Before Alice Cooper the solo artist there was Alice Cooper the group...
A little bit earlier and with an almost identical line-up they were called the Nazz (pictured above) and before then the Spiders, complete with spider web and all!
The Spiders second 45 issued in 1966 is a fantastic slab of Garage-Punk with snotty vocals and crunching guitars. The Yardbirds were a great influence as witnessed also by a version of "I'm a man" that was never issued. I believe there's a whole lot of covers from this time that appeared on at least one bootleg...but I never heard it.
Back in 1964 in Phoenix Arizona, Vince Furnier on vocals, Glenn Buxton on lead guitar and Dennis Dunaway on bass, all three future Alice Cooper, formed the Earwigs that also included John Tatum on guitar and John Speer on drums.
It was this line-up that in Sept 1965, now known as The Spiders released their first 45:
Why don't you love me / Hitch Hike
The following Summer John Tatum left and the new Spiders would release the aforementioned second single, the fantastic "Don't blow your mind" / "No price tag".
Apparently the only guy that turned up for the vacant left by Tatum was Michael Bruce, previously of the Trolls and recently departed from the brilliant Wildflowers.
Here included are the Wildflowers two singles plus a great track that appeared about 10 years ago on the fantastic comp Legend City that focuses on Phoenix bands.
The Wildflowers almost sound British being influenced by the Beatles circa "Rain", especially on the cool "More than me".
I'm not entirely sure but I reckon both singles are from 1966, albeit the B-side of the first sounds like it could be earlier...it is also, for me, the weakest track, the rest though is outstanding and the previously unissued "One more chance" a real find!
In 1967 the band became The Nazz, taking their name from the Yardbirds song "The Nazz are blue" and by the end of the year Neal Smith will replace John Speer on drums.
They will release only one single, whose fantastic B-side "Lay down and die" shows the band in full psychedelic mode with piercing eastern-like guitar.
They will also start working in the months to come at songs that eventually will appear on "Pretties for you", Alice Cooper debut album released in 1969.
Since somebody else in Philadelphia had the same idea about naming his band after the Yardbirds tune, early in 1968 the band will become Alice Cooper.
The Spiders
01 Why Don't You Love Me
02 Hitch hike
03 I'm Cryin (Live)
04 I'm A Man
05 Don't Blow Your Mind
06 No Price Tag
07 Don't Blow Your Mind (alternate)
The Wildflowers
08 A Man Like Myself
09 On A Day Like Today
10 More Than Me
11 Moving Along With The Sun
12 One More Chance
The Nazz
13 I Wonder Who's Loving Her Now
14 Lay Down Die Goodbye
15 Changing Arranging (Acetate)
http://www.mediafire.com/file/t89zm9is2tr6mmb/Spiders%20Nazz.rar
27 comments:
Thank you for this early Alice Cooper !
Link no longer works. :-(
I just posted a new link but I can see it's not working either...the file is there and has not been deleted...I'm away from home until August...hope to fix it...
do not click but copy and paste: it works!
ciao Aldo,
.. era ora di una compilazza sui pre-Alici....bella ricerca, stasera so cosa fare.....
grazie tante e cari saluti dalla tua patria!
M
Thank you very much (o grazie mille) :)
Thanks for sharing this early Alice Cooper collection. Nice to have
all this stuff compiled together.
Scott.
some wonderful obscure gems here thank you so much :)
The Spiders cover arguably one of the most badass of all time! Thanks for sharing.
Great!!!! ThanXX!!!!Cool To Have this early Coop.
If you have the original, because it includes the covers or set list?. Too much to ask?
Chris
chris,
i'm not too sure what you mean:
first what original are you talking about?
where did you get that?
that's probably why i don't understand what you say or indeed what you're asking for...
please explain.
Forget it, you always have excuses for everything. Bye
Chris
Chris:
SORRY??? Do I know you?
No, I didn't think so...
your previous comment made no sense, at least no grammatically...now you're coming up with such a stupid comment!
I always have excuses...for what?!!!
Get yourself a life and stop being so miserable while you hide behind a pc!
You stupid or what? you always put an excuse when someone does not think like you. Just ask if you have the original and if so, why not put the covers?....It is assumed that you have the original?...If you do not understand the language will learn ... but there is a tool called (TRANSLATE)
Treat yourself to ashes
Chris
Chris,
I don't know why I bother replying to you.
