An amazing 4 CD musical journey that painstakingly details the recording career of one of rock's all-time greatest show-men. While primarily known for his snakes, blood, and utter antics, what shines through here is Cooper's amazing musical genius. From his humble psychedelia beginings in The Spiders up through his most recent opuses, this boxed-set encompasses over 30 years of work, many different varying bands (from the classic Alice Cooper Band on), and countless prestigious guest players(everyone from John Entwistle to Guns N Roses to Joe Satriani to Rob Zombie). This is a complete powerhouse collection.

The cream of the crop here is clearly the first two CDs which are composed mostly of the great original band (Michael Bruce, Neal Smith, Dennis Dunaway, Glen Buxton, and Alice) and lead straight up to the Welcome To My Nightmare/Alice Cooper Goes To Hell era. This features most of the huge Alice standards ("School's Out," "Only Women Bleed," "I'm Eighteen," "Billion Dollar Babies," "Under My Wheels," et al) and the most creative, successful and masterful points in Alice's career.

The third CD details the spotty patch in the early 80's when Alice battled alchoholism and tried many different trends. All of the transitions, diversions, and personal demons are very well-documented in the 80-page booklet, which - in addition to a fittingly verbose tribute written by Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols - is loaded with brilliant insights and humorous anecdotes about each and every track on the album. And though the third CD shows Cooper at his most confused, it also showcases some undeniably brilliant work - the pounding "I Miss You," the bizarre but sublime "Look At You Over There Ripping The Sawdust From My Teddy Bear," and the hillarious "I Love America."

The fourth CD is like the icing on the cake, showcasing many of the bright spots of Alice's gangbusters comeback in the mid to late 80's with the "Friday The 13th Part 6" theme "He's Back, The Man Behind The Mask" (also includes the original, heavier unreleased version), through material from the excellent Trash album and everything beyond that to the present-day.

What's amazing about this is to hear how much brilliance there is to Cooper. There's so much more to the guy than gimmickry and shock (which is why he's a legend and Marilyn Manson is a hack). The musical and lyrical prowess of Alice is a completely underrated resource in rock. The songs here are as varied as the books in a public library - he can frighten us (the truly creepy "I Love The Dead"), yet he can make us laugh ("Lost in America"), and can even be romantic and moving ("You and Me," "How You Gonna See Me Now," "Its Me," and surprisingly, MANY others), but still knows how to straight-out rock ("Under My Wheels"- both with and without Guns N Roses). Alice is a rock n roll pioneer and nowhere is his legacy better represented than in this awesome set.

And the set is truly amazing. From the exquisite packaging, to the stunning book, to the mastering and selection of the songs. And the songs haven't been messed with - no bad re-mixes that ruin classic songs that sometimes show up on boxed-sets. No filler, either. This is just the best stuff. And the rarities are amazing. Among the unreleased here, we get Alice covering Hendrix's "Fire," the "Call It Evil" demo, and the two tracks from Alice's notorious straight-to-video horror movie "Monster Dog" (I for one have been searching for those tracks on CD FOREVER).

And the unreleased stuff is quite enjoyable and blends very well with the classics. So often boxed-sets are crammed with unreleased stuff that should have STAYED unreleased, thus upsetting the consistency of the set, discouraging future listens. But the material here is almost flawless from start to finish, and this package is really something you'll want to keep coming back to. Great to see one of popular music's most ignored talents getting the respect and spotlight he deserves. Hello! Hooray!