Cheap Trick

Cheap Trick | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 1, 2008)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Sbme Special Mkts.
• ASIN: B0012GMX9W
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (55 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #27,690 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #72 in Music > Rock > Power Pop

Track Listings

1. ELO Kiddies

2. Daddy Should Have Stayed in High School

3. Taxman, Mr. Thief

4. Cry, Cry

5. Oh, Candy

6. Hot Love

7. Speak Now or Forever Hold Your Peace

8. He's a Whore

9. Mandocello

10. The Ballad of TV Violence (I'm Not the Only Boy)

11. Lovin' Money [#][*][Outtake]

12. I Want You to Want Me [Early Version][#][*]

13. Lookout [Previously Unreleased Studio Version][#][*]

14. You're All Talk [Studio Version][#][*]

15. I Dig Go-Go Girls [#][*]

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com essential recording

Once largely written off by critics as arena-rock dinosaurs, Rockford, Illinois's favorite musical sons have become darlings of an influential cadre of alternative and modern-rock superstars and the subjects of an overdue catalog upgrade--and for a slew of good reasons. The first of those would be Cheap Trick, the blistering 1977 debut that confounded reviewers nearly as well as it captured the band's edgy song sensibility and musical chops honed by their 200-plus-gig-a-year work ethic. Producer Jack Douglas wisely opted for a deceptively raw tack that captured Cheap Trick's manic live essence better than any other album--save, of course, Live at Budokan. The band's later bubble-gum rep is viciously and hilariously undercut here by songs about youth-culture cynicism ("Elo Kiddies"), pedophilia ("Daddy Should Have Stayed in High School"), mass murder ("The Ballad of TV Violence"), and gigolos ("He's a Whore"), not to mention a tasty cover of Terry Reid's "Speak Now or Forever Hold Your Peace." Guitarist Rick Nielsen's loud, trashy fretwork presaged "grunge" by a good 15 years, and Robin Zander's vocals show why he's since been tagged the Man of a Thousand Voices. And the rhythm section of drummer Bun E. Carlos and Tom Petersson was (and is) one of rock's most underrated. This Sony Legacy "Expanded Edition" restores the album's original running order (the previous version flipped the vinyl's A and B sides) and features new photos, liner notes, and five bonus cuts. One of rock's greatest albums, unsung or otherwise. --Jerry McCulley

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars She's Got a Face That Could Stop a Clock, June 6, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Cheap Trick (Audio CD)

Just about any Cheap Trick fan, obsessive or not, would be quick to agree that for better or worse, their prime came right during their first releases in the late '70s. The general consesus, of course, is that "at Budokan" is the best live album and "Heaven Tonight" is the best studio album. However, I'm going to be frank and admit that although "In Color," "Heaven Tonight," and "Dream Police" are classic power pop, I really don't listen to them all that much these days. I heared "Heaven Tonight" and "Dream Police" first, but once I heared "In Color," that became my favorite. Then I heared the first album, and I knew my mind was made up. No offense to the band, but the first album proves that subsequent studio albums didn't really need all that polished production. Some bands just sound better with all their raw,rough edges intact and Cheap Trick proved they were one of those bands with "at Budokan." No offense intended to those who disagree, but the next time any Trick fanatic finds the sugar-coated gloss of the other early albums hindering the enjoyment of the songs, they should return to the debut, which will always be the studio album that rocked the hardest. The standout tracks for me are "Elo Kiddies," "Daddy Should Have Stayed in High School," "Taxman, Mr. Thief," and "He's a Whore." The other tracks are great too and have grown on me with time. The only track I have a minor qualm with is "Mondecello," which, while a decent song by itself, breaks up the flow of the album and doesn't really fit in with the rest of the rockers. So pick it up; surely it's one of the more underrated debuts of '77.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 5 Stars is not enough for one of the best albums recorded, December 17, 2003

By 

Mark May (Glendora, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cheap Trick (Audio CD)

This is a great, Great, GREAT CD!!! The music can stack up against ANY album. It is the "Abbey Road" of Cheap Trick. It starts with the powerful "ELO Kiddies" and the alarm clock ringing at the beginning of the song lets you know that this is a band you should wake up and pay attention to. It then changes gears with Tom's bass into the sickly twisted "Daddy Should Have Stayed in High School." It then transitions smoothly with the sound of kids playing (shades of the Beatles) into "Taxman, Mr. Thief," where they directly tip their hats off to the Beatles by using the name Mr. Heath. "Cry Cry" changes up the pace with a slip-sliding slow chunker, then "Oh Candy" spotlights the band's ability to create hard hitting up beat rock songs. Another change up into the slamming steamroller "Hot Love." This song rips is like a sports car at full throttle. Robin's beautiful voice is show cased in the haunting ballad "Speak Now or Forever Hold Your Peace." Another smooth transition with Bun E's sharp drum beat: "He's a Whore" kicks in, with Rick soloing like a deranged punk rocker. The soothing "Mandocello," named after the instrument it is played on (double strings tuned like a cello), can make you float away on a cloud of dreams. The last song from the original album, "Ballad or TV Violence," ends the original recording with a portrait of a mental murderer. When Cheap Trick played this song live, Rick used to open up his sweater to reveal a picture of the real life killer the song is about, crazy! This is a CD of a recording of when albums were albums, not just a collection of hit tunes. The songs move and support each other. This CD is made to be listened to in one sitting. Like Abbey Road by the Beatles, there is a cast of characters in the songs, some songs stand in isolation while others link into the next track, and a variety of instruments, tones, and textures keeps the selections fresh. The bonus material is good and interesting (like the early style of "I Want You To Want Me" they used to play live), but it is the high quality remix of the original recording that makes this CD a "must have" for any music lover. This is truly a masterpiece of music; the best Cheap Trick album ever (and that is saying a lot when you think about the fine albums that followed). This album had no flaws, and the only way to improve it was to remaster the tracks to let the brilliance of Cheap Trick shine through.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Nowhere to go but down from here . . ., July 31, 2000

By 

John Cassels - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cheap Trick (Audio CD)

Boy, whatever happened to Jack Douglas? Within the space of one year in the mid-70s he coaxed career performances out of *two* hard rock legends -- Aerosmith (their never-equaled 4th album, *Rocks*), and Cheap Trick, whose debut is also their finest hour. The Tricksters had enough left in the tank to make their subsequent trajectory through *In Color* and *Heaven Tonight* (to say nothing of the essential, revelatory live album, *At Budokan*) look like a steady rise, but (apparent) goofball guitarist/songwriter Rick Nielsen really shot his wad here: sad, but spectacular to witness. This has no filler, just endless smarts, a masterful sense of dynamics, deep hooks, and a gritty, hot-wired guitar sound. (It also has the *sui generis* ballad "Mandocello," five powerful, intoxicating minutes that resemble nothing that this band or any other ever comitted to tape, before or after.) Would that there had been more where this came from. At least this edition rescues some rarities, principally "Lovin' Money," which is so fine one wonders how it got left off the original album. All the tuneless New Metal kids flooding the market these days could do much worse than spend some quality time with "The Ballad of TV Violence (I'm Not the Only Boy)" -- it's a truly frightening, ferocious document, and its power is virtually independent of the band's tremendous performance, the feeling being all there in Nielsen's ominous guitar figure. That kind of writing can't be taught, faked, or bludgeoned into being; the early Cheap Trick had it in spades, never more so than here.