Disco de Cheap Trick: “Busted”

So much outside influence had been exerted on "Lap Of Luxury," that you can almost hear the clashing of swords on "Busted." Cheap Trick wanted more control over the sound, Epic Records wanted another "Flame." Between the marketers and the musicians, some sort of balanced was reached. The end result is a album that is good but not inspired, and manages not to become a total bow wow ala "The Doctor."

"Back'N'Blue" is the closest thing to a Stones knock off that Cheap Trick has ever attempted. It totally out rocks anything else on the CD. Almost as if to balance that kind of power, the title track sounds like a piece of modern rock radio piffle. "Can't Stop Falling Into Love" was the band's attempt at writing a hit ballad (it made the top twenty), the label honchos served up another Diane Warren contender with "When You Need Someone."

What all parties seemed to miss (or at least until the "Authorized Greatest Hits" was released) was that the best song here was "Walk Away." This was the kind of song I longed to hear on my radio during those times, a near perfect power-pop-rock confection featuring the Pretenders' Chrissie Hynde. Although you can do better in your Cheap Trick CD collection, "Busted" is worth having on that single song alone.

Cheap Trick had made a huge commercial comeback with their previous album "Lap Of Luxury". Two years later they would follow it up with this album that could very well have been titled "Lap Of Luxury II" as the two discs are very similar. The band did manage to wrestle away some of the outside songwriter influence from "Busted" as the majority of the tracks were penned by the band themselves with a few exceptions. The album had a big hit with "Can't Stop Fallin Into Love" which is a decent enough ballad. There are some good tunes here including "You Drive I'll Steer" and the album closer the rocking "Rock N Roll Tonight". Unfortunately there area also a plethora of rather annoying ballads, with cheesy production and lots of 80's style synthesizers. "Busted" is ok for the most part, but like the previous album it seems obvious that the record company exerted plenty of influence here and this still does not stack up against early (or later for that matter) material from the band.

After the success of 1988's Lap of Luxury, Busted may disappoint some fans, who are looking for a carbon copy of Lap of Luxury. While, Busted didn't spawn any big hits it is a very good album. While Busted may not be Cheap Trick's best album it is certainly a very good, later day album from Cheap Trick. The biggest stand out is Can't Stop Fallin into Love, but all of the songs sound good. Busted is just one of those albums, that may not leave a lasting effect on you, but it does sound good while it's playing.

Allow me to begin by stating that I AM a Cheap Trick fan. I buy every new release without hesitation, even though this CD was the last good CT release. Coming after the megahit "Lap Of Luxury", I was happy with this cd. The highlights in my opinion are Back N Blue, Can't Stop Falling Into Love, Busted and Walk Away. Other than that it's filler...I've been very disappointed with each subsequent studio release from the boys from Rockford since Busted. The more recent stuff lacks identity, and have very few songs that can get you singing along. The songs just sort of seem to drone along aimlessly. Actually the Rockford cd usually puts me to sleep-Literally. I'm afraid that CT has seen the last of the good times. Aside from the DVD release SILVER [which I HIGHLY recommend] Ceap Trick has done VERY little to keep my interest lately. The duet between Robin Zander and his daughter Holland on the Silver DVD will give you chills up your spine. Maybe Rick Nielsen should spend more time trying to recapture CHEAP TRICK'S magic, and less time ripping on Gene Simmons' Bass guitar playing skills in the Nikki Sixx autobiography

really i dont let the critics down what i like. everyone say cheap tricks album "busted" is this,that, well sorry i think this album goes into higher gear than their previous records, it has great rockers that make you get goose bumps with their energy- "back n blue", "you drive i'll steer", the title track, "cant understand it", and the closing track rock like no other. and the ballads,- "when u need me" the diane warren hit- "wherever would i be" all of this album is non stop cheap trick dont let people tell u different if you like rock n roll with melody and energy get this now! after all -they inspired almost every band that plays hard rock /heavy metal music