ALICE COOPER: 'LOVE IT TO DEATH' STRAIGHT WS-1883 1971 "UNCENSORED" GATEFOLD LP

$

72

ALICE COOPER: 'LOVE IT TO DEATH' STRAIGHT WS-1883 1971 "UNCENSORED" GATEFOLD LP
ALICE COOPER  "LOVE IT TO DEATH" ORIGINAL UNCENSORED 'THUMB' GATEFOLD JACKET LABEL: STRAIGHT RECORDS  WS-1883  S39778 RELEASED: MARCH 1971 RECORDED AT: RCA MID-AMERICA RECORDING CENTER ~ CHICAGO ~ 1970 PRODUCED FOR NIMBUS 9 PRODUCTIONS LTD PRODUCERS: BOB EZRIN & JACK RICHARDSON MASTERING: RANDY KLING AT RCA STUDIOS CHICAGO ( '⁄|⁄ǀ⁄|⁄ǀ⁄|⁄K' IN DEADWAX) PRESSING PLANT: NO CLEAR PRESSING PLANT ID IN THE MATRIX COVER PHOTOGRAPH: ROGER PRIGENT MATRIX (SIDE A): WS-1883 39778-1  ⁄|⁄ǀ⁄|⁄ǀ⁄|⁄K
CONDITION:  VINYL: VG+   SLEEVE: EX-   JACKET: VG+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I've been going thru my massive vinyl record collection these past few weeks and pulling out some LPs that I thought that someone else would want for their collection. I've been collecting records for over 45 years and it's time to pass some of them on to the next generation of collectors.
This week on EBay I am offering up this 1971 early uncensored 'Straight' pressing of Alice Cooper's great 3rd album 'Love it to Death'
This is an original very early Straight Records pressing with the original Pink labels. The labels switched from the Pink Straight Label to the Green Warner label around this time as Frank Zappa sold his label to Warner Brothers. 
This album also has the original rare black inner Sleeve with the Straight Records logo design.
This has the nice thick, heavy, original gatefold jacket, with those great trippy, spooky, spidery, mascara covered 'Eyes' inside .
This album has the original classic 'Uncensored' cover. This original cover shows the long-haired band members, in dresses and makeup, with Cooper holding a cape around himself with his thumb strategically sticking out near his crotch to give the illusion of an exposed penis.
This has the 'Box' in the upper right corner, which was added as the hit "I'm Eighteen" started to take off, and they jumped from Straight to Warner Brothers.
So, this is what collectors call the original unedited "Thumb" cover, with the "I'm Eighteen" box and pressed on the Pink Straight label.
These pink early Straight pressings are the only way to truly appreciate this album.
The sound is much fuller and more dynamic than the early Green Warner pressings, although those 'Green' Warners albums generally sound fantastic as a rule.
This was originally recorded in 1971 at a small recording studio in Chicago, for Frank Zappa's small independent label, so there are some technological limitations, but it still sounds Kick Ass.
This is among one of the first records I ever purchased with my own money, back in the early 70's, and still one of my favorite early Alice Cooper albums. All of his early albums, starting with this one, are fantastic.
The early Alice Cooper records on the original Straight label, like this one, are hard to find in good clean condition, but they are worth seeking out. The sound quality dropped off when they switched to Warner, for whatever reason. 
This original Straight pressing sounds amazing.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The songs on this album include:
Caught In A Dream I'm Eighteen Long Way To Go Black Juju Is It My Body Hallowed Be My Name Second Coming Ballad Of Dwight Fry Sun Arise ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Alice Cooper Band at this time consisted of:  Alice Cooper – Vocals, Harmonica Michael Bruce – Guitars, Keyboards Glen Buxton – Lead Guitars Dennis Dunaway – Bass Neal Smith – Drums Additional Organ, Piano – "Toronto Bob" (Bob Ezrin)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This is a fantastic, early, classic Alice Cooper album.
A masterpiece of an album, from start to finish. Well, maybe not that last Rolf Harris song they tacked on, but even that one is cool and uplifting.
The Alice Cooper band had gone from the Phoenix area, to L.A. to work with Zappa, and then moved to Detroit in 1970, where he soaked up the emerging Rock sounds from that city.
Alice Cooper's "Love It To Death" contains great rocking tunes, and the classic teenage pop anthem, "Eighteen", in a heavy 'Detroit' style that fit right in with the Stooges and the punchy 'Garage Rock' that was coming out of the Midwest at the time.
Cooper avoided the Psychedelic trend that was prevalent at the time, as well as the 'singer-songwriter' trend that was emerging after the breakup of the Beatles. This album wasn't "Hippie" music and they were also able to avoid the 'weirdness' of the Mothers and Label Boss Frank Zappa.
The Alice Cooper band were much more heavy, intense and headed towards a darker, goth, musical territory by this point. This music was heavy, thrashing, avant-garde, violent and very theatrical.
Their new Producer, a young Bob 'Toronto Bob' Ezrin, tightened up their sound and steered them towards a more successful and commercial sound for this album. This album was the start of Ezrin's long career producing many great Rock albums.
Alice was becoming more of a frontman during this period, developing his stage persona and taking more of the spotlight, but this album is still a full-band effort, with all members writing songs and giving their input, proving that Alice Cooper was much more a band than an individual back in 1971.
The bulk of this album is made up of straight-out rockers. Cooper's vocals are great, clearly borrowing some theatrics and insanity from Jim Morrison.
Both Buxton and Bruce used Gibson SG guitars on this album and their sound is fantastic. Dunaway's Bass doesn't just keep rhythm. He often plays great counter-melodies, opening up the song's structures.
On this album, everybody is tight, together and rocking. Alice's pre-occupation with glam, horror films and the occult hasn't fully materialized yet, but it's hinted at.
