Alice Cooper: "Welcome 2 My Nightmare" As "Fan Pack" In September

According to The Independent, legendary rocker Alice Cooper will release his new album, "Welcome 2 My Nightmare", in the U.K. in September as a magazine with high production values and assorted merchandise (a format that is being dubbed "The Fan Pack") and as an iPad app with exclusive video interviews. The content of both products will be edited by Cooper himself. The album's official physical release will follow in mid-October, when Alice will perform a major show in London.

Chris Ingham, group publisher at niche publishing house Future, which is pioneering "The Fan Pack" format, tells The Independent, that the fan pack format has the potential to transform the relationship between the magazine industry and the music business. "Record companies have acknowledged that music magazines are amplifiers but they have also thought they were parasites," he says. "Moving forward, magazines will be seen much more as partners and something to rely on."

Other albums that have been released in the U.K. as "fan packs" include Slash's self-titled solo CD, Motörhead's "The Wörld Is Yours" and Whitesnake's "Forevermore".

"Welcome 2 My Nightmare" features the original "Nightmare" tandem of Steve Hunter and Dick Wagner, with Vince Gill guesting on a track called "Runaway Train". In addition, surviving Cooper band membersMichael Bruce, Dennis Dunaway and Neal Smith appear on the song"When Hell Comes Home".

In an interview with Billboard.com, Cooper said about the forthcoming CD, "I had an idea to do a part two to (2008's) 'Along Came a Spider'. I came to (producer) Bob (Ezrin; Pink Floyd, KISS) with it, and he listened and goes, 'Eh. I would be more excited if 'Along Came a Spider' was a No. 1 record.' He wasn't really into it. Then we started talking about 'Welcome to My Nightmare''s 35th anniversary or something like that, and he said, 'What if Alice had another nightmare?' All I was trying to do was get Bob to say, 'Yeah, I want to produce the album,' so we found a place where both of us really felt comfortable, and that was doing 'Nightmare 2'."

"There are certain songs where we let some of the themes from (the original) 'Nightmare' slip in," Cooper told Billboard.com. "All of a sudden you'll hear the little piano part from 'Steven' or from 'The Awakening'. I wanted (the albums) to be married together. I think we even make reference to a couple of characters from the original (album)."