Dragontown

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Marilyn Manson may have stolen some of Alice Cooper's thunder a few years back, but there is more to this old rock warrior than smeared mascara and ripped tights. The third and final chapter to his rock morality series finds Cooper unfurling more grim tales of life before the apocalypse, and with the same wit, ferocity, and genius that we first saw in his 1971 classic, Killer. On the Coop's 25th album, he's eschewed most of his comic shtick and self-parody of years past, employing a harder, guitar-saturated industrial sound that can compete with the best of agro rockers, such as Korn and Rob Zombie. And while there aren't any teen anthems like "Eighteen" or "Under My Wheels," lurking on the disc, "Mr. Fantasy," his paean to self acceptance, comes close, as Cooper's menacing cartoon voice thunders, "I don't read books / I don't French cook or stroll around in galleries / I hate opera / I hate Oprah / Don't fill my head with poetry." Listeners will be aghast when Cooper serves up sacred cow in "Disgraceland" as he croons in a flawless Elvis Presley imitation that the fallen king ". . . ate his weight in country ham / Killed on pills and broken dreams," and proves once again that this city ham still has what it takes both to shock and rock. --Jaan Uhelszki

Album Description
With well thought out songs paving the way, 'Dragontown' leads you down a nightmarish path into the mind of rock's original conceptual storyteller. Alice's deranged, tormented mind serves as your tour guide into a place that is bitter cold and conversely swimming in furnace blasting heat. A 2001 Spitfire Records release.

Tracks:

Triggerman
Deeper
Dragontown
Sex, Death And Money
Fantasy Man
Somewhere In The Jungle
DisGraceland
Sister Sara
Every Woman Has A Name
I Just Wanna Be God
It's Much Too Late
The Sentinel

Amazon.com

Marilyn Manson may have stolen some of Alice Cooper's thunder a few years back, but there is more to this old rock warrior than smeared mascara and ripped tights. The third and final chapter to his rock morality series finds Cooper unfurling more grim tales of life before the apocalypse, and with the same wit, ferocity, and genius that we first saw in his 1971 classic, Killer. On the Coop's 25th album, he's eschewed most of his comic shtick and self-parody of years past, employing a harder, guitar-saturated industrial sound that can compete with the best of agro rockers, such as Korn and Rob Zombie. And while there aren't any teen anthems like "Eighteen" or "Under My Wheels," lurking on the disc, "Mr. Fantasy," his paean to self acceptance, comes close, as Cooper's menacing cartoon voice thunders, "I don't read books / I don't French cook or stroll around in galleries / I hate opera / I hate Oprah / Don't fill my head with poetry." Listeners will be aghast when Cooper serves up sacred cow in "Disgraceland" as he croons in a flawless Elvis Presley imitation that the fallen king ". . . ate his weight in country ham / Killed on pills and broken dreams," and proves once again that this city ham still has what it takes both to shock and rock. --Jaan Uhelszki

Album Description

Customer Reviews:

Brutal Planet Mk 2 - and sequels are rarely improvements.......2007-03-10

This album blasts out of the blocks with Triggerman, a gret metal t une that has a catchy melody to the chorus and a typical schlock rock Alice personification of unpleasantness. It could quite easily have slotted onto the Brutal Planet album.

Where the problem lies isn't in terms of specific tracks. It's just the quality and feel of each and every track is somewhat diluted. Almost as if the tunes here were leftovers from the Brutal Planet writing sessions. Given that BP came out in 2000 and Dragontown has graced our ears in 2001 (with a tour in between) this feels like a real possibility.

But al is not lost. With modern production values and AC's still tasty and evocative vocals Dragontown serves a number of purposes. It continues AC's desire to stay a working concern rather than a heritage act (ie Aerosmiths three albums in what - 12 years?) and it also provides an excuse for the next tour, bombastic stage show 'n' all.

Three stars for this release that sort of just scurried past the buying public.

