Easy Action

*Easy Action* is often regarded as the middle child of Alice Cooper’s early years. The 1970 sophomore album is more palatable than 1969’s *Pretties For You*, yet void of the gargantuan insta-hits mixed by Bob Ezrin on 1971’s *Love It To Death*. But three of these nine tunes reveal Alice Cooper finding his voice. Some songs even sound like blueprints for *Love It To Death*, like the first cut “Mr. And Misdemeanor” which reveals Alice experimenting with the signature snarl that overtook his later inflections. Conversely, the sunny psyche-pop of “Shoe Salesman” heats up some 1969 leftovers as Alice sings through his nose like a mop-top in a Nehru jacket. The breakdown in “Still No Air” flirts with early 1970s longhaired proto-punk while the epic “Below Your Means” would obviously sound different had Cooper and company never heard The Who. The sinister sounding “Return Of The Spiders” and the seven and a-half minute long “Lay Down And Die, Goodbye” are two standouts that best forecast the future sound of Alice Cooper.