Maps of Music

DaDa (1983)

Where the lyrics of DaDa take you, and where it was really made.

In 1996 Cooper said DaDa was the scariest album he ever made and that he never had any idea what it was about.

Key places

Phase One Studios, Toronto (1983)

Recording site Phase One Audio Group — The album was recorded during mid-1983 at Phase One Studios in Toronto. Discogs credits this studio as the place of recording. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

ESP Studios, Buttonville (1983)

Recording site ESP Studios — The album was also recorded in mid-1983 at ESP Studios in Buttonville, Canada. The point sits at the town centre, not at the studio building. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• DaDa: eighth solo and fifteenth studio album overall by Alice Cooper
• Released 28 September 1983 by Warner Bros. Records
• Final studio album before Cooper's sober return in 1986 with Constrictor
• Mostly synthesizer-focused; made extensive use of the then-new Fairlight CMI digital sampling synthesizer
• Front cover based on Salvador Dalí's painting Slave Market with the Disappearing Bust of Voltaire (1940)
• Cover designed by Ernie Cefalu's agency Pacific Eye & Ear

Background

• Produced by Bob Ezrin, Cooper's long-time collaborator
• First production with Cooper in six years, since Lace and Whiskey (1977)
• In the interim Ezrin had produced Pink Floyd's The Wall (1979); some tracks were compared to Pink Floyd
• Guitarist and co-writer Dick Wagner revealed in 2014 that Cooper had relapsed to heavy drinking during recording
• Wagner suggested the album fulfilled a contract requirement; Warner Bros. never confirmed or denied this
• Cooper calls DaDa, Special Forces and Zipper Catches Skin his "blackout" albums, made under substance abuse

Recording

• Recorded during mid-1983 at Phase One Studios in Toronto and ESP Studios in Buttonville, Canada
• Local musicians took part, including Graham Shaw, Prakash John and Lisa Dal Bello
• The Fairlight CMI was central to the sound

Cover

• Back cover shows a young Cooper holding a dog, beside a separate photo of an old man
• Cover follows the album's Dada and surrealist theme

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · www.discogs.com

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• Alice Cooper originated in Phoenix, Arizona in 1964 as a band formed by Vincent Damon Furnier, Glen Buxton, Michael Bruce, Dennis Dunaway and Neal Smith.
• The group first performed as the Earwigs and later renamed themselves the Spiders and then Nazz.
• In 1968 the band adopted the name Alice Cooper, which was later also the new legal name of Furnier.

Members

• The classic lineup consisted of Furnier (lead vocals), Buxton (lead guitar), Bruce (rhythm guitar), Dunaway (bass) and Smith (drums).
• Furnier legally changed his name to Alice Cooper after the band disbanded in 1975.

Career

• The band released seven studio albums from 1969 to 1973, including Love It to Death, Killer, School's Out and Billion Dollar Babies.
• The band is known as a pioneer of shock rock, using theatrical stage shows with props and illusions.
• As a solo artist he released Welcome to My Nightmare in 1975 and has released 30 studio albums in total.
• The original band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2011.
• Cooper is considered by music journalists and peers to be 'The Godfather of Shock Rock'.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

Reappraisal

• AllMusic critic Gary Hill, in a retrospective review, wrote that "As Alice Cooper albums go, this one is really far above average."
• The same review called the album a rather varied release that showcases several sides of Cooper's musical tastes
• The review described the album as very entertaining and urged listeners who missed it at first to try it now

Records

• Failed to chart on the US Billboard 200, continuing a commercial downturn for Cooper in his home country
• Achieved modest success in the UK, where it peaked at No. 93
• Warner Bros. press release at the time named "Dyslexia" as the intended lead single
• No single was ultimately released from DaDa in the US
• "I Love America" was issued as a UK-only single shortly after the album's UK release and did not chart

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• In 1996 Cooper said DaDa was the scariest album he ever made, and that he never had any idea what it was about.
• Cooper later said he does not remember much of the period in which he wrote, recorded and toured his blackout albums.
• There was no tour to promote DaDa, and none of its songs have ever been played live.
• The album is cited as the main inspiration behind the Italian gothic and shock rock band the Mugshots, the first European band produced by Dick Wagner.
• The Mugshots' EP Love, Lust and Revenge contains the first cover version ever recorded of "Pass the Gun Around", a live favourite for the band.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · es.wikipedia.org

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