Cheap Trick (4 stars)
The Essential Cheap Trick
The first concert I ever went to was KISS. I was 12 and went with my long-suffering father who, I'm sure, couldn't hear anything for the next week. But regardless of how excited I was about being able to see Gene Simmons bite his tongue off, it didn't match how blown away I was by the opening act: Cheap Trick.
Rick Nielson with his five fused electric guitars, baseball cap and duck walk; Robin Zander's amazing vocals and even more amazing straight, blond hair (mine tended more toward a jewfro); the surreal image of Bun E. Carlos on drums, looking like one of my dad's golfing buddies with his tie and short-sleeved, button-down shirt; and teenage-girl heart-throb Tom Petersson on his 12-string bass.
That was untold decades ago, and while a lot has changed (I can go see concerts by myself now), all that excitement came rushing back listening to this compliation. For every song on the two-disc set I'd never heard before, there was another I'd forgotten.
No Cheap Trick collection would be complete without tracks from the group's Live At Budokan album, and they're here: "I Want You To Want Me" and "Ain't That A Shame," back to back. Also in there are "Surrender," "Dream Police," "Everything Works If You Let It," "She's Tight" and more, all in chronological order. Conspicuous in its absence are any serious liner notes. Instead is a short essay by Ron Albanese, publisher of Cheap Trick mag One On Four. But hey, how much do you need to read when all you really want to do is rock out?
Martin Stein
Godsmack (3.5 stars)
The Other Side
Editor's note:
As an experiment in, well, something—striking a blow against the hegemonic grip of professional rock critics? cheap labor?—we let a 17-year-old Godsmack fan review the band's latest disc.
Godsmack has mostly been known for heavier music, with songs like "Bad Religion," and "I Stand Alone" rarely straying from this style of music (there have been exceptions every so often, like "Voodoo," from Godsmack's self-titled first CD). So the band's newest effort, The Other Side, was like a slap in the face when I first listened to it. It's all acoustic.
And this is a good thing, even though I like the heavy stuff.
The CD contains an acoustic version of their first single, "Keep Away," in which lead singer Sully Erna is giving someone a direct warning to stay away from him. This version is a lot more mellow, and at first may sound less threatening than the heavy original. But it may actually be more threatening, because when someone quietly issues a warning, it's harder to know exactly what they're thinking.
Fans also will notice that Erna's vocal style is toned down. Instead of his husky, overpowering voice, Erna sings melodically. That changes the message of the new songs from their norm, too. Instead of belligerently powering out his vocals, proclaiming that others had better stay away, Erna, on "Running Blind," is actually asking someone to help him overcome a weakness.
There are no bad songs on this disc; I liked something about every one. Despite being acoustic, The Other Side rocks.
Steven Dickensheets