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earMUSICAlice Cooper‘s latest studio album, Detroit Stories, gets its release today.

The 15-track collection pays tribute to the hard-edged music of the shock rocker’s former hometown, and was recorded in the Detroit area with contributions from various local musicians, including MC5 guitarist Wayne Kramer and celebrated Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels drummer Johnny “Bee” Badanjek.

Cooper tells ABC Audio that he feels like the time was right to put out “an up album” like Detroit Stories.

“[F]or the way that the whole country is now coming out of this COVID thing, I think it’s really time to do a really fun rock ‘n’ roll album,” he explains.

Cooper and producer Bob Ezrin co-wrote 12 of the album’s 15 tracks, with various other collaborators contributing to the songwriting, including Kramer, guitarist Tommy Henrickson and original Alice Cooper group bassist Dennis Dunaway and drummer Neal Smith.

Two songs on Detroit Stories, “I Hate You” and “Social Debris,” feature Cooper teaming up with all of his original band’s surviving members — Dunaway, Smith and guitarist Michael Bruce.

“[T]hey sound like they could be on [our 1971 albums] Love It to Death or Killer,” Alice says of those tunes. “The original band’s playing as well now as they’ve ever played.”

Detroit Stories kicks off with a heavy version of the Lou Reed-penned Velvet Underground classic “Rock and Roll.” Alice says he loves the “New York heroin chic” vibe of the original, but for his cover, he thought, “[W]hat happens if we take this song to Detroit and put a V8 engine, and soup it up?” The track also features guitarists Joe Bonamassa and Steve Hunter, the latter of whom played with both Alice and Reed in the 1970s.

For more details about the album, visit AliceCooper-DetroitStories.com.

By Matt Friedlander
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