Alice Cooper: Brutally Live

Shot in London during the 2000 world tour, Brutally Live showcases Alice Cooper doing what he's been doing better than anyone else over the past 25 years: turning a rock concert into a campy theatrical extravaganza. That he's old enough to be almost anyone in the audience's (grand?)father is quite beside the point. For Alice remains one of the few who knows that rock & roll should be fun, even if that means severed heads, gushing blood, and murdered babies. Even the fabled guillotine, from his heyday a quarter-century ago, makes an appearance. Alice also takes a shot at Marilyn Manson, Ozzy Osbourne, and Kiss by calling them "my undisciplined children." Alice and his band rip through 105 minutes of some of his best-known songs, including "I'm 18," "No More Mr. Nice Guy," "Only Women Bleed," and the immortal anthem "School's Out," along with newer tunes like "Brutal Planet" and "Gimme" (also seen as a bonus video). The concert will surely satisfy Cooper fans, if not win him new ones; the DVD itself is a winner, with bludgeoning DTS and Dolby 5.0 Surround Sound and the choice of alternate camera angles on six of the 25 songs.