Customer Reviews

Woke Up with a Monster

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Cheap Trick were always more than a mindless rock/pop group.
WOKE UP WITH A MONSTER is in itself a monster of an album.
LET HER GO,DIDN'T KNOW I HAD IT,and TELL ME EVERTHING are all great songs.The band never sounded better.I call it the clown album because of the cover and the inside photos. Any band that releases an album with a cover like this one is alright in my book.The sound is good,Robin Zander is in great voice, Rick's guitar is clear, sharp and biting, as usual.Petersen's bass and Carlo's drums are wonderful,rich and strong.Listen to the drum intro to LET HER GO. Another great song is GIRLFRIENDS. Zander just screams the song! The band photos are hilarious. I think one vital element missing in today's new bands is a sense of humor.Cheap Trick provides that as well as great writing, singing, and playing. Get this album and enjoy.

Warner Brothers had Cheap Trick for exactly one album, and what a great record they got. Too bad they totally missed the boat on promoting it. "Woke Up With A Monster" rocks harder than either "Lap Of Luxury" or "Busted," and Van Halen producer Ted Templeman knew exactly how to capture the band's sound. Cheap Trick was also obviously emboldened by the freedom from their old contract, because this is a thoroughly unrestrained sounding disc.

The Gary Glitter glam of "My Gang" lays out the statement of purpose here....this is an album for the faithful. "Ride Your Pony" is a great slinky salacious workout, and "Cry Baby" is as good as anything from the holy trinity of the first three CDs. The possession obsession of "Girlfriend" is a top notch look at the world of relationships through Nielsen's eyes and guitar.

This is also very much a band record! Tom Petersson and Bun E. Carlos are as tight as they were in the glory days, and Robin Zander shows no signs of being a near twenty year veteran of the rock wars.

Unfortunately, "Woke Up With A Monster" slipped through the cracks and right into the cut out bins. Don't make the same mistake by ignoring this record twice. It's every bit as strong as their ballyhooed 1997 eponymous album or 2006's "Rockford," so drop a few bills and bring this "Monster" home.

The opening track "My Gang" lets you know that Cheap Trick is fully awake and ready to rock. This 1994 release restored my faith in this exceptional band. There is plenty of that signature CT sound here with the classic tongue-in-cheek lyrics to boot.

"Woke Up With A Monster" is a very entertaining return to form with a heavy emphasis on the word "entertaining". There is no need to worry about having to program out (skip) any of the songs on this disk. All are good and some are exceptional. My personal favorites are "Ride The Pony", "Girlfriends", the aforementioned "My Gang", and the title cut. The bluesy "Cry Baby" and the bass-driven "Love Me For A Minute" get plenty of special attention from me, also.

Highly recommended.

Warner Brothers had Cheap Trick for exactly one album, and what a great record they got. Too bad they totally missed the boat on promoting it. "Woke Up With A Monster" rocks harder than either "Lap Of Luxury" or "Busted," and Van Halen producer Ted Templeman knew exactly how to capture the band's sound. Cheap Trick was also obviously emboldened by the freedom from their old contract, because this is a thoroughly unrestrained sounding disc.

The Gary Glitter glam of "My Gang" lays out the statement of purpose here....this is an album for the faithful. "Ride Your Pony" is a great slinky...workout, and "Cry Baby" is as good as anything from the holy trinity of the first three CDs. The possession obsession of "Girlfriend" is a top notch look at the world of relationships through Nielsen's eyes and guitar.

This is also very much a band record! Tom Petersson and Bun E. Carlos are as tight as they were in the glory days, and Robin Zander shows no signs of being a near twenty year veteran of the rock wars. Unfortunately, "Woke Up With A Monster" slipped through the cracks and right into the cut out bins. Don't make the same mistake by ignoring this record twice. It's every bit as strong as their ballyhooed 1997 eponymous album, so drop a few bills and bring this "Monster" home.

