Cheap Trick: 1977-79 Vinyl Box Set

     What is it about the United States that someone comes up with a great idea, then it gets co-opted by The Man and ruined? I am speaking of Record Store Day. The original concept was great; have one day each year where bands release limited edition records so people will patronize local record stores. Over the past couple years, there's been a revival in vinyl record sales and I'm sure Record Store Day is partly responsible. Unfortunately, it was only a matter of time before the success of RSD would attract the attention of free market capitalists. Now it has been lumped into Black Friday and most of it isn't very exciting. Hopefully the Walmart cretins don't find out about it. I don't want to be shot over the last copy of the latest re-issue of Kind Of Blue. As you know, I work in retail and therefore have to work Black Friday every year. However, I have refused to take part as a shopper...until now. When I found out that the first five Cheap Trick albums were being released on 180 gram vinyl in a box set for Black Friday RSD I abandoned my principles. I would like to thank Dave and Mike for hooking me up with copy 0875.
     You're probably thinking to yourself, "Didn't he already have all these albums on vinyl?". Actually, I didn't. The first Cheap Trick album I bought was Budokan. From there I went to Heaven Tonight and Dream Police. Then I bought their 80's stuff on cassette. For some reason, I never went backwards from Budokan. It wasn't until a couple years ago that I bought In Color on used vinyl and the first Cheap Trick album is impossible to find used. So, I mainly wanted this collection for the first album and the 180 gram vinyl. I did notice something funny on the box set that may make it more valuable (or not). On the slip case, they list the song "Downed" as "Drowned". I'll probably still keep my old copies for sentimental reasons. I strongly recommend all five albums to my kids, with the caveat that the In Color songs are better on Budokan than the studio album. Anyhow, here's a quick breakdown of each album. Peace.

Cheap Trick- This is the most overlooked, brilliant debut album of all time. How is it the Japanese could figure this out and we couldn't? "He's A Whore" is amazing and if I had a band I'd do a cover of it. Other standouts are "Elo Kiddies" and "Oh Candy".

In Color- Includes killer songs "Downed", "Southern Girls" and "Oh Caroline". It also has the horrible studio version of "I Want You To Want Me". They only played it on Budokan because it was a hit in Japan. Thank you Japan.

Heaven Tonight- Probably my favorite CT studio album. Side A is outstanding with "Surrender", "On Top Of The World", Move cover "California Man", "High Roller" and "Auf Wiedersehen".

At Budokan- The greatest live album of the "Live Album Era", which is saying something. The highlights, for me, are the live version of "Come On, Come On" and the cover of Fats Domino's "Ain't That A Shame", which featured Bun E. Carlos on drums. I also have the CD box set of At Budokan, which has a DVD and the entire show for both nights on CD. It's outstanding.

Dream Police- Dream Police is my favorite CT song and if I ever did karaoke this would be my jam. Other great tracks are "Way Of The World", "I'll Be With You Tonight", "Voices" and "I Know What I Want".