Cheap Trick
	Produced by Cheap Trick and Ian Taylor
	Released on April 29, 1997
	US CHART POSITION #99
	Find it at GEMM
RA002-2 cover [high resolution scan]

W hat separates me from (if not the lower animals at least) smartalecky insects like crickets and dragonflies is learned behavior. For example, I’ve learned that every time Cheap Trick releases a new record, some critic will call it their best in years (even when it’s their only release in years). But Cheap Trick will never release another record like their first three. They can release songs that sound like them, or have the energy of them, but they’ll never be them because that “beingness” ended in 1979. Critics do artists a great injustice (I think) by holding new works to the hot irons of youth. Cheap Trick (the first album) was a great record, thank you very much. Cheap Trick (twenty years after) isn’t, thanks anyway. There’s an early stretch where the minor key melodies and harmonies nearly win you over (“Hard To Tell,” “Carnival Game,” “You Let A Lotta People Down”), but the band can’t sustain it. Maybe it’s their best record since One On One, which Ian Taylor worked on too. Both records were overdone, overproduced, here with everyone but Bun E. Carlos playing guitar, written by committee and played by the book. With all the droning guitars and harmonies, Cheap Trick (the album the second) sounds like a metal Byrds more than The Beatles (and not just because of the “Eight Miles Low” reference). It is a better record than Monster, minus the frankenberried treasures (“You’re All I Wanna Do”), enough to stave off the oldies circuit for another year.

RA002-2 gatefold sleeve	RA002-2 back sleeve

TRACK LISTING

1. ANYTIME    4:36
2. HARD TO TELL    4:07
3. CARNIVAL GAME    (Robin Zander/Tom Petersson/Rick Nielsen/Robert Reynolds/Jerry Dale)    3:50
4. SHELTER    (Rick Nielsen/Jamie/Robin Zander/Tom Petersson)    4:13
5. YOU LET A LOTTA PEOPLE DOWN    4:29
6. BABY NO MORE    2:54
7. YEAH YEAH    3:12
8. SAY GOODBYE    3:34
9. WRONG ALL ALONG    2:18
10. EIGHT MILES LOW    3:28
11. IT ALL COMES BACK TO YOU    (Robin Zander/Tom Petersson/Rick Nielsen/Robert Reynolds/Jerry Dale)    3:41
    
    Bonus CD single
    
1. BABY TALK
2. BRONTOSAURUS
   
   All songs written by Rick Nielsen/Robin Zander/Tom Petersson unless noted

CREDITS

BUN E. CARLOS -- Ludwig drums, Zildjian cymbals, tambourine
RICK NIELSEN -- Fender Telecaster guitar, Gibson Les Paul guitar, Gibson Everly Brothers acoustic guitar, Fender Stratocaster guitar, F.N. guitar, Hamer electric guitar, Hamer Thunderbolt guitar, Gibson J-45 acoustic guitar, e-bow, piano, electric saw, vocals, spoken word
TOM PETERSSON -- Chandler 12-string bass, Fender Telecaster bass, Epiphone viola bass, Fender Precision bass, Taylor acoustic bass, Chandler baritone guitar, Mosrite guitar, Fender Telecaster guitar, Gibson J-45 acoustic guitar, tamboura, e-bow, vocals
ROBIN ZANDER -- vocals, Fender Telecaster guitar, Mosrite guitar, Martin acoustic guitar, Chandler baritone guitar, Rickenbacker 12-string guitar, Fernandes 12-string guitar, Hoyer slide guitar, Hamer 12-string guitar, Gibson J-45 acoustic guitar, Martin Tiple, piano
Mike Beert -- cello (4)
Richie Cannata -- piano (11)
Ian Taylor -- engineer, mixing
Pumpkinhead -- art direction
Mike Graham -- cover photography
Geoffrey De Boismenu -- photography

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