Cheap Trick: All Shook Up

Cheap Trick: All Shook Up

1980

Epic Records

Format I Own it on: Vinyl and Compact Disc

Track Listing: 1. Stop This Game  2. Just Got Back  3. Baby Loves to Rock  4. Can't Stop It But I'm Gonna Try  5. World's Greatest Lover  6. High Priest of Rhythmic Noise  7. Love Comes A-Tumblin' Down  8. I Love You Honey But I Hate Your Friends  9. Go For the Throat (Use Your Own Imagination)  10. Who D'King

CD Bonus Tracks: 11. Everything Works If You Let It  12. Day Tripper  13. Can't Hold On (live)  14. Such a Good Girl  15. Take Me I'm Yours



For some reason I love the album art...I'm endlessly fascinated by the cool, blue feel and paranoid/psychedelic vibe...If it's within reach I often find myself staring at it all day...

It's a good thing I enjoy the cover so much, cos I have a hard time getting into the record itself, which finds Cheap Trick teaming up with Legendary Beatles producer George Martin...

Given the band's always blatant Beatles worship, this partnership sounds like it should have been a perfect fit, but for some unknown reason it isn't...I mean, the music itself sounds incredible; it's loud, striking, bright, and has a lot of depth, but these songs aren't quite up to the high standard of their previous albums...

Problems are evident as soon as the album starts...Let's face it, as hard as it tries to be,  "Stop This Game" isn't a knockout song...George doesn't sound like he knows what to do with it, so they just layer on the bombast until it sounds like some sort of hard-rock showtune... It's not a bad song though...I really like Robin's vocal delivery on the "All I wanna do is stop this game, It's gonna really end..."

 Now that I re-listen to this, I find that moment somewhat emblematic of the entire record...Every song has some sort of knock-out aspect to it, but no song is truly 100% great...



For example,  when "Baby Loves to Rock" comes on, it takes all my strength not to skip it...The verses sounds like one of those second tier early Beatles tracks where Paul McCartney attempts to summon the spirit of Little Richard, but can't quite do it...But then suddenly the chorus comes along and I'm temporarily transported to pop heaven...

On the opposite end of the spectrum, I love the sound of "World's Greatest Lover," which does nothing less than capture the magic sound of John Lennon in his prime (and mixes in a riff that's somewhere between "Big Balls" and "Boris the Spider"), but the song itself doesn't grab me at all...It sounds nice, but I don't exactly walk around with "World's Greatest Lover" stuck in my head...

Probably my favorite song is  "Go For the Throat (Use Your Own Imagination)" which crosses the opening guitar riff of the Beatles' "Fixing a Hole" with the vocal melody" You Never Give Me Your Money." Is it derivative? Well, yea, but I don't care about that...They really sell the idea and that's all that matters...

I also always enjoy " Just Got Back," it's short length makes it gives it an a half-written quality, but it doesn't matter when every second of it is so enjoyable...

 

It's certainly an ambitious album...They try all kinds of new things, so if it's not full of their usual ace melodies, at least there's never a dull moment, and I can respect that...So if you're a Cheap Trick fan check it out for sure, I just wouldn't start here or anything...

The CD version of "All Shook Up" is a pretty sweet deal though, cos it comes with the entire "Found All the Parts" EP...It also has a song from the soundtrack to some movie called "Roadie' starring Meatloaf and Debbie Harry.,.Huh?

So let's check out "Just Got Back" by Cheap Trick...Enjoy...