Customer Reviews

Music For Hangovers

5 star:		(75)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Cheap Trick may very well be the best pop/rock band America has ever produced, and it's no mistake that the first big splash they made in terms of record sales was the phenomenal "Cheap Trick At Budokan" live album that was initially only available in the US market as a Japanese import. The high regard in which the Budokan recording is held becomes all that more impressive when considering that it was released in THE decade known for great live albums (and it holds its own with Frampton, Kiss, McCartney, et al from the same era).
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Having said that, it's sometimes easy to forget that the "Budokan" album is not necessarily remembered for being a great collection of songs performed live inasmuch as it was a great live performance of a collection of songs. To this end I much prefer "Music For Hangovers" as being a far better representation of the band's songwriting abilities coupled equally with their musical prowess. Twenty years beyond the "Budokan" show it's obvious that Cheap Trick hasn't lost their desire to put on a terrific live show, but the track listing from the "Hangovers" set so thoroughly exceeds the songs from the "Budokan" performance that this CD could more reasonably be considered a "best of" compilation from the first half of the band's career (1983's excellent "I Can't Take It" is the most recent song included in the set, and the live version of "Mandocello" alone makes this CD a necessity for any Cheap Trick fan).
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In terms of the sound of the recording, the main issue I had with the "Budokan" recording was the poor (i.e., BURIED) mix of Tom Petersson's bass. The 12-string bass is one of the most amazing sounding musical instruments there is; it can enable a competent player (like Petersson) to sound like a one-man symphony (listen to the intro to "Gonna Raise Hell" for the full effect). On this recording the bass is mixed absolutely correctly to give it a proper voice in an outstanding electric chorus. In addition to a good sound mix, the band's decision for a more "stripped down" approach (in contrast to the self-indulgent extravangance of the "Silver" concert recorded a year later) to the songs they play means that you hear the band sounding essentially the same as they do on their (doomed) "Cheap Trick" Red Ant release from 1997; there is one semi-acoustic re-interpretation of "Oh Caroline", but the listener is not subjected to an entire "acoustic set" and generally gets to kick back and crank it up with some basic, four-on-the-floor American-played, British-influenced rock and roll. It's a tremendous accomplishment by a great band that I can't recommend enough.

Finally I've got the album and it is the best Live-album I've ever heard ! (At second best of course "At Budokan"). The greatest one on this album is with no doubt: Oh Caroline. But the whole album is very "HOT". Aint that a shame MFH is not available in Holland!

Greetings and keep on Rockin' with CHEAP TRICK

Nothing can compare to being in the same room with Cheap Trick and a hall full of fans...but this comes pretty close. The song selection works so very well, and the energy is great. I attended the shows these songs were culled from, and I have to say that the disc captures the spirit of the shows (which was absolutely incredible!). The band is still in top form. In some ways, better with a few years under their belt. Listen to Rick's guitar magic. Ride Bun E.'s rolling drums. Let Tom's bass engulf you. And soar with Robin's angel/devil voice.

It may be fashionable, in some circles, to mock Cheap Trick and their fans, but attend just one of their concerts (or at least start with this album), and let the conversion begin!

This review is as much a recommendation to see them live as it is a review of Music For Hangovers, their 2nd live release. Recorded in a club over 4 nights, this shows 100% that Cheap Trick may be the best live band of all time. Still. These 4 guys are one of the rock's 2 ageless wonders (Neil Young being the other one). Don't think for a minute because they no longer top the charts with their releases that this band is a tired old dinosaur, running through perfuntory, lifeless retreads of their most obvious songs. I saw them in 1980, and I've seen them twice in the last 7 months, and they are BETTER now then they were then, and Hangovers is living proof. All you have to do is drop the laser on Gonna Raise Hell, and marvel at the fury. Buy 2 copies of this NOW, give one to a friend, and then take them to see Cheap Trick. You'll walk out of the hall hoarse from singing, drenched in sweat, and with a nice loud ringing in your ears. Isn't that what rock n' roll is supposed to be all about?

Up until buying this CD, I had the opinion that Cheap Trick was a dinosaur of the past. Fondly remembered from high school, but come on, not now, especially after covering Don't Be Cruel and Magical Mystery Tour. But.....

Wow! What a disc. Pump up the volume from the first crunching chords of Oh Claire, through the teenage bliss of Surrender and off you go. There's a great version of I Want You to Want Me, and a rockin' version of Dream Police. If you Want My Love live is wonderful, and so is all the rest.

It's amazing how well this music, more than 20 years old, stands up to today's. It's all much better than the "boy bands" out there today.

Rock On Cheap Trick!

As a lucky attendee of the four-night Metro shows from whence this gem of a CD was mined, cut, and polished, I can attest that they did a great job of capturning the energy and power of those shows.

