ALICE COOPER - Pretties for You 1969 LP, Straight, yellow labels 1B / 1A NM

$

118

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ALICE COOPER - "Pretties for You" in stereo on Straight TS 1051. Very first pressing on the yellow/orange and blue labels. (see below). This was their debut and was Alice Cooper, the band. Not Alice Cooper, the solo heavy metal rock star and performance artist backed by a band. This LP leans more toward psychedelia than hard rock or metal.  The first pressing is very rare and this copy is pristine.

Suffixes in the trail off are 1B / 1A indicated a very early pressing.

RECORD GRADE:  Near Mint, no spindle marks, only a couple of very faint marks on Side 2 which will not affect play. As solid a 9 as can be.

COVER GRADE: Near Mint Minus, very minor wear including some minor ring wear on the back cover, gatefold cover, a few small blemishes on the front cover, top right corner and bottom left corner

LABELS:  Yellow/orange and blue, a Division of Bizarre, Inc. on the bottom; labels are just about perfect

TRACKS:

Track Listing

Sample
Title/Composer Performer Time Stream


1 Titanic Overture Alice Cooper Alice Cooper 1:12 SpotifyRdio


2 Ten Minutes Before the Worm Alice Cooper Alice Cooper 1:39 SpotifyRdio


3 Swing Low, Sweet Cheerio Michael Bruce / Glen Buxton / Alice Cooper / Dennis Dunaway / Neal Smith Alice Cooper 5:42 SpotifyRdio


4 Today Mueller Michael Bruce / Glen Buxton / Alice Cooper / Dennis Dunaway / Neal Smith Alice Cooper 1:48 SpotifyRdio


5 Living Alice Cooper Alice Cooper 3:12 SpotifyRdio


6 Fields of Regret Alice Cooper Alice Cooper 5:44 SpotifyRdio


7 No Longer Umpire Michael Bruce / Glen Buxton / Alice Cooper / Dennis Dunaway / Neal Smith Alice Cooper 2:02 SpotifyRdio


8 Levity Ball Michael Bruce / Glen Buxton / Alice Cooper / Dennis Dunaway / Neal Smith Alice Cooper 4:39 SpotifyRdio


9 B.B. on Mars Michael Bruce / Glen Buxton / Alice Cooper / Dennis Dunaway / Neal Smith Alice Cooper 1:17 Spotify


10 Reflected Michael Bruce / Glen Buxton / Alice Cooper / Dennis Dunaway / Neal Smith Alice Cooper 3:17 SpotifyRdio


11 Apple Bush Alice Cooper Alice Cooper 3:08 SpotifyRdio


12 Earwigs to Eternity Alice Cooper Alice Cooper 1:19 SpotifyRdio


13 Changing Arranging Michael Bruce / Glen Buxton / Alice Cooper / Dennis Dunaway / Neal Smith Alice Cooper 3:03
ABOUT THE ARTIST:

Artist Biography by Stephen Thomas Erlewine (from the All Music Guide Website)

Originally, there was a band called Alice Cooper led by a singer named Vincent Damon Furnier. Under his direction, Alice Cooper pioneered a grandly theatrical and violent brand of heavy metal that was designed to shock. Drawing equally from horror movies, vaudeville, heavy metal, and garage rock, the group created a stage show that featured electric chairs, guillotines, fake blood, and huge boa constrictors, all coordinated by the heavily made-up Furnier. By that time, Furnier had adopted the name for his androgynous on-stage personality. While the visuals were extremely important to the group's impact, the band's music was nearly as distinctive. Driven by raw, simple riffs and melodies that derived from '60s guitar pop as well as show tunes, it was rock & roll at its most basic and catchy, even when the band ventured into psychedelia and art rock. After the original group broke up and Furnier began a solo career as Alice Cooper, his actual music lost most of its theatrical flourishes, becoming straightforward heavy metal, yet his stage show retained all of the trademark props that made him the king of shock rock.

