Mention the name Vincent Furnier to most anybody and they’ll pay you back with a blank stare. Divulge his stage name – Alice Cooper – and all but the most clueless of human beings will instantly know who you’re on about – that rock star guy with the black eye makeup and a penchant for snakes.

Taking rock theatrics to almost ridiculous extremes - and all when that Marilyn Manson character was crawling around in diapers and babbling nought but inanities (hang on, that could have been last week, erm...), Cooper’s shows became overtly grand to the point that they made a Kiss gig look much like a couple of folkies huddled in a corner of your local pub in comparison. Eschewing the full-on rock assault most everybody else was pushing in favour of more of a touring horror song and dance show accompanied by fantastic music, his Welcome to my Nightmare tour of 1975, which was based on the premise of the somewhat conceptual album of the same name - a little boy’s disturbed nocturnal visions - was possibly THE most over the top example of a rock show ever put on stage, complete with choreography from a former West Side Story star in David Winters. And we get to enjoy it all from the comfy confines of our couches – yay!

The concert as presented here actually inter-cuts footage from a gig at London’s Wembley Pool (which was later renamed Wembley Arena) with scenes shot in the Shepperton Studios, sometimes seamlessly, other times rather clunkily. As far as the show goes, all manner of beasties emanate from Alice’s giant toy box – devils, bats, skeletons doing Fred Astaire dance routines (top hats, canes and all) – even a Cyclops. Add to this a vast variety of props and scenery – from the small such as swords and a severely abused Ethyl doll, to massive graveyard scenes (including neon gravestones no less), a projection screen the size of the stage (used to great effect at some points) and a simply huge spider’s web - and you have a presentation that comes across much like one of Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s oopiest nightmares.

In the end, however, regardless of the packaging it’s the music we’re really after – and this show doesn’t disappoint on this front. All the tracks from one of the greatest albums of the ‘70s are here, many returning in reprise form to add a flow to proceedings, notably Years Ago generally preceding instances of earlier hits such as I’m Eighteen and the bona fide timeless anthem School’s Out.

With all that theatrical stuff going on, the band are only visible at some points, which sadly means that we are later asked to endure an interminable section where they all get to bore us with elongated solos – is there anything more tedious in this world than a drum solo? Still at least this can be skipped if wished.

In all this would be hard pressed to be more over the top even with the involvement of Jim Steinman - ah, love those ‘70s!

Oh, here’s the track listing...

Let’s not beat around the bush, this transfer isn’t exactly a pretty one. Plagued by often alarming amounts of grain, the whole thing remains rather fuzzy and un-detailed throughout, and this isn’t aided by the presence of blobs, scratches and speckles which make almost constant appearances. Overall the vision has a kind of Michael Jackson-like appearance – it obviously used to be black, but now has a kind of milky pallor to it. Inevitably this affects shadow detail, which is never great. Colour too is affected, and all up this full frame presentation can only really be described as serviceable at best.

On eagerly plopping this disc in my trusty DVD player, I simply had to jump straight to Department of Youth, one of those songs that was an integral part of my kiddie days (hey, I got into music when I was REALLY young, OK?!) This proved a massive mistake, with the first 27 seconds or so sounding like absolute cack before the Dolby Digital 5.1 remix kicks in halfway through the first verse. The song is also plagued by occasional skips and a couple of decidedly dodgy edits – goodness, if this was what was in store for the whole show could it have been the first zero vote for audio? The tagline was already forming in my mind... “Alas, Cooper’s ‘Welcome’ is a nightmare�...

Mercifully though, things elsewhere are a vast improvement over this travesty of justice – and I’ll have to go back to the drawing board as far as the tagline is concerned. Save for a brief skip during Cold Ethyl and a horrific cut between the mid-show yawn-fest solo and The Black Widow, the soundtrack is quite pleasing throughout. Whilst the subwoofwoof barely manages to raise a whimper, surround usage is often both aggressive and creative – during The Black Widow, for example, the great man Vincent Price’s haunting speech engulfs you from all around, and elsewhere sundry screams and sound effects – and the inevitable crowd noise – all shoom about your head and leave you firmly plonked in the midst of proceedings. Stereo effects are also fabulous at times, so in all the remixers had a bit of fun without going to ridiculous extremes. Being a live show it is plagued at times by inevitable nasties such as feedback, buzzes and hiss – however, as far as the latter is concerned that intro to Department of Youth serves as a good example of how totally icky this could have sounded without the work obviously lavished on it. So, it ain’t perfect, but it ain’t too bad either.

There isn’t much in the way of extras, however that which we get sounds absolutely incredible on paper. 20 years or so after the event, Alice sits down with an undisclosed buddy (who laughs just like Barney Rubble) to re-watch his creation, giving us a commentary at the same time – even referring to himself in the third person (yes, Alice is a character, so it is kind of apt – it just sounds a bit weird and Craig David-like). It is inarguably great fun at times, but does contain considerable lengthy silences – which is more a shame simply as when they open up there are lots of silly comments amongst the genuine insights behind the amazing production, such as the fact that he married one of the dancers. Still, it’s an absolute must-listen for fans.

As Marilyn Manson deftly illustrates, any bloke can slap on some makeup, adopt a girlie name and jump up on a stage and act all provocative like. However, Alice Cooper did it first and inarguably did it with infinitely more style, panache and, most importantly, talent – as evidenced on this slightly flawed, but nonetheless vital for fans, DVD release. And to think he’s the son of a minister – what must daddy think of it all?