Label: BMG
Release date: April 9, 2021
Production: Cheap Trick & Julian Raymond
Album length: 45.28 min
Genre: Rock ‘N’ Roll / Hard Rock
Rating: 8.5/10
Cheap Trick, the iconic American rock band that’s been blazing away since 1973, is back with a bang this year with a brand-new studio album. It’s pointedly titled “In Another World,” hinting that what we lived through not long ago has “slipped away.” It stayed in a dream. The band keeps those dreams alive. Apparently nothing fazes them. Not even in 2021. The glow, the heart and the steel will of rock’n’roll are here to stay! Nothing breaks them. And the band announces it thunderously with its round 20th studio record. That’s if you also count “Christmas Christmas,” the holiday compilation of covers and three originals that came out, as the name suggests, for Christmas 2017.
Cheap Trick are a phenomenon. Not only are they enjoying a fresh renaissance with recent albums like “We Are All Allright” (2017) and “Bang, Zoom, Crazy … Hello” (2016), their mighty rock simply doesn’t fade, despite the years piling up on Nielsen, Zander and Petersson. The crackle of sparks never dies down.
A band that has pretty much said it all stays true to its musical paradigm. They’ve always slalomed skillfully, in tune with the lucid attitude behind the band’s name. With age, they slalom even more skillfully than ever. The odd label critics pinned on them, power pop, isn’t even that far off when you weigh how Cheap Trick have been staking out their ground throughout their career. They’ve always picked up pinches of other genres for their unique musical character, sixties pop included. It’s really a transmutation of The Beatles. And if Electric Light Orchestra can have their own transmutation of The Beatles’ originals, why shouldn’t Cheap Trick have theirs? Only this one is crossed with biting punk arrogance, with Nielsen’s jangle occasionally conjuring up Pete Townshend’s onstage nihilism. Fat, reverb-soaked, in places pumped up even further with stereo “chorus,” Nielsen’s jangle remains his unique brilliance and trademark, the main generator of the high-octane burn on “In Another World” too.
The quartet is brilliant. You don’t easily get this kind of rock ‘n’ roll reality, the way Cheap Trick still pull it off in the studio in 2021. Zander is a fantastic vocalist. A chameleon among chameleons. He can be exceptionally delicate and yearning, as on the tender ballad So It Goes, but then turn around and be piercing and unstoppable when it’s time to unleash power, roughness and a scandalous, bad-boy swagger. Zander once again paints an endless series of vocal characters that give “In Another World” a fascinating stamp that casts its spell instantly. Intense and passionate as only Zander can be, he confirms once more with this performance that he’s one of the best singers of the rock era.
The production is superb. Organic, warm, colorful, with contrasts making maximum use of the space in this analog musical landscape. You can hear the strings creak, every last tiny Nielsen “lick.” The snare sits in a dynamic, gorgeous contrast with avalanche-like, striking guitar phrases straight out of the good old school of rock, and right in the middle of it all comes Petersson’s glaring, clanking bass. Nielsen is a master. A master of minimalism. The man builds an exceptionally lucid modulation in the middle-eight, and stitches his solos together with a few chords or bent half-step stretches, and when it comes to witty minimalist solutions, the solo in Passing Through might even take first prize. Always in the right place. At the right moment. Instinct and sensuality on constant high alert. The songs sustain an extraordinary drive, dynamics and under-the-skin catchiness.
Thirteen tracks deliver remarkable variety. Okay, there’s Another Day in Another Day (reprise). It’s really one and the same song, just played in different rhythmic keys. One time it’s a scandalous rock’n’roll number, another time an easygoing, relaxed groove, like Passing Through. Then there’s Final Days – an incredibly coquettish rock’n’roller drenched in an erotic dose of blues. The closer is a cover of Lennon’s Gimme Some Truth. How does that story go again about the rehearsals for Lennon’s “Double Fantasy” album? And for Gimme Some Truth a special guest jumps onto the scene: Sex Pistols guitarist Steve Jones. By the way, Zander comes close to the “Lennonesque” several times, especially in parts where the vocal delivery is armed with a reverb effect. Light Up the Fire might even be the heaviest song of the band’s entire career. It’s an open question whether Cheap Trick will ever get this close to metal again. With a tried-and-true songwriting formula that once again doesn’t let them down for a second, the band has cleverly put together the running order. It gives the album an exceptional dynamic flow, with moods constantly flipping. The most striking stretch is the middle of the album, where Cheap Trick charge through the standout Boys & Girls & Rock ‘N’ Roll, followed right away by The Party and the aforementioned Final Days. Then comes the outstanding ballad So It Goes, and the oil on the fire arrives next with the freshly sharpened rock ‘n’ roll penetrator Light Up The Fire. The album grabs the listener and holds them tight. It spins by in a flash. And it’s fun the whole way through. Lucid, packed with a brilliant dose of bad-boy attitude, and with moments of bitterness and longing too. If you’re the chilly sort, In Another Day will warm you up easily, even in the deepest freeze.
Cheap Trick remain great masters of their musical craft. They’ve once again brilliantly and slyly repackaged their tried-and-true “cheap tricks” into yet another limitlessly igniting story of their very own musical confession. Over the years they haven’t given an inch. Not in performance, not in vibe, not in songwriting. “In Another World” is another moment and another timeless act, if not an act of immortality. Had it come out in the seventies, they’d have stamped it “absolute novelty,” but today the term “timelessness” will “just” do.
Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Track list:
01. Here Comes The Summer
02. Quit Waking Me Up
03. Another World
04. Boys & Girls & Rock N Roll
05. The Party
06. Final Days
07. So It Goes
08. Light Up The Fire
09. Passing Through
10. Here’s Looking At You
11. Another World Reprise
12. I’ll See You Again
13. Gimme Some Truth
Lineup:
Robin Zander – vocals
Rick Nielsen – guitar
Tom Petersson – bass guitar
Daxx Nielsen – drums
Guest musicians:
Tim Lauer – keyboards
Bennett Salvay – keyboards
Jimmy Hall – harmonica
Steve Jones – guitar on track no. 13
Robin Taylor Zander – additional guitars, backing vocals
