Killer (Deluxe Edition) (3LP)

Alice Cooper was unstoppable during the 1970s when the band released four consecutive platinum albums and five Top 40 hits like “I’m Eighteen,” “School’s Out,” “No More Mr. Nice Guy,” and “Elected.” Rhino will reissue two of those platinum albums – KILLER (1971) and SCHOOL’S OUT (1972) – with newly remastered sound, rare recordings, and previously unreleased live performances.
 
Both Deluxe Editions will be released on June 9 as 2-CD sets and 3-LP versions on 180-gram vinyl.
 

Released in 1971, KILLER was the fourth studio album recorded by the founding quintet of singer Alice Cooper, lead guitarist Glen Buxton, rhythm guitarist/keyboardist Michael Bruce, bassist Dennis Dunaway, and drummer Neal Smith. Bob Ezrin produced all four of Alice Cooper’s platinum albums from the 1970s, including KILLER and SCHOOL’S OUT.
 
KILLER (DELUXE EDITION) introduces a newly remastered version of the original release, which peaked at #21 on the Billboard albums chart. Along with the singles “Under My Wheels” and “Be My Lover,” the record also includes “Yeah, Yeah, Yeah,” “Desperado,” and the prog-rock-inspired epic “Halo Of Flies.” The bonus material features alternate takes for “You Drive Me Nervous,” “Under My Wheels,” and “Dead Babies.”
 
The collection also gives fans an unreleased live recording of the band’s performance at Mar Y Sol Pop Festival in Puerto Rico on April 2, 1972. Recorded a few months before the band returned to the studio to make SCHOOL’S OUT, the show previews “Public Animal #9” from the upcoming album. The band played most of Killer during the concert, including “You Drive Me Nervous,” “Under My Wheels,” and “Halo Of Flies.” They also tapped the group’s 1971 album, Love It to Death, for live versions of “Is It My Body?,” “Long Way To Go,” and the smash hit “I’m Eighteen.”

The vinyl versions for both Deluxe Editions recreate the original album sleeves down to the smallest detail. For KILLER, that means a gatefold sleeve that opens to reveal a detachable 1972 calendar with a photo of Cooper in the gallows.  The cover of SCHOOL’S OUT looks like a wooden school desk and opens to reveal the LP wrapped in a pair of panties. The band stopped including the underwear following a controversy as to whether or not they were flammable. Thankfully, the lacy unmentionables in the new Deluxe Edition are not a fire hazard.
 
Both sets come with booklets that include track-by-track commentary by band members and former Creem Magazine editor Jaan Uhelszki, plus liner notes by Bill Holdship, also a former Creem Magazine editor. In KILLER (DELUXE EDITION), Holdship writes: “Listening to Killer again after all these years to write these notes was rewarding because, like The Beatles and Elvis, it’s gratifying to realize I ended up ‘wasting’ my life on something that, even in retrospect, really was that great. Fifty years later, Killer remains a perfect – perfect! – rock ’n’ roll record.”