Released in 1969 on Frank Zappa's Straight Records label, distributed by Warner Brothers, 'Pretties for You' did not exactly set the world on fire. Alice and the band is clear from these recordings where not exactly ready for prime time.

By the time the band recorded their debut they had already recorded a number of singles, in regional area of Arizona as the name the Nazz, the Spiders and finally the Earwigs. These singles sounded more like copies of what was going on that time and where easily forgettable.

The band which had formed when they mimed Beatles songs at a talent show, they liked the reaction so much they formed a real band, eventually settling into the line up of Vincent Furnier on vocals, Glen Buxton on lead guitar, Michael Bruce on rhythm guitar/piano, Dennis Dunaway-bass and Neal Smith on drums, playing arounf the Arizona area and eventually moving to LA, where they became Alice Cooper, and Vincent became Alice Cooper.

The band played around the L.A. area, and were immediately hated by the hippies, cool hip crowd, and would be angry when they payed to see Alice Cooper and see five dudes instead of a hippie folk singer.

People would pay money to see Alice Cooper just to walk out on them, one day this happened at the Cheetah where Frank Zappa and Shep Gordon witnessed this and Zappa decided to sign them.

The first album released in 1969 reflected the influences of the scene around them, the songs sounded under developed and Zappa's decision to let the band produce the album themselves was not the wisest choice, since the band was still very inexperienced in the studio.

The music on the album has little in common with what would make the band famous in just two years time, a number of song fragments appear on the album such as the two opening numbers ' Titanic Overture' and ' 10 Minutes Before the Worm' which segue ways to its first full length song 'Sing Low, Sweet Cheerio'


This song along with the rest of the album shows a strong psychedelic feel and with a mixture of Jimmy Page era Yardbirds. Glenn Buxton at times seems to try to change his inner Jimmy Page on tracks such as 'Fields of Regret' 'Reflected' and may have been the guy who was pushing the band to go in a heavier direction.

While all the song credits read Alice Cooper, (meaning the band not just the man) it was clear the main songwriters where Alice and Michael Bruce.

Again, the band had not yet found their sound, at times sounding like a heavier Doors, an Iron Butterfly with Yardbirds fixation, and Alice has a good voice but he has not developed that distinct Alice sound to his voice.

It is not a terrible album despite what that sfincter from Rolling Stone magazine wrote about it, the band had not found its sound and being in LA did not help, since they were looked upon as being too loud, too unrefined ( Alice refuse to sing anti Vietnam songs etc), and their developing stage show too show bizzy.

The album shows promise on such cuts as 'Reflected' Levity Ball' and serves more as time capsule of a certain era and it only scratches what Alice was capable of.

The album's failure would in a away help the band develop its own sound further, and while the hippies did not care for them, their younger brothers and sisters were beginning to like them and loved the volume the band in.

That LP has been impossible for me to find on vinyl, compared to their next Easy Action.
Even in the late 1980s, the debut was being tapetraded (to me from another punk/metalhead).

Unless you grew up listening to psychedelic music on the radio, no matter what year, Pretties For You might be difficult to enjoy.

Fields of Regret is the only decent song on Pretties for You, but the album is still worth listening to because it's so drastically different from their other albums.

I've never listened to this album just because so many reviews say it's so different than what they would become with 'Love It to Death' and I'm not a psychedelic fan at all. Just sounds like it would be too weird for me but I plan on giving it at least one spin some day...

I'm tempted to buy it just because it's Alice but I've had it on Spotify for over a month now, just haven't gotten around to listening to it.

I don't own this one, but I've heard a coupla songs that are included on Alice's box set. It's an interesting listen, but years away from what you'd expect from Alice. I'm a fan of the Yardbirds, so the similarities are kinda cool to me.

I'll probably pick it up at some point, just to have it in my collection, but I wouldn't expect this album to be a frequent spinner.

Reflected and No Longer Umpire are pretty good songs as well.

Forgot to mention a bit of trivia, the album cover was originally a painting that hung up in Frank Zappa's living room.

We've certainly come a long way since then, haven't we? No, wait. Actually we haven't.

Alice Cooper (the band) released their first album in March of 1969, through Frank Zappa's Straight Records. Entitled 'Pretties For You', the album took only 2 days to record.

'Pretties For You' bear little resemblance to anything you think of when you hear the name Alice Cooper. The music has more in common with early Pink Floyd, The Doors or Frank Zappa. As such 'Pretties For You' is a somewhat time typical album. The band members themselves have commented that they, at the time, felt that the record was quite commercial! Bear in mind that it was recorded in late 1968, and released early 1969, and one cannot actually disagree. 'Pretties For You' delivers music that is psychedelic, trippy and progressive, just as much of the popular music of it's time. You never know what is happening next, be it jazzy parts with piano, nods to blues using a harmonica or what have you?

I fully understand that it sounds weird today, and this is by no means a highlight in the bands career. It failed to make a mark as a new release, and the Alice Cooper band was better known for live performances than studio albums early on. Maybe that is why they put a live version of "Levity Ball" in the middle of the album? "Reflected" (the albums only single) was reworked into "Elected", on 'Billion Dollar Babies' (1973).

'Pretties For You' was long out of print, but remastered (supposedly) and reissued through Enigma Retro in 2008.

Killer tracks: Sing Low, Sweet Cheerio, Fields Of Regret

Good review manny. This is one of the Alice records I reach for the least, but I still like it. Most of it's rooted in the campy psych world similar to Arthur Brown, but it contains some pretty meaty guitar work as well, and not all the songs sound the same. The album's overall weirdness is pretty intriguing too. Not much hints at all of what the band would be come, and for the most part its a C album but "Fields of Regret", "Swing Low, Sweet Cheerio", No Longer Umpire, Levity Ball, and Reflected are all great tracks.

