Easy Action is the second studio album by the American rock band Alice Cooper, released by Straight Records in March 1970. The title comes from a line from one of the band’s favorite films, the musical West Side Story. As with Pretties for You, the band’s debut from the previous year, Easy Action was neither a commercial nor critical success. Singles include “Shoe Salesman” and “Return of the Spiders”.
Drummer Neal Smith later said of the record producer David Briggs, “David hated our music and us. I recall the term that he used, referring to our music, was ‘Psychedelic Shit’. I think Easy Action sounded too dry, more like a TV or radio commercial and he did not help with song arrangement or positive input in any way.” None of Easy Action’s songs have ever been performed live by Cooper since the tour in support of their third album Love It to Death; in fact, only “Return of the Spiders” was performed on the tour for that album.
A small number of early U.S. copies were pressed on the blue Bizarre Records label. These copies carry the same catalog number WS-1845 and album cover as the regular Straight Records release.
Though perhaps seen as being an overlooked work in terms of later releases, Easy Action tracks “Mr. & Misdemeanor” and “Refrigerator Heaven” were both later included in the well-received compilation album The Life and Crimes of Alice Cooper. “Refrigerator Heaven” was also included in the Warner Bros. compilation album Zapped, which was a single LP (all the other Warner Bros. compilations of that time were either 2- or 3-disc sets) showcasing acts signed or produced by Frank Zappa. The closing track “Lay Down And Die, Goodbye”, which was originally written and recorded as a demo by the band when it was called Nazz, begins with a sample of Tom Smothers saying “You are the only censor; if you don’t like what I’m saying, you have a choice: you can turn me off”. This is followed by an instrumental jam and finishes with the chorus from the demo. (The last part of the song is listed on the Science Fiction album as “I’ve Written Home to Mother”, while the instrumental jam section is listed as “For Alice” or “An Instrumental”.
