Album Review: Hollywood Vampires

The Hollywood Vampires were born in 1972 in the upstairs bar of the Rainbow Bar and Grill on Sunset Strip, it was a gathering place for rock stars passing through Los Angeles. Alice Cooper was a founding member of The Vampires.

Three years ago Alice and good friend Johnny Depp got together and decided the spirit of the Hollywood Vampires should live again, minus the drinking, so Alice and Johnny were joined by Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry to record a tribute album to the original Hollywood Vampires.

The album starts off with a spoken intro by Sir Christopher Lee, recorded just before he passed away. The first song is a new song, Raise The Dead, a classic Alice Cooper track with a melodic twist, pumping bass and thrashing drums. The album is worth getting for this track alone.

Some of the covers are better than others, The Who hit, My Generation is updated in a rock style whilst AC/DC's Brian Johnson joins Cooper on the Led Zeppelin classic Whole Lotta Love.

On the Badfinger track, Come and Get It, Sir Paul McCartney sings vocals with Cooper on the track the former Beatle wrote, it still sounds good.

The version of the T Rex track, Jeepster sounds pale in comparison to the original version but things pick up big time when a new version of School's Out with Cooper and Brian Johnson sharing vocals and also sharing the track with Pink Floyd's Another Brick In The Wall.

With all artist proceeds going to MusiCares the album is for a worthy cause.

3 out of 5.