Furnier formed his first group, the Earwigs, as an Arizona teenager in the early '60s. Changing the band's name to the Spiders in 1965, the group was eventually called the Nazz (not to be confused with Todd Rundgren's band of the same name). The Spiders and the Nazz both released local singles that were moderately popular. In 1968, after discovering there was another band with the same name, the group changed its name to Alice Cooper. According to band legend, the name came to Furnier during a Ouija board session, where he was told he was the reincarnation of a 17th century witch of the same name. Comprised of vocalist Furnier -- who would soon begin calling himself Alice Cooper -- guitarist Mike Bruce, guitarist Glen Buxton, bassist Dennis Dunaway, and drummer Neal Smith, the group moved to California in 1968. There, the group met Shep Gordon, who became their manager, and Frank Zappa, who signed Alice Cooper to his Straight Records imprint.

Alice Cooper released their first album, Pretties for You, in 1969. Easy Action followed early in 1970, yet it failed to chart. The group's reputation in Los Angeles was slowly shrinking, so the band moved to Furnier's hometown of Detroit. For the next year, the group refined their bizarre stage show. Late in 1970, the group's contract was transferred to Straight's distributor Warner Bros., and they began recording their third album with producer Bob Ezrin. With Ezrin's assistance, Alice Cooper developed their classic heavy metal crunch on 1971's Love It to Death, which featured the number 21 hit single "Eighteen"; the album peaked at number 35 and went gold. The success enabled the group to develop a more impressive, elaborate live show, which made them highly popular concert attractions across the U.S. and eventually the U.K. Killer, released late in 1971, was another gold album.

Released in the summer of 1972, School's Out was Alice Cooper's breakthrough record, peaking at number two and selling over a million copies. The title song became a Top Ten hit in the U.S. and a number one single in the U.K. Billion Dollar Babies, released the following year, was the group's biggest hit, reaching number one in both America and Britain; the album's first single, "No More Mr. Nice Guy," became a Top Ten hit in Britain, peaking at number 25 in the U.S. Muscle of Love appeared late in 1973, yet it failed to capitalize on the success of Billion Dollar Babies. After Muscle of Love, Furnier and the rest of Alice Cooper parted ways to pursue other projects. Having officially changed his name to Alice Cooper, Furnier embarked on a similarly theatrical solo career; the rest of the band released one unsuccessful album under the name Billion Dollar Babies, while Mike Bruce and Neal Smith both recorded solo albums that were never issued. In the fall of 1974, a compilation of Alice Cooper's five Warner albums, entitled Alice Cooper's Greatest Hits, became a Top Ten hit.

For his first solo album, Welcome to My Nightmare, Cooper hired Lou Reed's backing band from Rock 'N' Roll Animal -- guitarists Dick Wagner and Steve Hunter, bassist Prakash John, keyboardist Joseph Chrowski, and drummer Penti Glan -- as his supporting group. Released in the spring of 1975, the record was similar to his previous work and it became a Top Ten hit in America, launching the hit acoustic ballad "Only Women Bleed." Its success put an end to any idea of reconvening Alice Cooper the band. Its follow-up, 1976's Alice Cooper Goes to Hell, was another hit, going gold in the U.S. After Alice Cooper Goes to Hell, Cooper's career began to slip, partially due to changing trends and partially due to his alcoholism. Cooper entered rehabilitation in 1978, writing an album about his treatment called From the Inside (1978) with Bernie Taupin, Elton John's lyricist. During the early '80s, Cooper continued to release albums and tour, yet he was no longer as popular as he was during his early-'70s heyday.

