Love It to Death

Love It to Death
Original album cover
Studio album by Alice Cooper
Released	January 12, 1971
Recorded	1970
Genre	Hard rock, heavy metal
Length	37:21
Label	Straight Warner Brothers
Producer	Bob Ezrin, Jack Richardson
Professional reviews
Allmusic link Rolling Stone (favorable) link Robert Christgau (B-) link
Alice Cooper chronology
Easy Action (1970) Love It to Death (1971) Killer (1971)

Love It to Death is a 1971 album by Alice Cooper. Hits include "Ballad of Dwight Fry", "Is It My Body", and one of Cooper's trademark songs, "I'm Eighteen". This was the album that brought the Alice Cooper band into the mainstream. Much credit is generally given to producer Bob Ezrin, cleaning up the band's sound with fresh ideas and making it more accessible, most notably on the track, 'I'm Eighteen'. It originally was a much longer song, and in more of a psychedelic vein like the band's first two albums, which contained several longer songs.

The album cover caused much controversy at the time of its release. Early pressings show Cooper's thumb sticking out of his pants, thus giving the illusion of a penis (see cover photo). This led Warner Brothers to censor it (four different versions of the front cover exist on LP). Alice Cooper's thumb along with his right arm is clearly airbrushed out on censored versions. The CD release, which hasn't been remastered as of yet, uses the most common censored LP cover for the booklet cover. In 2003, the album was ranked number 460 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. Both "Second Coming" and "Ballad of Dwight Fry" were covered by alternative rock/heavy metal band The Melvins for their album Lysol.

The first issue of the album was on Straight Records, a company created by Frank Zappa and manager Herb Cohen. By the time the album became a success it had already been re-issued by Warner Bros. Records, who had bought the Straight label from Frank Zappa.

Track listing

Side One

1. "Caught in a Dream" (Michael Bruce) – 3:10
2. "I'm Eighteen" (Alice Cooper, Glen Buxton, Bruce, Dennis Dunaway, Neal Smith) – 3:00
3. "Long Way to Go" (Bruce) – 3:04
4. "Black Juju" (Dunaway) – 9:09

Side Two

1. "Is It My Body" (Cooper, Buxton, Bruce, Dunaway, Smith) – 2:39
2. "Hallowed Be My Name" (Smith) – 2:29
3. "Second Coming" (Cooper) – 3:04
4. "Ballad of Dwight Fry" (Cooper, Bruce) – 6:33
5. "Sun Arise" (Harry Butler, Rolf Harris) – 3:50

Personnel

• Alice Cooper - Vocals
• Glen Buxton - Lead Guitar
• Michael Bruce - Rhythm Guitar, Keyboards
• Dennis Dunaway - Bass Guitar
• Neal Smith - Drums

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