The Weakest Of The Trilogy.......2006-12-17

"Dragontown" is the third and final album in Cooper's Christian morality play series. The three albums "Last Temptation", "Brutal Planet" and "Dragontown" all somewhat run together and deal with the human condition, temptation, and, redemption. "Dragontown" follows similar musical ground as its predecessor "Brutal Planet" although the overall feel of the album is not nearly as heavy. Cooper once again is commenting on the state of the world through Christian eyes and this one gets a bit preachier than the last two. Cooper gets a little high handed on the morality scale in songs like ""Sex, Death, And Money" and "Sister Sarah", both of which cry out at the lack of morals and the presence of sin in movies, media, business, and the clergy. I find this slightly ironic coming from the same guy who wrote "I Love The Dead". Cooper also takes a rather nasty swipe at Elvis Pressley in "Disgraceland". He sings it as an imitation of Elvis style and the conclusion of the song is basically that Elvis is currently residing in hell. It is pretty strong stuff and I would think offensive to fans of Elvis (whether it is true or not). The album also contains a ballad "Every Woman Has A Name" which is pretty much yet another take off on the "Only Women Bleed" concept. "I Just Want To Be God" finds the devil asking why he can't be the supreme ruler. In "It's Much Too Late" the main character is in hell questioning why he is there since he led a good life, and was a good person. Apparently he was not a Christian which is why he ended up in hell. Again, the song comes across as pretty heavy handed. I don't know.....the music and vocals on Dragontown are all good, but I just don't like the feel of a lot of this album. Cooper definitely has an agenda to get across on this disc and whether you agree with him or not it may influence how much you like this album Of the trilogy, for me at least, this is the weakest disc.

A Worthy Follow-Up to "Brutal Planet".......2006-11-15

Having abruptly sprung back to life like some psychokiller in a horror movie with "Brutal Planet," Alice raised the bar once again on what he was capable of still putting out. With "Dragontown" he continues his Renaissance with another 12 variously relentless servings of music.

"Triggerman" starts things off with a character study of a hitman. To me, not the world's most interesting essay, musically or lyrically, one can still not expect to find anywhere but in Alice a line like "I'm pure non-entity." Highly energetic, and well put together, this song just never grabbed and made me glad I'd plunged into Alice's mad world again.

"Deeper," by contrast, made me grateful. As a deep, down-tuned death shuffle comes churning out, Cooper spins out an uncharacteristically mysterious story about what seems to be an metaphorical death spin. In any case, the down-tempo sizzling guitars throughout here sound just fantastic--great wall of sound, mixed together toughly with occasionally choir-like lushness. Whatever the song seems to be about specifically, if nothing else, it serves as a passage to the next song. Going down ...

"Dragontown" manages to summon up something of a sense of epic--the opening, eastern-influenced guitar lines are reminiscent of "Scarlet and Sheba" from "Dada." Meanwhile, it gradually becomes apparent that this is a tour through something like Hell, where characters from "Brutal Planet" now reside, including of course Alice. It would appear, somewhat, as if justice (or at least retribution) is being dished out. Alice Cooper "Goes to Hell" all over again, though in a much less playful, much more deadly serious vein.

"Sex, Death, and Money" is about ... well, you know, but with Alice at the helm of the lyrics, the first image (of someone offended by obscenity in the media) is countered by the second verse, which shows our moralist arrested for indecency. Ha! Meanwhile, the sleazy, sawing guitars, with tough reverb effects, are especially crunchy good stuff. And in general, there is a much wider range of basic guitar sounds here--not nearly so monochromatic as on "Brutal Planet."

The ironically named "Fantasy Man," is actually about the opposite of a fantasy man, who rattles off a list of all the culturally refined things he's not. This is definitely social commentary more in the "I love America" vein than "Wicked Young Man". The music, meanwhile, is fairly serious, thumping along--in particular the guitar solo (there seem to be many more guitar solos on this disc compared to "Brutal Planet") crisply warbles its way out to good effect.

In "Somewhere in the Jungle," which is one of the musically more ripping songs on the disc, Cooper comments upon the inhumanity of tribal warfare in Africa. If he'd not already tackled environmentalism, more or less, with "Eat Some More" on "Brutal Planet" this might seem like an especially off-topic effort. However that may be, the layered details of the guitar work and music seems to make serious, or overcomes, any chance of this seeming kitschy.

Yes, with "Disgraceland," that's Alice doing a nasty send up of the King, to the musical tune of Stray Cats meets heavy metal. I'm no fan of Elvis, but this basting of the King is awfully mean-spirited. Yep. In terms of the album, it's a bit of an unfortunate novelty, even if it is at least another story about an inhabitant of Dragontown. But it serves as good set up to the next song.

"Sister Sara" seems to rely upon the same personnel as for the song "Brutal Planet" with Sara being a fallen nun this time around. The music is particularly heavy here, and the lyrics (told from the standpoint of the demon who caused Sara to fall) are especially mean-spirited. Yet another tale of someone in Dragontown.

