Along Came a Spider is Alice Cooper's 25th studio album, released in July 2008 by Steamhammer/SPV. It was Cooper's highest-charting album in the USsince Hey Stoopid in 1991.
The storyline for the album was first revealed on Cooper's radio show Nights with Alice Cooper. The theme of the album revolves around a "cool, calm and collected"[4] serial killer known as Spider. The police are baffled by the bodies of Spider's victims, which are cocooned in a silk web, and are each missing a leg. Spider's task is to collect eight legs in order to complete the construction of his own spider. However, things get complicated when he falls in love with his eighth victim.
Along Came a Spider was due for a 2007 release but problems with producer scheduling and tour commitments caused it to be pushed to mid-2008. Several demos and songs were prepared and short-listed during 2007 with further sessions for recording and writing took place in February 2008. 75% of the album had been completed as of April 18, 2008.[5] Cooper also planned to create a second part to the album, entitled 'The Night Shift,' but decided to make Welcome 2 My Nightmare instead.[6]
Contents[]
[hide] *1 Track list
Track list[edit][]
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Prologue / I Know Where You Live" | Alice Cooper, Danny Saber, Greg Hampton | 4:21 | |
| 2. | "Vengeance Is Mine" (feat. Slash) | Cooper, Saber, Hampton | 4:26 | |
| 3. | "Wake the Dead" (feat. Ozzy Osbourne) | Cooper, Saber, Ozzy Osbourne | 3:53 | |
| 4. | "Catch Me If You Can" | Cooper, Saber, Hampton | 3:15 | |
| 5. | "(In Touch With) Your Feminine Side" | Cooper, Chuck Garric, Keri Kelli, Damon Johnson | 3:16 | |
| 6. | "Wrapped in Silk" | Cooper, Saber, Hampton | 4:17 | |
| 7. | "Killed by Love" | Cooper, Garric, Kelli, James Bacchi | 3:34 | |
| 8. | "I'm Hungry" | Cooper, Saber, Hampton | 3:58 | |
| 9. | "The One That Got Away" | Cooper, Kelli, Jani Lane | 3:21 | |
| 10. | "Salvation" | Cooper, Saber, Hampton, Bernard Fowler | 4:36 | |
| 11. | "I Am the Spider / Epilogue" | Cooper, Saber, Hampton | 5:21 |
| 2010 Re-release / iTunes bonus tracks | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length | |||||||
| 12. | "Shadow of Yourself" | 3:29 | ||||||||
| 13. | "I'll Still Be There" | 3:50 | ||||||||
| 14. | "Salvation" (Unplugged with string section) | Cooper, Saber, Hampton, Fowler | 4:46 | |||||||
- As with a large portion of Cooper's back-catalogue being remastered and re-released through various distribution channels, Along Came A Spider has also received the same treatment. Re-released on CD in 2010, and distributed by Bigger Picture, it includes the three iTunes-only bonus tracks originally released alongside the album in 2008:
Music video[edit][]
Unlike Dragontown, The Eyes of Alice Cooper, and Dirty Diamonds, a music video was created to promote Along Came a Spider. Released on October 2, 2008, and directed by Rob Zombie bassist, Piggy Dand Gabrielle Geiselman, the 10-minute-long music video stars Alice Cooper, Slash, Hazmat, Roxxi Dott, Howie Pyro, Dave Pino, Eric Singer and Peter Derek. It features a medley of three songs from the album: "Vengeance Is Mine", "(In Touch With Your) Feminine Side", and "Killed By Love".
Personnel[edit][]
- Alice Cooper - Lead and backing vocals
- Danny Saber - Guitars (Tracks 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10 and 11); Slide Guitars (4); Ebow (4); Bass Guitars (1, 3, 6, 8, 10 and 11); Piano (7); Keyboards (1, 3, 6, 7, 8, 10 and 11); Synths (4); String Arrangements (10 and 11)
- Greg Hampton - Guitars (2, 4, 6, 8,9 and 11); Bass Guitars (4); Keyboards (4, 9 and 11); Backing Vocals (1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8 and 11); String Arrangements (2 and 11)
- Keri Kelli - Guitars (5, 7 and 9)
- Jason Hook - Guitars (5)
- Slash - Lead Guitar (2)
- Whitey Kirst - Guitars (8)
- Chuck Garric - Bass Guitars (2, 7 and 9); Backing Vocals (2)
- Eric Singer - Drums (1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9 and 11)
- David Piribauer - Drums (8 and 10)
- Steffen Presley - B3 Organ (6)
- Ozzy Osbourne - Harmonica (3) (Credited as 'J. Osbourne')
- Bernard Fowler - Backing Vocals (1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11)
- Calico Cooper - Backing Vocals (5); Spoken Word (9)
- Fabrizio Grossi - Mixing (2, 4, 10);
Charts[edit][]
| Chart (2008) | Peak
position |
|---|---|
| US Billboard 200[7] | 53 |
| Austrian Albums Chart[8] | 37 |
| Dutch Albums Chart[9] | 76 |
| Canadian Albums Chart[7] | 19 |
| Finnish Albums Chart[10] | 31 |
| French Albums Chart[11] | 101 |
| German Albums Chart[12] | 26 |
| Norwegian Albums Chart[13] | 33 |
| Swedish Albums Chart[14] | 25 |
| Swiss Albums Chart[15] | 37 |
| UK Albums Chart[16] | 31 |