And In Black and White
or, How an Unplanned Trip to Dollar General Made My Night
On the way home from work tonite, the fiance announced that we needed to stop by Dollar General to pick up a couple of things. A couple of things turned into several things, and we ended up being there much longer than planned (in fairness, we had planned to be there for two minutes, so fifteen minutes wasn't that long). It wasn't the way I envisioned kicking off my Monday evening, but in wandering the aisles, I found a copy of Cheap Trick's second album, In Color, for a mere five bucks. And not the old busted original pressing. No, this was the remastered version with bonus tracks. Score!
Cheap Trick is one of those bands I've loved forever, but for whatever reason never became a completist about them. My collection of their stuff started when I was ten and I bought the single of "Stop This Game" at the University Mall in Spokane (I've still got it in a box somewhere around this place). My first album of theirs was One On One, the purchase of which was surely inspired by countless viewings of the "She's Tight" video on MTV. It won't go down as one of the greatest videos in rock history, but God, that riff!!! In the years since then, the collection has grown to half a dozen or so CDs, so obviously there are still some holes to fill.
Anyway, if you find yourself at a Dollar General with Lincoln burning a hole in your pocket in the next few weeks (or online with a couple bucks more in your wallet), I strongly suggest you pick up In Color. "Hello There" is one of the greatest rockers to ever open an album, "Downed" is pure pop perfection, and it also has the surprisingly wussy studio version of "I Want You To Want Me." And among the bonus tracks, you'll find this...
Cheap Trick - "Southern Girls (Demo)" (mp3) from In Color
Now if you'll excuse me, I'll get back to what I was doing before I started this post... plotting my trip to Las Vegas next month to see Cheap Trick do Sgt. Pepper live.
On the way home from work tonite, the fiance announced that we needed to stop by Dollar General to pick up a couple of things. A couple of things turned into several things, and we ended up being there much longer than planned (in fairness, we had planned to be there for two minutes, so fifteen minutes wasn't that long). It wasn't the way I envisioned kicking off my Monday evening, but in wandering the aisles, I found a copy of Cheap Trick's second album, In Color, for a mere five bucks. And not the old busted original pressing. No, this was the remastered version with bonus tracks. Score!
Cheap Trick is one of those bands I've loved forever, but for whatever reason never became a completist about them. My collection of their stuff started when I was ten and I bought the single of "Stop This Game" at the University Mall in Spokane (I've still got it in a box somewhere around this place). My first album of theirs was One On One, the purchase of which was surely inspired by countless viewings of the "She's Tight" video on MTV. It won't go down as one of the greatest videos in rock history, but God, that riff!!! In the years since then, the collection has grown to half a dozen or so CDs, so obviously there are still some holes to fill.
Anyway, if you find yourself at a Dollar General with Lincoln burning a hole in your pocket in the next few weeks (or online with a couple bucks more in your wallet), I strongly suggest you pick up In Color. "Hello There" is one of the greatest rockers to ever open an album, "Downed" is pure pop perfection, and it also has the surprisingly wussy studio version of "I Want You To Want Me." And among the bonus tracks, you'll find this...
Cheap Trick - "Southern Girls (Demo)" (mp3) from In Color
Now if you'll excuse me, I'll get back to what I was doing before I started this post... plotting my trip to Las Vegas next month to see Cheap Trick do Sgt. Pepper live.
Labels: b-sides
