One On One
	Produced by Roy Thomas Baker
	Released on 1982
	US CHART POSITION #39 . . . GOLD RECORD (8/11/92)
	Find it at GEMM
FE 38021 cover [high resolution photo]

T his one if best left for fans, and I’ll explain what I mean. Neophytes might think the Tricktionary is all roses, the sweet scents of “Surrender,” “I Want You To Want Me” and “Voices” by other names. Anyone who made it past Dream Police (i.e., fans) knows that some Cheap Trick albums really stink. On first listen, I thought One On One was ripe for the garbage... until I caught a whiff of Lap of Luxury and The Doctor. Suddenly, One On One seemed pretty damn good and not just because of “If You Want My Love” and “She’s Tight.” There are some great rockers on here like “Lookin’ Out For Number One” and “Time Is Runnin’” that invite comparison to Cheap Trick’s power pop glory days. But you won’t think so at first; you’ll be thinking this sounds like a pale imitation of their inspired past, because you’re jaded from the early elpees. Once you get over the fact that it’ll never be like “the first time” again, you start to judge Cheap Trick albums for what they are rather than what they’re not. And One On One is one of their best post-Police albums. Some of the ideas are actually terrible (“Oo La La La,” “I Want Be Man”), so you might want to step out of the room for a few minutes, but the hooks will bring you back before long. The album is also remembered as the first to feature new bass player Jon Brant, who looked suspiciously like Tom Petersson. I’m guessing that ad read something like: Seeking attractive male with long, thick, dark hair--previous bass experience a plus. More disturbing is yet another producer change, this time Roy Thomas Baker (Queen, The Cars). Pairing Cheap Trick with celebrity producers put the pressure on them to produce “big” albums that sounded like someone else (The Beatles, Queen, Todd Rundgren). And so you get ill-suited songs like “Four Letter Word” that sound like Cheap Trick trying to play The Game (the offspring of which is apparently Billy Squier). Again, over a long and largely uneven career, this is one worth keeping for half an album’s worth of good music, so don’t be shy about picking it up. Just be patient.

FE 38021 back cover	FE 38021 picture sleeve

TRACK LISTING

1. I WANT YOU    (Rick Nielsen)    3:03
2. ONE ON ONE    (Rick Nielsen)    3:05
3. IF YOU WANT MY LOVE    (Rick Nielsen)    3:35
4. OO LA LA LA    (Rick Nielsen/Robin Zander)    3:15
5. LOOKIN' OUT FOR NUMBER ONE    (Rick Nielsen)    3:41
6. SHE'S TIGHT    (Rick Nielsen)    2:59
7. TIME IS RUNNIN'    (Rick Nielsen)    2:20
8. SATURDAY AT MIDNIGHT    (Rick Nielsen/Robin Zander)    3:00
9. LOVE'S GOT A HOLD ON ME    (Rick Nielsen/Robin Zander/Bun E. Carlos)    2:35
10. I WANT BE MAN    (Rick Nielsen)    3:20
11. FOUR LETTER WORD    (Rick Nielsen/Robin Zander)    3:39

CREDITS

JON BRANT -- basses
BUN E. CARLOS -- percussion
RICK NIELSEN -- guitars, basses, keys
ROBIN ZANDER -- vocals, guitars
Ian Taylor -- engineer
David Kennedy -- photos
John Berg -- design

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