Out of print for two years? Shit, hard to believe, but it's good to have this one back in circulation (on Bro. Wayne's new label, with expanded versions of the rest of his Epitaph catalog and even the L-O-N-G gone "Death Tongue" set to follow in its wake - a reissue program long anticipated by true Rock Action devotees, especially those who missed out on 'em the first time). This was, after all, the one that started it all, solo-career wise, as well as serving notice to the world at large that Detroit rock'n'roll was alive and well in the '90s.

I was just looking at my review of Bro. Wayne Kramer's reished "Hard Stuff" and I musta been outta my fuckin' mind when I wrote it...that album definitely rates five Rolling Rocks if anything does. Which made me wonder, why am I so hard on Wayne?

From its barn-storming opening track "Under My Wheels", through to the white-noise climax of the title-track, "Killer" proves itself time and time again to be one of rock 'n' roll's greatest albums. Now, yeah, I know that sounds hyperbolic, but in this instance I feel I'm justified. There are some albums that refuse to be played quietly, and "Killer" is one of them, the kind of record that is guaranteed to annoy the neighbours at 2am, when your house party has probably lurched five or six beers over the line.

"Old School" is an Alice Cooper fan's dream come true. That said, it's not for the casual fan, but then the $A200+ price tag is more than likely to scare off the less than devoted buyer. But if like me you're a keen fan of the classic era of when Alice Cooper was the name of the band, not only the stage name of one Vincent Furnier, minister's son, then you'll find much to love in "Old School".

Probably the brimming cup in Alice Cooper's history (if you're looking at album sales), what you've got here is the tide turning. Voted the #1 band in the world by NME on the back of the admittedly strong "School's Out" LP, "Billion Dollar Babies" tried hard to mimic the same approach, but failed, mainly due to a slicker, more commercial sound.

Alright, look past the anthemic glam-rock title track (the one song Alice himself knew was going to be a hit from the point uber-guitarist Glen Buxton first played the glorious opening riff to him), "School's Out" is one great hard-rockin', vaguely concept-driven LP – and that concept is very vaguely drawn at best. But the best thing about it is the fact that there a bunch of toons on the album that really go against the teen-glam angle of the title track. As a matter of fact, they start from track number two.