The Cheap Trick CD Review

The Essential Cheap Trick (2004)

 
Disc One 
  1.ELO Kiddies
  2.Hot Love
  3.He's A Whore
  4.Mandocello (Live)
  5.Clock Strikes Ten
  6.Southern Girls
  7.Downed
  8.Hello There  
  9.Surrender
 10.California Man
 11.High Roller
 12.Auf Weidersehen
 13.I Want You To Want Me (Live)
 14.Ain't That A Shame
 15.Takin' Me Back
 16.Dream Police
 17.Voices
 18.Gonna Raise Hell (Live)

Disc 2
 19.Way Of The World
 20.Stop This Game
 21.World's Greatest Lover
 22.Everything Works If You Let It
 23.She's Tight
 24.If You Want My Love
 25.I Can't Take It
 26.Tonight It's You
 27.This Time Around
 28.The Flame
 29.Had To Make You Mine
 30.I Can't Understand It
 31.Can't Stop Fallin' Into Love
 32.Walk Away
 33.Woke Up With A Monster
 34.Hard To Tell (Live)
 35.Say Goodbye
 36.Scent Of A Woman

At long last, a compilation worthy of the name. The Essential Cheap Trick is less a greatest hits parade than a forensic dive into one of America’s most intriguing and overlooked rock catalogs. And, unlike previous label-driven packages padded with throwaways and previously unreleased filler, this double-disc set is as lean and focused as the band themselves were at their best.

Disc one draws the blood — chronicling the astonishing first three years of Cheap Trick’s studio life, from Midwestern cult heroes to trans-Pacific superstars. You get the fireworks: Surrender, I Want You to Want Me (the Budokan live take, of course — anything else would be sacrilege), Southern Girls, and the crystalline harmonics of Voices. And nestled in between are the tracks that built the faithful: Mandocello, Oh Caroline, and Downed, each presented in forms that underline their importance in the Cheap Trick canon. There’s even a live Mandocello featuring Billy Corgan, which brings the track forward in time without losing its original heart.

The second disc? A 26-year tightrope walk through the band’s post-peak output, with more gems than you'd expect. Though commercial success grew sporadic, the quality rarely dipped beneath a certain bar. The arena bombast of Gonna Raise Hell (here in a blistering live cut) still floors. Tonight It’s You and If You Want My Love offer melodic sheen and heartfelt sincerity. And there’s just enough grit in the sequencing to remind you that Cheap Trick never stopped being a live band at heart — dangerous, occasionally erratic, but never dull.

Of course, sins of omission still sting. Don’t Be Cruel is conspicuous by its absence — and whether it’s a rights issue or an editorial decision, it’s hard to justify excluding one of their biggest crossover hits. Still, if the sin is mortal, the forgiveness is easy: this is the compilation to own if you only own one.

Go back to the main page
Go To Next Review