Alice Cooper-Billion Dollar Babies (DVD-Audio) (1973) (NTSC)

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General		Extras
Category	Music	Booklet Audio-Only Track-5 (Live) (16:40) Gallery-Photo Lyrics Notes-Interviews With Alice (9) Audio-Only Track-Alice's Comments (9) (7:33) Music Video-Elected (3:32) Biographies-Cast Notes-B$B Revisited Notes-Reviews DVD Credits
Rating
Year Of Production	1973
Running Time	42:00
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	1,2,3,4,5,6	Directed By	None Given
Studio Distributor	Warner Vision	Starring	Alice Cooper Glen Buxton Michael Bruce Dennis Dunaway Neal Smith
Case	DVD-Audio Jewel
RPI	$32.95	Music	Alice Cooper

    As you may have gathered, I have recently joined the DVD-Audio brigade and have thus had the chance to experience the ear-opening excitement of the format in my own home. To say that I was knocked over by the first listening is to somewhat understate the situation. Now, Alice Cooper's Billion Dollar Babies was not the first DVD-Audio disc that I listened to, but it is for a particular reason the first that I am reviewing. That particular reason is that, aside from being a long time Alice Cooper fan, it makes an interesting comparison to the first DVD-Audio disc I did actually listen to, and which will be the second DVD-Audio disc I will review.

    As long time readers will no doubt know, I have long held the 1970s to be the high point of popular music with many, many classic albums emanating from this period. In many ways Billion Dollar Babies exemplifies what was so special about the 1970s. Not that I would necessarily call the album a genuine classic, but rather that it demonstrates the spirit of experimentation that was the hallmark of the 1970s. This album is very much a political satire, so can be taken on several levels: as a straight rock and roll album, as an immensely imposing satirical album, as an experiment that is sometimes flawed and as evidence of the emergence of the theatrical aspects of music of the period (exemplified in better ways by Alice Cooper's subsequent albums). Whichever way you take the album, of one thing there is no doubt - nearly thirty years later it remains an immensely listenable album and one that contains a number of genuinely classic songs.

    To return to songs such as Elected, No More Mr Nice Guy and I Love The Dead after far too long is sort of like coming home to old friends. To hear them in this new format is somewhat revelatory.

    On second thoughts, after listening to the album four times for review purposes, there is a strong argument for describing Billion Dollar Babies as a classic album. A strong sense of overall structure, some terrific song writing, strong production values that still hold up well and a huge dose of satirical humour make sure that this is an album to enjoy for a long time.

Video

    The NTSC menus and stills are clear, with the text generally easy to read. The video segment is not exactly terrific but that is hardly surprising for a music video made thirty years ago.

Audio

    The disc contains three sound format choices: the default DVD-Audio MLP 96 kHz/24 bit 5.1 soundtrack, a DVD-Audio MLP 96 kHz/24 bit 2.0 soundtrack and a DVD-Video compatible Dolby Digital 5.1 448 Kb/s soundtrack. I listened to the two 5.1 soundtrack formats in their entirety and sampled the MLP 2.0 soundtrack. The original album was produced by Bob Ezrin and it is very pleasing to see that he produced the surround sound remix, the actual engineering being done by Gary Lux and Ken Calait.

    There is certainly little to complain about with respect of the DVD-Video compatible Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack and I only wish that more music DVD-Video discs had this sort of quality in their audio transfers! Taking full advantage of the high bit rate, this sounds excellent throughout with plenty of resolution across the board. Perhaps the instruments could have been a little better placed throughout the mix, rather than across the mix, but this really is a nice thumping soundtrack that will serve those with just DVD-Video capacity more than adequately. There is plenty of a presence in the sound and the balance is really very good. The bass does not overpower the music at all, whilst there is enough definition to note where the guitars, keyboards and drums are placed in the overall mix. This sure beats the last CD incarnation of the album that I dug out for comparative purposes.

    After listening to the Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack, in some ways the DVD-Audio MLP 5.1 soundtrack is a little disappointing. It seems to lack a general punch at the same audio level, making perhaps a little better use of the surround channels but certainly not better overall use of the soundscape. As you would expect, this is a nice open sounding effort. It simply does not have enough punch for the music. This of course might well be a function of the source material not offering enough scope for improvement, although the excellence of the Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack would tend to belie this.

    From the sampling made of the MLP 2.0 soundtrack, there is little to complain about here, with a nice open sound, plenty of presence and more than ample evidence of how much better music can sound than on ordinary CD.

Audio Ratings Summary

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Booklet

    A very nice 24-page booklet which provides some history of Alice Cooper, some insight into the album, photographs, song lyrics and a track listing, as well as credits. A nice touch was to include details of the singles lifted from the album. If only more DVD-Video discs were as good....

Audio-Only Track (5) (Live) (16:40)

    Five live tracks (Hello Hooray, Billion Dollar Babies, Elected, No More Mr Nice Guy and I Love The Dead) recorded at the Sam Houston Coliseum in Houston, Texas on 28th April, 1973 are included as bonus tracks. These can be played in any of the sound formats. They play over the menu showing the track listing. The Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack is awesome, with superb use of the surround channels, with all the audience noise out of the rears. This really sounds as if you are a part of the audience. The MLP 5.1 soundtrack is really good, but not quite in the same league. What this does prove is just how good the man is in concert - a fact that I can readily attest to having seen him live a number of times.

Gallery - Photo

    A bunch of photographs that may be accessed whilst the songs are being played.

Lyrics

    The usual lyrics that may be read whilst the the songs are being played.

Notes - Interviews With Alice (9)

    These are transcriptions for questions asked during an interview for the Album Network. These are displayed whilst you listen to the comments listed below.

Audio-Only Track - Alice's Comments (9)

    These appear to be the answers to the transcriptions listed above and can be played whilst reading the transcriptions. All up they last for 7:33.

Music Video - Elected (3:32)

    One of the very earliest music videos to actual have a story rather than just showing a performance of the song. It is presented Full Frame and comes with Dolby Digital 5.1 sound. No complaints about the sound but the video is a little ropey, albeit understandably so. Grainy, somewhat diffuse, washed out colours and plenty of film artefacts, but the then-uniqueness of the video overrides all.

Biographies - Cast

    Well, just that for Alice Cooper and running for four pages of text.

Notes - Billion Dollar Babies Revisited

    Running to thirteen pages, this duplicates the contents of the booklet.

Notes - Reviews

    Running to two pages, this has a couple of reviews of the original album release.

DVD Credits

    Well, not just for the DVD - these seven pages cover the original album and the live material as well as the DVD.

    This DVD-Audio is identical in content and format around the world.

    It might not be the finest example of DVD-Audio available but Alice Cooper's Billion Dollar Babies is a very interesting, and very enjoyable album. It is worthy enough for inclusion in most collections if only for the fact that it makes a very interesting comparison with the next DVD-Audio that I shall be reviewing... You know those car stickers "Holdens P*** On Fords" or the variants thereof? Well, DVD-Audio Pisses on CD, even when it is not really superb!

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