Cheap Trick - One on OneNext Position Please (23 tracks) +Album Reviews

Glad to have them back, but it's the same mastering!

A Reader | 04/08/2010

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I am very glad these two are available again. They do complement each other nicely as a combo too. Like many of you, I have spent much $ over the years buying Japanese imports of albums like SOTE and The Doctor, which are not nearly the classics these two are. So although I have the US CD releases of both One on One (Epic EK-38021) and Next Position Please (Epic EK-38794), when I saw that they were newly remastered, I had no hesitation buying them again. The quality of the original mastering leaves much to be desired.

After comparing several tracks on each album with the original CD releases using a couple different pair of good headphones, my conclusion is that the new mastering is indistinguishable from that of the original CD releases. It was often a toss up as to which was better, and in some cases I felt that the original CD sounded superior. So I would give five stars for the music, but deduct a star for the lack of new remastering.

If you're thinking of buying this because you don't have these on CD, then by all means get it. It is a steal at the price for such great music. On the other hand, if you already own these on CD and are considering getting it for the new remastering, then forget it. Stick with what you already have. Plus you won't lose the bonus tracks off Next Position Please which had to be cut to fit both albums on one disc.

And in any case, go yourself a favor and go back and listen to these again real soon! What an amazing collection of such great music these guys have given us over so many years!!!"

Shabby Treatment of Two Underrated Albums

Eric P. Sandberg | Diamond Bar, CA United States | 04/11/2010

(2 out of 5 stars)

"Although Epic/Sony routinely mistreated Cheap Trick while they were under contract, they have made up for it in recent years by treating the catalog with reverence. "Sex, America, Cheap Trick" is a great box set and the "At Budokan" DVD/CD package was over the top; not to mention the remasters of the first five albums. I was wondering when they would get around to the Jon Brant years and now I find that they have farmed it out to Friday music, who, to my disappointment, have turned out a shabby, disappointing product.

First of all, I hate twofers. Give me the albums individually with extra tracks please. Secondly, let someone who is actually a fan of the band supervise the project. I knew we were in trouble when I read the liner notes under the CD tray and Jon Brant was referred to as "Jon Bryant". Really? They couldn't have had Bun E. do a quick proofread, or just double check on Wiki? This shows me they just don't care.

Next we have the booklet. Two pages of it is advertising for other product, while the art reproduction is barely ahead of bootleg quality. Finally, we have the sound. I can detect no discernible improvement over the original CDs. I am really bummed that Sony doesn't think it worth the effort to upgrade these releases in house. "One on One" is a gold record, and "Next Position Please" is frankly a pop masterpiece.

I will be dumping this edition and sticking with the original CDs and my vinyl copies and I will skip future Friday Cheap Trick Reissues. It is a shame, because only true fans will want these reissues and true fans would pay (...) for quality equal to the first five Sony reissues."

Wish the Vic Anesini remaster was used...

Jamie Tate | Franklin, TN | 04/27/2010

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Finally got my CD of the Next Position Please and One On One remasters today and compared it to the old Epic CDs. The differences are subtle but there is a slight improvement. They took out a touch of upper mid and added some low end. It would be difficult to discern the difference if you weren't making direct comparisons though. I appreciate the mastering engineer not running the level up with a limiter though. Kudos for not adding to the loudness war.

I know Vic Anesini (the guy who did all the other CT remasters) did a partial version of Next Position Please for iTunes. The few songs Vic has mastered are still the best. Wish he could've done both of these albums instead of just a couple tunes for various GH comps.

Is the Friday Music remastered CD worth it? Probably not. The songs 'You Talk Too Much' and 'Don't Make Our Love A Crime' have been omitted and the sound really isn't that much of an improvement. Glad these albums are back in print but this one is strictly for techie geeks like me.

3 stars for a missed opportunity."

R. Finlayson | 04/09/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Two terrific, underrated Cheap Trick records from the early 80s, when their star had begun to fade a bit and they undertook an album-by-album process of updating/altering their sound at the behest of record company pressures. These two records are the early entrants in that sequence, and the results are quite strong. Roy Thomas Baker had already shaped the radio-friendly sound of Queen in the 70s and the Cars in the late 70s/early 80s, so it made sense to see if he could buff up CTs sound for AOR radio. The result is "One on One," a loud, clamorous album awash in 80s studio gimmickry, only some of which manages to undermine an excellent set of songs, including two big radio hits, "If You Want My Love" and "She's Tight." The record had a slow start but eventually did quite well. The follow up, "Next Position Please," also makes sense on a conceptual level: hook up CT with Todd Rundgren and see if they can find that sweet spot between Nazz and the Who. "Next Position Please" isn't quite that magical combination: for some reason, the suits at Epic demanded that CT record an overblown cover of the Motors' "Dancing the Night Away"; elsewhere, the sound is thin and sparse. In fact, though, the latter quality makes this one of the most unique sounding albums in their catalogue: its closes analogue is "In Color," even if "Next Position Please" isn't quite as strong, song for song. But it's a humble little winner, this one, and well worth your attention, if you're looking to fill in the gaps. There's been some question raised about the quality of the remastering. I had the original CDs of these records and replaced them years ago with Japanese remasters from 2004: the new release sounds to my ears very comparable to those Japanese releases with less compression and a slightly lower volume. But the tape-hiss heavy deadness of the original late 80s releases is entirely absent here: the recordings sound crisp and detailed and punchy. I might be wrong, but that's my two cents."

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