Cooper made a successful comeback in the late '80s, sparked by his appearances in horror films and a series of pop-metal bands that paid musical homage to his classic early records and concerts. Constrictor, released in 1986, began his comeback, but it was 1989's Trash that returned Cooper to the spotlight. Produced by the proven hitmaker Desmond Child, Trash featured guest appearances by Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora, and most of Aerosmith; the record became a Top Ten hit in Britain and peaked at number 20 in the U.S., going platinum. "Poison," a midtempo rocker featured on the album, became Cooper's first Top Ten single since 1977. After the release of Trash, he continued to star in the occasional film, tour, and record, although he wasn't able to retain the audience recaptured with Trash. Still, 1991's Hey Stoopid and 1994's The Last Temptation were generally solid, professional efforts that helped Cooper settle into a comfortable cult status without damaging the critical goodwill surrounding his '70s output. After a live album, 1997's Fistful of Alice, Cooper returned on the smaller Spitfire label in 2000 with Brutal Planet and Dragontown a year later. The Eyes of Alice Cooper appeared in 2003 and found Alice and company playing a more stripped-down brand of near-garage rock. Dirty Diamonds from 2005 was nearly as raw and hit the streets around the same time Alice premiered his syndicated radio show, Nights with Alice Cooper. Three years later he returned with Along Came a Spider, a concept album that told the story of a spider-obsessed serial killer. In 2010, he released the live album Theatre of Death, along with a download-only EP of redone Cooper classics titled Alice Does Alice. 2011's Welcome 2 My Nightmare, a sequel to his 1975, conceptual classic of the same name (minus the 2), was recorded with longtime co-conspirator Bob Ezrin, and featured 14 brand new cuts that spanned multiple genres and relied on the talents of a host of previous members of the Alice Cooper band (including Steve Hunter), as well as a guest spot from pop superstar Ke$ha.

All records are carefully graded. In an attempt to give customers an accurate impression of condition rather than adhere to somewhat arbitrary criteria, I give an "overall presentation" grade, supplemented when necessary with additional remarks. Please refer to my grading system below for a more detailed explanation.

MY GRADING SYSTEMS: I’ve been told that I grade conservatively. My NM (near mint) is my highest grade for opened records (which would also include unplayed records). It’s a 9 or 10 on a 1-10 scale. M- would be equivalent to an 8; VG++ to a 7; VG+ to a 6; VG to a 5; VG- to a 4; G to a 3; F to a 2 and P to a 1. The same scale applies when I grade covers (jackets). Significant defects are specifically noted and taken into consideration in the grade.

GRADING DESCRIPTIONS

RECORDS:

• GRADING is based on the following criteria
• Sealed = store stock new
• Near Mint = like new or near new with only one or two small insignificant defects, a 9 or better on a 1-10 scale
• Near Mint Minus (or NM-) = very nice. Would be Near Mint, except for a couple of light hairlines or scuffs, which do not affect play
• VG++ = still a very nice record with all or nearly all of its original gloss but may have a few more light, surface marks, hairlines, needle tracks or the like which should not materially effect play
• VG+ = a nice, but used record that may have a series of light scuffs or scratches. It probably plays with a few pops, but has no serious problems.
• VG = a well-used record that still should sound OK when played, but may have moderate surface noise, pops, etc.
• VG- = a well-worn record that plays through without skipping, but will do until a better copy comes along.
• Good = not actually good at all but probably will play through but with much in the way of surface noise, pops, crackles, etc. Still, will have no cracks, chips or the like
• Fair = you’re getting this record just to own but not to play
• Poor = the sky’s the limit, generally I will discard a record this bad (and sell the cover, jacket or sleeve alone) unless the label holds some particular interest

  VISUAL GRADING: All records are visually graded only unless I state that they are play-graded. Some major labels were pressed on better quality vinyl and will sound better than a record which visually appears the same on "budget" labels which were pressed on lower quality vinyl. Recording techniques also varied. The sound on live albums may be far inferior to studio recordings. There may also be defects in the pressing which are invisible. The point is that an album on a high quality label that was visually graded VG+ may sound better than an album on a budget label that was visually graded Mint- or even Near Mint. Please refer to my return policy, below. But please don’t be shocked if a record visually graded Near Mint doesn’t sound state of the art. If I base my grade on a PLAY GRADE, I will state this specifically in my grading section.

