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Rating: The American quartet Cheap Trick has always played its own unique formula of heavy yet light rock, a mix all their own of Beatles-esque pop and punk fury and rock'n'roll. This is their third album release of their career and it's one of the best, the year is 1978.
The cover recycles the idea from the excellent previous album "In Color...and In Black & White", featuring on the cover the two handsome ones, that is, the blond guitarist and singer Robin Zander and the heavily styled bassist Tom Petersson. In contrast, the two nerds are on the back cover, meaning the lanky leader and guitarist Rick Nielsen and the chubby drummer Bun.E.Carlos.
The strength of this lineup lies primarily in Nielsen's compositional vein, an obsessive collector of guitars and a creator of textbook harmonic and melodic progressions. The rest is done by the strong personality of all four musicians, each of whom, pretty or not, puts in a good amount of uniqueness, whether artistic, performative, or technical.
Carlos looks like a San Diego tobacconist, but he has a highly effective way of playing, strong and simple and confident, on his instrument. He forms a vigorous, yet melodic rhythm section with his partner Petersson, a pioneer of the eight- and also twelve-string bass guitar.
Rick Nielsen combines his rational, educated, and attentive interspersions of rock'n'roll stereotypes borrowed from Chuck Berry, Jimmy Page, Pete Townshend, and a thousand other role models he carefully studied, with unique extroversions and extravagances on stage: he flails, hops about, makes faces, changes guitars with every song, entertains and amuses, naturally without missing a note. He is certainly not the best guitarist in the world; for example, he couldn't care less about solos even though he knows how to play them, but he is certainly among the most active performers in the world.
"Surrender", placed at the opening, is a classic of the repertoire. It's practically a punk song, except Zander sings in tune, there are keyboard embellishments here and there, and above all, it's missing a bit more speed. But the tune remains one of extreme simplicity and accessibility.
The beautiful and powerful voice of the blond frontman, a mix between Lennon and McCartney's, drawing the timbre from the former and a good range towards the high notes from the latter, dominates the following, pulsating "On Top Of The World", with its hammered piano that even brings it closer to Supertramp.
"California Man" and "On The Radio" are instead very melodic rock'n'rolls, the kind that the poor John Lennon himself would have liked at the time. Nielsen prints a very competent '60s solo in the former, and a radio DJ tirade in the latter, and the job is done.
"High Roller" and "Auf Wiedersehen" are classic Cheap Trick hard pop songs, without much inspiration except for Nielsen's excellent guitar sounds, whichever instrument chosen from the dozens at his disposal. He may play the clown on stage, but the tonal attention to every note he plays hints at what a focused and studious musician he is.
"Takin' Me Back" recycles a typical guitarist trick with fourth chords, always effective, but then the song gets lost amidst too many keyboard flourishes (handled by guest Jai Winding), even though Zander works hard with falsetto choruses of unmistakable Beatlesque roots.
The album's title track is also its qualitative peak (unless one hates baroque and pompous style): it proceeds stately and dramatic, somewhat akin to Queen, with Robin Zander maximizing his expressiveness, as well as, if not more than, a Freddie Mercury, changing his singing style several times, especially showing off a fantastic low falsetto in the chorus.
"Stiff Competition" starts off like Led Zeppelin, attacked by the chameleon Zander with his most harsh and powerful tone, then it diversifies into more open passages, plunging into Who-style hard rock, complete with tonsil-tearing Daltrey-like screams... in short, a (derivative) hodgepodge full of energy.
The ending is splendid: "How Are You" is a two-four maneuvered by hammered piano, which grips in the verses, resolves momentarily in the chorus but then quickly returns to pump healthy tension and exquisite musicality. Nielsen's guitar counterpoints are grand, real feline strokes. The usual Townshend-style riffing concludes the song and album... or actually, no, the disc in my possession still has a brief live insert, a minute or so extracted from a piece called "Oh Claire", not even credited in the booklet.
It's a brief moment, but enough to sense how much more effective Cheap Trick's sound and energy are in their concerts: no keyboards in the way (the space left to guest Winding on this record is overmuch) and an expansive, gigantic, satisfying sound, with the singer's big voice towering without problems and echoing off the walls of the hall. No wonder this band's most famous and best-selling records are indeed the live ones... A great live band, intelligent and captivating with its hyper-amplified tunes, good for the teenagers of yore, and still good today as rock enthusiasts can savor, then as now, its clear merits.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Surrender (04:14)
Mother told me, yes, she told me
That I'd meet girls like you.
She also told me, "Stay away,
You'll never know what you'll catch."
Just the other day I heard
Of a soldier's falling off.
Some Indonesian junk
That's going round.
(Chorus)
Your Mommy's all right,
Your Daddy's all right,
They just seem a little weird.
Surrender,
Surrender,
But don't give yourself away,
Hey, heeeeeey.
Father says, "Your mother's right,
She's really up on things.
Before we married, Mommy served
In the WACS in the Philippines."
Now, I had heard the WACS recruited
Old maids for the war.
But mommy isn't one of those,
I've known her all these years.
