Detroit Stories

Rather than phone anything in, Cooper’s clearly making the most of his elder statesman position, finding new ways to freshen up vintage sounds and styles. He’s every bit as durable as the American city he celebrates.

With this fun and obnoxiously reverent album, they should get the inmates rioting.

Not everything clicks, though. The spoken word verses and clichéd lyrics of “Don’t Give Up” and the simplistic “Shut Up and Rock” could have been chopped from an album that’s already pretty long. But there is enough of Cooper’s trademarked sleaze and rowdy clenched-fist riffing in “Hail Mary,” a cover of the MC5’s propulsive “Sister Ann,” and the swampy “Wonderful World” to satisfy fans of Cooper’s early work.

Largely, Cooper and longtime producer Bob Ezrin know what they can get away with on an Alice Cooper record, and when they hit their stride, it’s a lot of fun. Figuring out how to do that seems like an artform unto itself.

More Nugent than Stooges, Detroit Stories recalls his wild '70s heyday, especially on lighters-up "Social Debris" and the gloriously goofy "Independence Dave." Too Often though, it sounds slick and perfunctory. [Mar 2021, p.28]