  COVERS: There are really too many possible defects regarding covers to be as specific in my definitions as I had been with my record grades. But please keep in mind these general grading guidelines:

  • I will give greater weight to the condition of the front cover than back cover when assigning an overall grade
  • No cover with a cut out hole or saw mark will be graded Near Mint even if it is still in factory shrink and there is no other wear
  • I will not reduce the grade of a cover for stickers which are glued to the jacket by the record company (eg. Contains the hit song Expressway to Your Heart); but will reduce the grade for stickers glued on the cover by stores, previous owners, etc.
  • If I write that a cover has a bb hole, I’m talking about a small cut out hole
  • A saw mark is a narrow cut in the perimeter of the cover, could be anywhere and vary in length from 1/2” to 2” at the most.
  • The overall grade takes into consideration any stated defects. For example, if I grade a cover VG+ and then state it has 6” top and bottom seam splits - I’ve already reduced the grade because of the seam splits. If the seams weren’t split, the cover would be graded higher such as VG++ or Mint-.

    Shipping Costs: CURRENT SHIPPING RATES AND POLICIES.

    The winning bidder pays for shipping.

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  • Combined shipping discounts given for all purchases made within 5 days of first winning bid or buy it now. If you are still bidding when you receive my invoice, please let me know and wait for combined invoice.

    DOMESTIC SHIPPING WITHIN THE UNITED STATES: Due to increase in postage rates, I have sometimes been losing money on shipping as I send all records in sturdy professional Bags Unlimited mailers with one or more fillers. Therefore, I am now using the eBay postage calculator to determine postage. This will also result in a more equitable charge for priority mail shipments. Instead of a flat fee, those who live in the southeast and mid-east will reap the benefit of reduced priority mail rates.

    DOMESTIC AND INTERNATIONAL SHIPMENTS: COMBINED SHIPPING - Save money when I mail 2 or more records in the same package. Please wait until I send you an invoice or request an invoice when combining two or more records or cd's in one shipment -prior to making payment.

    INTERNATIONAL SHIPMENTS: Overseas customers are invited to bid. As with U.S. shipments, I will use eBay's postage calculator for all overseas shipments. Postage to Canada is substantially less than to other countries - if you live in Canada and don't see a separate rate for Canada , please e-mail me and I'll modify the invoice to reflect the lower shipping charges. Surface mail is no longer available for overseas. Express Mail International and Priority Mail International are available - rates are substantially higher than first class international and will be quoted for each purchase if buyer requests this service. Express Mail International or Registered mail is now required for purchases over $100. Generally, Express International costs $35 for 1 album and additional albums are about $5-6 more. Registered costs about $26 for 1 album, about $5 more for each additional album. Registered mail may not be available to certain countries. I am sorry but the increased risks and costs must be passed on to the international buyer. On the bright side of things, Express Mail International will get you the package faster and it is safer. Registered mail is the safest form of shipment (but not as fast as express mail international). So there are benefits to the buyer as well as the seller. Please wait until I send you an invoice or request an invoice when combining two or more records or cd's in one shipment -prior to making payment.

    Please check out my other eBay auctions and stores listings.

    I’ve been listing all types of records - mostly LP’s - including 50’s and 60’s rock ‘n’ roll, country, folk jazz, blues, personalities, new wave and punk, surf, psych, spoken word, comedy, etc., etc....... I try to list unusual, unique or obscure records, not the ones that you see all the time. While a majority of my listings are albums, you’ll often find a nice selection of 45’s, EP’s or picture sleeves...and an occasional 78 or two.

    My return policy: . You may return an item if it's not in the condition described. You may not return items if you decide you don't like the music. I will return the base price of the item unless I make an error in shipment such as sending you the wrong record or cd. In that case, you will be reimbursed for the cost of the item and shipping both ways. In addition, the item must be returned in its original condition , i.e. the way it was shipped when it left my hands. While a very high percentage of my records arrive safe and sound (I use professional mailers and a filler or two, more for 78’s), they occasionally are damaged in transit. If that happens, I won’t accept the return of the record or other item.

    Sealed Records: After a sealed record is paid for, I will gladly open it before mailing to make sure that the record is new & unplayed. If the record is not, I will give a full refund. Even though it is easy to spot most resealed records from the 50's and 60's [I will mention that in the desription if it looks like a possibility], not all records from the 70's & 80's are quite as obvious. Please ask for any details about the seal of a particular record & I will be happy to answer.