First of all I wasn't going to publish offensive comments...but here it is, everybody else will see what kind of person you are.
how can you tell me to use a translator to understand what you say when obviously English is NOT your language?
I still don't know what you mean! WHAT ORIGINAL???
This is a collection of different tracks from different sources...
So, if you meant artwork for the "original" record with titles etc, well, IT DOES NOT EXIST!!!
In case you didn't understand, THIS IS MY BLOG, you're more than welcome to download stuff if you like (...ah! a little thanks now and then, instead of moaning, maybe?) if not there are millions of others out there.
Wouldn't it be better trying to explain yourself rather than offend?
"Treat yourself to ashes", I like that, I wonder if I should use a translator as you say...but then, translate it in what language?
Since you only seem to understand certain language (and if not google translate it)
GET LOST ARSHOLE!
Thanks for the link. This all sounds great. Bruce's/Wildflower's "More Than Me" sounds like early Alice Cooper material. Surprised they didn't do a version of it. Even the odd break in the drumming sounds like the Cooper band.
The Spiders sound very good, oddly enough, they sound better than the band did on their first album! It is very much in the vein of the Yardbirds. I've heard most of this before, but it's my first time for No Price Tag.
The Nazz is a bit more like Alice Cooper... but more melodic. "I Wonder Who's Loving Her Now" is almost poppy.
I don't know why this hasn't been on an Alice Cooper collection... the only problem here is recording quality. The songs are all pretty good.
Glad you liked it Doc,
yeah this is just a taste of what a cool comp you could have putting together those early sides etc
Sound quality is not its strong point but surely if somebody would release something like it officially they could improve it big time!
I've read all about Alice Cooper's history, I just wanna hear it now! This link isn't working for me - Mediafire says that the file has been "set to private". I cut-&-pasted the link. May I please treat my ears? Thanks for putting this together!
@ Will and everybody else:
All links have been set to private, I got pissed off and bored by stupid comments...have a good look around, youtube these days being a virtual jukebox with tons of stuff, you'll be surprised and probably will be able to hear all of this.
ciao Aldo,
.. posso capirti, in effetti non c'è niente di più noioso che commenti inopportuni, stupidi o persino offensivi.... (tranne la pubblicità / spam, forse).. mi dispiace per il sito, ma Ytube po essere una valida alternativa (come. p. es. Blacflag http://www.youtube.com/user/blacflag - 99 beat 99 (Roba Italiana) : http://www.youtube.com/user/99beat99#p/u/85/oaSxbCHU3wk - nederbeat http://www.youtube.com/user/nederarchief - http://www.youtube.com/user/ilyk49#p/u - http://www.youtube.com/user/PCino45s2 - http://www.youtube.com/user/oscarowski - http://www.youtube.com/user/MrMARCODONDI#p/u (sempre roba Italiana) - http://www.youtube.com/user/TheVinylVindicator - http://www.youtube.com/user/ladyfuzz1966#p/u - http://www.youtube.com/user/tallmark#p/u/56/eBAHhX8eiSI - http://www.youtube.com/user/bofuz#p/u/51/HOJKYlb7SQw - http://www.youtube.com/user/ShapelyDice - o http://www.youtube.com/user/cinnamonk (del tipo che ha fatto il blog Bubblegumsoup, poi tolto dalla rete)... fammi sapere se fai un tuo canale su Youtube.....
salutoni!
Sad to see it goes private... Can't find all these stuffs anywhere :(
Great blog though!
I came across this post evidently too late after a baby pissing match. Looked like a great collection you put together tho! Too bad Aldo, you let a juvenile nitwit with undescended testicles get to you. "You're bored..." rather you're pissed, so you picked up your toys & ran home. Be strong, life's too short. Where's the music in all this? Va fan Culo Youtube, 'Tis so very lame.
-Ciao Amore, Chef Kano
Happy Chef,
glad to help you if you write me an email.
;)
Aldo, ciao, ho notato che sei italiano quindi scrivo in tal glosso...scusa, ma il link di m.fire dice che può scaricare solo chi ha uploadato il file.
C'è un modo per poterlo ottenere anch'io?
Gran blog, grazie del servizio per noi luridi garaggiosi.
Tristram,
dai un'occhiata se funziona ora, l'ho rimesso pubblico, se hai problemi e per qualsiasi cosa scrivimi un email.
enjoy it!
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