds as robust and distinctive as it did three decades ago. Riff happy nitroburners such as "Steal that Car," "Your Own Worst Enemy" and especially the "Under My Wheels" licks of "You Make Me Wanna" show that Cooper, now pushing 60, still has plenty of gas in the tank. A lovely, entirely non-ironic cover of The Left Banke’s "Pretty Ballerina," complete with harpsichord and string section, proves that Cooper hasn’t lost his touch with "Only Woman Bleed" style ballads either.
Dirty Diamonds, with it’s unnecessary nod to hip-hop ("Stand") and weak stab at country ("The Saga of Jesse Jane"), won’t knock classics such as School’s Out, Billion Dollar Babies and Love it to Death from their well-deserved perch as archetypal blueprints of Cooper’s Halloween-styled gutsy rocking. Yet, at its best, the raw guitars and tightly arranged songs refreshingly recapture the brash attack and dark humor of his glory years. --Hal Horowitz
Recommended Alice Cooper
Killers
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Love it to Death
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School's Out
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Billion Dollar Babies
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Welcome to My Nightmare
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Flush the Fashion
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Dirty Diamonds Reviews:
Thought I would hate this album... 
2009-05-14 - Just picked this up and the first two songs on the album were horrible in my opinion. After that though, the album rules right up to the last track. If the first two songs had been left off the album, I'd have given this a perfect 5 star rating. The album is worth owning for "The Ballad Of Jesse Jane" alone.
Back in Flack...
2009-02-24 - All the praise offered by all the other reviews of this product is well earned by Cooper's Dirty Diamonds. There's something admirable about releasing a 70s album in 2005; something mildly incredible about releasing a -good- 70s album in 2005, one that's comparable to his work from the 70s with its sarcastically humorous lyrics and driving, straight up rock and roll; and something inspiring about a 61 year old man acting, dressing, and rocking like an 18 year old. Dirty Diamond is the hot red sports car and dumb blonde bimbo of Alice Cooper's later albums; like both, it's a lot of fun, entertaining to watch (well, listen to), completely shameless, and best if not taken too seriously. Any Cooper fan should love this album, as should anyone of any age who likes 70s rock and roll from times you could be transgressive without being deadly serious or taking yourself so seriously.
The best thing I can say about this album is that I just finished listening to it and now just started listening to it again. That -never- happens.
Great new, heavy release
2008-01-17 - I always enjoy Alice Cooper's newer material for the fact that they have more crunch. This album is heavy and Alice, once again, has great musicians playing for him.
Coop's best album in years
2007-01-12 - Simply put, this is easily Alice Cooper's best studio album since "From The Inside". It combines all the classic elements of vintage Cooper, both original band and solo Alice, most importantly, the songwriting and performances are top notch all the way-Alice's voice is in phenomenal shape, he sounds amazing for his age. Just tracks 1 thru 7 are so good, that alone makes this worth buying. After that, the quality drops off just a bit with "Run Down The Devil", but comes roaring back with the ultra-catchy "Your Own Worst Enemy" - a concise tune with hilarious lyrics and a great riff. This Cooper album has some killer "classic rock" guitar riffs! Highlights are the Keith Richards/Stones style riff-rocker "Sunset Babies", the dog chasing-it's-tail riff on "Steal That Car"- which Alice and band deliver with full on, GARAGE RAWK power, the T-REX swagger of "Perfect" (again with funny American "Idle" parody lyrics), the theatrical James Bond theme meets Black Sabbath title track, hard as nails stomper, "Woman Of Mass Distraction", and the surprisingly effective cover of The Left Banke's "Pretty Ballerina". "You Make Me Wanna" is a fun rockin' romp as well, with a great sing-a-long chorus. I also like all the tambourine, and added percussion on most of these tracks-it gives it a vintage feel to it, like the Stones and The Beatles records had. Deep tracks "Zombie Dance" and "Six Hours" feature Alice on the harmonica as well, recalling the Love It To Death record.
If you want to check out some recent Alice Cooper, start here-with "Dirty Diamonds"-chock full of gems.
Not As Good As Eyes 
2006-12-18 - "Diamonds" follows in the footsteps of the previous disc "Eyes Of Alice Cooper". The Coop goes for a sound very similar to the original Alice Cooper band with a straight ahead rock n roll format with plenty of grungy guitar, heavy drums and very few keyboards. Unfortunately the material here is not that strong for the most part. Maybe its just me, but I feel like the lyrics are somewhat "dumbed down" from the high standards Cooper is famous for. Songs like "Woman Of Mass Distraction", "Steal That Car", "Perfect", "You Make Me Wanna", "Sunset Babies" are just very average rock nr roll with lyrics that just don't work that well. The music is all solid hard rock, but again there is not a lot that really stands out aside from a few great guitar solos here and there from Ryan Roxie. On the other hand there are a few diamonds in the rough to be found on the disc. For the first time in over a decade Cooper writes a transvestite song. "The Saga Of Jesse Jane" is a hilarious country ballad about a cross dressing truck driver who gets arrested while wearing a wedding dress. Yea, Cooper has been down this road before, but he can still pull off material like this that can't help but leave a smile on your face. The title track "Dirty Diamonds" is a great rocker with a chorus that won't leave your mind. "Six Hours" is a good ballad and "Zombie Dance" is another good comment on society. Cooper covered this territory before too, but "Zombie Dance" sounds fresh and energized. Alice even tries to tackle hip hop with the rap laden "Stand". Although I am not a fan of the genre, Cooper actually pulls it off quite well and I like the song. Overall I don't think this album is quite as good as "Eyes", but it does have its moments. Fans of early Alice Cooper band might really eat this up.
