The Studio Albums 1975-1978 12" Vinyl Box Set

2026, Rhino Entertainment Company, R1 728507

This European five-vinyl box set features remastered copies of Alice's first four solo albums (i.e. Welcome To My Nightmare, Goes to Hell, Lace and Whiskey and From the Inside) along with an initially intriguing 'Bonus Misdemeanors' disc housed in a nice large metallic slipcase.

Initially costings a whopping £94.99, and featuring a cool bespoke shipping container, each album is reproduced to reflect the original vinyl releases. Sadly, this means basic sleeves as none of these albums were originally subject to particularly lavish designs. The only exception is From The Inside, which faithfully recreates the more elaborate approach taken for this release, with opening cover and opening doors on both inside and rear. Comparing the sleeves to the original releases, however, gives the impression that a budget approach was taken to their reproduction, with fairly cheap feeling materials used throughout. This is a bit of shame really when you consider the price of the set.

It is also worth pointing out that the 'Alice Cooper' logo used on the slipcase, which was first seen in 1986's Constrictor album, doesn't align with the era of the material covered in this box set.

The Bonus Misdemeanors disc contains the following content:

> Welcome To My Nightmare (Single Version);
> Department Of Youth (Single Version);
> Only Women Bleed (Single Version);
> You And Me (Single Version);
> From The Inside (Single Version);
> No Tricks; and
> Road Rats (Soundtrack Version).

Regrettably, none of this content is exciting, as it has all been released before (as part of supporting singles and / or other releases covering this era). This is a shame as there must have been something better available?

I'm certainly no audiophile but the quality of the material provided is very impressive and sounds excellent on even a modest record player. For reference, the remastering was performed by Chris Bellman using the original master tapes for these albums.

For the money, this box set is a bit of a hard sell as, remastering aside, there simply isn't enough to justify the price tag for most fans (especially if you already own the albums).

Discogs Link: Click Here

The Studio Albums 1975-1978 CD Box Set

2026, Rhino Entertainment Company, R2 728507

This European five-CD box set contains the same musical content as the vinyl version (above) housed in a cheaper looking non-metallic slipcase with additional silver hype sticker on the front. 

Initially costing a more modest £41.99, this is much more affordable, but again suffers from a budget approach, with simple card sleeves and single-sided paper inserts used. Again, this is a shame as you'd expect miniature replica vinyl sleeves as a minimum at this price point (I guess most of the budget went into the remastering).

The excessive cost is emphasised when you compare this release to the similarly named The Studio Albums 1969-1983 2015 CD box set, which cost just £8 more at the time and featured almost all the material here plus another 10 discs of content on top!

Discogs Link: Click Here 

For Super Duper Alice Cooper Click Here.