Alice Cooper Announces ‘Billion Dollar Babies’ 50th Anniversary Release

The ‘Trillion Dollar’ Deluxe Edition arrives in March on CD and vinyl

Alice Cooper [Credit: Matt Bishop] — *Alice Cooper [The Rock Revival]*

Shock rock icon Alice Cooper has announced a special 50th anniversary release of Billion Dollar Babies. His sixth studio album returns in all its snakeskin glory for an extended 50th-anniversary celebration. After hitting #1 on the album charts in America and the U.K. in 1973, the record remains a high-water mark for the original lineup, featuring hits like “No More Mr. Nice Guy” and “Elected.”

The forthcoming Billion Dollar Babies: Trillion Dollar Deluxe Editon, will be available from Rhino on March 8 on 3-LP and 2-CD. Both feature a newly remastered version of the original album, along with bonus material, including studio outtakes, single mixes, and an electrifying 1973 concert recording. In the vinyl edition, the gatefold cover faithfully replicates the original’s textured snakeskin wallet design and comes complete with a $1 billion dollar bill tucked inside.

The single version of “Elected” from the upcoming set can be streamed below now.

An instant smash when it was released in March 1973, Billion Dollar Babiesdelivered a theatrical mix of hard rock and glam laced with macabre lyrics that explored wealth, decadence, and fame’s darker side. Newly remastered, the platinum-certified album sounds better than ever. The set also features outtakes (“Coal Black Model T”), single mixes (“Mary Ann”), and “Slick Black Limousine,” which originally came out on flexi-disc within an issue of the British rock paper New Musical Express.

The “Trillion Dollar” Deluxe Edition also features a live show recorded in Texas in April of 1973, during the “Billion Dollar Babies” tour. The powerful performance includes live versions of many of the album’s tracks, highlights including “Elected” and “Hello Hooray,” along with several of the band’s earlier hits, including “I’m Eighteen” and “School’s Out.”

The LP and CD versions both come with an oral history of the album and the bonus tracks by the surviving band members – Alice Cooper, Dennis Dunaway, Michael Bruce, and Neal Smith – and Bob Ezrin, who produced the album. Sadly, guitarist Glen Buxton died in 1997.

In the notes, Cooper recalls writing “I Love The Dead” and “Sick Things.” He says, “We were writing those songs looking at each other, and every time we’d write a line I’d say, ‘Oh, this is gonna kill them. Oh, they’re gonna hate us on this one.’ But at the same time, it was almost like an Edgar Allan Poe short story when you listen to ‘I Love The Dead.’ I tried to write that the way Vincent Price would sing it.”

Last August, Alice Cooper released latest solo outing. The concept album Road featured the hit single, “I’m Alice.” The record was Cooper’s 22nd solo LP.

“In the past, the show got reviewed before the music did,” Alice laughs. “We had hit No. 1 albums, but it was always about what we did on stage. For Road, I wanted the band to be involved in the foundation of all the songs. I only see these guys when we’re on the road. So, I wanted them to be as tight as they are for the show but on all new material. That’s what we did for this record. When you have a band this good, I believe in showing it off, and this is my way of doing so.”

Alice Cooper – Billion Dollar Babies: 50th Anniversary ‘Trillion Dollar’ Deluxe Edition [Rhino, 2024]

LP Track Listing

LP One

Side One

1. “Hello Hooray”
2. “Raped And Freezin’”
3. “Elected”
4. “Billion Dollar Babies”
5. “Unfinished Sweet”

Side Two

1. “No More Mr. Nice Guy”
2. “Generation Landslide”
3. “Sick Things”
4. “Mary Ann”
5. “I Love The Dead”

LP Two

Side One

Side Two

1. “My Stars” – Live, 1973
2. “Unfinished Sweet” – Live, 1973
3. “Sick Things” – Live, 1973
4. “Dead Babies” – Live, 1973
5. “I Love The Dead” – Live, 1973

LP Three

Side One

1. “School’s Out” – Live, 1973
2. “Under My Wheels” – Live, 1973
3. “Coal Black Model T” – Outtake
4. “Son Of Billion Dollar Babies (Generation Landslide)” – Outtake

Side Two

1. “Hello Hooray” – Single Version
2. “Billion Dollar Babies” – Single Version
3. “Elected” – Single Version
4. “Mary Ann” – Single Version
5. “Slick Black Limousine”

CD Track Listing

CD One

1. “Hello Hooray”
2. “Raped And Freezin’”
3. “Elected”
4. “Billion Dollar Babies”
5. “Unfinished Sweet”
6. “No More Mr. Nice Guy”
7. “Generation Landslide”
8. “Sick Things”
9. “Mary Ann”
10. “I Love The Dead”

CD Two

1. “Hello Hooray” – Live, 1973
2. “Billion Dollar Babies” – Live, 1973
3. “Elected” – Live, 1973
4. “I’m Eighteen” – Live, 1973
5. “Raped And Freezin’” – Live, 1973
6. “No More Mr. Nice Guy” – Live, 1973
7. “My Stars” – Live, 1973
8. “Unfinished Sweet” – Live, 1973
9. “Sick Things” – Live, 1973
10. “Dead Babies” – Live, 1973
11. “I Love The Dead” – Live, 1973
12. “School’s Out” – Live, 1973
13. “Under My Wheels” – Live, 1973
14. “Coal Black Model T” – Outtake
15. “Son Of Billion Dollar Babies (Generation Landslide)” – Outtake
16. “Hello Hooray” – Single Version
17. “Billion Dollar Babies” – Single Version
18. “Elected” – Single Version
19. “Mary Ann” – Single Version
20. “Slick Black Limousine”

Fans can pre-order now HERE

The post Alice Cooper Announces ‘Billion Dollar Babies’ 50th Anniversary Release first appeared on The Rock Revival.