I’ve listened to this album for 50 years and never tire of it- halo of flies is genius ( but you need to repeat listen to appreciate this bondesque song) title track is also brilliant- Johnny rotten apparently rated this album as one of the best of the seventies and I concur.
Yeah, well but, Alice Cooper was WAY better when it was the name of the band, not the name of the guy. Great frontman, sure, but it was always the band that was killer, not just the guy up front.
Interesting that this discombobulated you so much. Killer, the album, is Alice Cooper's Grand Guignol masterpiece. Here, the band plug directly into Death Row, holding up a dark mirror to Middle America. Early Alice Cooper were basically unclassifiable. They wandered all over the place, with producer Bob Ezrin playing a huge part in their experimentations, evolution, and pushing the musical envelope. Conceptually, this track is their James Bond homage, and Halo Of Flies is their allusion to SMERSH. I think it's utterly brilliant BECAUSE of its refusal to fit any particular musical pigeon hole or template. It's 'all over the place' - three disparate sections, smashed together - and IMO all the better for that.
Their song The Man With The Golden Gun would've been the official James Bond theme but they were a day late in delivering the song. They had picked someone else.
Also the concept on its own in the seventies James bond was a worldwide icon to tear up the bond icon was to most people unthinkable but not to Alice he ripped up all those superspies in one brilliant song
It is, I've heard this since maybe 1- years after it waas originally out, can still listen to it to this day, and it absolutely never gets old!!! The transitions are absolutely flawless
Why do you not get it? He is playing the role of a secret agent. A masterpiece. Hardly anyone can play this complex masterpiece. It is genius Alice Cooper storytelling. Not to mention on his live show it gives his band a chance to show out on solos of the different instruments.
It's an entire spy movie in 6 minutes or whatever. In fact he wrote The Man With The Golden Gun but the Bond franchise refused it and went with something else.
Lyrics inspired by James Bond movies, the bass and drums really drive the song to my ears, I always liked the experimental nature of this song and the original Alice Cooper group.
Alice Cooper - Billion Dollar Babies was my introduction to rock music and Alice is still my sort of house God. The next album I got after BDB was Killer. 50 years later I still listen to their/his 70s album frequently.
I wasn't expecting this to one to stump you like that, but I love seeing it 😄 This is one of my favourite songs to play on guitar and I run through it pretty much every time I practise, so I'm probably just used to it, but it totally makes sense in my head. He actually played an extended version of this song when I saw him live in 2011 which was really neat to see (saw him live again earlier this year actually, and he still puts on a hell of a show!). In terms of influences, there's no Black Sabbath here, but the Alice Cooper band were primarily influenced by The Beatles, as well as stuff like Frank Zappa, and in this case some King Crimson for sure. The band actually got its start recording when Frank Zappa signed them onto his label for two albums because he saw them play live and similarly to you didn't get it at all, but was so intrigued that he had to sign them. I think Alice gets rather unfairly lumped in with bands like Kiss because of his big hits and image, but a lot of his work really puts him closer to artists like Zappa and David Bowie, with lots of experimentation and wild ideas, and constantly shifting his sound between albums, especially in this period up until the mid 80s or so. Thematically this is essentially a spy movie, and that's pretty much what the lyrics do. The band actually went on to write a theme song for the James Bond movie The Man With the Golden Gun a couple of years later, but it sadly ended up not getting used for the movie. This might be a bit of a stretch, but I also kinda see the structure of the song fitting in with a spy movie too - going all over the place just like Bond movies have him going all over the world in different settings. Mostly though it's just a really fun prog song, with them doing things just because they can, and I'm all for it.
I'm glad you mentioned them getting lumped in with other shock rock groups like KISS because that's exactly how I know them; wild imagery and simple, catchy songs. This was eye opening to me and not like anything I associated with him. Even crazier is putting him in the same camp as Zappa, even having Zappa sign him. I like your reading of the music too. Like a globe trotting style where each section of music is a different scene of the spy's mission.
@@CriticalReactions The song plays different if you imagine being in a spy movie. Tense, chaotic, not safe. bang... (and a corpse with flies buzzing around his head looking like a halo)
I got introduced to Alice Cooper early on. I always thought that this song was very Progressive, as well as a lot of his recordings. Progressive can almost encompases almost anything. I started taking music lessons in 1966 through to 1978 on five different instruments. All I did was play other peoples music over and over, from the late 1800's to the 1950's. It started driving me crazy. This song was intended for a James Bond Film. When I found Progressive Rock, it gave me permission to think outside of the box.
Killers is a great all around album. You should listen to "Desperado", "Killers", and "Dead babies" off of it to get a good sampling of early Alice Cooper. Halo of flies was written to showcase how they could make a real progressive rock song.
Was not expecting to see Alice Cooper on here! Alice Cooper is one of those interesting classic rock acts that I think were probably overrated during his heyday, but who is definitely underrated now. Very difficult to accurately describe him too: he was labeled as shock rock at the time because of the outlandish, vaudeville-inspired stage shows, but musically he was a really weird, creative mix of hard rock, psychedelia, and occasional prog elements; very influential to what would eventually become heavy metal, and I'm sure the early 70s material heavily influenced Judas Priest (you can hear a bit of that here during that chugging section in the middle). This track is also from one of his best albums, though 70s AC was consistently excellent, and even after that he had quite a few great albums in the 80s and 90s. Not many artists have that kind of longevity without their artistry eventually dropping off a cliff. This is definitely a fun track and really shows off his proggier and more psychedelic side, but I tend to lean towards the more "theatrical" AC with stuff like Welcome to My Nightmare. To me, AC never quite had the talent to be a full-fledged prog band, so they had their best success when they were leaning into the theatrical, psychedelic and hard rock sides. I still really like this, though, it's just not what I'd consider AC at their best. I think what you're struggling with is indeed the liberal mixing of a lot of genres that were floating around in the early 70s: hard rock, psychedelia, prog, etc. One of the reasons the early 70s was such an exciting time musically is because all these artists were trying to figure out where to take music in the wake of The Beatles opening up the floodgates for anything and everything being possible. AC were certainly one of the artists that were really sampling all these "new" styles and trying to find ways to put them together coherently. A lot of bands were much more limited in focusing on just one or two aspects of these new genres/styles, and whatever this is lacking in coherence I think it makes up for in its imaginative creativity.
