While the band's 1986 effort had been titled The Doctor, 1988's comeback effort Lap of Luxury could have just as easily been called The Song Doctor, as it featured appearances by just about every notable songwriter-for-hire of the day: Diane Warren, Holly Knight, Todd Cerney, and Janna Allen, to name just four.
Strangely, though, the writers of the album's first single, "The Flame", were none of those peddlers of pap, but Nick Graham (he of Atomic Rooster) and Bob Mitchell, who, oddly enough, were never heard from again, though the band would tempt lightning to strike twice by co-writing with Graham on their next two albums, to no avail.
Charting the perilous path from Cheap Trick's diabolical debut, which didn't sell, to their famously farmed-out 1988 effort, which did, can be quite painful for someone who considers themselves a true fan of the band. After all, it isn't every day that a band with one of the best songwriters in the country eventually succumbs to recording other people's songs.
What boggles the mind is that, once you throw open the floodgates and decide that all songs and songwriters are fair game, this is the set of songs that you choose.
Granted, "Don't Be Cruel" is a fine song, but what sort of compromising photos must Holly Knight have on what must be a number of high-powered record execs that her song "Space" would be forced upon not only a young and naive Charlie Sexton, but also the much older and wiser Cheap Trick?
In both cases, the song did little more than take up space (pun intended).
Meanwhile, one of the best songs to be recorded during the "LOL" sessions - "Through The Night" - which the band actually wrote themselves, was relegated to non-LP B-side status for "The Flame" rather than being put on the actual album or released as a single in its own right.
Even though it was nice to have Cheap Trick back on Top 40 radio, albeit in power ballad mode, one couldn't help feel that whatever success came their way almost needed an asterisk next to it.
This, of course, was reflected in the album's relatively poor sales in light of the band's massive success on the singles chart. Normally when a band has two songs in the Top 5, their album enjoys a bit of a sales bump, too, but no such spike took place for Lap of Luxury. In fact, the album didn't even qualify for platinum certification, which is based on units shipped rather than sold.
Also, with the return of bassist Tom Petersson, it appeared that CBS (er, Sony) had made up their minds to force a Trick single up the charts in order to build their own Aerosmith-like reunion success story. See, while Aerosmith had once been signed to CBS, too, their accountant-fueled reunion and platinum '80s makeover took place over at Geffen Records.
If the major label fix wasn't in, then how else to explain why "The Flame" was added to over 400 radio stations in a single week before the album had even come out?
We're not accusing anyone of payola, but somebody somewhere was greasing some serious wheels with something.
Listening to Lap Of Luxury today is just as conflicted a process as it was back in '88. After skipping over the outside material the band was forced to record, quite frankly, there isn't very much left. "Let Go" has a little bit of a kick to it, but its hardly anything that would have stood out on Heaven Tonight or Dream Police. Elsewhere, "Wrong Side Of Love" sounds like a One On One outtake, "Never Had A Lot To Lose" seems tailor-made for "Iron Eagle 3", which, sadly, didn't come along until 1992.
Meanwhile "All We Need Is A Dream"could have been a non-hit for Giuffria while "All Wound Up" remains a catchy chorus still in search of a decent song.
As for "Ghost Town", the song Nielsen penned with Diane Warren, I just wish I'd been there for the conversation that no doubt took place back in Rockford when Nielsen returned from his writing session with Warren.
Zander: How'd it go?
Nielsen: Great.
(plays Zander the songwriting demo for "Ghost Town")
Zander: I thought you said it went great.
And with that, a decade that had begun with such high hopes (one of rock's most dynamic bands working with one of rock's greatest producers, George Martin) saw the band achieve their highest chart success only after completely running out of gas creatively.
Coming soon: Cheap Trick in the 90's!
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never had a lot to lose