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 Chgeap Trick LOL Oct 26, 2009
Although this was the beginning of a bad spell of records for the Tricksters, you will get enjoyment from half the album.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
 Good 80's music Oct 12, 2009
I thougt this album was awesome. If you are looking for "nostalgia" rock' This is it. Thie cover of Don't Be Cruel was wonderful. Please don't waste your time thinking, Buy this album
0 of 2 found the following review helpful:
 Hanging on by a thread Jan 04, 2009
Not much to add to the reviews posted previously, especially 20 years after the fact. Oh well, here goes. One reason for writing this is that I have been a fan of Cheap Trick since the days of ...oh yeah...original release of "In Color....and Black and White". Here is my assesment from the outside looking in:
One- Epic Records signs a band in 1976 knowing that they are great (actually the corporate brain trust had no idea....you know.....just like the corporate music industry today). Assign them to a producer who was a hit maker for Aerosmith and had worked with Alice Cooper...etc. First album is a disappointment in sales. By the way, critics love it (not that they are any bastion of reliability, but they got it right this time).
Enter Tom Werman: Cheap Trick gets a producer who understands the talent, but not the dynamic precisely on "In Color". It was too pop oriented for a band that wanted to ROCK" Werman was smart enough to lend his studio cred to rock sensibilites.
Look out.....Here comes Heaven.
Yep, the next three Cheap Trick albums are among the triumvirat of pop/rock/blues releases...............EVER!
How do you follow this up?
Epic Records response was to keep the band a caricature of themselves. "All Mixed Up" with George Martin....pretty good rockin, but uninspired. "Next Position Please" with Todd Rundgren. Are you kidding. This is match made in heaven. Oh yeah, Heaven has already been created. Pretty close to hell, except for the Rundgren penned "Heaven's Calling" ...how fitting.
One foot in the grave.
Cheap Trick has been given second wind. "Standing on the Edge" I don't care what some fans and critics say. This is the the heavyweight entering the ring to reclaim their prize. My opinion; best Cheap Trick album of the decade.
Enter "Lap of Luxury". "Standing on the Edge" had given the band one last bridge to the next generation ( I have not forgotten, but omitted the painful "One on One" with one of my favorite producers Roy Thomas Baker....please email me if you have any questions). "Lap..." might have well been entitled "Lap Dance". This is a dreadful affair which shows what happens to a GREAT band when the corporate entities start calling the shots. This is an album that, given their penchant to their fan base, they only perform "The Flame". Given the fact that I am a fan from way back, This song still makes me wince.
Afer all of this: Two decent songs- Let Go and Don't be Cruel. One Cheap Trick song- All Mixed Up, the last song. Go Figure, definetly saving the best for last.
Hope this review is helpful.
2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
Cheap Trick - Bring In Outside Songwriters For A Commercial Success, But Average Creatively Sep 15, 2008
From a commercial standpoint the 80's were not kind to Cheap Trick. At the beginning of the decade they were a big arena act with platinum selling albums, but over the first 8 years of the decade the band's fortunes would take a turn for the worse. First bassist Tom Peterson left the band after the "All Shook Up" album in 1980. The band added a new bassist and soldiered on, but each successive album sold less than the one prior. By the time "The Doctor" was released in 1986 sales had declined and quality had fallen way off. "Lap Of Luxury" would find Tom Peterson back in the fold and the band's original lineup back in tact. Like Aerosmith, Heart, and other 70's era bands would do a few years later, Cheap Trick brought in outside songwriters to bolster up the creative department. How well this worked depends on your perspective. On the one hand the band had a huge hit with "The Flame" and another top 40 showing with a cover of the old Elvis chestnut "Don't Be Cruel". The album went platinum and put Cheap Trick back up to big time status on the touring circuit. On the other hand I find much of the material here to be rather bland and a few steps below what I know Cheap Trick is capable of. I do like "Never Had A Lot To Loose" which probably could have fit on any early Cheap Trick work, and "Ghost Town" is a nice balled even though it was co-written by schmaltz queen Dianne Warren. The rest of the album is overproduced, very 80's sounding and not nearly as in your face as much of the band's earlier work. I have to hand it to the guys for getting back on the sales charts in a big way, but this is far from the band's best work.
1 of 2 found the following review helpful:
 NOT THERE BEST, BUT WORTHY Jul 17, 2008
I ENJOYED THIS ALBUM ALOT. FOR THOSE PEOPLE WHO GAVE THIS RECORD A BAD WRITE UP,YOU ARE MISTAKEN. SONGS LIKE [THE FLAME]#1 and THE ELVIS COVER [DON'T BE CRUEL]#4 WE'RE ALL OVER THE RADIO WAVES. THE BEST SONG BY FAR IS [GHOST TOWN]#33 WHICH SHOULD'VE BEEN A BIG HIT. THE FINAL RELEASE WAS [NEVER HAD ALOT TO LOSE]WHICH DIDN'T GET MUCH AIRPLAY, BUT A LIKEABLE TUNE. LET ME CLOSE BY SAYING LAP OF LUXURY IS WELL WORTH A LISTEN AND CHEAP TRICK IS ONE OF THE GREATEST ROCK BANDS EVER!
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