In a contemporary interview with Circus magazine, Cooper said that a loose concept of “urban sex habits” developed during the album’s recording.
The title of “Big Apple Dreamin’ (Hippo)’ refers to the Hippopotamus club of New York City which the band used to frequent.
“Never Been Sold Before” is the retort of a prostitute to the man she is supporting, and the title track is, according to Cooper, about “sexual awakenings”.
“It’s about the kid who just learned how to masturbate, and what all those dirty books his father used to hide are all about.”
“Woman Machine” is a science fiction-themed song dating back to the band’s early years and is, as Cooper explained, “basically a chauvinistic song.
It’s about a female robot, like Julie Newmar was on that TV program with Bob Cummings. If we had women robots, they could do anything, even sexual things, just by changing their tubes.”
Not all of the songs have a sexual theme; “Crazy Little Child” tells the story of a youth criminal, and in “Teenage Lament ’74”, a teenager fails to find happiness even when doing everything to try to be “hip”.
“Man With the Golden Gun” was written with the intention of having it appear on the soundtrack of the then-upcoming James Bond film of the same name. Cooper recalled in a 2011 interview:
It was supposed to be the Bond theme, but it actually came in a day too late, and by the time they heard it, they'd already signed for Lulu's song. I went, "You're gonna take Lulu over this?" 'Cause it was perfect for The Man With The Golden Gun.
It had helicopters, it had machine guns—it had the Pointer Sisters, Ronnie Spector, and Liza Minnelli doing background vocals! We went to every single one of those John Barry albums to try and invent the perfect James Bond song, and even Christopher Lee, who played Scaramanga in the movie, said, "Oh, man, why did we take the Lulu song? This song is the one!" So, yeah, we lost out on that one, but I still put it on the album. I said, "I don't care, I'm going to do a James Bond track no matter what.
Coming off such conceptual, theatrical, sleazy hard rock records as the massively successful School’s Out (1972) and Billion Dollar Babies (1973), the Alice Cooper group decided that their next release would be more along the lines of their earlier, more straightforward work (à la Love It to Death). While Muscle of Love was a gold-certified Top Ten success, it performed below expectations (their previous two albums peaked at number two and number one, respectively) and would unfortunately prove to be the original Alice Cooper band’s last studio album together.
The album may not be as coherent as their previous classics (producer Bob Ezrin took a leave of absence), and more filler is present than usual, yet Muscle of Love is perhaps Alice Cooper’s most underrated record — more than a few overlooked and forgotten classics reside here.
The two best-known tracks are undoubtedly the Top 20 anthem “Teenage Lament ’74,” which features none other than Liza Minnelli and the Pointer Sisters on backing vocals, and the boisterous title track.
But other tracks are just as good — the Led Zep-stomping opener “Big Apple Dreamin’ (Hippo),” the gentle “Hard Hearted Alice” (a precursor to Cooper’s future ballad-oriented direction), the raging “Working Up a Sweat,” and “Man with the Golden Gun” (which was written for the James Bond movie of the same name, but rejected).
Track listing
- Big Apple Dreamin’ (Hippo) – 5:10
- Never Been Sold Before – 4:28
- Hard Hearted Alice – 4:53
- Crazy Little Child – 5:03
- Working Up a Sweat – 3:32
- Muscle of Love – 3:45
- Man with the Golden Gun – 4:12
- Teenage Lament ’74 – 3:54
- Woman Machine – 4:31
Alice Cooper band
- Alice Cooper – vocals
- Glen Buxton – lead guitar
- Michael Bruce – rhythm guitar, backing vocals
- Dennis Dunaway – bass guitar, backing vocals
- Neal Smith – drums, backing vocals
with:
- Mick Mashbir – guitar
- Dick Wagner – guitar
- Bob Dolin – keyboards, background vocals
Additional musicians from the LP liner notes:
- Paul Prestopino – banjo
- Dave Libert with Dolly, Stu Daye, Dennis Ferrante, Joe Gannon, The Big Cheese, Liza Minnelli, Labelle, Ronnie Spector, The Pointer Sisters – background vocals
- unnamed strings and horns
Notes
Released: November 20, 1973
Recorded: 1973 Studio Sunset Sound, Hollywood; Record Plant, New York and The Cooper Mansion, Greenwich, Connecticut
Genre: Hard rock, glam rock, art rock
Length: 39:31
Label – Warner Bros. Records
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