That context, placing this era against The Beatles, is eye opening. It wasn't just that prog existed out of nowhere but that The Beatles had made experimentation mainstream(-ish) and people were genuinely excited about pushing the bounds of music.
I do like it! Can see what you mean with the discrepancy but I still like it - it intrigues me. Though I knew that Alice Cooper had progressive sides through songs that I've heard and greatly enjoyed, I'm not sure I've heard this particular one before. Most possibly have listened to this album at some time or another, but then there's so much music that has streamed through my ears through the years...
Good evening from New England..I love me some Alice Cooper..#1 song for me is I LOVE THE DEAD.. Early Alice had a way more trippy vibe to it then he got commercialized in the late 70's..Always great hearing some old school shock rock...🤘🤘✌️✌️
This is music I listened to in my teenage years. The lyrics are like an abstract painting with splashes of thought instead of lines or color. They perhaps don't make sense in the conventional way, but they do leave in their wake a sense of menace much like a scary character in a book or movie. Or maybe like a certain rock star who makes the older generation of the day a tad uncomfortable. Listening as an adult 40 years later I do see things a bit differently. The transitions are sometimes not very smooth like the toms-to-snare mentioned here. But overall, it still delivers a satisfying listening experience. It still amazes me to this day.
This is early Alice Cooper and this song Halo of Flies was a test of the band's skills and that's why we have so much changes it was the band proving themselves as musicians and Alice as a singer it's a masterpiece
To understand this song. You need to hear the first two albums and maybe Frank Zappa from the same time frame. Oh and Zappa was Alice Cooper band's original producer. Their album love it to death, song Ballad of Dwight Fry will explain how he became known as the king of shock rock.
I hadn’t heard this one before; I’m getting a real Rainbow/Elf (or ELP/prog era Genesis) vibe. Not sure where this falls into Alice Cooper’s discography, but if I found out it was very early, I’d absolutely believe it.
When I was a 16 year old kid collecting and trading albums with my friends in the late 1970s , this amazing Alice Cooper album was highly praised as one of the best. It was fun, hard, loud and mysterious. Another was Tooth Fang and Claw from The Amboy Dukes which spawned Great White Buffalo and the feedback masterpiece Hibernation, along with a killer cover of Maybelline. Kiss Alive,, Foghat Live, Bob Segar Live Bullet and Fleetwood Mac Rumors were also popular. Listening to albums spinning on a turntable as a kid in your bedroom with headphones on was more personal and life changing than what teenagers are stuck with today. Today... teenagers are more like a hive of bees Than... teenagers were more like lone wolves
I saw Alice do this song in a small show in a casino in the mid 90's. He also did The Ballad of Dwight Frye and a bunch of clowns ran out there and tied him to a chair. Probably about 300 people at the show. \m/
To me, this song feels like if a proto punk band listened to a bunch of medleys and prog rock songs and said “hey! I can do that!” But then doing it in this really simplistic and child like way. I think it’s pretty charming, but I can understand why some people may not like it that much. Great video!
this was a band composition Michael Bruce Glen Buxton, Dennis Dunaway Neal smith Vince (Cooper) just added the lyrics when they were a band called Alice Cooper you had to be alive back in 1970 when it came out ... what kind of music was being made and how ground breaking this all was
A wild melting pot of inspirations fronted by the most extra-est showman, luv his vocal clarity among the zaniness. Dunno what any of it means either but was a cool trip😁🌿
Reading the comments it seems like you missed the fact he doesn’t like it. I’ve always loved these early band pre solo early 70’s albums. The guitars have a distinctive vicious sound.
Alice Cooper's first couple albums were extremely experimental. To their detriment really. The first two are usually two of the least popular. But them being experimental is part of the reason they got signed. Frank Zappa said he wanted to sign them because he didn't understand their music. Killer, however is extremely popular. This is probably the most experimental song on the album. Either this one or the title track.
I guess when you listen this a few times, and you understand the real twisted tongue in cheek lyrics, when I listen to this and the album in general I think it is a road to where Alice Cooper was going, and in a good way. I have been relistening to a lot of this stuff from this time and going forward from there. I think Alice have actually stood up very well. Maybe like Yes, you need to take what is said and interpret your own ideas about what is being sung. Bands like these were true to their passion, they wrote and played it, played with your emotions, and evolved. Just my thoughts...
The song is more like a movie than a song in the traditional sense of the word. It is like an overblown and indulgent jam session, or six ideas never really completed, too good to throw away, so connected as one with a big finish. Most of the songs by AC are way more traditional. You should listen to Under My Wheels, Be My Lover, Yeah Yeah Yeah, Luney Toon, Gutter Cat vs Jets, Eighteen, Elected, You Drive Me Nervous, etc...I have seen Alice Cooper 3 times, the first time in 1973. Each time, the show was wildly entertaining, over the top and fun. I adore Alice Cooper. Alice had a real fondness for musicals as a kid. That is why you hear him sampling My Favorite Things from The Sound of Music, The Sharks vs. Jets from West Side Story, and even a bit of Bye Bye Birdie. I find it so clever and absolutely brilliant.
Every hippy around me back in the early 70s loved the Alice Cooper band. Back in the 70s The aor/prog stations were playing all of his deep cuts. Their first 2 lps were on Zappa's label STRAIGHT. Those were trippy.
Spot on analysis. I know only a few Cooper tunes. I wonder how Alice and Zappa viewed one another, this song reminds me more of Frank Zappa. Overall I’d listen to it again.
I think you are on track that it's a series of separate ideas, but you need to consider the overall shape, the dramatic flow of the track. You may be brainwashed, as I once was, by German motivic development, that everything needs to be tied to one main idea, like Beethoven's 5th. Beethoven's 5th is amazing, but there are other approaches. don't get me wrong, some of this is very arbitrary, but you need to consider the overall dramatic shape.
