With 2016 already shaping up to be a great year for Cheap Trick, who will be inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame later this month, the arrival of their seventeenth studio album Bang Zoom Crazy...Hello! is, for both the band and their fans, the icing on the cake.
Produced by Julian Raymond, the band's first record for Big Time Records (home of Taylor Swift) sees them creating an album that effortlessly and quite effectively captures everything great about the band's late '80s/early '90s resurgence.
Rather than attempt to recapture the spark of their early prime period. which they did to perfection on 2009's The Latest, the band proves that there is still some melodic treasures to be mined in the well-worn world of guitar-driven arena rock.
However, it cannot be stated enough that Robin Zander's vocals remain the true strength of this band that is thiiiis close to celebrating their 50th year together. Do yourself a favor and catch the band live this summer as they'll not only be rocking the Metro TONIGHT, but also July 19 at the FirstMerit Bank Pavilion at Northerly Island (aka Meigs Field).
While the band gave us an advance taste of the album by releasing "No Direction Home" and "When I Wake Up Tomorrow" earlier this year, there's a whole lot more to this album. For starters, it begins with "Heart On The Line", which would not sound at all out of place on 1988's Lap of Luxury, and ends with the Stooges-inspired "All Strung Out". In between, the band tackles each track with the sort of aplomb you'd be hard-pressed to find from bands a fraction of their age.
In doing so, they not only make a great return-to-form, but turn in their most consistent record since their sorely underrated self-titled 1997 effort.
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