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