I think that you missed the point of the song is what it is. it is more of a theatrical adventure, spaghetti western type music that, starts out with an overture of sorts before the singing comes in.
My introduction to killer was at age 16 on FM radio. They set up a time to play the whole record and at the age of 16 had to get it. Seen him perform his Killer show probably for $6 back then. I never liked any of his music since Killer. Halo of flies was his best in my opinion. We are at the big top and he is the carnival barker and Halo of flies is a super organism and we let our imagination go and fly with him. You are not a kid in 1971. Killer is a masterpiece. You either look at art and get it or not. The super organism works and it was amazing. Watching you bob your head .. I'm laughing. I'm Astral projecting in my memory.
I didn't read this long list of comments first, but based on your confusion by the song I wanted to say it was meant to basically be a James Bond film in a song. I think you should listen to it again with that context in mind, and a few more puzzle pieces may fall into place. Normally I would also recommend the song, "Generation Landslide," but you would absolutely miss all of the cultural references throughout that one, due to youth and not having lived through it.
Alice Cooper was a group, the original line up is still the best, if I was Vince I'd just stick with em,but the producer got in his ear and said hey man, you don't need those guys, it has never been the same, the songs with the original band is/was forever great I wore this album out at 13, Alice Cooper was my first concert 12/12/1974, Neal Smith best rock drummer, very underated, have him hear black ju ju, he'll love it heh, poison is one of his worst songs lol
Thank you for an interesting analysis but noooo, it's not outside your understanding. It's an overture to an imagined Bond-like movie. Think of G&S overtures, for example, where excerpts from five, six, seven songs from the opera are juxtaposed to serve as a prelude, to ease the audience into audience mode before the curtain rises. When you know the piece well, you sit there enjoying every part as it happens but maybe more importantly craving the break into the next part. It stands repeated listening ... over and over and over again. Halo of Flies doesn't go away, it lingers in your head for the rest of time.
I remember David Crosby scoffing at Alice once upon a time, saying he and his snake are just a gimmick. I can see how someone who doesn't actually listen to Alice would say this, but it couldn't be more wrong. Alice was, and IS, an amazing songwriter. One of my favorite lyricists of all time. His song Pain on Flush the Fashion (a criminally underrated album) is pure genius. His song Lost in America is another lyrical gem that pops immediately to mind.
As a child of the 1960s, I've always loved Alice Cooper's music...esp since the parents' disapproved of it and all other rock groups/music too😍😍😍😍💕💕💕☮️☮️☮️👍👍👍👍👍
Ive never heard this song or was paying attention to the story of the lyrics if there is one but somehow when the lyrics went "i put a time bomb in youuur..." I somehow guessed he would say "submarine". This is such a silly coment but WHAT THE FUCK. Its literaly just a random word that creates a ryme
I have not heard this song before and I am not a great fan of Alice Cooper (the band). But the music was interesting as was your discussion! I KNOW nothing about the inspiration, but the evolution of music during this period is interesting and I think it is not only a matter of time but also place. Although Alice Cooper (the person) aka Vince Furnier was from Michigan, the group interacted with Frank Zappa in California (They waked Zappa up in his house!). The rock evolution took place in UK at the same time. Jimi Hendrix didn't became famous until he reached London. Arthur Brown, who must have predated Alice Cooper's face smink slightly, is British, but his hit reached the US. But the Fugs was from California, chaotic as well, although not in composition. Same with the beat poets (Ginsburgh et al) and the hippie generation. There must have been musical influences from Zappa. Sort of start for investigate inspiration. And the cover. I have heard that Furnier is engaged in endangered snake conservation today.
1971 I was 11 and this was the shit, along with black bloody sabbath. You wasn't around back then, so I can see why you're stumped. Alice Cooper was the first of shock rock. Kiss was so impressed with Alice Cooper that they decided to have 4 crazies in make-up.
Alice Cooper started before Black Sabbath, they have 3 previous albums before Killers !!!!...and the 1st two albums were from the late 60's !!!....Sabbath and Cooper are 2 different entities
@03:00 ... "borderline heavy metal ..." LOL LOL LOL well spotted ! it was HARD ROCK. But he inspired music to what became later called heavy metal --- ALICE COOPER along with other contemporary bands like LED ZEP / BLACK SABBATH / DEEP PURPLE are at the seminal root of heavy metal rock.
Lyrics are a bit cheesy and preposterous in places, but this was an early "art rock" piece, damn near symphonic in scope, composed through, not just verse / chorus / bridge...
You have missed the point ! The Beatles Opened the Door to what could be ? 1965 album rubber soul no cover tunes all original compositions. 1967 concept albums, like Sergeant peppers, lonely hearts, club band. 1967 the Moody blues album days of future past. Song placement gets really important on albums going forward from this point. Not all albums have a cohesive theme, but there are ones that do. You need to listen to albums of the same time period,The same year of release. These musicians and artist don’t live in a bubble they see what somebody has done and they think about how can I use that in a completely new way. In 1969. The Beatles abbey road album has songs that are stitched together so if they can stitch songs, why can’t we. The band Alice Cooper just wanted to stand out and not be the same old same old Led Zeppelin. Let’s just take the blues and play it really fast. These bands are starting in the late 60s some of them earlier with the invention of new instruments. New recording techniques. The band Alice Cooper, each album tells a different story and if they’re a little messed up that’s OK.
This is just one guy’s opinion, but “ Poison” is a solo Alice track and doesn’t hold a candle to the Original Alice Cooper Band catalog! “Poison” is pop-metal by numbers. “Halo of Flies” is a dynamite track created by a BAND. It may sound a bit dated, but there’s some good chemistry going on here. “Poison” was Desmond Child telling Alice what to record to be relevant. Yes, that track brought Alice back into the public consciousness, but “Poison”pales in comparison to “Eighteen”, “School’s Out”, “Billion Dollar Babies”, etc. “Poison” is not anywhere near as creative or interesting as “Halo of Flies”. Like I said, just one guy’s opinion.
