Live at Cabo Wabo '96

By the late '90s, Alice Cooper wisely decided to start incorporating more and more uncommon and/or rarely played songs from yesteryear back into his live set, to the delight of longtime fans. A show at Sammy Hagar's Cabo Wabo Cantina from this era shows Cooper just starting to dig up some old nuggets, as evidenced by Live at Cabo Wabo '96. Strangely, though, instead of releasing the album shortly thereafter to signal the Coop's return back to basics, the album didn't hit record shops until almost ten years later, in 2005. Kicking things off with the song that he'll always be best known for, "School's Out," Cooper and his band churn out faithful, heavy metal- esque readings of the classics "Under My Wheels," "I'm Eighteen," "No More Mr. Nice Guy," and "Elected." But the tracks that will appeal most to hardcore enthusiasts will be the previously rarely performed "Desperado" (rumored to be a tribute to Jim Morrison) and "Teenage Lament '74." Also included are several then-newer tracks, which can easily be skipped over ("Lost in America," "Poison," "Feed My Frankenstein," etc.). With the overabundance of Cooper live albums,videos, and DVDs on the market, Live at Cabo Wabo '96 isn't exactly a necessary release, but it does signify that Cooper and co. were rocking hard in the '90s. ~ Greg Prato