Customer Reviews

Cheap Trick - The Greatest Hits

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Dunno, I'm a big Cheap Trick fan and can't deny that GREATEST HITS delivers what it promises. As much as I like the band, it's my opinion that most of Cheap Trick's hits isn't among their best songs. For example, "Tonight It's You" is my least favorite tune from their dynamite album STANDING ON THE EDGE, yet it was a hit single. If all you want is the top forty music, pick up Cheap Trick's GREATEST HITS. For those willing to listen more, try Cheap Trick's box set SEX AMERICA. The four CD set includes all but maybe two of the GREATEST HITS selections and serves up a lot more of Cheap Trick at its best.

Featuring only 13 songs, "Their Greatest Hits" is a relatively skimpy anthology album for a band that at the time of its release had been rcording for more than a decade and a half. The album also, unfortunately, draws evenly from across the band's career, shorting their classic early days and overrepresenting their less graceful later output (for example: only one selection from "Heaven Tonight," their best studio album).

Things start off on the wrong foot with an awful previously unreleased version of The Beatles' "Magical Mystery Tour." The highlights among the remaining dozen tracks include excellent early singles "Surrender" and "I Want You to Want Me," the latter from their breakthrough "Live at Budokan" album. "Budokan" provides another smokin' cover, "Ain't that a Shame." Other strong singles included are "She's Tight," "If You Want My Love," "I Can't Take It" and "Tonight it's You." On the downside are the vapid power ballad "The Flame" and a by-the-numbers cover of "Don't Be Cruel," both from the band's late 80s "comeback" album "The Flame."

Overall, a strangely programmed anthology album that doesn't really give these veteran rockers their just due.

Other artists have done it, but it bothers me when a band uses someone else's hit to introduce theirs. Why? The greatest hits album should reflect Cheap Trick's body of work, which does not need a boost from someone else. Most of these hits are recognizable even to people who aren't big fans.

Cheap Trick introduces us to its work with the Beatles' classic "Magical Mystery Tour." Robin Zander seems to be struggling to pull out the lyrics, almost as if he really doesn't want to sing the song. I think," groovy, leave it off!"

If you don't know Cheap Trick, songs 2-10 will ring a bell if you have listened to the radio in the late 70s, 80s, and early 90s. "I Want You To Want Me" and "Surrender" still see a bit of airplay today. Once you hear the others, something will click and you'll say, "Yeah, I remember this!"

The last three songs are not as common. I guess these songs were placed last since they are the least popular of the greatest hits. To blend the album, I would have probably recommended mingling these with the others.

For a greatest hits, I would also like to see a bit more in the liner notes. With this CD, all you get is the names of the songs, the songwriter(s), and the album it was taken from. Nothing more than that.

I would recommend this just for the fans.

This greatest hits doesn't really work because it jumps from live cuts to 70's era power pop to latter-day AOR. Also, there are so many great songs missing (Elo Kiddies, Southern Girls, On Top of The World, Way of the World, Stop this Game). For the casual fan, it's a decent overview of the band's hits but if you want to dig deeper, as a whole it's really no more impressive than any of the band's first five albums or their 1997 underrated masterpiece.

I wonder who compiled this set? A "one song per CD" focus seems to be in place making this a sampler not a Greatest Hits collection. Some good songs but the missing ones (ELO Kiddies, Southern Girls, Day Tripper, etc.) makes this far from what the title promises. For someone who might want to get an idea of this band's range but not for the true fan.

Cheap Trick - The Greatest Hits is 52 minutes and 35 seconds and was released in 1991. The Greatest Hits reached #174 on the U.S. Billboard 200 Album chart and eventually went Platinum. This was Cheap Trick first compilation album. Included in this CD are previously unreleased cover version of the Beatles' Magical Mystery Tour. With the exception of two songs, all songs hit the charts ranging from #1 through #62. The music is in a hard rock and pop rock style. Since this is my only Cheap Trick CD, I am giving Cheap Trick - The Greatest Hits an AAA+++.

Magical Mystery Tour
Dream Police
#26 U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Singles
Don't Be Cruel
#4 U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Singles
Tonight It's You
#44 U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Singles
#8 U.S. Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks
She's Tight
#65 U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Singles
I Want You Want Me (Live)
#7 U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Singles
#3 Cashbox Top 100 Singels
If You Want My Love
#45 U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Singles
Ain't That A Shame (Live)
#35 U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Singles
Surrender
#62 U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Singles
The Flame
#1 U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Singles
I Can't Take It
Can't Stop Fallin' In Love
Voices
#32 U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Singles

Cheap Trick's greatest hits are just that. I always liked some of their music, but didn't know that there was this much of it. Their cover of "Ain't That a Shame" would make Fats Domino proud.

I have always liked Cheap Trick. They play basic rock n roll for the most part, but many of the songs they write are catchy as hell. I've also always liked their Beatles influence mixed with heavy rock. Surprisingly this is the only Cheap Trick album that I own on CD. I have "Budakon" and "Dream Police" on vinyl. Apparently there is a remastered version of this album out with some changes in the tracks, but the one I have is the original. Maybe its because I listen to this stuff in the middle of the night, but this album really rocks. It is pretty basic with just the hits (major and minor) and no album cuts to speak of. But what hits they are, "Dream Police", "Tonight Its You", "Surrender", "Voices", "I Can't Take It", "She's Tight" and more. All of these are examples of what great pop / rock writing is all about. The album also contains a cover of The Beatles "Magical Mystery Tour". Some people love it and some hate it. I like it ok, although it does not really improve on the original. After listening to this album I ask myself again......why don't I own more Cheap Trick!

My only critism of this cd is the omission of a few songs. There's room for some more here.
I like the version of Magical Mystery Tour. Southern Girls is lacking as is It's Only Love (I know it wasn't a hit) and something from All Shook Up and Cheap Trick would have comepleted the collection nicely. I guess it's a Greatest Hits so their Greatest Hits are on here.
If you're in the market, go for Essential Cheap Trick or Authorised Greatest Hits.

I've been a Cheap Trick fan ever since their first releases...and I have to say...for anyone who claims to be a real Cheap Trick fan, the last three songs on this CD should be as familiar as the rest. I do agree on one thing: the Authorized Greatest Hits is a better package with better coverage of the history of this band...the import version is an even better representation with 18 tracks as opposed to the American version with 16. The inclusion of the live Clock Strikes Ten on the remaster of this CD is a nod to their Japanese audience, who made that song huge in their country...if you listen to Robin's introduction to the song on the Budokan album, he says "This one I'm sure you all know..."This is a single CD collection and you can't please everyone or have every single track everyone wants on this one CD...if you're that big a fan, you probably have all the original albums to begin with...if you want to introduce someone to this band, this is a good place to begin...Authorized Greatest Hits is even better...best? Get them The Collection (the first three albums in one box) and let them get familiar with where this band came from...the inclusion of Magical Mystery Tour on this disc is nice, but knowing some history about their recording of the song would have been nice too...that minor gripe out of the way, this isn't really a bad collection, it's just not as extensive as some of the others. For the diehard fans I recommend the box set "Sex, America, Cheap Trick"...some amazing finds there!