Customer Reviews

One on One

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I don't know if it's just me or the must unpopular albums (or the less wanted) from my favorite bands are the ones that I like. Or maybe the circumstances or the timing when I bought them convert them in my favorite ones.

This one is no exception. I bought it a lot of years ago and it was my first CHEAP TRICK album.

Believe it or not, I was looking for "Dream Police" song and I bought the first album I saw. I saw a part of the video on TV and I got hooked. Well, I forgot about "Dream Police" (I found it later) and became "One on One" my personal favorite from Cheap Trick.

I don't understand why a lot of fans say that they don't like this part of their story (early 80's). I have heard this a thousand of times....................Really, what were you expecting? Breakin' the law with Robin Zander on vocals? The Trooper a little bit slower? CHEAP TRICK is the must diverse band I think it exists and on every CD they realease they put something new and special.

One On One has great songs and it's very well produced by QUEEN master Roy Thomas Baker. They get very deep in electronics and keyboards and this totally fits with their style. The only singles they keep playing live are She's Tight and If You Want My Love. Although the rest of the songs are very good too.

This is the first album were Tom Peterson is replaced by Jon Brandt. He is good and to fill Tom's shoes it might be kind of hard but he comes out clean.

An old album that stands the test of time. Recommendable? Of Course!!!

Highlight: One On One, Time Is Runnin, She's Tight
Lowlight: I Want Be Man

Yep, "One on One" is probably the Cheap Trick album I most enjoy listening to. Over time, I've come to really love this album. If there's one problem with it, and to me it's minor, it's that it's too short.

After Tom Petersson left the band, they eventully brought in Jon Brandt to fill in on bass after the album was recorded. (If memory serves, I thik Rick Nielson actually did the bass parts on the album). The result was "One on One," an album of tight, well constructed tunes, all with the wonderful melodic Cheap Trick sound.

Like it's predecessor, "All Shook Up," Robin stretches his vocals with a lot of yelling. No other word to describe it. But Robin's voice is so good, it works. Just listen to tracks like "Love's Got a Hold on Me," "One on One," and "Oo La La La" to see how he stretches his vocals to the limit. He also does great on the ballad "If You Want My Love" -- but if you listen to the background vocals, he's still straining the vocal chords!

My favorites are actually the less well known tracks on the album: "You Love Has Got a Hold on Me," "Saturday at Midnight," "I Want be Man," and "Lookin' Out For Number One." To me, this is a loud, fun album chock full of great power pop gems.

While Cheap Trick has released a lot of great material over the years (and I love them all), this has to rank as my favorite album.

Great collection of 11 finally crafted 3 minute rock-pop songs. There is not more than one bad song in the bunch. I have 11 Cheap Trick albums and I believe this is their best album. The 70s albums get all the hype and the critics then write off the 80s Cheap Trick. However, I do not feel that their sentiments are justified when one considers this album and Next Position Please. Quite frankly, this is one of the best albums of the 80s. If you like CT and you are sick of hearing Surrender and the like, this is a tremendous album.

I hope Epic will someday re-issue this CD like they have done with other CT CD's. Its far from being CT's best album. But it rocks like crazy, has several fantastic songs that have become classics and is still a lot of fun to listen to, especially when driving. I think it would have been a much better album had the 2 tracks from the "Heavy Metal" soundtrack replaced a couple of the weaker tracks.

There are a lot complaints about the tinny and compressed sound of the CD, and after comparing my original 1981 LP to the CD I think its the remastering to blame. The vinyl still sounds very compressed, but has a warmer sound with more bass and "air" in Roy Thomas Baker's production work.

When CD's became big business in the 1980's most record companies grabbed the eaisest master tape they could find (many times a second or third generation master tape EQ'ed for vinyl) and used it for the CD. Cheap Trick were one of the biggest bands to suffer from CBS's assembly-line remastering jobs and these old CD's shouldn't be sold anymore. If you have any later greatest hits CD or the box set compare the tracks from this CD with them, you can really hear the difference.

I think CT fans would appreciate the bands mid 80's albums better if they were remastered better just like their classic 70's albums. I would love to see "One on One" remastered with "Reach Out" and "I Must Be Dreamin'" along with the flipside "All I Really Want" (a great overlooked song) and the dance remix of "Saturday At Midnight" (just for fun) added as bonus tracks.

Let's see- 11 songs, 34 minutes...you do the algebra! It's a fun rock album from the 80's. Period. That's what it was meant to be. You'll note the violins from Dream Police and the orchestra from All Shook Up are history, and only have the piano here and there and Saxes on "Oo La La La." "I Want You" is killer, as is the title track. "If You Want My Love" is just as good, though I say it was bettered on the boxed set. "Oo La La La" and "Lookin' Out For Number One" are two backtaback good-riddance tunes. "She's Tight" is a classic. "Love's Got A Hold On Me", another great tune..."I Want Be Man" is funny, and "Four Letter Word" makes a great ending. I wanna lose my virginity to this album! (I'm only 16 guys...) Take it easy and enjoy the record, er, CD!

