kung fu grippe

Cheap Trick - “In Color” (Albini Re-Recording, 1998)

“Come On, Come On” (1998 Version)

So, speaking of Cheap Trick.

The songs on Cheap Trick’s second album were mostly pretty great—certainly full of promise and craft. But ever since In Color’s 1977 release, everybody (including, perhaps most vocally, the band themselves) had complained that producer Tom Werman’s impotent, AM-radio-friendly mix didn’t do the material or the band’s paint-peeling live shows the justice they deserved.

It’s certainly no accident that the version of “I Want You to Want Me” that made Cheap Trick international stars was the blistering live version from At Budokan — rather than the anemic pop smear that got wiped onto the original In Color.

So, to some of the facts that are in evidence, via wikip:

In Color was re-recorded by the band in 1998 with producer Steve Albini. The band’s intention was to record the album on their own terms and for the songs to sound the way that they had originally intended. However, the album was never officially completed or released, but it was leaked onto the internet along with a handful of other tracks recorded during the same session.

Yes. Apparently, it was.

And, boy. Wow. What do you say about the results? Well, if you like Cheap Trick (and, sure, a handful of the worst and most unlovable humans do not), it’s hard not to go apeshit for this re-recording.

It’s a different record altogether, with the best and most muscular qualities of the band front and center in Albini’s famously dry and impeccably mic’d/engineered/mixed style.

Just in fairness to Mr. Werman, it would be a little cynical to present 20 year-old, road-seasoned material as “the way it was originally intended,” but that does nothing to diminish the level of improvement that this represents over the original record. They’re two completely different albums.

A bootleg treat for fans that I just can’t recommend highly enough.

Too bad for you guys that there’s no way to view the source that would guide you to finding your own copy of this great record. Too bad, indeed.

Anyhow. Me? Love Albini. Love, love, love, love, love, love, and especially love.

Now, if only he could persuade Metallica to ~~re-record~~ ~~re-mix~~ ~~re-master~~ re-everything (but the actual songwriting) on …And Justice for All. Boner City, my friends. Boner City.