We do not listen to music in the same way. You, in 2024 with a technical mind - studying a composition with predetermined idea of what music should contain. Me, in 1972 as a teen listening to the full album just to go on a journey - with no knowledge of music -- this is an advantage.
"School's out" is from the band Alice Cooper, "Poison" is from the artist Alice Cooper. That's a big difference ! I loved the experimental band phase. I like many of the artist phase. In over 50 years Alice Cooper made a lot of genius songs, but also a lot, lot, lot of rubbish. The album "Hey Stoopid" was the first after years, I love as much as "Killer". As the german poet Goethe said : A lot of light also causes a lot of shadow ! Look the film "Super Duper Alice Cooper". Greetings from Germany...
James Bond and spy movie copies of Bond with wild out there spy gadgets were all the rage late 60’s and early 70’s. The woman was a honeytrap. Maybe he made her fall for him like James Bond might do. Not kill her but leave her alone and devastated and a traitor to her Country=Destroyed. Watch a early James Bond, it’s still famous. A halo of fly’s is a tainted halo. (Flys are attracted to death)Above the head like an Angel’s and Circular but not a glowing gold band, but a filthy halo of flys over his head flying in a circle. He has maybe stopped a nuclear war but killed and deceived doing it. It’s Spy games. The Cold War involved a lot of Spying. Cold War=Google it. James Bond =Google. Kids these days..? Boomer Out!
I like I'm a big-time Progger. I've seen all kinds of Progbands over the years. my license plates say Progger and Prog on.. You need a smoke some pot before you listen to this s*** to hear about it I've been in the music business for years.
@@CriticalReactions I understood your indifference but nonsense? I was surprised at your lack of interest in the incredible bass guitar on this tune. Quite possibly the top bass rock album of all time. I also believe this tune was written by the lead guitarist who has admitted he had no idea where it was going.
@@johnduval6377 Nonsense might seem a bit harsh and dismissive but I was using it primarily to describe the lack of cohesion throughout the piece -- there's very little in here that makes sense to me. Hearing that the guitarist had no idea where the song was going either DOES make sense to me though. I've been told that the disjointed nature is because the intention was to write musical themes for several different areas or parts of an adventure that a spy would go on. So each new musical idea would represent a different place on the mission. But there's nothing to convey any of that in the music itself, it requires knowledge exterior to the art to get. That's not bad per se but it does make for an antagonistic first listen where the song appears to be obtuse for oddity sake. I try to give the benefit of the doubt given the time it was made and the fact that it might as well be classified as experimental but it totally went over my head on a first listen.
Producer Bob Ezrin played synths abd Melotron. You know what's bugging me about you was that you started with a negative about the scribbling on the jacket. And your stumbling for words to express yourself. These were the psychedelic times. People did acid and smoked pot. That's your problem that this freaks you out. Im 69 and the band was big time in my youth. Alice came out with 2 in the late 60s that were on Zappa's label Straight. I promise not to listen to your podcast again.
That's quite possible. And I could have missed some stuff that become more noticeable on future listens. I don't confuse myself for some factual reading of music, I'm just a dude telling you about my first experience with art. Sometimes I have a really insightful take, sometimes I don't quite understand it at all. And that's where the community comes in! I've learned a lot about this song through the comments here.
i stopped watching after the 15 minutes you didn't convince me that you know what you are talking about. reading all the comments seem to confirm this. my suggestion .. listen to it many times more to hear all the nuances.
Alice Cooper's band came out with their debut album one-year 1969 before Black Sabbath's debut release 1970. And Alice the band was just as rocious and bombastic like Metal since 1969. Eat it.
Greatest song ever written by the band!!! This guy is clueless about music. Masterpiece!!! It was 1971 ….tell me a better song. When music took you for a ride……he’s speechless. lol. As a teenager in early 70’s what a ride!!!! He’s speechless!!!!
I’ve listened to this album for 50 years and never tire of it- halo of flies is genius ( but you need to repeat listen to appreciate this bondesque song) title track is also brilliant- Johnny rotten apparently rated this album as one of the best of the seventies and I concur.
Alice is a one off...nobody else like him & I love it...I love it to death 🔥
Yeah, well but, Alice Cooper was WAY better when it was the name of the band, not the name of the guy. Great frontman, sure, but it was always the band that was killer, not just the guy up front.
Haha love it to death
Interesting that this discombobulated you so much. Killer, the album, is Alice Cooper's Grand Guignol masterpiece. Here, the band plug directly into Death Row, holding up a dark mirror to Middle America. Early Alice Cooper were basically unclassifiable. They wandered all over the place, with producer Bob Ezrin playing a huge part in their experimentations, evolution, and pushing the musical envelope. Conceptually, this track is their James Bond homage, and Halo Of Flies is their allusion to SMERSH. I think it's utterly brilliant BECAUSE of its refusal to fit any particular musical pigeon hole or template. It's 'all over the place' - three disparate sections, smashed together - and IMO all the better for that.
Their song The Man With The Golden Gun would've been the official James Bond theme but they were a day late in delivering the song. They had picked someone else.
Also the concept on its own in the seventies James bond was a worldwide icon to tear up the bond icon was to most people unthinkable but not to Alice he ripped up all those superspies in one brilliant song
This arrangement is a masterpiece, I’m sorry you don’t get it
It is, I've heard this since maybe 1- years after it waas originally out, can still listen to it to this day, and it absolutely never gets old!!! The transitions are absolutely flawless
agree agree AGREE! @@ShiftaelV2
Yeah, this guy is a total tool.
Why do you not get it? He is playing the role of a secret agent. A masterpiece. Hardly anyone can play this complex masterpiece. It is genius Alice Cooper storytelling. Not to mention on his live show it gives his band a chance to show out on solos of the different instruments.
It's an entire spy movie in 6 minutes or whatever. In fact he wrote The Man With The Golden Gun but the Bond franchise refused it and went with something else.