"Every Woman Has a Name" somehow seems even more out of place than the ballad found on "Brutal Planet," although it is also a stronger song. Other than being a baffling interlude in the flow of this album, the song of course shows Alice's more lyrical side--as if to make certain for anyone who might confuse the characters of his lyrics for him.

An apt warning, perhaps, considering that "I Just Wanna be God," has the devil stepping forward to let us all know what he wants. The vocals here are particularly well delivered, especially when the devil asks, "Why can't I be God" (In fact, the interplay of the guitars and the entire chorus really gets in the blood). And the music, which isn't the grindingest on the album, is a satisfying contrast with the mellowness of the previous song.

"It's Much Too Late" is a kind of pleasant, pop rock irony-tale about a nice guy who winds up in Hell. Certainly in a much different register than the rest of the album, with a slight shiver of country running through it, it seems like a sort of opposite of "Give the Kid A Break".

"The Sentinel" ends things on a final heavy and psychotic note, as the subject of the song gives us a glance into the mind of a suicide bomber. Cooper very savvily blends together east and west: "There's something disturbin going on in my turban / I'm home, home on de-range. / I feel my meditation going on so deep within / While my medication's kicking in". Mania and craziness are not limited to either side.

A more varied album than "Brutal Planet," this variation also means some sacrifice of the intensity on the other disc. It also means this one is more "interesting." I realize that "The Last Temptation" is said to be a part of a trilogy here, but musically "Brutal Planet" and "Dragontown" seem more like a kind of revisitation of "Welcome to my Nightmare" and "Goes to Hell", with both pairs of albums featuring darker, more unnerving material on the former, and a certain relieving irony or perhaps nothing more than the social coziness of Hell on the latter. In any case, this disc is definitely worth the money. You might be more prone to program out a song here than on "Brutal Planet," but by contrast it seems like this disc would be more listenable more often.

son of an preacher man's tale.......2006-06-14

alice cooper is one of the most humourous talent songwriters musical history has had the joy to hear..and if you get praise from the likes of bob dylan you know you're good as he's quoted saying that "alice cooper is the best songwriter ever"

and "dragontown" is no half baked concept album either
it's one of the most brutal alice albums my ears have ever heard
the music is in the vein of the people he's influenced I.E marilyn manson NINE INCH NAILS etc and i hear a bit of the self titled motley crue album with john corabi here and there which is cool..

the album has the qualities you'd expect from the black widow
and more if you dive deeper into the lyrics and the excellent couplets...yeah alice cooper may have had some dud albums over the years..but when you've done over twent they can't all be masterpiece...but this is surely an near perfection of an album..

"Dragontown" is better than "Brutal Planet"........2005-08-20

"DRAGONTOWN"

REVIEW:

This is the sequel to Alice's 2000 release "Brutal Planet" and this release is certainly better. Musically, "Brutal Planet" plodded along and was too one-dimensional while "Dragontown" is a more diverse effort. As you could imagine, this sequel centers around the most dangerous town on 'Brutal Planet' and is highlighted with some well-written tunes. The best of the batch is "Deeper," "Dragontown," "Fantasy Man," "Disgraceland," "Every Woman Has A Name," and "It's Much Too Late". However - outside of fulfilling the album's concept - songs like "Triggerman," "Somewhere In The Jungle," "I Just Wanna Be God," and "The Sentinel" are quite disappointing.

MUSICIANS:

Guitars ... Ryan Roxie , Tim Pierce, Wayne Swinng, Bob Marlette
Bass ... Greg Smith, Bob Marlette
Drums ... Kenny Aronoff
Keyboards/Programming ... Sid Riggs, Bob Marlette
String Arrangement ... Bob Marlette
Backing Vocals ... Ryan Roxie, Teddy 'ZigZag' Andreadis, Eric Dover, Calico Cooper, Giovanna Moraga ("Sister Sara")

INTERESTING FACTS:

1. Released in October of 2001, "Dragontown" peaked at #197 on the Billboard Top 200.

2. A 'Special Edition' of this album was released in Sept. of 2002 and featured a second disc that included: Can`t Sleep, Clowns Will Eat Me, Go to Hell [Live] (From Brutally Live), Ballad of Dwight Fry [Live] (From Brutally Live), Brutal Planet [Remix], Gimme [CD-Rom Track] [Enhanced Video], It's the Little Things [CD-Rom Track] [Enhanced Video].

