Alice Cooper wasted little time following up the breakthrough success of Love It to Death with another album released the same year, Killer. Again, producer Bob Ezrin was on board and helps the group solidify their heavy rock (yet wide-ranging) style even further. The band's stage show dealt with the macabre, and such disturbing tracks as "Dead Babies" and the title track fit in perfectly. Other songs were even more exceptional, such as the perennial barnstorming concert standard "Under My Wheels," the melodic yet gritty "Be My Lover," and the tribute to their fallen friend Jim Morrison, "Desperado." The long and winding "Halo of Flies" correctly hinted that the band would be tackling more complex song structures on future albums, while "You Drive Me Nervous" and "Yeah, Yeah, Yeah" showed that Alice Cooper hadn't completely abandoned their early garage rock direction. With Killer, they became one of the world's top rock bands and concert attractions; it rewarded them as being among the most notorious and misunderstood entertainers, thoroughly despised by grownups. ~ Greg Prato, All Music Guide
Alice Cooper (Vocals), Alice Cooper (Main Performer), Alice Cooper (Design), Alice Cooper (Cover Design), Michael Bruce (Guitar), Michael Bruce (Keyboards), Glen Buxton (Guitar), Bobby Christian (Engineer), Brian Christian (Engineer), Dennis Dunaway (Bass), Bob Ezrin (Keyboards), Bob Ezrin (Vocals), Bob Ezrin (Producer), Bob Ezrin (Horn Arrangements), Bob Ezrin (String Arrangements), Randy Kling (Mastering), Jack Richardson (Executive Producer), Neal Smith (Drums), Joe Lopes (Assistant Engineer), Joe Lopes (Recording Technician), Randy King (Mastering), Pete Turner (Photography), Bob Wynne (Repackaging), Steve Hoffman (Mastering), Ernie Campagna (Production Coordination)
Cooper said in the liner notes of Fistful of Alice and also on In the Studio with Redbeard, which spotlighted the Killer and Love it to Death albums, that the song "Desperado" was written about his friend Jim Morrison who died the same year this album was released. According to an NPR radio interview with Alice Cooper, "Desperado" was written about Robert Vaughn's character from the movie The Magnificent Seven. "Halo of Flies" was, according to Cooper's liner notes in the compilation The Definitive Alice Cooper, an attempt by the band to prove that they could perform King Crimson-like progressive rock suites, and was supposedly about a SMERSH-like organisation. "Desperado" , along with "Under My Wheels" and "Be My Lover" have appeared on different compilation albums by Cooper. The song "Dead Babies" stirred up some controversy following the album's release, despite the fact that its lyrics conveyed an "anti-child abuse" message.
