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Hollywood Vampires
Album cover depicting a gothic-style red leather-bound book titled "Hollywood Vampires"
Studio album by
Hollywood Vampires
ReleasedSeptember 11, 2015 (2015-September-11)
Recorded2012–2014
StudioIn Los Angeles
Genre
Length48:28
Label
Producer Bob Ezrin
Hollywood Vampires chronology
Hollywood Vampires
(2015) 		Rise
(2019)

Hollywood Vampires is the self-titled debut studio album by American rock supergroup Hollywood Vampires, formed in 2015 by Alice Cooper, Johnny Depp and Joe Perry to honor the music of the rock stars who died from excess in the 1970s. [2] Released on September 11, 2015 for Republic Records, [3] the album features guest appearances by Paul McCartney, Robby Krieger, Orianthi, Dave Grohl, Christopher Lee, Slash, Brian Johnson, Joe Walsh, Perry Farrell, and Zak Starkey amongst others.

Content

At his shows, Alice Cooper often performs cover songs as a tribute to his drinking buddies The Hollywood Vampires. For an album of covers based on the latter, Cooper wanted songs specific to their early 70s era. [4] " Jim Morrison and Jimi Hendrix of course were before the Vampires," he conceded. "But they were, like, early, early-breed Vampires. They would have been there every single night." [5]

The songs duly hail from acts who fit the original group's "lore", [6] with the exception of two new tracks by Cooper and Depp titled "My Dead Drunk Friends" [7] and "Raise the Dead". [3] "My Dead Drunk Friends" is named after Cooper's recent favorite turn of phrase. Of that, Cooper says "'My dead drunk friends', they would have laughed at that. It was their sense of humor." [8]

Of McCartney's appearance, Depp recalled: "We're recording live… Alice looks at me with this befuddled little look and he's mouthing the words, 'Oh my god, that's Paul McCartney!' to me… Then I look over at Joe Perry – one of my guitar heroes from when I was a kid – and he looks at me and he says, mouthing it, 'Jesus – look, man, it's Paul McCartney!' It was great to see those two huge stars being starstruck." [9]

The lead track is a spoken word piece titled "The Last Vampire" voiced by Christopher Lee, in which he recites a passage from Bram Stoker's Dracula. This was Lee's final recording for a musical album before his death in June 2015. [10]

A deluxe digital edition was released on February 12, 2016, and features " I'm a Boy", " Seven and Seven Is" and "As Bad as I Am". [11]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic69/100 [14]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic [12]
Rolling Stone [13]

Upon release, the album received generally positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, this release received an average score of 69, based on 7 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". [15]

Track listing

No.TitleWriter(s)Original Artist(s)Length
1."The Last Vampire"
Original recording1:35
2."Raise the Dead"
Original recording3:31
3." My Generation" Pete Townshend The Who2:47
4." Whole Lotta Love"
 Led Zeppelin4:13
5." I Got a Line on You" Randy California Spirit2:48
6." Five to One / Break On Through (To the Other Side)"
 The Doors4:17
7." One / Jump into the Fire" Harry NilssonHarry Nilsson5:07
8." Come and Get It" Paul McCartney Badfinger2:59
9." Jeepster" Marc Bolan T. Rex2:43
10." Cold Turkey" John Lennon Plastic Ono Band3:07
11." Manic Depression" Jimi Hendrix The Jimi Hendrix Experience2:43
12." Itchycoo Park"
 Small Faces2:55
13." School's Out / Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)"
 Alice Cooper / Pink Floyd5:14
14."My Dead Drunk Friends"
  • Depp
  • Cooper
  • Ezrin
  • Witkin
  • Henriksen
Original recording4:30
Deluxe Edition bonus tracks
No.TitleWriter(s)Original Artist(s)Length
15." I'm a Boy"TownshendThe Who2:38
16." Seven and Seven Is" Arthur Lee Love3:05
17."As Bad as I Am"
  • Depp
  • Witkin
  • Henriksen
Original recording3:45

Personnel

Main musicians:

The band:

  • Alice Cooper – lead vocals, harmonica
  • Johnny Depp – lead and rhythm guitars (tracks 2–14), keyboards (track 1), backing vocals
  • Joe Perry – lead and rhythm guitars (tracks 8–10, 13), backing vocals

Studio musicians:

