July 4th, 2005 was the day that Alice Cooper, the eye make-up wearing shock -rock singer released his new album, 'Dirty Diamonds' to the UK. Does the album musically sparkles or resembles a dense piece of lead ?

It was a matter of being lucky, and also tuning in to Alice's radio show online, that allowed me to hear the songs from this album in advance, and so I have had a fair amount of time to formulate opinions of them, and subsequently the album. I became a fan of Alice Cooper after hearing his 2000 and 2001 efforts, 'Brutal Planet' and 'Dragontown', which followed a heavy metal sound, which Alice proved himself to be really good at. I decided to stray in to Alice's back catalogue, and there are things that I do and do not like, however it is safe to say that overall he has a great collection with various styles throughout, and what rings true here is just that. This album holds garage styled rock (which the previous album, 2003's "The Eyes Of Alice Cooper" held throughout), country styled tracks and heavier songs.

The album opens with the heavy rocking, excellent drumming intro of "Woman Of Mass Distraction", which sadly doesn't continue exactly as what may be expected, but nonetheless, the very 70s styled rocking riff is pleasing, and Alice's vocal delivering is interesting, trying to mimic Mick Jagger from 'The Rolling Stones' on the first line, but that drops to a degree. It is claimed by many that the song could have been written by a high-school band, as the lyrics before the chorus are not especially great, "some girls like to get you in bed, some girls like a kick in the head", and the chorus, shouts of "She's a woman, some kind of woman" and an eventual strain of "woman of mass distraction", are not especially complex. However, when married to the catchy riff and nice drum beat, the song is one that is bound to grow on you, and one you will be happy to have on the album.

'You Make Me Wanna' is a rather happy sounding song, with the feeling especially put forward by the happy-go-lucky shouts of "You make me wanna - ohh woo woo!" for the chorus. I wasn't especially impressed with the chorus at first, but it has definitely grown on me, and this song is now a favourite. Which I discovered I suddenly was dying to hear when I was out one day. The intro is great, with the lead guitar rising up, although it is a shame that it doesn't continue a bit more throughout. The drum work as usual keeps the song moving on a gracefully on a rocking level.

The country sounding style I mentioned is present on the album resides in the songs 'The Saga Of Jesse Jane", and 'Sunset Babies (All Got Rabies), the former focusing on the perspective of a cross dressing cowboy. The song lyrically is amusing, as there are references to him wearing his sister's wedding gown and hiding a gun in his wonder bra, and his boasts of one day making somebody a "hell of a wife". The song has lots of intricate pieces of guitar throughout, and the chorus is nice too, as the question is raised as to if 'Jesse Jane' is insane. It's amusing, but sad at the same time, as the individual isn't exactly understood. 'Sunset Babies', is more of an upbeat country sounding song, with more of a rocking feel to it due to the guitar riff throughout, and the more noticeable drum work. The chorus could be described as cheesy sounding with the backing vocals as they all out "sunset babies, all got rabies". But, what a guitar solo!

'Six Hours' is a delicate ballad , a 'last call blues' type track if you like, and returns to the somewhat country-styled music, and Alice's vocals are smooth. There is a an emotive guitar wail that features throughout of the song, however, the song picks up on a new level towards the end as more guitars kick in and I the whole song gets louder. It's quite a mysterious song to be honest, I'd like to know the story behind this, and the six hours. A good song, but nothing too special.

Finally is the New Orleans' swampy mugginess of 'Zombie Dance', which features tactful harmonica work that really adds a great ghostly feel to the song, the reference to "ju ju" in the chorus, will remind fans of the likes of the early Alice song "Black Juju" on a simple level, which will easily create a much stronger dark ghostly image for the song. The bass is prominent, as are the drums, but by far one of the greatest bits of the track has to be the eerie tribal sounding yells and harmonica shrieks, which results in a spooky graveyard inhabiting zombies and a voodoo magic man. It all makes sense, as the song is about voodoo. One final note is that Not only do light references to earlier works enhance this song, but Alice's vocal style, which sounds just like something from his earlier albums. This song will be listened to by me much more as it is definitely a grower.