Search - Cheap Trick :: Special One (Bonus Dvd)

Impressive album that lives up to expectations

Brian Borchers | St. Charles, IL | 07/29/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Cheap Trick is back in a big way! "Special One" is long overdue but worth the wait. It has about everything you could expect from Cheap Trick: catchy hooks, reckless hard rock, and a load of enjoyable tunes. The album admittedly has a gay title, one of their stupidest yet (I'm picturing the album riding the "short bus"). The music is great though, with each member giving a solid performance in every song. It's well recorded by the production "dream team" consisting of Cheap Trick, Chris Shaw, Jack Douglas, & Steve Albini. Here's a song-by-song description:Scent of a Woman - Amazing! A truly amazing song, the best I've heard in years. It has a solid rhythm and a level of passion that is all but lost in today's rock. Sure it starts slow, but don't adjust the volume too much. This one will blow you away.Too Much - A good rhythmic song with a classic Beatles-inspired Cheap Trick sound.Special One - Continue's the band's love affair with Japan. An interesting listen because it's different sounding. You can find versions of this song that are actually sung in Japanese.Pop Drone - A basic pop song, mildly interesting. Most people seem to like this one more than I do.My Obsession - This is a nice rhythmic pop song with a good sound. I wouldn't be surprised to hear this on the radio.Words - The album gets a bit slow at this point, but still good music. One reviewer described this song as "Double Fantasy"-era John Lennon. Perfect description.Sorry Boy - A pounding rocker with a heavy, ominous sound. A nice break from the slow pop songs. Reminds me of "Anytime" from CT '97. Best Friend - A musical journey into madness. Starts out safe enough, but builds into a screaming, thrashing monster. It'll make you sweat!If I Could - Another slower pop song. Needs more life to it.Low Life in High Heels - Amusing title (why couldn't they name the album after this one?) A fairly interesting instrumental consisting mainly of a sleazy guitar riff and Robin humming. Hummer - Basically an extension of the last song with a cool remix. Some people don't like how they end the album with this song, but I find it creative and interesting.Overall I'd give this album 3 1/2 stars. It starts off great with Scent of a Woman but never quite reaches that peak afterward. Pretty solid and consistently good though. It's a must for Cheap Trick fans, and enjoyable for non-fans as well."

Pop Smarts and Power Chords -- Plus Some New Tricks

Billucy | Raleigh, North Carolina United States | 07/23/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Once upon a time, Cheap Trick fired off cannon blasts of power pop with the reliability and precision of an ace artillery unit. "C'mon, C'mon," "Lookout," "He's a Whore," "Dream Police," "Surrender" -- the crafty bubblegum barrage seemed like it'd never end. And then it did. The band spent much of the '80s trying to re-capture the original magic. Its successes, however, were often overshadowed by a sense of confusion. And, to be fair, no younger band was able to catch and sustain the spark either -- though many tried.In the '90s, Trick shed some of its old baggage and forged a new identity. The pop smarts remained, but the band ditched the hyperactive wisecracker persona. After all, they'd become middle-aged men. So while late-period classics such as "Say Goodbye" and "Hard to Tell" still boiled over with hooks, the songs were darker, more grounded than heyday haymakers like "Southern Girls" and "She's Tight." "Special One" finds this great American institution mining fresh gold from this fairly new groove. While the opening track, "Scent of a Woman," demonstrates the band can still kick out the power chords, the lyrics are earnest -- even annoyingly so. Still, the song is saved by a joltingly energetic bridge and an infectious overall enthusiasm. From there, "Special One" simmers down to a medium boil with "My Obsession" and "Too Much" taking top prizes for melody and crackerjack performances. While earlier ballads like "If You Want My Love" often came across as winningly jokey, these two are straight-shooters and the better for it.Trick has always had a psychotic streak and they don't hide it for long on "Special One." The back-to-back desperation of "Sorry Boy" and "Best Friend" may put off fans seduced by the album's warm-hearted open. But taken on their own, each track offers an impressively bruising heaviness that even a group as powerful as the Who wasn't able to muster this late into its career. The band trades in the sledgehammers for some new techno-Tricks on the closers, "If I Could" and "Hummer." Neither one is a classic, but either is better than anything on the new Third Eye Blind album.All-in-all, "Special One" is convincing proof that Cheap Trick is as alive and restless as it was back in the Budokan days. And the lyrics of its greatest anthem, "Surrender," never sounded so relevent to the band itself, "Mommy's all right, daddy's all right, they just seem a little bit wei-ei-eird." Weird but still wonderful."

Right where they left off

dbg367 | Chicago | 10/11/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Cheap Trick came out with a good album in 1997. This album continues where the last one left off, except this one is better. The band has taken a step beyond the power rock in the 1997 album. They've added a techno feel and some different rythms. More importantly, they have added this feel while still applying their signature. This is classic Cheap Trick with some new dimensions. This is exactly what you want from a band - Continuous evolution. Lyrically speaking the album is their best. This is truly one of their best albums, and one of the best albums I've heard this year. If anyone has any suggestions of albums that are as good as this one, let me know.I like this album for what it is: creative, different and classic Cheap Trick. I like it for what it isn't - 10 power pop love songs. Cheap trick is better than that and they've proved it on their last two albums.Keep going guys, keep evloving and trying new things. You saved us from Disco once, now save us from 'nsync hell and John Mayer banality."