Simon Rushworth
Alice Cooper – Freedom (Cooper/Roberts) b/w Time To Kill (Cooper/Roberts) 1988
Culled from the often overlooked but incredibly cool Raise Your Fist And Yell record, this single was released in the UK to coincide with Coop’s 1988 tour of Britain – a jaunt which leaned heavily towards his northern fan base.
Of 10 dates only two took place south of Sheffield with a brace in Edinburgh, two more in the Toon and three back-to-back gigs at Manchester’s Apollo. And this was pre-Poison (the single, not the band) at a time when the original shock rocker was supposedly out of fashion!
Sadly this anthemic classic never gets a look in at Alice’s live shows in the 21st century despite a memorable vocal performance and some superb axe work from the irrepressible Kane Roberts.
Peaking at a lowly 50 in the UK singles charts it was impossible to predict the Coop would score a top two hit with the aformentioned Poison just a year later.
Freedom is a better rock song and the Michael Wagener production is typically polished – maybe the relatively tame sleeve failed to inspire the impulse buyer: Alice looks like he’s straining for a shit strapped to some medieval toilet but what’s shocking about that?
If you’ve missed out on Alice’s mid 80s period then this is as good a starting place as any as he moves from the raw garage sound of the 70s towards the commercial glory of the early 90s.