Cheap Trick - All Shook Up
#426
by Robbie Rist
October 24 1980
Cheap Trick
All Shook Up
Genre: Power Pop For Muscular People
Allen’s Rating: 3.5 out of 5
Robbie’s Rating: 4.25 (their worst, Special One, is a 3)
Highlights:
Stop This Game
Baby Loves to Rock
Go For The Throat
They released a rock classic out of the gate. Filled with edgy, melodic, The Who by way of the The Move and Beatles flavored pop rock.
No one bought it.
So they released a second classic album. This time with edges sanded off so, in theory, the songs would take front and center.
Again. No one bought it.
Funded by a brutal touring schedule that would have killed lesser humans, they put their all into the next one.
This one was gonna do it.
It even had a future perennial monster in the ‘Stairway To Heaven Of Power Pop’, Surrender.
Only it didn’t seem to be ‘doing it’ either.
Turns out, it was an import live record that put them on the map.
And put ‘em on there big.
Cheap Tricks Budokan live album (which I think the only ‘live’ thing that wasn’t an overdub was the audience screaming) brought them a massive hit in both a song from their second album (the one with edges all sanded off) called I Want you To Want Me and a glammy fun Fats Domino cover, Ain’t That A Shame.
This little import did SO well that it delayed the release of their NEXT record which they had in the pipe when Budokan came out.
So here comes Dream Police and it ushered in all of the accolades and worldwide stadium shows.
Now, it is CT canon that the band was signed primarily on the strength of maybe 20 or so songs Rick Nielsen brought to a publisher in the 70s.
Who was convinced these songs were the next big thing.
Of which he was wrong.
At least at that moment.
So, after the success of Budokan and Dream Police, one starts to hear Rick’s style changing.
He was into a new batch.
And they had a new producer.
The Beatles guy.
Same engineer as that band too.
Who I’m sure encouraged experimentation.
Expectations were high.
The result was All Shook Up.
Which pretty much landed with a less than enthusiastic ‘meh’.
Despite the presence of one of their best singles (Baby Loves To Rock), Tom Petersson’s best bass playing and a full cementing of what Cheap Trick ‘sounds like’.
But, they couldn’t overcome the history.
They couldn’t be what fans and industry wanted out of them.
As it turns out, Cheap Trick could only be their glorious selves.
And, in this reviewers opinion, that was more then plenty amazing.
I haven’t listened to this thing in it’s entirety in years.
The fuck is wrong with people?
This thing was god head then.
It’s god head now.
Stop This Game.
Holy shit.
Listen to that vocal.
Listen to that melody!
In true form (look, I’m a fan. Cheap Trick DNA is all over the art I make. Way more so than the bands they liberally lift from. So pardon me if I get saliva all over this musical chew toy), just about every song kills.
Just Got Back is a ready made opening number.
Baby Loves To Rock has one of two of fave bass tones in history and another is on the same album!!! And it’s FUN FUN FUN!
Can’t Stop It But I’m Gonna Try was the last song on this thing I got into. It’s not straight up CT. More mature. And a new darkness coming through. Now I love it.
Worlds Greatest Lover (where Martin lets Robin get lipstick all over John Lennon).
All amazing songs. Might not be I Want You To Want Me redux but so what? You want the same thing over an over from your heroes? Great then go buy a John Cougar record. Cheap Trick has an eye on the future!!
Then things get more experimental on side two.
Which is where I’m sure many of the dumber listeners got lost in the weeds.
High Priest Of Rhythmic Noise looks you right in the eyes while sodomizing 70s Lennon and asks you if you are still in for the ride.
You will be rewarded with the ‘put brick on the gas pedal then jump in the backseat with all of your friends’ roar of Love Comes A-Tumblin down (great solo by Rick).
I Love You Homey But I hate your friends which is nifty mashup of The Faces and McCartneys dumb lyrical thing of using peoples names.
Only, in Ricks hands it doesn’t sound like an empty gas tank.
Then, my fave song on this thing.
Go For The Throat.
Holy spitballs.
Top five best bass sounds I have ever heard.
Like if the guy from The Move realized that you only need a bass SPEAKER. For the rest, put it through a guitar amp.
It crushed my skull as a teen.
It still gives me chills.
It all ends, like many CT records, with a trifle.
Like O Claire.
Like You Say Jump.
This record isn’t Cheap Trick trying to get you to like them, this is Cheap Trick saying, ‘how you like me now’?
And it would behoove you to get in the back seat and just let this band throw that brick on the gas pedal.
Before jumping back there with you.
https://open.spotify.com/album/2JkIfhkMA6uL1YENZC5qe2?si=SZgMYSEzSxS4v1XpIUBtbQ
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