(Chorus)
Your Mommy's all right,
Your Daddy's all right,
They just seem a little weird.
Surrender,
Surrender,
But don't give yourself away,
Hey, heeeeeey.
Whatever happened to all this season's
Losers of the year?
Every time I got to thinking,
Here'd they disappear?
But when I woke up, Mom and Dad
Are rolling on the couch.
Rolling numbers, rock and rollin',
Got my KISS records out.
(Chorus)
Your Mommy's all right,
Your Daddy's all right,
They just seem a little weird.
Surrender,
Surrender,
But don't give yourself away,
Hey, heeeeeey.
Away...
Away...
Surrender,
Surrender,
But don't give yourself away
Surrender,
Surrender,
But don't give yourself away
(repeat to fade)
03 California Man (03:44)
Goin' to a party,
meet me on after school.
Well we're goin to a place
where the jive is really cool.
And if the band stops a playin'
There's a jukebox down the hall.
And with your blue dress on, your folks all gone.
You're sure to give the guys a ball.
CHORUS:
Get that real guitar boy shakin',
I'm a California man,
Dance right on till the floors are breakin'
I'm a California man.
Well I rocked my mamma so bad
This a woman's she's a making me mad.
Well I don't care if her legs start aching,
I'm a California man.
(from 2nd chorus on repeat last line 2x)
I'm a California man.
Oh my legs start to shiver
When I hear you call my name.
Well, my knees keep a knockin,
And my bow tie's bustin' out
When my feet start to fly,
An' my jeans slung way down low.
You know I'm back on my heels and it's making me feel
Like the king of rock n' roll
Chorus
Solo
Repeat 1st Verse
Chorus
04 High Roller (03:58)
Jump in my love car
Don't have to go very far
Just far enough to show you a thing or two
I can really swing
The best of everything
And i want to have a thing with you
High roller
What i buy is mine
And i always get the things that i choose
My, my, my, such a high roller
I know he's gone away and left you
I'll take real good care of you
I'm in the mood for love
You're all i'm thinking of
I'll make you feel alright when we're alone
I can really swing
The best of everything
And i want to have a thing with you
High roller
What i buy is mine
And i always get the things that i choose
My, my, my, such a high roller, is that you?
I knew you'd be here tonight
And i'll make it alright
I'll take real good care of you
I'll tuck you in tonight
And i'll make it alright
I know he's gone away and left you
I'll take real good care of you
05 Auf Wiedersehen (03:40)
Au revoir, auf wiedersehen
You won't see another morning
You won't see another evening
Good night
Buenas noches oh señor!
Señorita see ya later
Buenas noches bye-bye
There are many here among us
Who feel that life is a joke
And for you we sing this final song
For you there is no hope
Sayonara oh suicide hari kari
Kamikaze you won't
See another evening
Goodbye
Bye-bye so long, farewell
See you later....Suicide
Suicide
Suicide
Suicide
07 On the Radio (04:30)
On the radio
I love the music
On the radio
It's what they're playing
When the radio's on and you
And me get crazy
Hey, mister on the radio
Please play my favorite song
The one where she didn't go away
Hey, mister on the radio
You're really my best friend
Please play my favorite song for me
Hey. mister on the radio
You're with me every day
And late at night i turn you on
On the radio
I love the music
On the radio
It's what they're playing
When the radio's on and you
And me get crazy
All of the rock and roll dj's
Got their fingers on the world
'cause they play the songs
That make you and me feel so good
Turn up your radios
And hear the music
On the radio
This song is playin'
When the radio's on
And you and me get crazy
Radio dj monologue:
One minute the back side of midnight
it's me captain gonzo ready to roll hot
wax anything you want to hear
All night its a balmy 73 degrees
in fog city, 71 in the valley 80 in santa cruz (?), but remember if you snooze you lose
I'm gonna hang with you,
i'll crank it on...
so let me know what you want to hear
phone lines are open now
You say it you know
i'm gonna play it and be ready
to win when i tell you to call in and whatever you do
Remember the phrase that pays
puts your brain on vacation
and let your toes take over
keep your pedal to the metal
I'll be back in sixty seconds,
in the meantime go with it,
go for it, go nuts, go completely wild.....
09 Stiff Competition (03:39)
Stiff competition
If I go up you take me higher
Stiff competition
And when I'm down you take me higher
There's stiff competition all over the world
I screw you, you screw me, they screw us
Here we go again
Oh, but we have so much fun
When we're together
When we're together
When we're together, now
I looked hard in your eyes
I was in love at first sight
It took me minutes
You're still waiting
Waiting for your turn
You're turn it won't be long
Stiff competition
I work hard every day of my life
Stiff competition
Get it up you take me higher
Stiff competition
All over the world
The more I get, the more I like it
The bigger they are, the harder they fall, again
Oh, but we have so much fun
When we're together
When we're together
When we're together, now
I looked hard in your eyes
I was in love at first sight
It took me minutes
You're still waiting
Waiting for your turn
You're turn it won't be long
Stiff competition
Stiff competition
Stiff competition
Stiff competition
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