Bouchard, Dunaway & Smith
BDS Live in Paris
Attention, classic rock heads and fans of ’70s-era Alice Cooper and Blue Oyster Cult: you might want to check out this live release from power trio Bouchard Dunaway & Smith. BDS includes the rhythm section from the original Alice Cooper band – drummer Neal Smith and bassist Dennis Dunaway – joined by original Blue Oyster Cult bassist Joe Bouchard on lead guitar and vocals. (For trivia buffs out there, it is Bouchard’s lumbering bass line from BOC’s “Godzilla” that – at least subliminally – inspired Nirvana’s monster mega-hit, “Smells Like Teen Spirit.”)
Recorded last October, this hour-long performance of fifteen tracks features BDS originals (taken from their 2001 studio debut, Back From Hell) some classic Cooper hits (“Caught In A Dream,” “Black Juju,’ “Under My Wheels”), and a few BOC gems. Neal Smith’s drumming is especially powerful on a near-flawless cover of “Don’t Fear The Reaper.” That song, however, would perhaps rock harder if it just had more cowbell in it. Alice Cooper’s universal anthem, “School’s Out” is sandwiched on both sides by the Wall-era Pink Floyd-sounding ballad “See You On The Other Side,” a tribute to the late Cooper group guitarist, Glen Buxton.
There’s also something you probably haven’t heard anywhere before: a solo medley of Dennis Dunaway’s best-known bass lines from songs like “Elected,” “Billion Dollar Babies,” “Desperado,” “Ballad Of Dwight Fry” and “My Stars” that’s a total kick in the can. It’s easy to forget what a ridiculously ahead of his time bassist Dunaway was/is until you hear all of his truly signature riffs back to back like that. Dennis’s bass solo is actually my favorite part of the album. Pretty cool.
BDS’ best original material includes “Vampire Night,” which has an Agents of Fortune vibe to it; the Hendrix-influenced “The Joke’s On You”; and “She Was a Bad Girl,” which lifts the intro from Alice Cooper’s “Blue Turk” off the School’s Out album – always a good idea. Recording quality-wise, the mix is clean, with very little crowd noise bleeding through, so the performance sounds great.
Both BDS Live in Paris and Back From Hell are available exclusively from Neal Smith’s website, http://www.nealsmith.com.
Neal Smith: http://www.nealsmith.com
