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List Price: $5.98 | | Label: Rhino Flashback
Salesrank: 10913
Released: November 11, 2008 |
| Our Price: $3.04 |
| Used Price: $4.06 |
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| Media: Audio CD |
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School's Out Track Listing:
1. School's Out - Alice Cooper, Bruce, Michael
2. Luney Tune - Alice Cooper, Cooper, Alice
3. Gutter Cat vs. The Jets - Alice Cooper, Bernstein, Leonard
4. Street Fight - Alice Cooper, Bruce, Michael
5. Blue Turk - Alice Cooper, Bruce, Michael
6. My Stars - Alice Cooper, Cooper, Alice
7. Public Animal #9 - Alice Cooper, Bruce, Michael
8. Alma Mater - Alice Cooper, Smith, Neal [1]
9. Grande Finale - Alice Cooper, Bernstein, Elmer
Editorial Review:
Great collection at a great price.
Description of School's Out:
Alice Cooper used to claim he wrote entire albums worth of lyrics in an afternoon with the TV on. True or not, whatever led to moments of ultraclarity such as "We got no class / And we got no principles / And we got no innocence / We can't even think of a word that rhymes" should be bottled and force-fed to Marilyn Manson. School's Out (1972) is where Cooper's show-biz tendencies first fully flowered--"Gutter Cat Versus the Jets" more than nods to West Side Story and "Grande Finale" sounds like the band was trying to ace Elmer Bernstein out of a gig--but it also rocks hard, and most of the ambition-laden stuff (especially the epic "My Stars") really does work. Nasty and grande as they wanted to be. --Rickey Wright
School's Out Reviews:
Alice's Best 
2008-08-11 - Alice's best and most consistent album. The hit title track only scratches the surface, the rest hold up to that standard. I would speculate that the reason only the hit single appears on Alice's best of's is that this album is itself a best of, and should appear alongside any Greatest Hits that might be in your collection.
If you're downloading mp3s, the only track I'd leave behind would be the Grand Finale. It's an instrumental summary of all the songs on the album suited for filling out the last track on the album without breaking the theme of the album.
I'd download the other eight tracks en masse but if you're looking to test the water with a few tracks start with Blue Turk, Luney Tune, and Gutter Cat. Follow up with My Stars and round out with the remaining tracks. Street Fight isn't a song per se, but Gutter Cat just doesn't sound complete without it.
classic Alice
2008-07-12 - Most people probably want School's Out because of the popular title song, but little do most people realize this is one of Cooper's most consistent albums. The best songs on the album are the best songs he ever made, such as "My Stars", which sounds like some kind of crazy drug trip, "Luney Tune" with its classic glam rock style that Alice was exceptionally good at (and a really good pleasant middle section along with some *fantastic* guitar playing), and "Alma Mater", which sounds like something Paul McCartney was doing around the time Let It Be was made. Just listen to the way Alice's vocals sound!
"Grande Finale" reminds me of James Bond, someone I was never really a fan of (or the movies) but a great instrumental nonetheless. It's probably his best album, but then again, he had a few other really good albums in the early 70's as well.
Good Songwriting 
2008-02-26 - Alice Cooper's dramatic side really comes to the fore in 1972's School's Out. But, aside from the title track, which might just be Cooper's most famous effort, this album is largely unplayed on classic rock radio.
"Luney Tune" is classic Cooper, for certain. The band combines strong instrumental work and good vocals with interesting melodies to really create a great sound, while "Gutter Cat vs. The Jets" has an eerie, almost Eastern vibe, in that Zeppelin-esque way, and strikes the most obvious comparisons with West Side Story. "Blue Turk," with its jazzy feel, is another album highlight, and it really showcases the varied talents of the band, as they pull off different styles with ease.
And that's just the first half. The second half of the album is knockout track after knockout track, with "My Stars," "Public Animal #9," and "Alma Mater," which really carry the second half of the album and make this a great record. "Grande Finale" is a bit weak, as a closer, but after three standout tracks, it's forgivable.
In truth, the first time I heard this album, front to back, I wasn't too crazy about it. I found it a little too gimmicky, and relatively weak, compared to the Alice Cooper group's other big albums (the masterpiece Love It to Death, the near masterpiece Killer, and the also strong Billion Dollar Babies). I still find it the weakest of these "big four," but it isn't weak, overall. The quality of the musicianship, performance, and songwriting has won me over on this one.
Classic Cooper
2008-01-10 - I love the West Side Story connection in the lyrics of the songs from SCHOOL'S OUT. This is classic material from one of the best.
Demented and wonderful!
2007-09-25 - This is a clever album. You gotta give ACG credit for that much. It's also a very good album. I assume you've heard the hard-rock hit title track, but that's only one of the album's many fantastic songs - others include the bombastic rockers "Luney Tune" and "My Stars" (love the guitar solo!), as well as the sinister cabaret of "Blue Turk". And there are a lot of little things that add to the album's demented charm, like the incorporation of the West Side Story Jets theme ("Gutter Cat vs. the Jets"), a screwy children's choir on the title track; and horns and strings on "Grand Finale" (which also uses the Jets; theme), "Blue Turk", "Luney Tune" and "My Stars". Make no mistake, it's way over-the-top, but in a good way. Oh yeah, there's supposed to be a concept to this thingy too, about a kid's misadventures at school or something. There are some bits that irk me, like the sound collage "Street Fight", the hideous "Alma Mater", and "Public Animal #9", but this could very well be their best after Killer.
