Pretties for You
| Pretties for You | ||||
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| Studio album by the Alice Cooper band | ||||
| Released | June 1969 | |||
| Recorded | 1968 at Whitney Studios, Los Angeles | |||
| Genre | Hard rock, acid rock,psychedelic rock, progressive rock | |||
| Length | 36:10 | |||
| Label | Straight | |||
| Producer | Ian Underwood and Herb Cohen | |||
| the Alice Cooper band chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Pretties for You | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |    |
| Rolling Stone | (unfavorable) |
Pretties for You is the debut album by the Alice Cooper band. At this time, the name "Alice Cooper" referred to the band, not its lead singer, though the lead singer was also known as Alice Cooper. The music has a psychedelic flavor to it; the group had yet to develop the more concise hard rock sound that they would become famous for. Most of the tracks feature unusual time signatures and arrangements, jarring syncopation, expressive dynamics, sound effects, and an eclectic range of music influences. A few songs, such as "Levity Ball," show the influence of Syd Barrett-era Pink Floyd, with whom Alice Cooper hung out during the British group's U.S. tour. Too bizarre and avant-garde for its time, Pretties for You was a critical and commercial failure, only briefly denting the Billboard Top 200, and none of its songs have ever been played live by Cooper since the release of the band's breakthrough album Love It to Death.
The song "Reflected", Alice Cooper's first single, was later rewritten as "Elected" (which featured on their 1973 album Billion Dollar Babies). The band also performed during a party scene in the film Diary of a Mad Housewife (1970). The artwork for this album was hanging on the wall of the living room in Frank Zappa's house. However, his wife Gail Zappa claims that it was later stolen from them. The original painting was done by Edward Beardsley. On November 8, 2015 the entire record was performed live at The Stone in NYC as part of Nick Didkovsky's residency there. Neal Smith, Dennis Dunaway and Cindy Smith Dunaway were in attendance. Dennis Dunaway joined the band for "Nobody Likes Me" as an encore, a song that was originally slated to be on the record.
According to Alice Cooper's band manager, Shep Gordon, when recording at Whitney Studios in Burbank, Frank Zappa left his brother in charge of recording while Zappa left the studio. Zappa returned later that day and informed them the album was finished, having only recorded the band rehearsing. Gordon states that there was no producer during recording, that the band had no complete songs written, that Zappa "didn't spend 5 minutes in the studio" and never asked to hear their material, and that the band's debut album was made up entirely of that rehearsal recording.
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