Disco de Cheap Trick: “Sex, America, Cheap Trick”

Don't look to this boxed set to replace any regular-issue Cheap Trick CDs you own. It's its own animal, a great way to augment your collection. As the band did the selection process themselves, the emphasis was on a lot of unrealeased performances (many of them live) and underheard B-sides, songs for soundtracks, demos, etc.. Much of it is prime pickings; the only disc that starts to get wobbly midway through is #4, showcasing their late Eighties period, which sucked for the most part. But even there, you get some gems that emerge, such as "Money Is The Root Of All Fun" and "Fortune Cookie." High points include: The complete version of "If You Want My Love," with an additional bridge that makes a terrific song even better; a live version of "The Ballad Of T.V. Violence," which growls out of the speakers; and "I'm The Man," "Born To Raise Hell" and "Ohm Sweet Ohm," three songs from an obscure animated movie that would have been splendid additions to any of their albums. There are other great finds here, too; get this one, but hang on to your original albums all the same!

The four-disc SEX, AMERICA box set covers Cheap Trick's recording career from 1976 through 1992.

SEX, AMERICA strikes a good balance. It delivers rarities for the long-time fans, practically every well-known Cheap Trick song for the casual listener, and some album tracks. If there were ever a recipe for anthologies, it's rarities, hits and album tracks.

Cheap Trick has contributed to a number of movie soundtracks. Perhaps licensing problems prevented every such tune from inclusion in SEX, AMERICA. One such song I wanted, their title song from the movie UP THE CREEK, did not make it to SEX, AMERICA.

Jon Brandt, who played bass for Cheap Trick during Tom Petersson's 1982-1988 sabbatical, deserves more credit than the SEX, AMERICA package gives him. He certainly deserves more pictures - Brandt is nowhere to be found in the souvenir booklet photographs. The faces of Rick Nielsen, Bun E. Carlos, Robin Zander and Petersson appear one apiece on SEX, AMERICA's four compact discs. But ironically, the disc with Petersson's face represents the six years Brandt was the bass man for Cheap Trick. Certainly one of Cheap Trick's killer LPs, STANDING ON THE EDGE, was recorded with Jon Brandt, not Tom Petersson, on bass guitar. Another of the band's play-louds, ONE ON ONE, had Nielsen, not Petersson, playing bass!

As I write this (Nov. '00), a number of Cheap Trick albums are not available. If someone asked me to recommend three or four of Cheap Trick's best, rather than name albums that may be out of print, I would tell them to start their collection with SEX, AMERICA.

Back in those ancient, pre-MP3 days, I was looking for an anthology that had my a couple of my favorite Cheap Trick songs, "If You Want My Love" and "World's Greatest Lover". At that time, this was the only one that included both of these, so I went for it. It was a bit pricey.

I enjoy the band's music, but, personally, in the end, I feel that the band didn't have quite enough diversity in its sound over the years. So, it feels like overkill for someone who might like the music, but isn't a hardcore fan. There are lots of outtakes, B-sides, obscure soundtrack numbers, and demos. However, almost of the band's most popular singles and best album tracks are here, too. Just some random thoughts on a few:

An interesting find is the very earliest version of "I Want You to Want Me", an outtake from the first album. Since the live "Budokan" version is here, too, I suppose it would have been overdoing it to include the "Heaven Tonight" version, too, but I wouldn't have minded.

There are actually two versions of "World's Greatest Lover" here -- the final version from "All Shook Up" and the original demo, with Rick Nielsen on the lead vocal. I was surprised to hear that he can actually sing, with a voice that isn't too dissimliar from Robin Zander's.

The version of "If You Want My Love" is not the final single, but a longer take with no synthesizers. I like both versions, so it's a mixed bag.

Big minuses: "California Man" and "Magical Mystery Tour" are missing; and "The Flame" is here. It was a #1 single, so I guess it had to be here, but it's a terrible song that was forced upon the group. Speaking of which, the original boxed set has an extensive history of the band written by Ira Robbins. It does an excellent job of covering the ups and downs of the group, especially battles with Epic Records which resulted in crap like "The Flame". Fortunately, this is the only example of such tripe on this collection.

However, since you don't get the essay with a download, this entire collection is only for die-hard Cheap Trick fans. For other people, I'd suggest cherry-picking your favorite Cheap Trick songs (many of them will probably be here, but not all of them) and creating your own personalized anthhology, instead.

Cheap Trick was in their heyday in the 70's any album they made during that time is an essential purchase. The 80's songs we're mostly hit or miss(unfortunately they missed more than they hit). The 90's saw them return to the charts, but as a pop-rock act. That basically describes the box set. The first two CD's are very good, taking mostly from their 70's albums and unreleased tracks(some now available on the CD reissues). The third CD taking mostly from their 80's material is hit or miss but does have a few suprises in the unreleased material. The fouth CD is probably the most passible of the four but does have a few good songs on it. My only big complaint is that their cover from the John Lennon tribute album "Cold Turkey"(the best song on that album) is not on it. Like I stated it is only for fans of Cheap Trick, the curious should check out either the 70's albums, preferably the first three, or even the Authorized Greatest Hits album.

There is so much here...very diverse offering and this set goes through their career...a bit much at times and overload, but very good.