Lyrics inspired by James Bond movies, the bass and drums really drive the song to my ears, I always liked the experimental nature of this song and the original Alice Cooper group.
I don't listen to a lot of Alice Cooper but this entire album is great
His best, imo...so full of good tracks.
@@waynedickson6860 Billion Dollar Babies must be up there
@@rockinresurrection6542 ..for sure, personally it has always been this album
It's killer
Billion Dollar Babies is good, but Killer is great.@@rockinresurrection6542
Alice Cooper - Billion Dollar Babies was my introduction to rock music and Alice is still my sort of house God. The next album I got after BDB was Killer. 50 years later I still listen to their/his 70s album frequently.
I wasn't expecting this to one to stump you like that, but I love seeing it 😄 This is one of my favourite songs to play on guitar and I run through it pretty much every time I practise, so I'm probably just used to it, but it totally makes sense in my head. He actually played an extended version of this song when I saw him live in 2011 which was really neat to see (saw him live again earlier this year actually, and he still puts on a hell of a show!).
In terms of influences, there's no Black Sabbath here, but the Alice Cooper band were primarily influenced by The Beatles, as well as stuff like Frank Zappa, and in this case some King Crimson for sure. The band actually got its start recording when Frank Zappa signed them onto his label for two albums because he saw them play live and similarly to you didn't get it at all, but was so intrigued that he had to sign them. I think Alice gets rather unfairly lumped in with bands like Kiss because of his big hits and image, but a lot of his work really puts him closer to artists like Zappa and David Bowie, with lots of experimentation and wild ideas, and constantly shifting his sound between albums, especially in this period up until the mid 80s or so.
Thematically this is essentially a spy movie, and that's pretty much what the lyrics do. The band actually went on to write a theme song for the James Bond movie The Man With the Golden Gun a couple of years later, but it sadly ended up not getting used for the movie. This might be a bit of a stretch, but I also kinda see the structure of the song fitting in with a spy movie too - going all over the place just like Bond movies have him going all over the world in different settings. Mostly though it's just a really fun prog song, with them doing things just because they can, and I'm all for it.
I'm glad you mentioned them getting lumped in with other shock rock groups like KISS because that's exactly how I know them; wild imagery and simple, catchy songs. This was eye opening to me and not like anything I associated with him. Even crazier is putting him in the same camp as Zappa, even having Zappa sign him.
I like your reading of the music too. Like a globe trotting style where each section of music is a different scene of the spy's mission.
@@CriticalReactions The song plays different if you imagine being in a spy movie. Tense, chaotic, not safe. bang... (and a corpse with flies buzzing around his head looking like a halo)
I got introduced to Alice Cooper early on. I always thought that this song was very Progressive, as well as a lot of his recordings. Progressive can almost encompases almost anything. I started taking music lessons in 1966 through to 1978 on five different instruments. All I did was play other peoples music over and over, from the late 1800's to the 1950's. It started driving me crazy. This song was intended for a James Bond Film. When I found Progressive Rock, it gave me permission to think outside of the box.
The Yardbirds were also a big influence.
Also influenced by MC5 and Iggy and the Stooges.
This entire album is GREAT! I consider it to be a masterpiece...
Agreed. For me it's one of the best albums ever.
I would love to know what Miles Davis would think of Alice's work.
Killers is a great all around album. You should listen to "Desperado", "Killers", and "Dead babies" off of it to get a good sampling of early Alice Cooper. Halo of flies was written to showcase how they could make a real progressive rock song.
Was not expecting to see Alice Cooper on here! Alice Cooper is one of those interesting classic rock acts that I think were probably overrated during his heyday, but who is definitely underrated now. Very difficult to accurately describe him too: he was labeled as shock rock at the time because of the outlandish, vaudeville-inspired stage shows, but musically he was a really weird, creative mix of hard rock, psychedelia, and occasional prog elements; very influential to what would eventually become heavy metal, and I'm sure the early 70s material heavily influenced Judas Priest (you can hear a bit of that here during that chugging section in the middle). This track is also from one of his best albums, though 70s AC was consistently excellent, and even after that he had quite a few great albums in the 80s and 90s. Not many artists have that kind of longevity without their artistry eventually dropping off a cliff.
This is definitely a fun track and really shows off his proggier and more psychedelic side, but I tend to lean towards the more "theatrical" AC with stuff like Welcome to My Nightmare. To me, AC never quite had the talent to be a full-fledged prog band, so they had their best success when they were leaning into the theatrical, psychedelic and hard rock sides. I still really like this, though, it's just not what I'd consider AC at their best.
I think what you're struggling with is indeed the liberal mixing of a lot of genres that were floating around in the early 70s: hard rock, psychedelia, prog, etc. One of the reasons the early 70s was such an exciting time musically is because all these artists were trying to figure out where to take music in the wake of The Beatles opening up the floodgates for anything and everything being possible. AC were certainly one of the artists that were really sampling all these "new" styles and trying to find ways to put them together coherently. A lot of bands were much more limited in focusing on just one or two aspects of these new genres/styles, and whatever this is lacking in coherence I think it makes up for in its imaginative creativity.
That context, placing this era against The Beatles, is eye opening. It wasn't just that prog existed out of nowhere but that The Beatles had made experimentation mainstream(-ish) and people were genuinely excited about pushing the bounds of music.
I do like it! Can see what you mean with the discrepancy but I still like it - it intrigues me. Though I knew that Alice Cooper had progressive sides through songs that I've heard and greatly enjoyed, I'm not sure I've heard this particular one before. Most possibly have listened to this album at some time or another, but then there's so much music that has streamed through my ears through the years...
Good evening from New England..I love me some Alice Cooper..#1 song for me is I LOVE THE DEAD.. Early Alice had a way more trippy vibe to it then he got commercialized in the late 70's..Always great hearing some old school shock rock...🤘🤘✌️✌️
First album I ever bought..it was 1973..I took it to school in grade 3..and played it for the whole class..
Alice Cooper the band were a Dadaist construct by two art students.