The band still has a heavy, melodic, high-energy, tight, Detroit-Rock sound and feel, but this album has a few songs that were starting to steer Alice Cooper towards his future shock-rock style.
This album includes the theatrical and brilliant song “Ballad of Dwight Fry," which was a centerpiece of their live act. A fantastic early Alice Cooper song than many people forget about.
The song is about an inmate in an insane asylum, and the music captures the mood and feel perfectly. A 'Film for the mind.'
The title comes from Dwight Frye, a Hollywood actor who played Renfield, the lunatic, fly-eating, slave butler of 'Dracula' in the 1931 Horror film starring Bela Lugosi.
"Is It My Body" and "Caught in a Dream" are scorching rockers. Guitarist and keyboardist Michael Bruce wrote those tracks, along with the hit “I’m Eighteen”
The album starts out with the 3 great tracks “Caught In A Dream”, “I’m Eighteen” and “Long Way To Go”
There's another terrific trio of songs on side 2; “Hallowed Be Thy Name”, “Second Coming” and “Ballad Of Dwight Fry” are all solid and often overlooked Alice Cooper songs. Great psycho-dramatic conceptual rock theater classics.
The song "Black JuJu" returns to the psychedelic and experimental rock style of Alice Cooper's first two albums.
"Black JuJu" is a long strange, almost trippy song, and draws from Pink Floyd circa 'Saucerful of Secrets.' The spacey organ and odd, syncopated drumming sounds very Floyd-like. Imagine Pink Floyd, circa 'Saucerful' with Jim Morrison on lead vocals. The title is the name of a friend's dog and it was recorded live in the studio in one long, strange take.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This was the band's last record for Zappa/Cohen's Straight Records. It was the band's first commercially successful album and the first album that consolidated the band's aggressive hard-rocking sound.
'Love It to Death' in retrospect, is considered one of the early, foundational albums of heavy metal. Alice Cooper, along with the heavy American bands like Vanilla Fudge, the Stooges, and the Velvet Underground, as well as the Heavy UK bands like Black Sabbath, Free and Led Zeppelin, were responsible for steering 70s rock into a heavier, more powerful direction, away from the Psych Pop leanings of the late 60's.
~~ This is a nice, rare, Straight Records early pressing of 'Love it to Death'. A great album to add to your collection.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CONDITION: I tried to show good hi-resolution photos of the cover, labels and vinyl in my pictures.
I purchased this copy back in the early 70's, 50 years ago, and have taken great care of it since.
VINYL: The vinyl looks excellent. Clean and bright, except for a shallow hairline scratch on one side (See pics). It plays thru fine,but should be noted. The vinyl is fantastic otherwise. No serious scuffs, palpable scratches, or dings. I'm sure you'll be very happy with it.
The Deadwax has the early markings and mastering engineer Randy Kling's initials. See the full Matrix markings above and my pictures.
I tried to show some close-up pictures of the vinyl to show how good it looks, other than the one hairline. I'm sure you'll be pleased with it.
Original, clean copies on the Straight label are hard to come by.
I haven't messed with it or cleaned it, other than my trusty 'DiscWasher' brush, in 50 years, since Nixon was in office. It could use a good deep cleaning to make it even better looking and better sounding than it already is.
LABELS: This is pressed with the 'classic' early Pink Straight labels. The labels are clean and bright. A slight mark on one side, but generally nice. The spindle holes are still sharp and clean, suggesting minimal playing and my careful handling over the years.
JACKET: As you can see from my pictures, this still looks very nice for a 50 year old OG copy.  This thick, all black front, and all white backed jacket is notorious for showing ringwear, dirt, scuffs and damage, but this copy is still quite nice. Some mild ringwear, but that seems to be on EVERY copy of this record I've ever seen.
This has the original 'Uncensored" thumb cover. The artwork is bold and bright, the corners are sharp and the spine is straight.
This is the original gatefold, with the famous 'Eyes" inside. Gatefold is clean and bright.
This also has it's nice, clean, original black Straight inner sleeve.
Overall, a very nice survivor.
Overall, I'll call the whole record VG+. The vinyl is very clean, except for the hairline.
The vinyl has been in a poly-lined sleeve for decades and the record has been sleeved and stored properly for years. Still quite nice for an original 1971 Straight pressing.
This copy is all original, and a real gem. I'm sure you'll love it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~ ** NOTE: I'm selling this rare 'Collector' record "AS IS" and "NO RETURN". It's rare and as described and I'm sure you'll be very happy with it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I’m recently retired and downsizing and letting go some gems and rarities from nearly 45 years of vinyl record collecting. Check out the many other fantastic 45s and 33s coming soon to my page!
All records have been carefully evaluated and graded by me. I visually inspect all records under bright light, personally gently clean them with a soft cloth and then, if unsure, play them on a modern high-end turntable to get a true picture of condition. Please look at all the high-resolution pictures I added. They are all my own and are of the actual record being sold. The pictures are part of the description and can show small details, label variations, and condition better than I can put into words. 
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THANK YOU for looking and reading if you got this far.  -- JOHN