No. 448: In Color

Band: Cheap Trick
Album: In Color
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: Embracing the irony of power pop music and the zeitgeist of the late 1970s, "In Color" is full of catchy choruses, harmonies and great guitars. Transitioning from "Cheap Trick" to the band's later, hook-laden work, "In Color" features one of the band's most-famous songs.
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: "Heaven Tonight" is better and the band's debut is more interesting. Still, a fine record.
Best song: "Southern Girls" is a great record.
Worst song: "So Good to See You" isn't great.
Is it awesome?: Nah.

Cheap Trick's sense of irony is glorious. While Jimmy Page was playing a doubleneck guitar for pompous rock songs, Rick Nielsen played a five-necked guitar.

The cover art for "In Color" shows off that sense of irony. The front cover features bassist Tom Petersson and lead singer Robin Zander on Harleys while the back cover shows the two stranger/nerdier looking members in black and white. They, of course, are on mopeds.

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"In Color" was the turning point in sound for Cheap Trick. While the band's first album was more of a punk rock affair, "In Color" was produced by Tom Werman, with whom the band fought ferociously. Werman's ear for hooks and production was seen by the band as overproduction while Werman found the band to be too difficult.

In short, Cheap Trick went from being a Midwest punk rock band to the preeminent power pop band on "In Color." The seminal "I Want You To Want Me" has a different from than the well-known "At Budokan" version, with the "In Color" version having strong backing vocals. "Hello There" is harder, but is more of a catchy song than those on the band's debut. "Southern Girls" is similarly catchy with an almost overwhelming hook.

"In Color" is a fun, fun album. It's not the band's best, as "Heaven Tonight" is much better. "In Color" is nice, though, and a picture of a band in transition.

No. 430: At Budokan

Band: Cheap Trick
Album: At Budokan
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: Cheap Trick's power pop soundtracked much of the late '70s/early '80s and "At Budokan" was the record that brought them into stardom. "I Want You to Want Me" and "Surrender" became giant hits and propelled the band into some level of stardom.
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: Eh. This is about accurate.
Best song: "Surrender" is one of my favorite songs. It's bizarre and amazing.
Worst song: I don't love "Big Eyes."
Is it awesome?: It's a classic live album, so, yes.

Nippon Budokan is a martial arts venue. It's located in Central Tokyo and it has become something of a landmark for bands to perform there. The Beatles were the first band to perform here, so when Cheap Trick came in 1978, it was something of a homage.

Cheap Trick is known mostly as a joke band, thanks to Rick Nielsen, a man who owns a guitar with five necks. He sometimes wears silly hats and bow ties. He brings out a box of guitar picks, simply so he can throw them out to the crowd during the show. He mugs like a moron.

Here's the thing, though: He also has a wonderful ear for hooks.

"At Budokan" brought the band into the forefront and is the reason most people know the band. Either "I Want You To Want Me" or "Surrender" is the band's signature song. Similarly, "On Top Of The World" also charted.

The record isn't a revelation, on any level. It's simply four dudes with classic rock instrumentation. It's great hooks and easy guitar riffs.

The only striking thing is the amount of crowd noise. I cannot imagine that it was piped in or added to the record, but it sounds overly enthusiastic. Considering the band had no hits before "At Budokan," it's crazy to think the Budokan crowd loved the record that much.

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This next song... is the first song on our new album... it just came out this week and the song is called... "Surrender."

So ends "I Want You To Want Me" as the band starts to play "Surrender." I found the song's lyrics to be incredibly confounding, as they appear to make no sense. The chorus of "Mommy's alright, Daddy's alright/They just seem a little weird/Surrender, surrender, but don't give yourself away" is about as catchy as they come, but the verse is bizarre.

The war? Kiss records? Huh? What is he talking about? Does it matter?

Nope.