This track is an international spy screenplay.
Hope this helps.
My favorite Cooper song.
He has soo many albums. I recommend Brutal Planet, Dragon Town, etc. Alice " Lost in America " ruclips.net/video/8g6zV-FIxGU/видео.html
This is music I listened to in my teenage years. The lyrics are like an abstract painting with splashes of thought instead of lines or color. They perhaps don't make sense in the conventional way, but they do leave in their wake a sense of menace much like a scary character in a book or movie. Or maybe like a certain rock star who makes the older generation of the day a tad uncomfortable.
Listening as an adult 40 years later I do see things a bit differently. The transitions are sometimes not very smooth like the toms-to-snare mentioned here. But overall, it still delivers a satisfying listening experience. It still amazes me to this day.
This is early Alice Cooper and this song Halo of Flies was a test of the band's skills and that's why we have so much changes it was the band proving themselves as musicians and Alice as a singer it's a masterpiece
To understand this song. You need to hear the first two albums and maybe Frank Zappa from the same time frame. Oh and Zappa was Alice Cooper band's original producer. Their album love it to death, song Ballad of Dwight Fry will explain how he became known as the king of shock rock.
It's great, Alice's third album, if I'm not mistaken, the "Killer" album is one of Cooper's best works! Always listened and will listen!
Killer was his/their fourth album: Pretties For You (1969)
Easy Action (1970)
Love It to Death (1971)
Killer (1971)
The early years of Alice were great ... after the late 70s he lost his way 😢
Until the 1990’s that is, as from The Last Temptation, with Brutal Planet in 2000 and Dragontown (2001) were great albums.
To fully appreciate Alice Cooper, I think you need to listen to the entire albums of "Killer" and "Love it to Death".
agree. those albums are the tops, with school's out album close behind.
Saw him do this a few times starting when it was released. Go see him .. Best musicians every show ...
I hadn’t heard this one before; I’m getting a real Rainbow/Elf (or ELP/prog era Genesis) vibe. Not sure where this falls into Alice Cooper’s discography, but if I found out it was very early, I’d absolutely believe it.
It's a Hallo of FLIES
When I was a 16 year old kid collecting and trading albums with my friends in the late 1970s ,
this amazing Alice Cooper album was highly praised as one of the best.
It was fun, hard, loud and mysterious.
Another was Tooth Fang and Claw from The Amboy Dukes which spawned Great White Buffalo
and the feedback masterpiece Hibernation, along with a killer cover of Maybelline.
Kiss Alive,, Foghat Live, Bob Segar Live Bullet and Fleetwood Mac Rumors were also popular.
Listening to albums spinning on a turntable as a kid in your bedroom with headphones on
was more personal and life changing than what teenagers are stuck with today.
Today... teenagers are more like a hive of bees
Than... teenagers were more like lone wolves
I saw Alice do this song in a small show in a casino in the mid 90's. He also did The Ballad of Dwight Frye and a bunch of clowns ran out there and tied him to a chair. Probably about 300 people at the show. \m/
To me, this song feels like if a proto punk band listened to a bunch of medleys and prog rock songs and said “hey! I can do that!” But then doing it in this really simplistic and child like way. I think it’s pretty charming, but I can understand why some people may not like it that much. Great video!
this was a band composition Michael Bruce Glen Buxton, Dennis Dunaway Neal smith Vince (Cooper) just added the lyrics when they were a band called Alice Cooper you had to be alive back in 1970 when it came out ... what kind of music was being made and how ground breaking this all was
A wild melting pot of inspirations fronted by the most extra-est showman, luv his vocal clarity among the zaniness. Dunno what any of it means either but was a cool trip😁🌿
Reading the comments it seems like you missed the fact he doesn’t like it. I’ve always loved these early band pre solo early 70’s albums. The guitars have a distinctive vicious sound.
I've had seven copies in my life time...Killer Cool
roll on The Eighth!
Alice Cooper's first couple albums were extremely experimental. To their detriment really. The first two are usually two of the least popular. But them being experimental is part of the reason they got signed. Frank Zappa said he wanted to sign them because he didn't understand their music. Killer, however is extremely popular. This is probably the most experimental song on the album. Either this one or the title track.
I guess when you listen this a few times, and you understand the real twisted tongue in cheek lyrics, when I listen to this and the album in general I think it is a road to where Alice Cooper was going, and in a good way. I have been relistening to a lot of this stuff from this time and going forward from there. I think Alice have actually stood up very well. Maybe like Yes, you need to take what is said and interpret your own ideas about what is being sung. Bands like these were true to their passion, they wrote and played it, played with your emotions, and evolved. Just my thoughts...
The song is more like a movie than a song in the traditional sense of the word. It is like an overblown and indulgent jam session, or six ideas never really completed, too good to throw away, so connected as one with a big finish. Most of the songs by AC are way more traditional. You should listen to Under My Wheels, Be My Lover, Yeah Yeah Yeah, Luney Toon, Gutter Cat vs Jets, Eighteen, Elected, You Drive Me Nervous, etc...I have seen Alice Cooper 3 times, the first time in 1973. Each time, the show was wildly entertaining, over the top and fun. I adore Alice Cooper. Alice had a real fondness for musicals as a kid. That is why you hear him sampling My Favorite Things from The Sound of Music, The Sharks vs. Jets from West Side Story, and even a bit of Bye Bye Birdie. I find it so clever and absolutely brilliant.
Every hippy around me back in the early 70s loved the Alice Cooper band. Back in the 70s The aor/prog stations were playing all of his deep cuts. Their first 2 lps were on Zappa's label STRAIGHT. Those were trippy.
Spot on analysis. I know only a few Cooper tunes.
I wonder how Alice and Zappa viewed one another, this song reminds me more of Frank Zappa. Overall I’d listen to it again.
I was lucky to see AC and the band perform it live in 2008 in Ventura, Ca.
