ALICE COOPER On Overdubs On Alive Albums: ‘There’s No Such Thing As A Purely Live Album.’

In a conversation with Rock Talk With Mitch Lafon, Auntie Alice talked about alive albums. Take a look on what he said:

“Rarely do I ever think about doing a live album – unless the band deserves it. And this is one of the bands that deserved a live album. I mean, I’ve got Glen Sobel, who’s one of the best drummers in rock and roll.

“I’ve got Nita [Strauss], who’s one of the best female guitar players. All those other guys are just on the money every night. So when every single show could be a live album, in my opinion, that was the one…

“I thought, ‘Well, Paris, this will be a great…’ ‘Cause it’s more like a club. We’re used to playing arenas, and we’re used to playing the big outdoor shows, and we’re used to playing those kinds of places.

“And then you play a place in Paris that’s like a club, and the audience is crazy. And that’s gonna make a great live album.”

He added:

“First of all, there’s no such thing as a purely live album. People go in after they hear the tracks and they fix note on the bass and they fix that drum part, and then, ‘That vocal was a little off, so let’s go in and fix that.’

“We didn’t go in to fix anything on this album. Everything was exactly the way we played it that night. And it absolutely shocked me when I heard it. When I heard it back, I went, ‘There’s not one mistake on this album.’

“And I shouldn’t be shocked, because the band is like that every night. And, to me, that deserves a live album.

“Two years from now, five years from now, it might be a different band – I hope it isn’t; I’d love to keep this band – but then I’ll listen to them, and they’ll be good – because I would never put an average band together — but there’s an excellence about this band that I can’t explain. And so I was sure that a live album was gonna do very well.”