This album should have been titled "One After Another", as one loud, thrashy, almost abrasive song after another assaults your ears. Don't try this one if you're feeling mellow. The songs still contain Cheap Trick's trademark melodies, but Robin Zander uses his harsher vocal style on all the songs, including the powerful anthemic ballad "If You Want My Love". A very cohesive album, all the songs contain very loud, driving drum tracks, and loud, almost screaming, backup vocals. Contains the Sophomoric, yet undeniably catchy and clever lyrical hit "She's Tight", plus original and innovative songs like the eerie pulsating "Saturday at Midnight" and the technodriver "I Want Be Man". Cheap Trick has an album for everyone, and headbangers will enjoy this one.

One On One is somewhat of a hit and miss album for me. There are some great songs on it and some lesser tracks also.
Produced by legendary Producer, Roy Thomas Baker (Queen, David Bowie, The Darkness), it was a change in style to a more 80's sound (given the decade).

1. I Want You is a great opener. Catchy, rocky and to the point.
2. One On One is a lesser track. Nothing much to offer from this song.
3. If You Want My Love is cheesy but a great track. One of their better known songs. Perhaps doesn't really fit in with the heavier feel to this album.
4. Oh La La La is a terrible song. One of CT's worst.
5. Looking Out For Number One is a nice rock track.
6. She's Tight is one of CT's best. Background vocals sound like Queen (the Roy Thomas Baker influence perhaps).
7. Time is Runnin' is a good track but hardly memorable. Likewise,
8. Saturday At Midnight. These two tracks compliment each other and hold their place on the album as good quality fillers.
9. Love's Got A Hold On Me is a good track. Perhaps could have been more rock, less pop.
10. I Want Be Man is one of CT's best. A real standout and a different sound to anything they'd previously done.
11. Four Letter Word is anthem rocker that doesn't rise to anthem heights. This along with Oh La La La are the weakest tracks here.

All in all, a good album with many highlights. Just a couple of lowlights to bring it down.

Album ranking wise it sits bottom middle. Below Busted, above Lap Of Luxury.

I have been a long time Trick Fan. Since 1979, while in the 4th grade of a Catholic grade school during rainy recess days, I began cutting my teeth on their music. Of all the bands I have ever followed this one has always pulled off very special songs. I too will admit I do not like every song on each effort, however, One On One has some very original sounds. I find from 1on1, Next Position Please, and their first self titled effort the music that Kurt Cobain, Foo Fighters, STP, and countless others were influenced by. Those bands as Cobain once stated...play louder guitars. This is where I agree with the other reviewers...corporate rock sucks! Long live originality. If only CT was allowed to release those songs as they had wished.

I've read so many BAD reviews about "One on One" that I had to voice out what I really think about this often overlooked CHEAP TRICK album. Fisrt of all, this has to be one of their (if the not, THEIR)heaviest albums. The production, as you might read somewhere else, is NOT crappy. Roy Thomas Baker produced this, so if you think this stinks, well, the same might go for QUEEN (after all it's the SAME producer!). It's got a very loud guitar and drums sound, with some songs sounding even techno oriented ("Saturday At Midnight"). The album opens with a the very powerful "I Want You", a song that wears the "Power Pop" badge with pride and the style that Cheap Trick became best known for. The title track follows with the same intensity, with a nice metal overtone. "If You Want My Love" is the mandatory ballad, with a nice vintage sound. It may remind you of what the BEATLES might have sounded like had they recorded with modern equipment. "She's Tight" is another Pop-Metal masterpiece (Glam rockers POISON stole this riff and used it in "Talk Dirty To Me"!). We hear the band expanding on their sound in songs like the Techno-dance oriented, "Saturday At Midnight", achieving a memorable and catchy melody, and on the punkish "Love's gotta hold on me". "I Want Be Man" is another hard driving rocker with some futuristic sounds thrown in for good measure and the album's closer, "Four Letter Word" is an all-out-heavy metal affair that sounds like a mix of AC/DC and MOTORHEAD.


I Think CHEAP TRICK were embracing the 80's sound the only way they knew: Loud pop rock numbers with a big production. "One on One" is an album that showed the band progressing but at the same time, retaining crucial elements like catchy hooks and powerful playing. It's a sad shame latter records (most notably "Busted" and "The Doctor") saw the band at a creative low, lashing out decidedly commercial songs in order to please EPIC records excecutives.

"One on One" has to be one of CHEAP TRICK's most versatile albums. It retains that special flavor that made them classics, but dares to venture into new territory in a convincing way. If you want to hear a revitalized Cheap Trick, then THIS is the album to own!

This isn't my favorite Cheap Trick album, but I agree with others who say that there are several moments on it which shine brightly. The best song on it, "If You Want My Love," is right up there with the songs from their first three studio albums and ties with "Voices" and "Mandocello" for the best Cheap Trick ballad ever. "Adequate" Cheap Trick is still a lot better than a lot of other band's best efforts, so good going!