ALBUM OF THE WEEK #163 CHEAP TRICK - CHEAP TRICK (1997)

[RJhog (Admin)]

Disclaimer: I forgot Jon had already posted this in the Lost/Forgotten Album Of The Week.  Now I'm too tired and lazy to post a different album, so this one's just gonna be posted twice.  Besides, it's a great album so you need to listen to it anyway.

Artist: Cheap Trick

Genre: Rock

Country Of Origin: United States

Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame Member: No

Album: Cheap Trick

Released: April 29, 1997

Producer: Cheap Trick/Ian Taylor

Best Single: Say Goodbye

Best Album Cut: You Let A Lotta People Down

Additional Hidden Gems: Everything on this album is a hidden gem

Filler: Nada

Lyric Of The Week: "Well, you rode upon a wicked fence/Could've fallen either way/But you've chosen other losers/In your sick, sick game" - You Let A Lotta People Down

I'm continuing the fun this week.  Album Of The Week again comes from one of my favorite bands, and once again it's a 90's album.  It's Cheap Trick's second self- titled album, released in 1997.  It's quite unsung and it's quite terrific.

• This album is generally referred to as Cheap Trick 97.
• It stormed up the U.S. charts, not even thinking about slowing down until it's peak position of #99.
• It was even better in Japan, reaching a cool #35.
• Three singles were release, all marked below with an asterisk.
• The Foo Fighters must cover Anytime.  Dave Grohl, are you listening?  
• How do you like that AC/DC riff in Hard To Tell?  Or how 'bout the tip of the hat to The Who between the end of the vocals and the end of the song?
• HTF was Say Goodbye not a huge hit?  I just don't understand why people are so stupid.
• This has become my second or third favorite CT album.  Standing On The Edge is my favorite, but this is neck and neck with In Color for the number 2 slot.

Track List (Singles Marked w/Asterisk)

1. Anytime

2. Hard To Tell

3. Carnival Game *

4. Shelter

5. You Let A Lotta People Down

6. Baby No More * 

7. Yeah Yeah

8. Say Goodbye *

9. Wrong All Along

10. Eight Miles Low

11. It All Comes Back To You

Do you want two bonus tracks?  Here you go.  The Japanese and digital releases have Baby Talk and Brontosaurus (a Roy Wood composition originally recorded by The Move). These two songs were produced by Steve Albini and were on a bonus disc on some of the regular copies of the album (according to Wikipedia).  

12. Baby Talk (Bonus Track)

13. Brontosaurus (Bonus Track)

 

[Scott]

Looking forward to listening to this again.  Here's my thoughts from the first go round...

Love the opener, cool beat and vocally very strong.  Very strong Beatles feel to track 2, the chorus is catchy!  Shelter and You Let A Lotta People Down are the fillers on this disc.  Baby No More is OK but it sounds like it would grow on you after a few listens, at least it brings the disc back into a cool groove.  The rest of the tracks are no let down, this is a strong album with Anytime and Yeah Yeah being my favorites after one listen!   This is a wish list item and will require additional listening time to see if it sticks!

 

Lets see how we fare this time!

[Scott]

I had always been a Cheap Trick admirer.  My vinyl collection consisted of a 45 of “I Want You To Want Me”, Heaven Tonight, Dream Police, the Found All The Parts EP, and Lap of Luxury.  The problem was that I only listened to Dream Police, and I still love that album.

 

I remember the buzz around “Tonight Its You” when it came out, and what a great tune that is!  (Yes RJ, I will check out Standing On The Edge again very soon).  So, when I transitioned from LP to CD a Greatest Hits package was sufficient for my collection, until now.  Because of CRB, I was reintroduced to their first 4 releases again, and sound myself wondering why I didn’t get it earlier!  But better late than never!  So

 

 

This 97 ST release is really very cool.  Its kicks off very strong, but then there’s a bit of a lull when tracks 4, 5 and 6 come on but they are not quite filler and the album kicks back into gear with Yeah Yeah.  I am still struck by the Beatles-eque feel of this, it’s very pronounced in a cool way!  This is going in my Wish List. 

 

As far as the 2 bonus tracks, I really like Baby Talk, nice rocking feel to this one.  But because this album is so Beatles like I can see why this one didn’t make the original cut.  And Brontosaurus, I didn’t think was that interesting, it has some moment when Nelson plays off Zanders vocals for example, but the track is weird and not as good as Baby Talk, but in a weird way fits better on the album that the latter…

 

Cool stuff!!!

[Jon]

I completely forgot about those two extra tracks. I thought I had them and looking thru my stuff, finally find them. I believe they came out on some versions of the '97 CD, but were in a little slipcase attached to the CD. Could be wrong about that, but listening to them, I like 'em both.

As for the main CD, do I have to say again how much I like this album? How it didn't leave my car's cassette deck for about a year? Do I????

Great album, one of my absolute favorites from Cheap Trick.

[Niels (Mod)]

I was dissapionted, when I first listened to this album, because I really thought, that it was a return to form, but it wasn't. It was going to be the last "new" CT-album I ever bought ( The latest album they've made, I got when I bought an edition of CLASSIC ROCK MAGAZINE, and it was actually not a bad album). The Bonus-tracks: Baby Talk is not bad, but I don't really need to hear it more than once. It's kind of cool, that they use the riff from California Man in Brontosaurus, but that riff is by far the best thing in this bonus track, and that makes it very clear, that CT is NOT what they used to be, even though they haven't even written that riff themselves.