Most Helpful Customer Reviews
|
|
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Wake Up To This Monster!, February 4, 2003
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.
|
|
|
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Hit or Miss with Cheap Trick, March 1, 2002
A Kid's Review
Before I even get to the music, let me state that the cover art on this album killed it before anyone but die hard Cheap Trick fans had much of a chance to listen to it. A clown and an overweight fritzy haired chick; what was Warner Brothers thinking ...?Now, the music on this album is hit or miss. The best tunes from the disc, My Gang, You're All I Wanna Do, Girlfriends, and Tell Me Everything, sound like they could have come off of "One On One" or "Next Position Please"; which is strange because Tom Petersson was not with the band for those albums. I suspect the production by Ted Templeman had some influence on the sound that the band was trying to create. The song "Woke Up With A Monster" is too long and too slow. It is too bad that this was the song Warner Brothers released to showcase the album, as it was a poor choice. There are other songs that are filler too, but you can bypass them for the good stuff. So, do you pick this disc up? Absolutely! It is a cutout now, and it shouldn't cost more than a few bucks. It is easy enough to burn (for your own use) the best songs from this disc and Cheap Trick's "Busted" to get a pretty good listen. Warner Brothers blew it, but you do not have to.
|
|
|
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
...this Monster ROCKS*, April 11, 2003
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.
|
|
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews
|
~ Cheap Trick
~ Cheap Trick
~ Cheap Trick
~ Cheap Trick
~ Bachman Turner Overdrive
, recommendations and new releases on SoundUnwound 
