Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
In the great pantheon of American narratives, rarely does the upper reaches of the cities that straddle the Great Lakes feature, the chronicles it seems are reserved for the east and west coast and the plains in between, and yet the Motor City has its own special place in American history, not one perhaps made of literature, but in that more alluring spectacle, music.
Detroit has had its fair share of bad times in recent history, a city that was on the verge of bankruptcy, a city that has become a shell of its former shining, glorious self, the by-word for neglect and lack of investment, of the damage sought when you rely on the past to carry your name into the future.
Motown was the epitome of music and industry working together, no other label has such an entwined sense of cohesion with the city it shared its name with, and as Time goes by, the stories sang for millions have become less and less, for in times of hardship and desperation, who can tell Detroit Stories in the manner that makes the old city that is straddled between Lake St. Clair and Lake Erie proud, who can capture what was once indomitable.
Alice Cooper, the majesty of shock rock and one of the most genuine of performers to grace the stage might not have been the musician that you once thought of to find themselves the obvious choice, however, in all respects, only Alice Cooper could, and does, make Detroit sing once more, and in his own special way of announcing amour and love, the letters he has written to the city are filled with that special touch of darkness that make any story worth being immersed in.
The point of such a weaved tale is perhaps a reminder that whilst the good times and the money are in abundance, anybody can make a song feel as if it is the bounciest and happiest moment on Earth, it is in dejection, in the darkest moments of adversity that music is required to be brave, to capture the scene for the truth and the response to hardship; and in that Detroit Stories in many ways is the mirror that so many of the outstanding musicians that put Detroit on the map could never hope to have achieved.
It might be rock, but there is honesty within its soul, the narrative that plays out is one of consequence, of outcome, and in tracks such as Our Love Will Change The World, Social Debris, the excellent 1000s High Heel Shoes, Drunk And In Love, the marvellous I Hate You and the timely and heartfelt Hanging On By A Thread (Don’t Give Up), what comes across is a new tale of Rock City, one that is still in debt to its 60s roots but one that is free of obligation to its past.
It is that glittering past that has been allowed to crumble, and perhaps in a way, that is good thing, the edifice has been shown to be outdated, the people deserve better and a new beginning, because at the end of the day it is to people that hold the stories intact, that people are more valuable than a building or a car, and it is to people that Alice Cooper brings Detroit Stories to the world.
Ian D. Hall