  • Tommy Henriksen – keyboards (track 4, 9–10, 12, 14), guitar (tracks 2–7, 9–13), backing vocals
  • Bruce Witkin – bass (tracks 2–3, 6–7, 9–12, 14), keyboards (tracks 7, 14), guitar (tracks 2, 4, 5, 7, 13–14)
  • Glen Sobel – drums (tracks 2, 9–10, 12, 14)

Guest vocalists:

Guest musicians:

Charts

Chart (2015–19) Peak
position
Australian Albums ( ARIA) [16] 34
Austrian Albums ( Ö3 Austria) [17] 48
Belgian Albums ( Ultratop Flanders) [18] 76
Belgian Albums ( Ultratop Wallonia) [19] 34
Dutch Albums ( Album Top 100) [20] 47
French Albums ( SNEP) [21] 54
Hungarian Albums ( MAHASZ) [22] 40
German Albums ( Offizielle Top 100) [23] 59
Swiss Albums ( Schweizer Hitparade) [24] 24
UK Albums ( OCC) [25] 30
US Billboard 200 [26] 43

References

  1. ^ Grow, Kory (September 11, 2015). "Hollywood Vampires". Rolling Stone.
  2. ^ "Faith No More and Hollywood Vampires at Rock in Rio Brazil". Rock in Rio.
  3. ^ a b "ALICE COOPER, JOHNNY DEPP, DAVE GROHL, BRIAN JOHNSON, SIR PAUL MCCARTNEY, SLASH Appear On HOLLYWOOD VAMPIRES Debut". Blabbermouth.net. 5 August 2015. Retrieved 5 August 2015.
  4. ^ Steve Baltin (13 March 2013). "Q&A: Alice Cooper Plans Classic Rock Covers Album". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 24 September 2015.
  5. ^ Murphy, Kevin: "The vampire diaries"; Classic Rock #216, November 2015, p36
  6. ^ Kathy McCabe (19 September 2015). "Alice Cooper and Johnny Depp resurrect their dead drunk friends on Hollywood Vampires record". News.com.au. Retrieved 24 September 2015.
  7. ^ Gary, Graff (April 20, 2015). "Alice Cooper Talks Collaborating With Paul McCartney, Dave Grohl (and Even Johnny Depp) on New Album". Billboard.com.
  8. ^ Kory Grow (9 September 2015). "Alice Cooper and Joe Perry on Hollywood Vampires' Drunk History". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 24 September 2015.[ dead link]
  9. ^ Murphy, Kevin: "The vampire diaries"; Classic Rock #216, November 2015, p34
  10. ^ Lewis Corner (6 August 2015). "Alice Cooper interview: 'New bands don't give themselves time to get good'". Hearst Magazines UK.
  11. ^ "Hollywood Vampires Deluxe Album with Brand New Track Coming Feb. 12th - Hollywood Vampires". Archived from the original on 2016-02-23. Retrieved 2016-02-18.
  12. ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "AllMusic Review". AllMusic. Retrieved June 12, 2023.
  13. ^ Grow, Kory (June 21, 2019). "Hollywood Vampires Rolling Stone Review". Rolling Stone. Retrieved June 12, 2023.
  14. ^ "Metacritic Review". Metacritic. Retrieved June 12, 2023.
  15. ^ Hollywood Vampires by Hollywood Vampires, retrieved 2023-06-12
  16. ^ "Australiancharts.com – Hollywood Vampires – Hollywood Vampires". Hung Medien. Retrieved September 19, 2015.
  17. ^ "Austriancharts.at – Hollywood Vampires – Hollywood Vampires" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved July 12, 2018.
  18. ^ "Ultratop.be – Hollywood Vampires – Hollywood Vampires" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved September 18, 2015.
  19. ^ "Ultratop.be – Hollywood Vampires – Hollywood Vampires" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved September 18, 2015.
  20. ^ "Dutchcharts.nl – Hollywood Vampires – Hollywood Vampires" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved September 19, 2015.
  21. ^ "Lescharts.com – Hollywood Vampires – Hollywood Vampires". Hung Medien. Retrieved October 1, 2015.
  22. ^ "Album Top 40 slágerlista – 2019. 26. hét" (in Hungarian). MAHASZ. Retrieved November 29, 2021.
  23. ^ "Longplay-Chartverfolgung at Musicline" (in German). Musicline.de. Phononet GmbH. Retrieved September 18, 2015.
  24. ^ "Swisscharts.com – Hollywood Vampires – Hollywood Vampires". Hung Medien. Retrieved September 23, 2015.
  25. ^ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved September 19, 2015.
  26. ^ "Hollywood Vampires Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved September 22, 2015.
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