Cheap Trick's foray into the 1980s, All Shook Up, is a unique and challenging record. Occasionally, very occasionally, the material is not up to the demands it places on the listener - or upon the band itself - but for the adventurous, it more than rewards repeated spins. It also occupies the same sort of territory as albums like Fleetwood Mac's Tusk or the Beastie Boys' Paul's Boutique as works that were harshly attacked by many upon their release. And like those two examples, All Shook Up continues to make fools of its critics.
After three consecutive records produced by Tom Werman (save the live Cheap Trick at Budokan), for its fifth studio album the band turned over the reins to legendary Beatles producer, George Martin and Martin’s longtime engineer, Geoff Emerick. Given the band’s undeniable reliance on Fab Four sensibilities, the pairing made perfect sense. Ironically, in many ways the resulting album is one of their least Beatle-esque, though certainly it bears a significant Lennon/McCartney sway. More surprising still, All Shook Up is most satisfying when it pushes past the influences, establishes new voices, and adds to the band’s expanding and impressive sonic palette.
The opener, “Stop This Game,” fades in on a sustained piano note not dissimilar to the crescendo that closes “A Day in the Life.” That’s really where the comparison ends, as Robin Zander soars into the picture with a bravura performance that showcases his range and power, as well as his ever-increasing confidence and control. Martin punctuates Nielsen’s punch-drunk riff with a heavy dose of strings, horns, and piano; Tom Petersson’s bass is deft and nuanced; and Bun E. Carlos keeps the whole package from coming unwound. Fading out on the same note that carries it in, “Stop This Game” gives way to the brilliant “Just Got Back,” which clocks in at a hair over two minutes and is a marvel of compressed energy. Nielsen’s scratchy hook propels the listener through a cryptic tale of crime gone wrong. It has since become a live favorite among die-hard and casual fans, alike, giving Robin Zander the chance to make several vocal costume changes. “Baby Loves to Rock” rounds out the opening hat trick. With a foundation reminiscent of Elvis’s “All Shook Up,” “Baby Loves to Rock” is a smart, hard rocking paean to his baby’s veracious carnal appetite.
Nielsen makes no effort to hide his affection for John Lennon on the elegantly ethereal “World’s Greatest Lover,” and the result is possibly the band’s best ballad. Frequently and ignorantly dismissed as shallow bravado, its stately melody is saturated to perfection with a rich, full orchestral arrangement over which Robin Zander delivers a doomed soldier's heartrending farewell. Nielsen has said the song was written from the perspective of a man facing certain death in a war-torn foxhole, with the words intended for the lover he fears (or knows) he'll never see again. Knowing this makes the defiant declaration, "I'm comin' home, Darlin', Darlin'" all the more moving.
Other standouts include the maniacal, Who-inspired “Go for the Throat (Use Your Own Imagination)," on which Tom Petersson and Bun E. Carlos deliver a tag-team performance that is jaw-droppingly good; the straightforward heaviness of “Love Comes-a-Tumblin’ Down,” and “I Love You Honey but I Hate Your Friends." The former borrows liberally from Jimmy Page borrowing liberally from Chuck Berry, while the latter is the best Rod Stewart song he never recorded. A couple of missteps (“High Priest of Rhythmic Noise” goes nowhere and the closer, Bun E. Carlos’s drum-o-rama, “Who d’King” is pure filler) mar what is otherwise a solid and successful experiment.
Sadly, Petersson left the band after recording was finished and the relatively disappointing sales (it achieved “only” gold status, peaking at No. 24 on the Billboard album chart) led to a long period of discord with Epic Records and marked the end of the band’s mass commercial appeal (save the brief resurgence in the wake of “The Flame” in 1988). All Shook Up is the sound of a band in transition and which, at that time, was unafraid to take some risks and stray from what had started to become a somewhat formulaic approach to making records. Does it achieve all its goals? Of course not; the most daring albums seldom do. But, if you have a taste for albums that don't immediately deliver the payoff, you will be hard pressed to find a more worthy feast.
After three consecutive records produced by Tom Werman (save the live Cheap Trick at Budokan), for its fifth studio album the band turned over the reins to legendary Beatles producer, George Martin and Martin’s longtime engineer, Geoff Emerick. Given the band’s undeniable reliance on Fab Four sensibilities, the pairing made perfect sense. Ironically, in many ways the resulting album is one of their least Beatle-esque, though certainly it bears a significant Lennon/McCartney sway. More surprising still, All Shook Up is most satisfying when it pushes past the influences, establishes new voices, and adds to the band’s expanding and impressive sonic palette.
The opener, “Stop This Game,” fades in on a sustained piano note not dissimilar to the crescendo that closes “A Day in the Life.” That’s really where the comparison ends, as Robin Zander soars into the picture with a bravura performance that showcases his range and power, as well as his ever-increasing confidence and control. Martin punctuates Nielsen’s punch-drunk riff with a heavy dose of strings, horns, and piano; Tom Petersson’s bass is deft and nuanced; and Bun E. Carlos keeps the whole package from coming unwound. Fading out on the same note that carries it in, “Stop This Game” gives way to the brilliant “Just Got Back,” which clocks in at a hair over two minutes and is a marvel of compressed energy. Nielsen’s scratchy hook propels the listener through a cryptic tale of crime gone wrong. It has since become a live favorite among die-hard and casual fans, alike, giving Robin Zander the chance to make several vocal costume changes. “Baby Loves to Rock” rounds out the opening hat trick. With a foundation reminiscent of Elvis’s “All Shook Up,” “Baby Loves to Rock” is a smart, hard rocking paean to his baby’s veracious carnal appetite.
Nielsen makes no effort to hide his affection for John Lennon on the elegantly ethereal “World’s Greatest Lover,” and the result is possibly the band’s best ballad. Frequently and ignorantly dismissed as shallow bravado, its stately melody is saturated to perfection with a rich, full orchestral arrangement over which Robin Zander delivers a doomed soldier's heartrending farewell. Nielsen has said the song was written from the perspective of a man facing certain death in a war-torn foxhole, with the words intended for the lover he fears (or knows) he'll never see again. Knowing this makes the defiant declaration, "I'm comin' home, Darlin', Darlin'" all the more moving.
Other standouts include the maniacal, Who-inspired “Go for the Throat (Use Your Own Imagination)," on which Tom Petersson and Bun E. Carlos deliver a tag-team performance that is jaw-droppingly good; the straightforward heaviness of “Love Comes-a-Tumblin’ Down,” and “I Love You Honey but I Hate Your Friends." The former borrows liberally from Jimmy Page borrowing liberally from Chuck Berry, while the latter is the best Rod Stewart song he never recorded. A couple of missteps (“High Priest of Rhythmic Noise” goes nowhere and the closer, Bun E. Carlos’s drum-o-rama, “Who d’King” is pure filler) mar what is otherwise a solid and successful experiment.
Sadly, Petersson left the band after recording was finished and the relatively disappointing sales (it achieved “only” gold status, peaking at No. 24 on the Billboard album chart) led to a long period of discord with Epic Records and marked the end of the band’s mass commercial appeal (save the brief resurgence in the wake of “The Flame” in 1988). All Shook Up is the sound of a band in transition and which, at that time, was unafraid to take some risks and stray from what had started to become a somewhat formulaic approach to making records. Does it achieve all its goals? Of course not; the most daring albums seldom do. But, if you have a taste for albums that don't immediately deliver the payoff, you will be hard pressed to find a more worthy feast.
