I don't care if it took working with a fiery little lesbian like Perry to
get them going. Perfect Stranger and Welcome To The World are better than
anything I've heard in ages. I'll take what I can get... Besides, I like
her, she covered "Dr. Jimmy" at the who tribute. You gotta love that. LOL.

Cheers,
Gary


-----Original Message-----
From: audities-owner@smoe.org [mailto:audities-owner@smoe.org] On Behalf Of
Jason Damas
Sent: Thursday, March 30, 2006 3:15 PM
To: audities@smoe.org
Subject: Re: Cheap Trick Rumor Mill

<< LIFE AFTER MAJOR LABELS: Cheap Trick is making an overtly commercial move
with its new studio album Rockford, to be released June 6 on Cheap Trick
Unlimited/Big3 Records. The band tapped hitmaker Linda Perry to co-write and
produce the first single, "Perfect Stranger," which is reportedly starting
to get spins in advance of the official April 3 impact date. Bass player Tom
Petersson didn't hold back in his personal evaluation of Rockford (named
after the band's hometown outside of Chicago), calling it "by far our best
work yet." Wouldn't it be something if that were true? And while we're on
the subject, what are the odds that Cheap Trick will be inducted into the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the next five years? The band has been
eligible since 2001. (3/30a) >>

I don't expect much quality out of Cheap Trick anymore, but am I the only
one who's semi-horrified by this? It sounds like "Lap of Luxury" or "Busted"
Mach II, what with the whole
working-with-popular-pop-songwriters-of-the-moment thing. (Of course,
Perry's day was 2001-2003, but I digress).

Anyway, no one ever got back to me on my CT question from the other
day--what is the deal with the remasters of One On One and Next Position
Please? I know one exists from the latter--somewhat bizarrely bypassing the
former--but that it's an iTunes only download? I noticed both are also for
sale on the official Cheap Trick store--are these remasters, or just the
regular old version? I'm sooo confused about it.

I've bought all the albums up through "All Shook Up" and am interested in
continuing; even despite the tripe that came on some later albums, they
wedged in some gems (Busted, for all of its awfulness, was home to "I Can't
Understand It," which is a first-rate power-pop tune). I'm also concerned by
the relative rarity of "Standing On The Edge"--which includes one of my own
favorites in "Tonight It's You--and "The Doctor," which despite being
generally considered amongst their worst work are rather expensive on used
sites and appear to be out of print. I see they were reissued in Japan, so
I'm curious if those Japanese reissues are anything worth ponying up for.
--J