Random Record Revisited

In Color [1977] – Cheap Trick

   Today I was looking for a Cheap Tick song that was my earworm of the day. It’s never a bad day when Cheap Trick is an earworm. Cheap Trick might be THE ultimate Power Pop band and there’s a ton of songs that stick in the grey matter – I Can’t Take It, Stop This Game, Dream Police, Surrender, I Want You To Want Me, She’s Tight – and that’s without breaking a sweat! I mean really, literally a ton of great songs. And the Tricksters have been putting out solid rock for over 55 years. Honestly, not every album is a gem and some are downright “Meh!” – I’m looking at you 1986’s The Doctor. But most every one has at least a couple of songs that put smile on yer face.

   The song I though was much earlier in the catalog tuned out to be Anytime, the lead track from the 1997 self titled offering

live version on You Tube: https://youtu.be/r0MFcAeqG0A?si=vsziFTq4b9jo0VKV

   Anyway, after blasting through that a couple of times and a couple live outtakes, I scrolled down past Heaven Tonight to what I think is [was?] my least favorite of the original trio, In Color [sometimes also And In Black And White].

   Why was In Color not one of my favorite Cheap Trick records? I had this memory of this being Cheap Trick tamed. It seemed too something –  too clean or too polished. It always seemed like poor production. It’s definitely heavy in the mid range. But I think here the problem all along has been what’s between my ears. After listening to the power of those songs on the Budokan record for all these years, the studio versions DO seem tame!

   The best example is comparing the studio version of the song that would propel them to the stratosphere in 2 years: I Want You To Want Me. If you’ve listened to a classic rock station anytime, the Budokan version is burned into your brain. And well it should be. It’s just 3 minutes and 45 seconds of some of the most perfect power pop in the history of rock with backing vocals by 10,000 or so Japanese teens.

   The studio version is almost country-ish. It just kinda bumpkins along led by a piano and a simple plodding bass. Rick Nielsen’s fills are as country as country can be, really channeling his inner Albert Lee or James Burton. There’s some really sweet, Beatle-esque harmonies. Then a hokey honky-tonk piano solo. It’s really almost boring. There’s no POWER to the POP!

   Ain;t that a shame?

   But I can see now that is just one example of what I previously thought about the record as a whole. Had I been paying closer attention, I would have seen [or remembered] that the songs are absolute killers, as evidenced by the inclusion of 6 of the songs on the original At Budokan album. [There are 9 In Color tracks on The Complete Concert’s 19 song set.]

   For example, the next track on the album, You’re All Talk shows off the band’s strengths. The guitars are back! Tom Petersson is layin’ down some inventive fuzz driven bass, Bun E. drives it with a heavy right foot and Robin Zander is… well, Robin Zander is one of a kind. It’s there on Big Eyes and Downed and Oh Caroline and Come On, Come On and So Good To See You. As a matter of fact, I Want You To Want Me is the only track on here that doesn’t fit the standard Cheap Trick mold!

   My apologies Cheap Trick. I have been slagging off an album that didn’t deserve a slagging for many years.