Cheap Trick: In Color

Cheap Trick: In Color

Epic Records

1977

Format I Own it on: Vinyl and Compact Disc

Track Listing: 1. Hello There  2. Big Eyes  3. Downed  4. I Want You to Want Me  5.You're All Talk  6. Oh Caroline  7. Clock Strikes Ten  8. Southern Girls  9. Come On, Come On  10. So Good to See You

CD Bonus Tracks: 11.Oh Boy" (Instrumental version)  12. Southern Girls" (Demo)  13. Come On, Come On (Demo)  14. You're All Talk  (Live)   15. Goodnight (Live)



...and in Black and White!

A lot of times I go back and forth on whether I like their first album or "In Color" better, but I think if it really came down to crunch time and the gun was to my head, I'm going to have to go with "In Color." Sure it doesn't rock as hard as the debut and the twisted lyrics are almost all gone, but this album is full of the greatest power-pop songs ever written...

 
"Southern Girls" is seriously one of the best the best songs I've ever heard...Pharmaceutical grade hooks! Every single molecule of the song is catchy without being ingratiating...The vocal line is  powerful, yet understated, the guitar lines are sparse yet precise, the drum beat is extremely simple...They're playing it cool so they can casually knock you out...They know they're packing one killer chorus...This song is stupendous...If you've never heard it check out the video directly below and we'll reconvene later...

In my mind it's a pop song so immaculately written that most band's would be lucky to have one of these in their career, yet they seems to toss these kind of gems off pretty casually during this era... Check out "Come On Come On"...Now that is a sky-scraping British-Invasion style chorus! It seems so simple that it was inevitable that someone would write it, but nobody had...

I also have to place "Downed" high on my list of favorite Cheap Trick songs. The moment where the chiming guitar intro gives way to the powerful rocking verses is the coolest moment on the album for me...It rocks so damn much...and it's catchy as hell to boot!

 Oh yea...This album also marks the first official appearance of their ubiquitous hit "I Want You to Want Me." There's a demo version on the CD reissue of the first album, but this would be the version the public probably heard first. A lot of people seem to really hate the soft-rock/vaudeville version contained here, and for the longest time I was one of them, but I it's really kind of grown on me. It's so nice, if a little slick and out of place.

In the past I would always recommend "Heaven Tonight" to people as the best place to get into Cheap Trick.  It's  true that "Heaven Tonight" is probably a better-rounded collection that shows the band's various sides better, but I think I'm going to revise my opinion and say this is the quintessential Cheap Trick album. I'm so happy I'm posting this on Friday. To me "In Color" is the very definition of a balls-out, non-stop fun Friday night record! So let's pull a few golden boys out of the fridge...

 ...and crank up "Downed" loud to remind your neighbors why they hate you so much...Cheers!...