#2726 Alice Cooper - School's Out

Songs like No More Mr. Nice Guy and School's Out make it easy to dismiss Cooper's stuff as dopey pop. But his albums are a lot more artful than you might expect. School's Out gets by on strange structures, whether its songs that zig where you expect them to zag, or an overall album structure that subverts the pacing you're expecting. There's no overt horror elements to speak of, but you're still left feeling like something uncanny's happened, as the whole album kind of slips through your fingers. An intriguing, mysterious little maze of hooks and asides that's a lot more subtle than the title track sets you up to expect 4/5