Hello Hooray, a new version of Billion Dollar Babies, is on the way as Alice Cooper’s delightfully subversive sixth album returns in all its snakeskin glory for an extended 50th-anniversary celebration. After hitting #1 on the album charts in America and the U.K. in 1973, the record remains a highwater mark for the original lineup, featuring hits like No More Mr. Nice Guy and Elected.
Billion Dollar Babies: Trillion Dollar Deluxe Edition will be available from Rhino on March 8th on 3-LP and 2-CD. Both feature a newly remastered version of the original album, along with bonus material, including studio outtakes, single mixes, and an electrifying 1973 concert recording. In the vinyl edition, the gatefold cover faithfully replicates the original’s textured snakeskin wallet design and comes complete with a $1 billion dollar bill tucked inside, pre-order is available here.
The single version of Elected from the upcoming set is available today digitally. Listen here.
An instant smash when it was released in March 1973, Billion Dollar Babies delivered a theatrical mix of hard rock and glam laced with macabre lyrics that explored wealth, decadence, and fame’s darker side. Newly remastered, the platinum-certified album sounds better than ever. The set also features outtakes (Coal Black Model T), single mixes (Mary Ann), and Slick Black Limousine, which originally came out on flexi-disc within an issue of the British rock paper New Musical Express.
The Trillion Dollar” Deluxe Edition also features a live show recorded in Texas in April of 1973, during the Billion Dollar Babies tour. The powerful performance includes live versions of many of the album’s tracks, highlights including Elected and Hello Hooray, along with several of the band’s earlier hits, including I’m Eighteen and School’s Out.
The LP and CD versions both come with an oral history of the album and the bonus tracks by the surviving band members – Alice Cooper, Dennis Dunaway, Michael Bruce, and Neal Smith – and Bob Ezrin, who produced the album. (Sadly, guitarist Glen Buxton died in 1997)
In the notes, Cooper recalls writing I Love The Dead and Sick Things. He says, “We were writing those songs looking at each other, and every time we’d write a line I’d say, ‘Oh, this is gonna kill them. Oh, they’re gonna hate us on this one.’ But at the same time, it was almost like an Edgar Allan Poe short story when you listen to I Love The Dead. I tried to write that the way Vincent Price would sing it.”
Billion Dollar Babies: 50th ‘Trillion Dollar’ Deluxe Edition:
LP Track Listing:
LP One:
Side One:
1. Hello Hooray
2. Raped And Freezin’
3. Elected
4. Billion Dollar Babies
5. Unfinished Sweet
Side Two
1. No More Mr. Nice Guy
2. Generation Landslide
3. Sick Things
4. Mary Ann
5. I Love The Dead
LP Two:
Side One:
1. Hello Hooray – Live, 1973
2. Billion Dollar Babies – Live, 1973
3.. Elected”– Live, 1973
4. I’m Eighteen – Live, 1973
5. Raped And Freezin’ – Live, 1973
6. No More Mr. Nice Guy – Live, 1973
Side Two:
1. My Stars – Live, 1973
2. Unfinished Sweet – Live, 1973
3. Sick Things – Live, 1973
4. Dead Babies – Live, 1973
5. I Love The Dead – Live, 1973
LP Three:
Side One:
1. School’s Out – Live, 1973
2. Under My Wheels – Live, 1973
3. Coal Black Model T – Outtake
4. Son Of Billion Dollar Babies (Generation Landslide) – Outtake
Side Two:
1. Hello Hooray – Single Version
2. Billion Dollar Babies – Single Version
3. Elected – Single Version
4. Mary Ann – Single Version
5. Slick Black Limousine
CD Track Listing:
CD One:
1. Hello Hooray
2. Raped And Freezin’
3. Elected
4. Billion Dollar Babies
5. Unfinished Sweet
6. No More Mr. Nice Guy
7. Generation Landslide
8. Sick Things
9. Mary Ann
10. I Love The Dead
CD Two:
1. Hello Hooray – Live, 1973
2. Billion Dollar Babies – Live, 1973
3. Elected – Live, 1973
4. “I’m Eighteen” – Live, 1973
5. Raped And Freezin’ – Live, 1973
6. No More Mr. Nice Guy – Live, 1973
7. My Stars – Live, 1973
8. Unfinished Sweet – Live, 1973
9. Sick Things – Live, 1973
10. Dead Babies – Live, 1973
11. I Love The Dead – Live, 1973
12. School’s Out – Live, 1973
13. Under My Wheels – Live, 1973
14. Coal Black Model T – Outtake
15. Son Of Billion Dollar Babies (Generation Landslide) – Outtake
16. Hello Hooray – Single Version
17. Billion Dollar Babies – Single Version
18. Elected – Single Version
19. Mary Ann – Single Version
20. Slick Black Limousine
2 Responses
“Billion Dollar Babies: Trillion Dollar Deluxe Edition” = Adjusted for inflation, lol
Mikey,
Too funny…LOL!