I think you are on track that it's a series of separate ideas, but you need to consider the overall shape, the dramatic flow of the track. You may be brainwashed, as I once was, by German motivic development, that everything needs to be tied to one main idea, like Beethoven's 5th. Beethoven's 5th is amazing, but there are other approaches. don't get me wrong, some of this is very arbitrary, but you need to consider the overall dramatic shape.
I think that you missed the point of the song is what it is. it is more of a theatrical adventure, spaghetti western type music that, starts out with an overture of sorts before the singing comes in.
like the spaghetti western analogy......hadn't considered that previously. @@tomrecchia3222
My introduction to killer was at age 16 on FM radio. They set up a time to play the whole record and at the age of 16 had to get it. Seen him perform his Killer show probably for $6 back then. I never liked any of his music since Killer. Halo of flies was his best in my opinion. We are at the big top and he is the carnival barker and Halo of flies is a super organism and we let our imagination go and fly with him. You are not a kid in 1971. Killer is a masterpiece. You either look at art and get it or not. The super organism works and it was amazing. Watching you bob your head .. I'm laughing. I'm Astral projecting in my memory.
Thank you Frank Zappa
I didn't read this long list of comments first, but based on your confusion by the song I wanted to say it was meant to basically be a James Bond film in a song. I think you should listen to it again with that context in mind, and a few more puzzle pieces may fall into place. Normally I would also recommend the song, "Generation Landslide," but you would absolutely miss all of the cultural references throughout that one, due to youth and not having lived through it.
THIS IS AMAZING.MORE COMPLEX THAN I THOUGHT.
For me, arguably the single best rock n roll song ever.
Alice once said that they did HALO OF FLIES just to prove they could do the King Crimson prog rock sort of thing. So you nailed that.
Alice Cooper was a group, the original line up is still the best, if I was Vince I'd just stick with em,but the producer got in his ear and said hey man, you don't need those guys, it has never been the same, the songs with the original band is/was forever great I wore this album out at 13, Alice Cooper was my first concert 12/12/1974, Neal Smith best rock drummer, very underated, have him hear black ju ju, he'll love it heh, poison is one of his worst songs lol
Thank you for an interesting analysis but noooo, it's not outside your understanding. It's an overture to an imagined Bond-like movie. Think of G&S overtures, for example, where excerpts from five, six, seven songs from the opera are juxtaposed to serve as a prelude, to ease the audience into audience mode before the curtain rises. When you know the piece well, you sit there enjoying every part as it happens but maybe more importantly craving the break into the next part. It stands repeated listening ... over and over and over again. Halo of Flies doesn't go away, it lingers in your head for the rest of time.
good analysis. as you wrote, it's a stayer!
Halo of flies is legend🎉
The idea of Alice Cooper is avant-garde.
I remember David Crosby scoffing at Alice once upon a time, saying he and his snake are just a gimmick. I can see how someone who doesn't actually listen to Alice would say this, but it couldn't be more wrong. Alice was, and IS, an amazing songwriter. One of my favorite lyricists of all time. His song Pain on Flush the Fashion (a criminally underrated album) is pure genius. His song Lost in America is another lyrical gem that pops immediately to mind.
David Crosby was an overrated junkie
As a child of the 1960s, I've always loved Alice Cooper's music...esp since the parents' disapproved of it and all other rock groups/music too😍😍😍😍💕💕💕☮️☮️☮️👍👍👍👍👍
Ive never heard this song or was paying attention to the story of the lyrics if there is one but somehow when the lyrics went "i put a time bomb in youuur..." I somehow guessed he would say "submarine". This is such a silly coment but WHAT THE FUCK. Its literaly just a random word that creates a ryme
I have not heard this song before and I am not a great fan of Alice Cooper (the band). But the music was interesting as was your discussion! I KNOW nothing about the inspiration, but the evolution of music during this period is interesting and I think it is not only a matter of time but also place. Although Alice Cooper (the person) aka Vince Furnier was from Michigan, the group interacted with Frank Zappa in California (They waked Zappa up in his house!). The rock evolution took place in UK at the same time. Jimi Hendrix didn't became famous until he reached London. Arthur Brown, who must have predated Alice Cooper's face smink slightly, is British, but his hit reached the US. But the Fugs was from California, chaotic as well, although not in composition. Same with the beat poets (Ginsburgh et al) and the hippie generation. There must have been musical influences from Zappa. Sort of start for investigate inspiration.
And the cover. I have heard that Furnier is engaged in endangered snake conservation today.
1971 I was 11 and this was the shit, along with black bloody sabbath. You wasn't around back then, so I can see why you're stumped. Alice Cooper was the first of shock rock. Kiss was so impressed with Alice Cooper that they decided to have 4 crazies in make-up.
Alice Cooper started before Black Sabbath, they have 3 previous albums before Killers !!!!...and the 1st two albums were from the late 60's !!!....Sabbath and Cooper are 2 different entities
@03:00 ... "borderline heavy metal ..." LOL LOL LOL well spotted ! it was HARD ROCK.
But he inspired music to what became later called heavy metal --- ALICE COOPER along with other contemporary bands like LED ZEP / BLACK SABBATH / DEEP PURPLE are at the seminal root of heavy metal rock.
Well if you are a composer then you might want to give Years Ago, Steven & the Awakening by Alice Cooper a go then?
Ssssshhhhh ! Alice is playing
I guess it is the visual on this that brings it in.
Brilliant album i love alice cooper original band they were excellent 👍🤘
The song, he's a spy.
Lyrics are a bit cheesy and preposterous in places, but this was an early "art rock" piece, damn near symphonic in scope, composed through, not just verse / chorus / bridge...
Don’t quit your day job
This is just a great song. Too bad you didn’t like it. Each section was very melodic.
Think King Crimson and you will understand a little
You have missed the point !
The Beatles Opened the Door to what could be ?
1965 album rubber soul no cover tunes all original compositions.
1967 concept albums, like Sergeant peppers, lonely hearts, club band.
1967 the Moody blues album days of future past.
Song placement gets really important on albums going forward from this point. Not all albums have a cohesive theme, but there are ones that do.
