Road (Alice Cooper album)

For the album, Cooper wanted to showcase his live band and for them to be "involved in the foundation of all the songs". He insisted on no overdubs as the "whole idea of this album is showing off how good this band is live".[2] Prior to announcing Road, Cooper spoke of it being a "concept album" about "things that happen on the road. There's a lot of humor in it. There's a couple of heartbreakers, but it's very guitar-driven because that's what I look for in an album."[3]

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	76/100[4]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[5]
American Songwriter	[6]
Classic Rock	[7]
Mojo	[8]
Uncut	7/10[9]

Road received a score of 76 out of 100 on review aggregator Metacritic based on seven critics' reviews, indicating "generally favorable" reception.[4] Uncut remarked that it is "all great fun and played by a road-hardened band full of vigour",[9] while Mojo described it as "a hugely enjoyable hoot".[8] Classic Rock called it a "cohesively themed album lathered in muti-tiered guitars, anthemic chouses and high-density power riffage, tempered by road-honed dynamism and built for the stage".[7] Hal Horowitz of American Songwriter felt that "while Road is no five-star masterpiece like the recently reissued and expanded Killer or School's Out collections", it is "perhaps unexpectedly, worthy of being mentioned in the same breath as his best".[6] AllMusic's Fred Thomas summarized it as "primarily killer and only a little bit of filler, with Alice tapping into the power he harnessed in his younger days to create a surprisingly inspired collection of new material".[5]

• Alice Cooper – vocals (all tracks), backing vocals (tracks 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13)
• Ryan Roxie – electric guitar (all tracks), acoustic guitar (tracks 11, 13), backing vocals (track 13)
• Nita Strauss – electric guitar (all tracks), acoustic guitar (track 11), backing vocals (track 13)
• Tommy Henriksen – electric guitar (all tracks), acoustic guitar (tracks 11, 13), keyboards (tracks 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 11, 12), piano (track 7), additional bass (tracks 7, 11), percussion (tracks 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13), backing vocals (tracks 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13), "Party Animal" (track 8)
• Chuck Garric – bass (all tracks except track 11), backing vocals (track 13)
• Glen Sobel – drums (all tracks)
• Bob Ezrin – backing vocals (tracks 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11), acoustic guitar (track 11), horn synth (track 12)
• Kane Roberts – guitar (track 4)
• Tom Morello – guitar (track 6), backing vocals (track 6)
• Burleigh Johnson – piano (track 10)
• Keith Miller – acoustic guitar (track 11)
• Roger Glover – bass (track 11)
• Sheryl Cooper – backing vocals (track 8)