CHEAP TRICK: BANG, ZOOM, CRAZY... HELLO (2016)
1) Heart On The Line; 2) No
Direction Home; 3) When I Wake Up Tomorrow; 4) Do You Believe Me?; 5) Blood Red
Lips; 6) Sing My Blues Away; 7) Roll Me; 8) The In Crowd; 9) Long Time No See
Ya; 10) The Sun Never Sets; 11) All Strung Out.
And the story goes on. In one of the most crass
acts of nepotism in rock history, Zander and Nielsen kicked Bun E. Carlos, the
one and only «Bookkeeper-Drummer» of all time, out of the band, replacing him
with Rick's son, Daxx Nielsen. Allegedly, this might be part of a far-reaching
plan to ensure the immortality of the band (Ian and Holland Zander should
probably be getting ready, too, once their father's vocal cords finally give
way), but in the short term, this was a rather nasty story, rife with lawsuits
and shattered friendships... and what for?
Honestly, Cheap Trick's latest record (more
precisely, the one that replaces The
Latest as, well, the latest) is not all that drum-dependent, as they return
once again to the overproduced style of Rockford.
It seems as if they have developed this alternating pattern, late in their
lives — one album Beatles-style, one album Stones-style — and this, once again,
puts us into non-stop headbanging mode, just to assure the population that no
energy has been dissipated since Rockford
brutally kicked our asses exactly ten years back. No more psychedelic
excursions, no more orchestration, just bombastic, glam-tinged rock'n'roll and
power pop all the way.
Consequently, everything grumbly that I have
said in reference to Rockford
applies to this album as well. It is one half fun and one half an attempt to
prove to the world that they still got it, and every once in a while the second
half obscures the first half with its obnoxiousness — but if you get it out of
your mind and trample on the context, then it's just another set of big, brassy,
brawny rock'n'roll for those who can't get enough of it. They can still play,
Robin can still sing (although I sure wish they gave him a little breathing
space every now and then without clogging all
the frequencies with fat, distorted guitar overdubs), the new drummer can keep
time — what else do you need for happiness? Psychological depth? That was last
year's model.
As a little bit of nostalgic surprise, another
veteran hero, Wayne Kramer of the MC5, joins the band on ʽDo You Believe Me?ʼ
for some hystrionic guitar pyrotechnics — just in case 2016 came along and
erased your last memories of what it used to be a «guitar hero» — and, as an
even odder nostalgic surprise, they do a hard rock version of ʽThe In Crowdʼ, a
song originally performed by Dobie Gray but possibly even better known to
audiences through the Mamas & Papas cover. No idea whatsoever about the
motivation — but the song's sarcastic tone and ridiculing of trends and
fashions agrees perfectly fine with Cheap Trick's conservative ideology, and
Zander gives a spirited, tongue-in-cheek performance. He can still sound cocky and smart at the same time — too bad
this here album usually puts cocky first and smart last.
Everything else basically sounds like a mix
of... well, I'd say AC/DC (ʽLong Time No See Yaʼ), Slade (ʽBlood Red Lipsʼ), T.
Rex (the album closing ʽAll Strung Outʼ is a dead ringer for Bolan's ʽ20th
Century Boyʼ), and even Bowie — ʽWhen I Wake Up Tomorrowʼ has a tinge of that
old Ziggy melancholia lurking in the back of Zander's voice. Once or twice, we
still get psychedelic vocal harmony overdubs (ʽThe Sun Never Setsʼ), almost
like a leftover from the previous album, but this does not upset the prevalent
party spirit. If you do not set your expectations too high, Bang, Zoom, Crazy, just like Rockford before it, will be perfectly
enjoyable and one more proof that you can still produce «authentic» 1970s style
glam-rock in 2016 (well, you can pretty much produce anything in 2016), but I couldn't swear that the record made that
much of an impression on me as a whole, and somehow I hope that they still have
it in them to come up with a less slight swan song for their career, unless
they really plan on gradually passing
on the banner to successive generations of Zanders and Nielsens.
I find the choice to oust Carlos extremely depressing. It puts Cheap Trick on the same level as Kiss, with two original members forcing out another original -- and I hate seeing the Tricksters down in the muck with Simmons and Stanley.
ReplyDeleteI admire your choice to stick with just reviewing the music, but for me the nasty back story taints everything Cheap Trick does now.
It's a fun record, but on a whole I think I enjoyed Bun E Carlos' first solo album Greetings from Bunezuela more. It's a shame that Cheap Trick and Bun parted on a sour note. He might have helped Bang Zoom Crazy a little bit more.
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