ALICE COOPER “LIVE AT TORONTO” – INDIE LABEL CD FOR DIEHARD FANS ONLY
Here is an offbeat Alice Cooper CD I found while moseying around a flea market in Quakertown, Pennsylvania recently – Live At Toronto. The exact year this Toronto concert was recorded is a Metal mystery to me, the info just does not exist within the liner notes… for there are no liner notes with this CD! The back of this CD does show the track listing, the usual record company info and a photo credit. Classic Sound, Inc. is the record company/distributor and the front cover photo of Alice Cooper is dated – 1993. I’ve seen this same CD available at Amazon.com, with sellers listing the starting price as low as 2 cents! (Must be Ebay sellers). As you shall read further, this Alice Cooper – Live At Toronto CD is for diehard fans only… for those fans who absolutely, must have every album/CD title out there, of this ultra Rock legend.
With no real liner notes, it is not definite as to who the musicians are backing up Alice Cooper. I would not want to make any guesses without having credible information regarding who exactly played on stage, with Alice Cooper for this recording. My Metal research has turned up nothing, in regards to this CD, other than the “basic” info that I am mentioning in this post. The overall sound quality of Live At Toronto is not going to blow anyone away… it does not impress me at all. The song selection does not contain Alice Cooper’s standout hits, nor even any standout deep album cuts from the Alice Cooper catalog. Listening to Live At Toronto gives my ears the impression that this was a concert in a smaller venue, not an Arena.
It’s really a shame, this live CD could be quite a vintage and Rock solid listen, if only some qualified sound engineer did some tweaking where necessary. There are many moments throughout, where I swear I’m listening to a 45 rpm being played as a 33 1/3 rpm… no kidding. Classic Rock should never be recorded to sound so old. I’ll say this many times though… this is NOT the great Alice Cooper’s fault. Alice Cooper cannot be held accountable for some indie label messing up with one of his concert recording’s and trying to cash in on his legendary and Classic Rock.
There is a silent break between each song, so the continuity of the “live” concert experience is non-existent. Alice Cooper is not caught live talking it up to the crowd, nor are there any memorable moments that would make me want to recommend this CD to new fans of Alice Cooper. My best Metal advice is stick to the main titles of Alice Cooper, on the major labels. Sometimes these offbeat and indie labels that release live CD’s are not privy to quality standards in live recordings. My disappointment after listening to Live At Toronto is again, not any fault of Alice Cooper, it is obviously a failure on the part of the people behind mastering this live recording.
Track Listing For Alice Cooper – Live At Toronto:
Ain’t That Just Like A Woman
Painting A Picture
Medley: A.C. Instrumental – I’ve Written Home To Mother
Freak Out Song
Goin’ To The River
Nobody Like Me
Science Fiction
I’ll be keeping my Alice Cooper – Live At Toronto CD… and I will most likely listen to it again. My Metal admiration and liking Alice Cooper for so long, makes me one of those fans who finds it very cool, to seek out, find and keep his albums and CD’s within my collection. Even if the CD is a sub-par, indie-label, live recording. Part of being a Metalhead, is having that “gotta have it” Metal mentality… especially when an album or CD is priced dirt cheap.
LONG LIVE ALICE COOPER!
Stone.
Metal Odyssey > Heavy Metal Music Blog 
June 3, 2010 at 4:39 pm
Oddities are sometimes cool. I think I remember seeing this at a local Camelot Music back in ’98/’99 when I was first becoming a big fan of Alice. I never bothered picking it up.
June 3, 2010 at 6:26 pm
Your not really missing out… honestly, the quality of the sound is so not good. It’s just too bad really. I very rarely encounter any live CD this sub-par too… albeit bootleg or major release.
I agree with oddities being cool though… that’s for sure. 🙂
June 3, 2010 at 4:52 pm
here you go. one click on google. 🙂
June 3, 2010 at 4:53 pm
http://www.nolifetilmetal.com/alicecooper_boots.htm
June 3, 2010 at 6:22 pm
Thanks Sean! It must be my “middle aged eyes” that are starting to go first… it’s all there in another fans words too. I must have the “lesser” quality of the “Live At Toronto” issues. That dude says he picked one up that sounds better than “the others” he has.
June 4, 2010 at 8:30 am
I think this is the same release that has been making rounds from various labels for years. It used to pop on cassette with several different names (Live in Toronto, Live in 1969, Freakout Song and Science Fiction), different covers and on different labels. The sound quality is rough and it’s pre-Love it to death Alice which never appealed to me.
June 4, 2010 at 9:35 pm
Phew… I’m not alone in the way I feel about this CD. If the sound quality was better, (much better), I probably could embrace it much more. Live Rock albums are “Rock moments in time captured”, the only thing captured here is a very distressed sound.
June 15, 2010 at 9:23 am
Like Metal Mark stated these recordings have been released under several titles the copy I own is entitled ‘Freak Out Song’ and the sound quality is crap, it is doubtful this shows where recorded in Toronto, but maybe in L.A., also Alice himself allowed a live show from this era to be released entitled ‘Live at the Whiskey 1969’ which is out of print but not difficult to find, and is an interesting listen to Alice Cooper (band) before they became a mega huge and influential rocl band. Also the sound quality is excellent compared to ‘Freak Out Song’
June 15, 2010 at 11:39 am
Listening through this CD does give me (and anyone else), the opportunity to hear a “time capsule” of Alice Cooper. That is the best way of approaching this CD. It’s cool we all agree the quality of sound is second tier. You are correct too… this time period is Alice Cooper “The Band”. So often, I just refer to “Alice Cooper” despite what year the album was released, only there is an important difference between distinguishing the two… (the band from solo).
For every bad quality “bootleg” Alice Cooper CD there is out there… there are two-fold of them for Motorhead… and I used to gobble them up back in the day! These low quality CD’s have no reflection on Alice Cooper though… he is an unreal Rock ‘N’ Roll legend.
Thanks for the visit/comment –
Stone
June 15, 2010 at 12:40 pm
Stone I am guilty of the same thing, and it was not til I was older (18 or so) that I realized Alice had two different eras, the band Alice Cooper and Alice as a solo artist.
Both are great in my book.
June 15, 2010 at 1:52 pm
I agree that both eras of Alice Cooper are great too. Now, if only The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame thought the same way as we do!
Then again… Alice Cooper doesn’t need a “Hall of Fame” to let him know he has millions of fans for decades… besides, he is in the Metal Odyssey Rock ‘N’ Roll and Heavy Music Hall of Fame! 🙂