You need to listen to albums of the same time period,The same year of release. These musicians and artist don’t live in a bubble they see what somebody has done and they think about how can I use that in a completely new way. In 1969. The Beatles abbey road album has songs that are stitched together so if they can stitch songs, why can’t we. The band Alice Cooper just wanted to stand out and not be the same old same old Led Zeppelin. Let’s just take the blues and play it really fast.
These bands are starting in the late 60s some of them earlier with the invention of new instruments. New recording techniques.
The band Alice Cooper, each album tells a different story and if they’re a little messed up that’s OK.
This is just one guy’s opinion, but “ Poison” is a solo Alice track and doesn’t hold a candle to the Original Alice Cooper Band catalog! “Poison” is pop-metal by numbers. “Halo of Flies” is a dynamite track created by a BAND. It may sound a bit dated, but there’s some good chemistry going on here. “Poison” was Desmond Child telling Alice what to record to be relevant. Yes, that track brought Alice back into the public consciousness, but “Poison”pales in comparison to “Eighteen”, “School’s Out”, “Billion Dollar Babies”, etc. “Poison” is not anywhere near as creative or interesting as “Halo of Flies”. Like I said, just one guy’s opinion.
There is definitely a prog element in this.
We do not listen to music in the same way.
You, in 2024 with a technical mind - studying a composition with predetermined idea of what music should contain.
Me, in 1972 as a teen listening to the full album just to go on a journey - with no knowledge of music -- this is an advantage.
"School's out" is from the band Alice Cooper, "Poison" is from the artist Alice Cooper. That's a big difference !
I loved the experimental band phase.
I like many of the artist phase.
In over 50 years Alice Cooper made a lot of genius songs, but also a lot, lot, lot of rubbish. The album "Hey Stoopid" was the first after years, I love as much as "Killer".
As the german poet Goethe said : A lot of light also causes a lot of shadow !
Look the film "Super Duper Alice Cooper".
Greetings from Germany...
Secret agent
Play your music. Love❤
Try under my wings
And perhaps ‘Under My Wheels’ also?
Yes from the Alice Cooper show live 1970ish
James Bond and spy movie copies of Bond with wild out there spy gadgets were all the rage late 60’s and early 70’s. The woman was a honeytrap. Maybe he made her fall for him like James Bond might do. Not kill her but leave her alone and devastated and a traitor to her Country=Destroyed. Watch a early James Bond, it’s still famous. A halo of fly’s is a tainted halo. (Flys are attracted to death)Above the head like an Angel’s and Circular but not a glowing gold band, but a filthy halo of flys over his head flying in a circle. He has maybe stopped a nuclear war but killed and deceived doing it. It’s Spy games. The Cold War involved a lot of Spying. Cold War=Google it. James Bond =Google. Kids these days..? Boomer Out!
The cover, the words were written left handed, that's why it looks so bad. It was on purpose.
The story is Alice asked Dennis to scrawl the words as if done by a demented minded person without telling him the intention.
Another experimental song you don't like. What a shock!!
I like I'm a big-time Progger. I've seen all kinds of Progbands over the years. my license plates say Progger and Prog on..
You need a smoke some pot before you listen to this s*** to hear about it I've been in the music business for years.
Love AC but not sure what people see so much in this one...agree with the analysis
Alice Cooper the band and Alice Cooper the solo artist were two different sounds.
The former was way better IMO.
Nonsense? Who are you again? lmao
I'm Bryan. Pretty sure I introduced myself in the beginning of the video :)
@@CriticalReactions I understood your indifference but nonsense? I was surprised at your lack of interest in the incredible bass guitar on this tune. Quite possibly the top bass rock album of all time. I also believe this tune was written by the lead guitarist who has admitted he had no idea where it was going.
@@johnduval6377 Nonsense might seem a bit harsh and dismissive but I was using it primarily to describe the lack of cohesion throughout the piece -- there's very little in here that makes sense to me. Hearing that the guitarist had no idea where the song was going either DOES make sense to me though.
I've been told that the disjointed nature is because the intention was to write musical themes for several different areas or parts of an adventure that a spy would go on. So each new musical idea would represent a different place on the mission. But there's nothing to convey any of that in the music itself, it requires knowledge exterior to the art to get. That's not bad per se but it does make for an antagonistic first listen where the song appears to be obtuse for oddity sake.
I try to give the benefit of the doubt given the time it was made and the fact that it might as well be classified as experimental but it totally went over my head on a first listen.
Producer Bob Ezrin played synths abd Melotron. You know what's bugging me about you was that you started with a negative about the scribbling on the jacket. And your stumbling for words to express yourself. These were the psychedelic times. People did acid and smoked pot.
That's your problem that this freaks you out. Im 69 and the band was big time in my youth.
Alice came out with 2 in the late 60s that were on Zappa's label Straight.
I promise not to listen to your podcast again.
It sounds cool but doesn’t follow the rules I taught so no good.
How can it sound cool but not enjoyable?
Play your music
I think you're listening to it with the wrong mindset. No disrespect
That's quite possible. And I could have missed some stuff that become more noticeable on future listens. I don't confuse myself for some factual reading of music, I'm just a dude telling you about my first experience with art. Sometimes I have a really insightful take, sometimes I don't quite understand it at all. And that's where the community comes in! I've learned a lot about this song through the comments here.
Painful analysis to hear. I was in the shower and couldn't turn this off. Now I'm dry, so bye!
i stopped watching after the 15 minutes you didn't convince me that you know what you are talking about. reading all the comments seem to confirm this. my suggestion .. listen to it many times more to hear all the nuances.
Alice Cooper's band came out with their debut album one-year 1969 before Black Sabbath's debut release 1970. And Alice the band was just as rocious and bombastic like Metal since 1969. Eat it.
Greatest song ever written by the band!!! This guy is clueless about music. Masterpiece!!! It was 1971 ….tell me a better song. When music took you for a ride……he’s speechless. lol. As a teenager in early 70’s what a ride!!!! He’s speechless!!!!
Now react to Sick Things.