Released March 1994.
Label: Warner Brothers
Producer: Ted Templeman, well known for producing hit albums by Van Halen, Doobie Brothers, Van Morrison, etc and Cheap Trick favorite-Captain Beefheart's "Clear Spot".
Band : Cheap Trick. Original 4 members.
Songs: Good hard and heavy rockers, Some excellent power-pop, a couple great ballads, a good blues track, and one clunker called "Ride The Pony"-avoid this one, or on second thought, just think of it as a Robin Zander solo outtake, then it's awesome.
The title track, "Girlfriends", "Let Her Go", and almost every song here features some of Rick Nielsen's most electrifying, rockin' guitar leads and heavy riffs.
The ballads are top notch- not syrupy, but well crafted and have a lot of heart and soul...with a little grit, and are played and sung with passion. There's no "Flame part II" here, thankfully.
This is a big, loud, down 'n' dirty, heavy guitar Cheap Trick record.
Lyrics are plain, simple, and at times dark, absurd and funny.
"Girlfriends" and "Let Her Go" both show an effective AC/DC influence. Well done.
Vocals are once again, perfect. Robin Zander nails it.
Same goes for the drums and bass, from Tom Petersson and Bun E. Carlos. Although, several tracks need more of that Tom Petersson 12 string bass.
Overall, this cd is a lot better than it's reputation-it got bad reviews from Rolling Stone, Pulse, Request, and other mags. The British/U.K. mags and press loved it, and "Didn't Know I Had It" went top 5 in Germany, according to Rick Nielsen. The title track got some radio airplay, and the video was a mindbender, directed the same guy who did Tom Petty's "Don't Come Around Here No More".
Tell Me Everything was co-written by Michael McDonald. Great song!
Some killer fat bass playing and cool percussion tricks on closing track, the Stones-y "Love Me For A Minute".
Cd didn't chart too high on Billboard (#123 ?) or sell well.
bottom line: if you can appreciate good, simple, hard rock done the right way- with a lot of melody and some nice dynamics, you should love this.
Cheap Tricks rocks hard on Woke Up With A Monster.
Give it a chance.

This album is an underrated, near-classic. It's not that it lacks good songs, it just should have been mixed better. Some tunes need more bass, or more vocals up front in the mix, etc. For some reason the producer Ted Templeman, (Van Halen, Doobie Brothers) and chief engineer Jeff Hendrickson, did not have a clue as to what Cheap Trick sounds like live, because the ultra-heavy sound of Tom Petersson's 12 string bass is hardly evident. Also, I think a couple tracks would have benefited by being trimmed down slightly in length. Technical criticisim aside, this 1994 "comeback" album features some killer rock and roll, like the opening raver "My Gang", the classic power-pop of "You're All I Wanna Do", the vintage AC/DC-meets-Cheap Trick in "Girlfriends". The band's talent and personality really shine on the bittersweet, mid-tempo charmer "Didn't Know I Had It", which features Zander's superb vocal skills. Michael McDonald contributes some lyrics to the excellent "Tell Me Everything", and includes some great bass licks from Petersson. Rick Nielsen's guitar work on this cd is also some of his best stuff in years, especially on "Let Her Go", and the title track. As always, you get top-notch, tasteful drumming from Bun E. Carlos, one of Rock's greatest drummers. If this album would have been mixed/recorded better and maybe if a couple of the songs were a tad more concise, this might have been the hit the band and loyal fans had hoped for, but this is pure Cheap Trick, with the band's chops and songwriting up front, although this is an effort which finds the band pushing the musical part more than the lyrics. I think after the previous two albums on Epic, which were more on the commercial-pop-rock side ("Lap Of Luxury" and "Busted"), the band wanted just to let it all hang out, and rock hard, on "Monster". All in all, it's still a solid effort, with several great songs, which actually sound better live, than on the album. The worst thing about "Woke Up" is the misguided track "Ride The Pony", and the cd cover art, which is really horrible, and probably killed it's chances of selling. Collectors should check out the Japan import version, which adds a smokin' cover of Love Sculpture's "Sabre Dance" as a bonus track. Hopefully when this out-of-print cd is re-issued, they will change the cover art(get rid of that lame clown) add the single version of "You're All I Wanna Do" and the aforementioned "Sabre Dance" as bonus tracks.
Rock Out With A Monster!
-Mike A.