Though I am a huge Alice Cooper fan, "Pretties for You" never really did much for me. Perhaps if I had I grown up in the 1960's I may have been able to get into the trippy psychedelic rock a bit more. Having grown up listening to the hard rock and heavy metal of the 70's and 80's, it just sounds odd.

Alice Cooper's second album 'Easy Action' released in 1970 is a huge improvement over their debut. The album shows major improvements all around, being more focused and the band being tighter opening for bands such as The Doors, Iron Butterfly and in general playing in front of audiences that were at times outright hostile to the band.

The songwriting that had gotten tighter is credited to all five members of Alice Cooper, and the band opens with 'Mr and Missdemeanor' the sounds like a completely different band then the one who recorded the first album. The song shows traces of psychedelia but this song at least establishes the band's own identity and no longer sounds like a hodge podge of their various influences.

Songs such as 'Below Your Means' a highlight of their set during this time, features extended instrumentation and the band has tightened their arrangements that unlike the previous album where it sounded that band assembled the songs from bits and pieces of other songs they had left on the cutting room floor.

'Return of the Spiders' which is dedicated to 50's rocker Gene Vincent, and serves as a tribute to their own past which was not that long ago, name checking one of their old band names in the title. This song is also very influenced by the Yardbirds so called rave ups.

'Shoe Salesman' a ballad, and Alice's first attempt at one, not a bad song but Alice still had not perfected of creating the perfect ballad to suit his style.

While Alice gets the lion's share of the spotlight, the real musical highlight of this album are the rhythm section of drummer Neal Smith and bassist Dennis Dunaway, who anchor this band's musical might and are impressive through out the disc.

'Refrigerator Heaven' hint at the black humor and direction that Alice would follow in the next few years, but Alice had not developed the character or direction he wanted to go.

'Beautiful Fly away' sounds like what the Monkees might have sounded like if the Monkees had been assembled by Universal Studios and not NBC.

This album shows a band that has found its own sound, and it sounds like Alice Cooper, just not the Alice Cooper that would become so famous in one year's time,

After the failure of this album and L.A. general indifference to the band, Alice and the band moved to Detroit where Alice played with like minded artist such as Iggy and the Stooges, Amboy Dukes and Mc5, and who's audience wanted their rock hard and theatrical, Alice found their home where they were able to hone both their image and sound, and would be introduced to a young producer by the name of Bob Ezrin.

I agreee with you saying "a huge improvement over their debut."


I had to buy Easy Action after I kept repeatedly playing and was fascinated by their Toronto 1969 Live LP (aka "Freak Out Song")(recorded at The Toronto Rock and Roll Revival at Varsity Stadium, where the famous chicken-killing incident happened).
It isnt a bootleg, but it is not official either, and gets re-released every year it seems under a different name.
It has songs which seem re-written from the first 2 albums, and shows a dirtier, heavier edge that started on some Easy Action songs.

Originally released on Frank Zappa's Straight Records, 'Easy Action' was the second offering from Alice Cooper, the band. It continues much in the same way as the debut album, delivering psychedelic and spaced out dada-rock, more in the likes of early Pink Floyd and Frank Zappa himself, than anything most people associate with the name Alice Cooper. There are some differences between 'Pretties For You' and 'Easy Action' though, and songs like the opening "Mr. & Misdemeanor" and the epic "Below Your Means" (with Michael Bruce as the lead singer) has a lot more in common with future Alice Cooper classics. But the core of the album is still wacky, intangible, progressive and fluffy space-rock. I think schizophrenic might be a fitting adjective for the music.

The brother part of "Lay Down And Die, Goodbye" would later reappear on 'Love It To Death', then reworked into the instrumental "Black Juju". The song was also recorded by The Nazz (pre-Alice Cooper band) back in 1967.

'Easy Action' was long out of print, and almost impossible to find. It was gaining hefty prices on eBay, the few times it would appear there. But luckily Rhino reissued it in 2008, so I was finally able to get a copy for my collection. The reissue is supposedly remastered.

Killer tracks: Mr. & Misdemeanor, Below Your Means, Return Of The Spiders

I have both 'Pretties for You' and 'Easy Action' on vinyl from the original Straight Label, the CD's I have are the original CD's from the late 80's, and it my copies do not sound that much better then the original vinyl copies.

I just purchased this album like, 2 weeks ago, so despite giving it quite a few spins, it hasn't really sunk in yet where I can recognize tunes by title only. Like Pretties for You, I was familiar with a coupla tunes that showed up on the Coop box set and I liked what I heard, so I was more interested in getting this disc to fill the holes in my discography.

It's not a bad album, but still not quite what you've come to expect from Alice Cooper. It's getting there though. I'm sure when the mood hits me, this album will garner more listening time from me.

I hope you'll forgive my brief interruption but I figured this was as good a place as any to put this request...

After umpteen years, I'm thinking about starting to delve into the extensive Alice Cooper catalog. I've always sorta dug Alice ever since I saw him on "The Muppet Show" as a kid, I have seen the man live once many years ago (great show!) and I know his "hits" but beyond that I'm not much more than a casual fan.

So anyways, I recently saw the "remastered" Alice episode of "Behind the Music" and some of the stuff they played in the background from his most recent period (say, "Brutal Planet" onward) sounded pretty bitchin' to me. I'm wondering if I should start with the more recent stuff and then work my way backwards, or start at the beginning?

As you can see I'm pretty clueless about the man so I'd appreciate some advice if anybody wants to hit me up via PM as I don't want to derail this thread.

Thanx in advance.