Killer Era
Read my review of this album here.
Killer CD Album
1990, Warner Brothers, 7599-27255-2
This European CD version of Killer comes in a jewel case and features an 8-page booklet containing track listings, credits and a 1972 replica calendar on the centrefold. There is also a useful 'Notes' page featuring a short history of the Alice Cooper Group up to and including the Killer era.
Killer 'Mini LP' SHM CD Album
2011, Warner Brothers, WPCR-14302
As with all the Japanese SHM CD's, this version faithfully recreates the original vinyl release (including the detachable 1972 calendar). Killer was a fairly basic release in the first place so this is obviously reflected here.
Killer '24KT + Gold' CD Album
2009, Audio Fidelity, AFZ 048
Following on from Audio Fidelity's release of Love It To Death comes this USA version of Killer on '24KT+ Gold' CD format.
As before you get a beautiful gold CD, supposedly superior sound quality, plus a rather dissapointing fold-out booklet featuring stock images, the 1972 calendar, plus the disc labels of the original vinyl release.
As with Love It To Death, this release is limited to 5,000 individually numbered copies, of which this is 1,394.
NOTE: A further CD copy of this album is included in 'The Studio Albums 1969-1983' boxset and can be seen here.
Killer 12" Vinyl Album
1971, Warner Brothers, K 56005
This UK first press of Killer features a gatefold sleeve complete with a detachable fold out calendar. Presumably, this was designed to irate parents as the chosen image is a rather gruesome picture of Alice being hung at the gallows! As this is a first press, the year featured on the calendar is 1972, but 1973 and 1974 versions were also produced.
A notable feature of the release is that the gatefold opens from the left side rather than the right, like most albums of this design. This was presumably due to the way in which the calendar was attached to the sleeve.
The disc features the familiar green Warner Brothers labels of the time.
Killer 12" Vinyl Album
1971, Warner Brothers, K 56005
This version of Killer on vinyl is identical to the above only that it features a 1973 version of the calendar (rather than 1972). This presumably means that it was pressed at a later date but it does feature the same product code. The calendar has also become detached from the gatefold sleeve.
Killer 12" Vinyl Album
2012, Friday Music, 81227 97167
The 180g re-issues continue with the release of Killer by Friday Music. This comes in gatefold form and does not feature the calendar which came with the original release (obviously it would have been out-of-date but would still have been welcomed).
Killer 12" Vinyl Album
2018, Rhino Entertainment, RCV1 2567
This 140 gram vinyl version of Killer was released in January 2018 at the same time as additional releases of Easy Action and Welcome To My Nightmare. Each featured different colour vinyl and production numbers with this one pressed in translucent red / black and being limited to 5,200 units worldwide.
Unlike the above re-issue of Killer this version retains the detachable (1972) calendar of the original album.
Unfortunately, this version will forever be notable for one reason. It was discovered just 6 days before release date (Friday 26th January 2018) that all 5,200 units had accidentally been pressed with the music of the Easy Action release. To make matters worse, all the Easy Action vinyls (4,600 in number) were pressed with Killer music resulting in 9,800 faulty products. Doh!
Upon idenifying this issue a recall letter was quickly issued to retailers (see example image below), but it didn't stop several making their way out of shops. Nobody knows how many people obtained them but these will probably become quite sought after, as this is a curious error.
Under My Wheels 7" Promotional Vinyl Single
1971, Warner Brothers, WB 7529
This USA promotional 7" vinyl single features white Warner Brothers labels and includes Under My Wheels on Side A and Desperado on Side B (both from the Killer album).
Each label includes an 'Intro' time, which helped DJs to understand how long they had to introduce a song prior to the lyrics beginning.
Under My Wheels 7" Vinyl Single
1971, Warner Brothers, WB 7529
This USA 7" vinyl single features green Warner Brothers labels and includes Under My Wheels on Side A and Desperado on Side B (both from the Killer album).
Under My Wheels 7" Vinyl Single
1971, Warner Brothers, WB 16127
This German 7" vinyl single features green Warner Brothers labels, comes in a paper sleeve, and features Under My Wheels on Side A and Desperado on Side B (both from the Killer album).
The sleeve has the same classic image of the Alice Cooper Group on both the front and back.
Under My Wheels 7" Vinyl Single
1971, Warner Brothers, WB 16127
This French 7" vinyl single features green Warner Brothers labels, comes in a paper sleeve, and features Under My Wheels on Side A and Desperado on Side B (both from the Killer album).
The sleeve has the same image of the Alice Cooper Group (complete with Neal holding a snake aloft) on both the front and back.
Be My Lover 7" Promotional Vinyl Single
1972, Warner Brothers, WB 7568
This USA promotional 7" vinyl single features white Warner Brothers labels, comes in a Warner Brothers paper sleeve, and includes Mono and Stereo versions of Be My Lover (from the Killer album) on Sides A and B respectively. This was a common feature of promotional singles at the time, as it enabled radio stations to play songs on both AM (Mono) and FM (Stereo) stations.
Be My Lover 7" Vinyl Single
1972, Warner Brothers, WB 7568
This USA 7" vinyl single features green Warner Brothers labels and includes Be My Lover on Side A and Yeah, Yeah, Yeah on Side B (both from the Killer album).
Be My Lover 7" Vinyl Single
1972, Warner Brothers, WB 16158
This German 7" vinyl single features green Warner Brothers labels, comes in a paper sleeve, and includes Be My Lover on Side A and Yeah, Yeah, Yeah on Side B (both from the Killer album).
The sleeve has the same psychedelic image of the Alice on both the front and back.
Be My Lover 7" Vinyl Single
1972, Warner Brothers, WB 16154
This French 7" vinyl single features green Warner Brothers labels, comes in a paper sleeve, and features Be My Lover on Side A and You Drive Me Nervous on Side B (both from the Killer album).
The sleeve has the same image of the Alice Cooper Group (complete with Neal holding a snake aloft) on both the front and back.
Be My Lover 7" Vinyl Single
1972, Warner Brothers, N-63-15
This Portuguese 7" vinyl single features 'Palm Tree' Warner Brothers labels, comes in a paper sleeve, and features Be My Lover on Side A and Yeah, Yeah, Yeah on Side B (both from the Killer album).
The sleeve has a green-tone image of the Alice Cooper Group (from the Love It Death album cover) on the front and on the back are track listings and credits.
Halo Of Flies 7" Vinyl Single
1973, Warner Brothers, WB 16296
Halo Of Flies was subject to a release in Holland only after gaining a cult following through continual radio play. Released 2 years after Killer (and therefore also after the subsequent School's Out and Billion Dollar Babies albums) the cover text proudly boasts that the song was 'Number 8 in Radio Veronicas Top 100 of all time, 1973'.
This 7" vinyl single features 'Palm Tree' Warner Brothers labels, comes in a paper sleeve and includes Halo Of Flies on Side A and Under My Wheels on Side B (both from the Killer album).
The sleeve has an image of Alice performing live on the front and another live shot of Alice on the back together with promotional text for the Love It To Death, Killer, School's Out and Billion Dollar Babies albums.
For the School's Out era click here.