Disco de Cheap Trick: “At Budokan: The Complete Concert”

There are just some albums that everyone must own. "Cheap Trick at Budokan" is one of them. This is one of the 3 best live recordings ever (The Who's "Live at Leeds" and "Frampton Comes Alive" being the others). Now it has become even greater, and all the more essential, in this new version including all the material off of "Budokan II" and re-arrainged in the original set-list from the concert. The sound quality has never been better (even rivaling the gold edition floating around); Columbia/Legacy have built a good reputation in their fine remasters. And this is no exception, especally with the added material. You are THERE, in the crowd. Tom's bass sounds positivly chunky, Bun E.'s drums are crisp & deep, Rick's guitar soars & Robin is truly amazing. From the opening scorch of "Hello There" thru the all-out assult on "Clock Strikes Ten", the crunch of "Auf Vedershen" & "Surrender" and the pop jump of "I Want You to Want Me", it's all here. The defining pop/rock sound that is often imitatded, never been duplicated. This is the sound that all of the 90's wanna-be alt-rockers have been trying to emulate (Billy Corigan & Kurt Cobain freely admitted it). If you're a serious rock fan, you need to own this. If you have the original, time to trade up. It all starts here. Truly timeless kickin' rock & roll.

Although the original Budokan was a great album, much was missing from it. This edition rectifies the ommissions (excepting the banter before "Clock Strikes 10"- "Here's one I'm sure you all know!") and features more songs from their first 3 albums.

Like on the original, "Hello There" opens the set (and adds dialogue between members just as they're getting ready to rock!) and follows the playful "Come On, Come On". "Elo Kiddies" (a sassy shuffle) and the more complex "Speak Now or Forever Hold Your Peace" (both of these from their debut) are added. The menacing "Big Eyes" (featuring Robin Zander going up and down on the octaves and Bun E Carlos starting it off on drums) and the adventurous "Look Out" are back, albiet in reverse order! Then you have the moody "Downed", the desperate "Can't Hold On", and the rockin' "Oh Caroline" (from In Color) all added to this set.

From the original, Robin introduces "Surrender" (which pays homage to Kiss on the last verse) as "the 1st song on our [then] NEW album!" and Rick Nielsen adds a flamboyant coda not found on the studio version! "Auf Wiedersehen" (also from Heaven Tonight and featured here for the 1st time) is pure bone-crunching rock.

On "Need Your Love", Robin's vocals range from desperate pleas to bitter sneers and Rick jams away on guitar not dissimilar to Marc Bolan, Pete Townshend, and Brian May. "High Roller" is another rocker which allows Rick to jam followed by the more laid back "Southern Girls". "I Want You to Want Me" blows away the original version on In Color. A cover of the Move's "California Man" is at once, fast furious, and fun (and why this wasn't included on the original is beyond me!)!

Then Cheap Trick plays "Goodnight" (a reprise of "Hello There") and plays 2 encores- a raucous version of Fats Domino's "Ain't That a Shame" where Rick sneaks in a riff from the Beatles' "Please Please Me" and the finale allows Rick, Bun E, and Tom Peterson (bass) to trade solos (to think, in the days of vinyl, this was the opener to Side 2!). Finally, the anticlimactic "Clock Strikes 10" (with its Westminster chimes opening) puts this set in full circle!

If you had a copy of the original Budokan, you'll love this reissue!

This is one of a handful of albums that really belongs in any rock/pop record collection, whatever your tastes. It is arguably the best live LP ever released and a compelling document of one of the greatest working bands in rock and roll history. The band is so tight, so loud and so vital, even cynics will be impressed. Cheap Trick is an oddball band, and these songs hold up well. If anything, they sound better after 20 years. They are really smart and catchy... some of the lyrics are just plain cryptic, though. Even if they are playing theme songs for sit-coms now, they were once the greatest band on earth, and these scorching performances will remind future generations of that fact.

The original 1979 "At Budokan" album was a rush job...in order to beat the bootleggers, Epic jammed a radio promo only Cheap Trick special release into the stores. History happens....

The Top Ten success of the album and the breakthrough of "I Want You To Want Me" put the Trick over the top, and for good reason. There was such a power and vitality to the live versions that even their incredible studio counterparts sounded pale. Think about that for a second. Cheap Trick already had produced three virtually perfect albums, and they managed to IMPROVE on them. Aside from Peter Frampton, no other act of the seventies could claim their live album had managed that feat. Any band to claim other wise was fibbing.

To commemorate the 20th anniversary of "At Budokan," Epic has managed to improve upon perfection. They dug back into the vaults for the nine cuts that went on the afterthought 1994 CD "At Budokan II," resequenced the concert into the original playing order, and gave the whole she-bang a re-master job. (The original CD sounded tinny and harsh.) There's little left to say other than this was Cheap Trick at their friskiest and fiercest. The songs are a little faster, Nielsen's guitar a little louder, Zander's singing just a touch more passionate, and the Japanese in the audience couldn't have been any crazier. They may have not known just what the were singing in "I Want You To Want Me," but there is no doubt that when they respond back to the "crying, crying, crying" chorus, they meant every word.

Though my tastes have changed over the last Oh my God 20 years..This album is still the best power pop album ever made. Even King Crimson/Belew fans can take a few lessons from Ricks weird guitar licks..Besides, most importantly, Its just FUN.