Yet Alice found a way to make it work. Building on the return-to-garage-rock vibe of 2005’s Dirty Diamonds, Alice takes us back down to a world of nightmares (I’ll Bite Your Face Off), freak-outs (Caffeine), rave-ups (A Runaway Train), Vaudevillian pastiche (Last Man On Earth) and even disco (Disco Bloodbath Boogie Fever).
Along for the nightmare are old-school band members Neal Smith, Michael Bruce, Dennis Dunaway and Dick Wagner, who add a level of authenticity that was missing from Dirty Diamonds. Producer Bob Ezrin (Pink Floyd, KISS, Jane’s Addiction) returns to tie everything together with energy and wit and there’s even a sexually scene-stealing cameo by Ke$ha playing the devil on What Baby Wants.
While Alice has always been a reliable live draw, his albums have often been hit-or-miss, musically and chart-wise. Welcome 2 My Nightmare has a few hokey moments, sure, but it’s feels like an honest revisiting rather than a cynical attention-grab.
BY PETER HODGSON
