RECORDS All This And Heaven Too?

Rip It Up, Issue 16, 1 October 1978, Page 12

RECORDS All This And Heaven Too?

Cheap Trick Heaven Tonight Epic Although their approach is different, Cheap Trick, like the Twilley Band, the old Raspberries and the Shake Some Action/Now Flamin’ Groovies, are a contemporary American band drawing many of their ideas and moods from the diverse ’6o’s British scene. Yet despite their obsessive borrowing from the Beatles/Who/Move vein of achievement, there are signs that Cheap Trick are managing to develop something of their own mainly through the sweat of chief songwriter/guitarist Rick Nielsen. Nielsen is an eccentric character whose gawky Marx Brothers image is in direct contrast to the pin-up features of vocalist Robin Zander and bassist Tom Petersson, and whose bizarre lyrical slant gives the band an original edge. This much came out on their second album In Colour which, although uneven, contained some exhilerating songs, namely “Southern Girls”, "Big Eyes", “Come On" and “Downed” which boasted some of Nielsen’s wackiest lyrics: I'm gonna live on a mountain Way down under in Australia,

It’s either that or suicide It's such a strange strain on ya. Heaven Tonight sees Cheap Trick steppin’ out more confidently and consistently, intent, it seems, on becoming household names. “Surrender”, their new single, opens the album and immediately Nielsen’s Townshend guitar style and classic pop vocal technique beobvious; ally these to a knee-slapping chorus and lyrics like "Then I woke up, Mom and Dad are rolling on the couch Rolling numbers Rock and rolling, got my Kiss records out," and it’s got to be one of the best 45’s so far this year. “On Top of the World” with its jumpy rhythm belies the hard luck story in the lyrics, in fact Nielsen seems to prefer a half-humorous downer touch in his wordSv “California Man” is done well but the Move did'fell that needed to be done with that song. W#//get sex and a hard driving Stones’ feel (sic/ on “High Roller” and tongue is well and truly in cheek for the wordplay of "Auf Wiedershen”, "Sayonara oh suicide hari kari kamikaze." See what I mean. < Side Two provides a sharper to Cheap Trick’s influences to the extent where it is actually possible to pinpoint specific old British classics from which Nielson and Co have stolen

or recreated odd pieces as a basis for their ‘own’ songs. The title track, slow and threatening, is built around Lennon’s tortured guitar refrain on “I Want You” from Abbey Road; the closing song, “How Are You”, bears a close rhythmic resemblance to “A Day in the Life Of”; “Stiff Competition” has a rushing chord structure which the Who had prior claim to, and “Takin’ Me Back”, a great song, has an arrangement and vocal delivery that Jeff Lynne would have been proud to call his own, and probably did, when he heard this. It’s easy to be negative over Cheap Trick’s hero-worship plagiarism but they are saved from a landslide of lawsuits through their ability to arrange the ideas of others with snatches of Nielsen’s nifty melodic twists and turns. In fact, Cheap Trick show more gusto and sheer nerve on In Colour and Heaven Tonight than most bands can muster during entire careers. If you can suspend judgement on their passion forrecreating British rock standards and concentrate on their own fresh qualities, then Cheap Trick will serve quite adequately as this year’s palliative.