It's a shame this album didn't rise to the heights it should have. Whose to blame I do not know but several things attributed to it's instant demise.

The lack of a strong first single is partly to blame. The song Woke Up With A Monster is something different, but shouldn't have been the first single. It wasn't radio friendly - or even fan friendly. Much better tracks from the album have remained hidden. You're All I Wanna Do (the second single) should have been the first. It's catchy and pure Cheap Trick.
The cover of the album had negative affects I'm sure. For me when I was flicking through the C's back in '94 it stood out for me. I didn't know at the time that CT had released a new CD (probably due to the lack of publicity). For others though it may have been off-putting.
The whole Record Label s**t-fight didn't have positive affects on its success either.

For me this album is my sentimental favoutite. I'd just gotten into CT during High school and only owned their Greatest Hits which I'd gotten a month before. This was the first Studio Album of theirs I bought. Luckily I bought it soon after its release as it soon went out of print.

I love this album. It ranks 4th in my listing for studio albums for CT. Girlfriends, Let Her Go (who wrote that?), You're All I Wanna Do, My Gang, Love Me For A Minute - all wonderful tracks and among their best.
Robin's voice never sounded better on the material here.
The track Woke Up With A Monster has it qualities but play it to a non or semi fan and they'll asked you to change the track. I can be a bit annoying and it's the albums low point.
Never Run Out Of Love is a bit mushy but OK.
Didn't Know I Had It follows mushy with semi mushy but has enough rock to save it.
Ride The Pony is a nice change. I always think of Queen when I hear it. It's sounds a bit like a Freddie vocal.
Tell Me Everything is softer also but has always been a favourite.
Cry Baby is in the vein of Elvis and Robin plays it right up. Maybe too much CRYYYYYY at the end but the whole track it a nice change.

If you can track this one down, get it and love it. Don't listen to those people that compare every album since Heaven Tonight to theirs 70's stuff. The 70's have gone. Take each CT album on it's own merrits.

Peace Out.

Cheap Trick came back with a vengeance on this one. My Gang rocks, Woke UP is great, Cry Baby is classic. This is a great comeback for them after residing in the "Where are they now files" for several years. I was really worried that they would just become a greatest hits band but Cheap Trick continues to put out great music to this day.

It is such a shame that WOKE UP WITH A MONSTER seemed to fall by the roadside when it first came out. Of course I missed it when it first came out, but I found it a few days ago and can say that I am totally pleased with this album. CT is a band that knows what it is doing in the studio, and this album proves it. Now it might not have been a huge hit, but for those who havent heard it or just dismissed it, you are missing a musical gem. Robin Zander's vocals are great here, and the musicianship of Tom Peterson, Bun E. Carlos, and Rick Nielsen is tight and top-notch. These guys seem to keep getting better, but it is a shame that so much other junk is popular in music today and these guys dont get the recognizition they deseve. There are some great songs here that the general public is missing: MY GANG, WOKE UP WITH A MONSTER, DIDNT KNOW I HAD IT, GIRLFRIENDS, RIDE THE PONY. So if you can find this gem, I suggest you buy it. If you dont, you will be missing a great album

I don't like it when bands who have been around as long as Cheap Trick have, release a good album later in their career, and it gets overlooked! A lot of the early fans "grow up", and the young kids don't give the "old-timers" a chance. I never hated this album, but I'll admit it doesn't stand up against their early classic period. But, that does not make this a bad album! The song, "Didn't Know I Had It" , can make anyone relate to it. I'll take this over the nsyncbritneychristinabackstreetotown that MTV is ramming down our collective throat!!!