The Last Temptation (Alice Cooper album)

The Last Temptation is the thirteenth solo studio album by American rock singer Alice Cooper, released on July 12, 1994, by Epic Records. It centers on a boy named Steven (also the protagonist of Cooper's earlier work, Welcome to My Nightmare), and a mysterious showman. The showman, with apparent supernatural abilities, attempts with the use of twisted versions of morality plays to persuade Steven to join his traveling show, "The Theater of the Real - The Grand-est Guignol!", where he would "never grow up".

The album once again features collaborations with some high-profile guests: Chris Cornell of Soundgarden co-wrote and sings on two songs, Dan Wexler of Phoenix metallers Icon co-wrote four songs including the single "Lost in America" where he also plays guitar, and Derek Sherinian of Dream Theater plays keyboards.

Comic
The full storyline of the album was depicted in a three-part comic book written by Neil Gaiman, the first part of which accompanied the recording. In the comic, the Showman (depicted as Cooper himself) attempts to entice the boy Steven to join his supernatural show. Pages from the comic are seen in the Lost in America music video.

It was originally published by Marvel Comics and later reprinted by Dark Horse Comics, collected as trade paperback.

Video
Music videos were made for "Lost in America" and "It's Me". Both music videos are available for download from Sony/BMG.

Reception
Barry Weber of allmusic.com wrote, "By the time The Last Temptation was released in 1994, the hair band fad that had fueled Cooper's return was dead, and Cooper was obviously aware of its downfall – the album sounds almost nothing like its two predecessors (1989's Trash and 1991's Hey Stoopid). Far surpassing anything Cooper recorded in almost 20 years, The Last Temptation is unquestionably some of his best work."

Live performances
Although Epic did not finance a tour and Cooper consequently did not tour The Last Temptation, four of the album's songs – "It's Me", "Lost in America", "Cleansed by Fire" and "Sideshow" – were incorporated into Cooper's setlist from the time of his first appearance on the Monsters of Rock circuit in September 1995. Although "It's Me" was dropped after four performances, the other three songs remained a regular part of setlists until the end of the Life and Crimes of Alice Cooper tour in 1999, and were joined by "Nothing's Free" on the "School's Out for Summer '97" tour. However, with the exception of "Lost in America", which has remained a frequent part of setlists excluding the first three quarters of the 2012 to 2015 "Raise the Dead" tour, nothing from The Last Temptation has been performed live from 2000 onwards.

Personnel

 * Alice Cooper – lead vocals
 * Stef Burns – guitars, backing vocals
 * Greg Smith – bass, backing vocals
 * Derek Sherinian – keyboards, backing vocals
 * David Uosikkinen – drums


 * Additional personnel
 * Chris Cornell – vocals on "Stolen Prayer" and "Unholy War"
 * Dan Wexler – guitars on "Lost In America"
 * John Purdell – keyboards on "You're My Temptation", "Lullaby" and "It's Me"
 * Lou Merlino – backing vocals
 * Mark Hudson – backing vocals
 * Craig Copeland – backing vocals
 * Brett Hudson – backing vocals