ALBUM OF THE WEEK # 117 CHEAP TRICK - STANDING ON THE EDGE (1985)

Artist: Cheap Trick

Genre: Rock/Power Pop

Country Of Origin: United States

Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame Member: No

Album: Standing On The Edge

Released: October 1985

Producer: Jack Douglas

Singles: Tonight It's You/Little Sister/How About You

Song Of The Week: Standing On The Edge

RIAA Certification: Bismium

Album Cover: 9/10

This week we cover another of my favorite albums. From 1985, it's Cheap Trick's Standing On The Edge. This is my favorite Cheap Trick album. It scorched the charts, reaching all the way up to the 35th spot on the Billboard Hot 100. Tonight It's You broke the Top 50, but not the Top 40. Basically, I think it sold about 125 copies, with at least two of those being purchased by me.

Two things stand out about this album to me. First, it's good as hell. There are no bad tracks and Little Sister and Standing On The Edge are two of the band's best songs. I also totally dig the ballad Love Comes. The vocal performance on that track by Robin Zander is incredible.

The second thing that stands out is how I discovered the album. The only previous CT material that I personally owned was Live At Budokan. But I did like the band. So I'm in a hotel room in St. Simons Island, Ga at some point in 1985 (on a job assignment at the time) and instead of being out raising hell and gettin' drunk, I was in the room watching freakin' MTV. The video for Tonight It's You comes on the TV. I wasn't really paying attention, but the song grabbed me. I had no idea who it was, so I actually watched the rest of the video, figuring out along the way that it was Cheap Trick. I went out the first chance I got and picked up the album (I think it was the CD). I've loved it since then and nothing has been able to unseat it at the top of the RJhog throne of CT albums.

You can pick it up relatively easy now, but Wikipedia says the original CD pressing is somewhat of a collectors item because it was out of print for a long time. So keep your eyes open.

Next Week: A totally different and unexpected direction for me.

1. Little Sister

2. Tonight It's You

3. She's Got Motion

4. Love Comes

5. How About You

6. Standing On The Edge

7. This Time Around

8. Rock All Night

9. Cover Girl

10. Wild Wild Women