Alice Cooper - DaDa
Warner Bros Records - 1983
8.5/10
While the last of Alice Cooper’s experimental bunch of records sidesteps the new wave experiment the most, DaDa is potentially my favorite of the era. While just as odd as the prior two, it manages to tighten things up in a way that actually has a linear flow, rather than ideas tossed at a wall and hoping for the best. It also helps that of the four early ‘80s efforts, it has the most unique ideas. Top that off with memorable songwriting, and you’ve got yourself a solid album!
Despite feeling like a record that’s the final plunge into insanity, considering the opening title track, I found almost everything else to be rather warmer in climate. This jarring shift into the compelling “Enough’s Enough” sets the stage pretty accurately, being loaded with goofy lyrics and fun musical progression. Also, as far as I know, it’s the only song that uses an F-bomb. This energy is projected in and out, showing brightest in the classic “I Love America.” Seldom do the spoken word bases have the kind of rhythmic flow this one does, and its hilarious digs at Americans adds a whole other layer.
The contrasting tunes under a more minor-toned umbrella are what keep us on our toes. “Scarlet And Sheba” has so many phases in itself, flowing from synth smoothness into harder rhythms that eventually fold into a melancholic yet powerful chorus. The fact that this drastic contrast works so well is a mystery, and honestly may have been more accidental than I suspect. Same can be said about the neo-classical, operatic energy in “Former Lee Warmer,” acting as a song written hundreds of years ago but somehow still fitting. Its descent into the steady and poetic “No Man’s Land” doesn’t come off awkwardly at all.
Is DaDa an accidental gem made from drunk on-the-spot ideas? Or was everything coherently thought out? No idea, but I find little to complain about. Everything fits somewhere within the confines of the opposing forces here. Going in with the disillutioning title track and out with the synthy yet unconventional “Pass The Gun Around” worked wonders. Objectively, this is on the same level as Flush The Fashion, and while that one has a much clearer idea, this is probably where I’d point people to revisit the era.
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