3. Like on "Brutal Planet," Bob Ezrin executive produced this album, as well.

PACKAGING:

The album is adorned with a rather underwhelming cover but the CD booklet features a slew of photos and all the album's lyrics.

APPROX. RUNNING TIME:

48 min. and 8 sec.

FINAL ANALYSIS:

Far from definitive but "Dragontown" is better than "Brutal Planet". However, you took the best tracks off each album, you'd have yourself one hell of a great album! As it stands, however, "Dragontown" gets a *** out of 5 stars.

Average customer rating:

Extra Cd
Cooper bounces back with another strong one.
Best since Welcome to My Nightmare
Solid Follow-up
Best since The Last Temptation

Dragontown (Special Edition)
Alice Cooper
Manufacturer: Spitfire
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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The Last Temptation
Brutal Planet
The Eyes of Alice Cooper
Raise Your Fist and Yell
Flush the Fashion

ASIN: B00006J40D
Release Date: 2002-09-24

Tracks:

Triggerman
Deeper
Dragontown
Sex, Death And Money
Fantasy Man
Somewhere In The Jungle
Disgraceland
Sister Sara
Every Woman Has A Name
I Just Wanna Be God
It's Much Too Late
The Sentinel

Tracks:

Clowns Will Eat Me
Go To Hell (Live)
Ballad Of Swight Fry (Live)
Brutal Planet (Remix)

Album Description

With well thought out songs paving the way, 'Dragontown' leads you down a nightmarish path into the mind of rock's original conceptual storyteller. Alice's deranged, tormented mind serves as your tour guide into a place that is bitter cold and conversely swimming in furnace blasting heat. This 2002 numbered special edition from Spitfire Records includes a bonus CD featuring previously unreleased material, 4 audio tracks 'Clowns Will Eat Me', 'Go To Hell' (live), 'Ballad Of Dwight Fry' (live) & 'Brutal Planet' (remix) plus 2 enhanced videos for 'Gimme' & 'It's The Little Things'. Slipcase.

Customer Reviews:

Extra Cd.......2006-04-21

I personally am a big fan of Alice and it was worth it to me to buy the Dragontown album again just to have these extra songs on the second disk. Having said that here's what I think. The Clowns Will Eat Me is awesome. I love it, never get bored of it and can now add it to my collection. I believe you can also get the clown song on the Japanese import of Brutal Planet. I guess it was made for that album and not Dragontown. Oh well that was there and this is here. The two live tracks are taken from Alice's, Brutally Live DVD concert. It sounds so good when turned up loud, good bass. The fourth song is a remix of the song Brutal Planet. Alot of people have said they don't care for it. I respect their opinions, and I myself actually like it. Not only is it not bad, but just the fact that it sounds like a techno dance song(which Alice has never done before) makes it very original in itself.

Cooper bounces back with another strong one........2005-08-07

Brutal Planet should have been a great album, what with the presence of Ezrin. However, one of the busiest producers around, Bob Marlette, got his hands on it and made it sound far too generic. The riffs were dull and the album thudded boringly, with so little of that classic Alice personality.

Dragontown is like Alice waking up. It's a transition from Brutal Planet to Eyes Of, which celebrated a return to classic 70's Alice. It's not quite there yet, but it's getting there. Marlette is still producing, but this time he and Cooper have decided to brighten the whole affair.

There are a couple really outstanding songs here. "Every Woman Has A Name" sounds like something Alice would have done with Ezrin. It's a lush song with strings that recalls "Only Women Bleed" or "It's Only My Heart Talking". Also great is "It's Much Too Late", which reminds me of "Wind Up Toy" from 1991. It has a lot of the old Alice 70's vibe too, it's fantastic. Very pop. Modern production is left off this one, the instruments sound cleaner and bright.

"Triggerman", the opening track, is fast with an industrial sound, but with much more emphasis on melody than Brutal Planet. "Disgraceland" features Alice doing quite a great Elvis impersonation, and the band are kicking back in a rockabilly groove too. Some might consider this track fluff, and it's definitely different than any other on the album, but it's pretty fun.

Unfortunately "Deeper" is just basically a rewrite of Brutal Planet's title track, with some "Blessed By Fire" mixed in. Just a boring, uninteresting track, with terrible sounding cymbal samples and a muddy riff that is just horrifically generic.