Let me sum it up like this - when a song named "Gonna Raise Hell" can leave a 38 year-old man in tears, you still got it. Bun E and Tom definitely steal the show for this bring-the-house-down finale - a rolling wall of thunder you'll hear nowhere else.

I think the disc sounds just great. I've heard comments about some of the songs sounding muddy, or tinny. Rick Nielsen once said that producers don't understand that we (Cheap Trick) actually like to sound a little bit off. Well, if this is off, hey it works for me! I love the sound - it's raw, it's hot, it's heavy, it's Cheap Trick at their live best.

Music For Hangovers is the next best thing to being there, and proves that the boys can still 'bring it'.

Five stars isn't enough to describe the adulation I felt after first listening to "Music for Hangovers"! Robin, Rick, Tom, and BunE have absolutely outdone themselves with their second live CD taken from their 1998 tour! Cheap Trick is just one of few rock bands (along with Rush) that truly gets better with age! They've never lost that invigorating zany spirit I've come to love in them since my first moment of becoming a fan!

Every track recorded from their 4-day Chicago Metro gig fulminates with such raw Power Pop energy that they make you forget about the original studio versions in a split-second! "I Can't Take It" is probably the best enhanced studio-to-stage track, along with "If You Want My Love", "Dream Police", "Surrender", and the Billy Corgan aided "Mandocello" (I don't think I'll ever want to hear the original 1976 version again). Although I wasn't able to see this Metro performance due to icky Purdue finals, I did catch up with Cheap Trick at their one-nite-only Hoffman Estates, IL Julyfest gig. At least 90% of "Hangovers'" songs were played at that indelible concert, and they sound just the same to my ears. So, "Music for Hangovers" personally is my long-awaited souvenir (in addition to one of Rick's many coveted tossed guitar picks) from that most wonderfully magic summer eve in 1998!

Kudos to you, Cheap Trick!!! You guys have made me laugh, cry, and feel down-right great with your heavy rock, ear-popping Pop, sentimental ballads, checkerboard showmanship, and indomitable love for music and your fans! Robin, you always have just the right voice for any sentiment! And Rick, no one else can wear a baseball cap or play a thousand multi-necked guitars quite like you do! Your music and fun-loving style will always have a place in my rockin'-&-rollin' heart.

-Thomas "Mathzeus" Engelsman

Nothing can compare to being in the same room with Cheap Trick and a hall full of fans...but this comes pretty close. The song selection works so very well, and the energy is great. I attended the shows these songs were culled from, and I have to say that the disc captures the spirit of the shows (which was absolutely incredible!). The band is still in top form. In some ways, better with a few years under their belt. Listen to Rick's guitar magic. Ride Bun E.'s rolling drums. Let Tom's bass engulf you. And soar with Robin's angel/devil voice.

It may be fashionable, in some circles, to mock Cheap Trick and their fans, but attend just one of their concerts (or at least start with this album), and let the conversion begin!

(A repost of an earlier review)

Having seen the band a number of times, I can honestly say that this disc captures the feel of a live CT show to the tee. While some "live" recordings are simply rehashed studio material served lukewarm, this disc pumps the manic energy of the live show right into your living room. What particularly captivates me about this disc is the return to their early material, especially the four songs from Cheap Trick (1977). Listening to "Mandocello" sent shivers down my spine; "Taxman, Mr. Thief" is absolutely blistering. Incidently, CT fans who may be unfamiliar with their debut release are really cheating themselves; the 1977 Cheap Trick album is, IMHO, their finest. The songs are strong, and the production is minimalist. It is their one studio album that sounds like a live album. If you cannot take in a CT show live, buy "Music For Hangovers", crank it loud and close your eyes... you're nearly there.

In 1979, just out of high school and a steady diet of Jethro Dull, Floyd, Airplane, Hendrix et al, three new bands virtually revolutionized the way I listened to Rock and Roll: AC/DC, Blondie and Cheap Trick via "At Budokhan"...and in the last twenty years I havent stopped listening to Budokhan in its various incarnations...truly the best thing since transistor radios. Now, with "Music for Hangovers" the thrill is back all over again...and yes it is LOUD!!!. The Trick is definitely tight, Carlos one of the most urgently rock steady drummers around and Nielsen's guitar is surprisingly minimalist (compared to Budokhan). My CD programmer helps me make a great CD phenomenal by placing "Dream Police" at the beginning and cutting "Taxman" altogether to avoid that ludicrous introduction of Billy Corgan at the end of the track. The back to back performaces of "MandoCello" and the haunting jazzy/samba "Oh Caroline" alone are worth the price of admission, and the finale of the relentlessly hypnotic "TV Violence" and the jammin' "Gonna Raise Hell" are the proof in the pudding that some things just get better with age, two renditions to stand and last along with "Need Your Love" from Budokhan. Missed "the Flame", but otherwise Ive been playing this one forward, backward and upside down for well over a week. Thanks Robin,Bun,Tom and Rick for at long last authorizing another great live "classic" record!