thellama73
I love Alice Cooper dearly, but nobody's perfect and this is just not his finest hour. The main problem with DaDa isn't the 80's production techniques, the heavy use of synthesizers, or even Alice's delivery - he sounds enthusiastic enough - it's just that the songs aren't up to scratch.
The opener, "DaDa" is menacing and plays into the common mental illness theme that Cooper explores on most of his albums. When I first heard this track I thought I was going to be in for a treat, but the rest of the record doesn't live up to its promising intro. Most of the songs use wordplay that doesn't quite work ("No Man's Land", "Dyslexia", "Former Lee Warmer") and one gets the impression that he's simply trying too hard. Some of the tunes are pleasant, but nothing truly memorable.
Alice has always used humor to great effect on his albums, but the sarcastic "I Love America" falls flat for me. The lyrical themes are either tired ("Fresh Blood") or incoherent ("No Man's Land" is about a - stay with me on this - department store Santa hooking with a woman who sits on his lap, only to reveal that he has multiple personalities. What?)
The album is not wholly without redemption, however, as the closing track "Pass The Gun Around" is a touching and honest look at the singer's alcohol problems. The lyrics are really good, and melody is poignant and effective. It's so much better than anything else here that it's hard to believe it came from the same sessions.
For dedicated Alice Cooper fans only.