Wednesday, October 26, 2016

Something Borrowed: "Feed My Frankenstein," Beasto Blanco/Alice Cooper


The apples don’t fall far from the tree on the latest release from Beasto Blanco. The leader of the band is Alice Cooper bassist Chuck Garric, and the female vocals are provided by Calico Cooper, who just happens to be Alice’s daughter. So, I wonder how they got the rights to cover an Alice song?

All jokes aside, this is an interesting take on a song that’s not one of my favorites in the Alice catalog.


If I had to pick a least favorite Alice Cooper album, it would probably be 1991’s Hey Stoopid. That record took the commercial pandering of 1989’s Trash to a whole new level. The title track was bad, and it was preachy, jumping on the anti-drug bandwagon of the time (which was largely being ridden by a bunch of druggies). It was loaded with too many guest shots and not enough Alice Cooper. But “Feed My Frankenstein,” featuring a guitar dream team of Steve Vai and Joe Satriani, was one of the better tracks.

Beasto Blanco remains faithful to the primary melody of the song while definitely putting their own touches on it. Their version opens with a bluesy, almost Western movie-inspired acoustic version of the 1980s-drenched lick that begins the original. Then it goes a little goth as Calico Cooper starts the vocals. You can really hear her dad in her voice in this song, particularly as it goes on and she adopts that sardonic tone of her dad, though she takes it to a little Harley Quinn-esque screech from time to time.

On the other side, Garric comes in sounding, as he often does, like a clone of Rob Zombie. His performance on the chorus reminds me of the live version of the tune from A Fistful of Alice, which featured Zombie in a duet with Alice. Once the song cranks up, it's more faithful to the original, though with a little snippet of that acoustic thing returning a little later.

In the end, it’s a cool take on the song, putting their own spin on it, while being very respectful to the legend that they call dad and boss. I might even like it better than the original.


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