The bonus disc here is totally worth owning, even for casual Alice fans. Actually, especially for them in a way, because it'll give them exposure to some other awesome Alice tracks they may have missed. "Go To Hell" and "Dwight Fry" are live. (I cannot tell you if they are same versions as on Brutally Live or not, but I suspect that they are.) "Clowns Will Eat Me" was previously only available on Japanese import, and it's a great party track that fits much better in Dragontown than Brutal Planet for which it was recorded. Finally there's the remix of "Brutal Planet" itself which gives it a Rob Zombie feel. It's not a superior mix, (I miss the female backing vocal) but I always dig robots talking.

Best since Welcome to My Nightmare.......2004-06-05

Dragontown is a great CD if you like the harder, darker Alice. His voice has never been better and the CD showcases why he is still the original shock rocker. Not so much shocking in mindless Goth Rock blood and guts kind of way. But in a way that is typical Alice --- Sarcastic and funny but still twisted and sick. Most all of the songs on this CD are well written and follow Alice in his decent into Dragontown. Dragontown, Sex Death and Money, Triggerman, Sister Sara are all standouts on this CD. The Song I Wanna Be God was very disturbing to me when I first heard it. Then I realized that that statement and the lyrics are so ridiculous that Alice is just trying to get a rise out of the listener. The extra's on the Special Edition are ok but the real winner on this album is the new material and you; if you buy this one for your collection. DARK !

Solid Follow-up.......2003-02-19

I got this and Brutal Planet recently. I'm not sure which I like better. Dragontown works far better as a whole and conceptually, but I think Brutal Planet has more standout songs. In any event, this is a real solid album, worth picking up if you liked Brutal Planet at all.

The style is not that completely similar. I want to say it's a bit less commercial and accessible, still hooky, but not as obvious. It's darker, feels a bit like a horror movie. Good solos too.

The production is a bit better then brutal planet. Not as sterile sounding, and the drums fit in better, but could still be improved.

The only reason I'd say you'd like it if you like BP is because it's a heavier, less commercial Alice. I really don't have a lot else to say about it, just that you shouldn't expect a masterpiece, but a solid effort.

Best since The Last Temptation.......2002-10-17

"Dragontown" is Alice's best album since 1994's "The Last Temptation". This edition comes with (Can't Sleep) "Clowns Will Eat Me" which was only previously available on the Japanese import of the "Brutal Planet" album. The song "Brutal Planet" is remixed on the bonus CD and it is not all that interesting of a remix and probably should not haven been done. It also features two live tracks "Got to Hell" and "Ballad of Dwight Fry" which isn't all that thrilling either since live versions of these tracks were previously available on various imports. A common complaint about Alice Cooper concerts is that you know what songs you are going to hear because he adds very little recent material in his set lists (material from "Constrictor" to "Dragontown"). If he added a couple live tracks of recent material that haven't been available before, I would've given it five stars "Dragontown" rocks, but the bonus CD is only worth buying for "Clowns" and if you have the Japanese import of "Brutal Planet", don't bother picking this CD up. My four star rating is based on the "Dragontown" album itself, not this bonus CD.

Average customer rating:

Dragontown
Alice Cooper
Manufacturer: Eagle Rock/Eagle
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B00005NOU6
Release Date: 2001-09-14

Tracks:

Triggerman
Deeper
Dragontown
Sex, Death and Money
Fantasy Man
Somewhere in the Jungle
Disgraceland
Sister Sara
Every Woman Has a Name
I Just Wanna Be God
It's Much Too Late
Sentinel

Average customer rating:

Dragontown

Manufacturer: Eagle
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Hard Rock & Metal | Styles | Music
ASIN: B000RW7LZ8

Product Description

TRACK LIST: 1. Triggerman 2. Deeper 3. Dragontown 4. Sex, Death, and Money 5. Fantasy Man 6. Somewhere in the Jungle 7. Disgraceland 8. Sister Sara 9. Every Woman Has a Name 10. I Just Wanna Be God 11. It's Much Too Late 12. The Sentinel Bonus Tracks 13. Can't Sleep, Clowns Will Eat Me Gimme (Video) Screensaver

Average customer rating:

Dragontown
Alice Cooper
Manufacturer: Jvc Victor
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B00005Q7Z1
Release Date: 2001-10-24

Tracks:

Triggerman
Deeper
Dragontown
Sex, Death and Money
Fantasy Man
Somewhere in the Jungle
Disgraceland
Sister Sara
Every Woman Has a Name
I Just Wanna Be God
It's Much Too Late
Sentinel

Music Review:

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