SONG OF THE DAY - It might be Columbus Day, by instead of honoring that, were going to celebrate that its ROCKTOBER 13th, which makes it 1977 and the debut release from my all-time favorite band, Cheap Trick, with todays Favorite Albums Through The Years pick. Cheap Trick is an American rock band from Rockford, Illinois, formed in 1973. As , The band currently consists of my favorite singer ever, Robin Zander on vocals and rhythm guitar, lead guitarist extraordinaire Rick Nielsen, the man who invented the 12 string bass Tom Petersson, and original steady rhythm keeper Bun E. Carlos drums. As of 2010, however, the drum spot has been filled by Daxx Nielsen (Ricks son). Their biggest hits include Surrender, I Want You to Want Me, Dream Police and The Flame. They have often been referred to in the Japanese press as the American Beatles. In their home state, the band ranks so highly that in October of 2007, the Illinois Senate passed a resolution designating April 1 as Cheap Trick Day. Their name was inspired by the bands attendance of a Slade concert, where Petersson commented that the band used every cheap trick in the book as part of their act. In 1961, Rick Nielsen began playing locally in Rockford, Illinois using an ever-increasing collection of rare and valuable guitars. He formed several local bands with names like The Boyz and The Grim Reapers. In 1967 Nielsen formed Fuse with Tom Petersson, who had played in yet another local band called The Bo Weevils. Fuse released a self-titled album for Epic Records in 1970, which was generally ignored. Frustrated by their lack of success, Fuse recruited the two remaining members of Todd Rundgrens old band Nazz in 1970 and ended up playing around the Midwest for 6–7 months under two monikers, Fuse or Nazz, depending on where they were gigging. Brad Carlson, later known as Bun E. Carlos, played in a rival Rockford band, the Pagans. With Bun E. Carlos joining on drums, Fuse moved to Philadelphia in 1971. They began calling themselves Sick Man of Europe in 1972–1973, and later Cheap Trick. Randy Xeno Hogan was the original lead singer for the group, but left the band shortly after its formation and was replaced by Robin Zander. With Zander now on vocals, the band recorded their first official demo in 1975 and played in warehouses, bowling alleys, and various other venues around the midwestern United States. The band was signed to Epic Records in early 1976 by A&R man Tom Werman, at the insistence of producer Jack Douglas who had seen the band perform in Wisconsin. CHEAP TRICK, the bands self titled debut, was released in February of 1977. The album was produced by Jack Douglas, who had achieved a similar sonic density with the blues-rock/hard rock band Aerosmith, and the album sounds quite different than subsequent Cheap Trick records. It, along with their following three albums, are considered by fans and critics to be Cheap Tricks best works. This one, however, is more known for capturing both their dark side and the fierceness of their early live performances more than any other studio release in their catalog. Most of the songs have a more raw sound akin to hard rock bands of the period, compared to the groups later more polished power pop style, and the song lyrics deal with more extreme subject matter than later albums. For instance, The Ballad of T.V. Violence is about serial killer Richard Speck, Daddy Should Have Stayed in High School is about a pedophile, while Oh Candy, despite its sweet sounding title, is about a photographer friend of the band, Marshall Mintz (a.k.a. m&m) who committed suicide. The band rarely rocked harder than they did on tracks like Hot Love and Hes A Whore (later covered by the band Big Black, whose singer and guitarist Steve Albini would later work with Trick as a producer), but the album also contained one of the groups most gentle and sweet ballads in Mandocello. While favored by critics, the album was not successful in terms of sales. Oh Candy, the albums lone single failed to chart. However, the band began to develop a fan base in Japan and ELO Kiddies was a hit single in Europe. Much like their namesake, the original vinyl record contained a bit of a Cheap Trick, itself. The album had Side A printed on one side of the label and Side 1 printed on the other, a humorous touch reflecting the bands conviction that they didnt have any B material, although the placement of the track listing on the jacket seemed to indicate Hot Love was the first track on the album. Indeed, the matrix numbers on the record show the Hot Love side was designated side A and the Elo Kiddies side as side B. When the album was released on compact disc in the mid-1980s, it followed the same sequence. However, when the album was reissued as a deluxe edition on CD in 1998, the bands preferred sequence was used, with Elo Kiddies being the first track. For todays song selection, it was tough making a choice, but Im going to rather uncharacteristically go with a song that is not the bands own. Speak Now Or Forever Hold Your Peace, may be a Terry Reid cover, but Cheap Tricks performance of it so owns it that it might as well be. This tune was also used to open the 1979 coming-of-age drama movie Over The Edge, which was the debut flick of a young Matt Dillon, and also featured several of the bands songs in its soundtrack. youtu.be/qMeA0Vzs9BA
Posted on: Mon, 13 Oct 2014 14:14:47 +0000
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