Ah-ha...Cheap Trick Lives!

jnbass · Post by **jnbass** » Sun Mar 19, 2006 1:56 pm

my baby loves to rock!

studiotwosession · Post by **studiotwosession** » Sun Mar 19, 2006 2:02 pm

>>They have always put out great music <<

They fell off a cliff after Dream Police. Petersson quit because he refused to play Baby Love's to Rock (I give the guys an A for integrity.) When AC/DC was riding high, Nielsen all but renounced pop (unfortunate because they were one of the best at putting a good song across) yet they came crawling back to it, unfortunately, in the form of the Flame.

pekka · Post by **pekka** » Sun Mar 19, 2006 2:29 pm

"Petersson quit because he refused to play Baby Love's to Rock"?

I don't think that was the reason for his departure. He was fed up with touring and wanted to do his own stuff. Nielsen played the bass on "BLTR" because Tom was abroad with his wife.

There's some great popsongs on "Next Position Please" like "I Can't Take It". Great album and maybe their best from the "dark eighties" besides "All Shook Up".

BTW, he played a 4001 on "Stop This Game". Very "Rain"-esque sound.

studiotwosession · Post by **studiotwosession** » Sun Mar 19, 2006 3:17 pm

Tom was abroad with his wife because All Shook Up he woudln't play on that song, no way no how. And that certainly might have something to do with a split, no? All Shook Up "great?" It certainly bombed and was their worst album to date.

atomic_punk · Post by **atomic_punk** » Sun Mar 19, 2006 3:18 pm

I thought that was interesting too, I always thought Dagmar drew him away from the band, not that he wouldn't play any certain song. Glenn, can you elaborate? I always thought that was a strange situation...

studiotwosession · Post by **studiotwosession** » Sun Mar 19, 2006 3:55 pm

Well, CT sorta made it big during the post modern US record industry way of burning out a band era...just running them ragged. The first artist to meet this fate was Frampton, who ironically also saw his career explode off of a live album. He was so burnt out, doing too much blow, and the label and management didnt' care. They just kept driving him. Like CT, he found himself with his first huge hit LP being all previously released material. Around this time, labels saw their acts could be global as never before. So, he and CT were put on the road endlessly, to tour the world and then tour it again, playing the same tunes (which were already year old or older tunes) night after night. Dream Police was long in the can before the label let them release it (and as a friend of mine who knows them said, a lot of the stuff on Dream Police was already years old.) They toured for Heaven Tonight and then Budokon (sp?) for like two and a half years, endlessly. And Nielsen seems to have taken some time off from writing (as I said, some D Police material went back to '76 or so, including the title track.) He had kids, bought a house, etc. And working like that, with no breaks and no time to be creative, it can just kill an act. By the time they got to work with G. Martin, either the well had run dry, and I remember at the time Rick seems to have been kinda defensive as it was all AC/DC and CT was being written off as bubblegum pop. So All Shook Up was just, to me at least, a lot of heavy garbage or their leftover pop tunes from earlier work. But really of course finely crafted pop is a lot harder to do than three chord headbanger screaming, and there were a million bands doing Quiet Riot at that time, anyway. So bam, they went from Madison Square Garden back to clubs. Tom really hated that material, but also he was just wacked from being ridden too hard for too long. Same thing happened to Elton John, fired two of his best guys, wigged out. Bad management, short sighted label, etc. Petersson was much more involved in the writing of the early albums. By ASU I think they were spending what time they were spending writing away from each other and it suffered for the lack of group effort. I met Tom and used to shop at a music store in LA in 82-83 that was run by a guy that knew him pretty well. He was selling a TON of his gear there, by the way, including his first Quadrabass.

atomic_punk · Post by **atomic_punk** » Sun Mar 19, 2006 5:00 pm

I know "I'll Be With You Tonight" was played in the clubs, and "Dream Police" was written long before but was missing a part.
You would think that working with George Martin would fire a band up, not bring them down. After all, as Tom Werman said "I wanted them to be the Who, they wanted to be the Beatles."

studiotwosession · Post by **studiotwosession** » Sun Mar 19, 2006 6:43 pm

I know the Who was the most influential band with CT, and the Move. Dream Police I always thought was, at least in verses, the bridge of Behind Blue Eyes. And yes, the club version was quite different. But they were big into the Who. My friend in Chgo first saw them in '74 and has been friends with Bun E. since then. He had doubles of Bun E's pics taken when the latter was hanging out with the Who at a Chgo gig in '69.

atomic_punk · Post by **atomic_punk** » Sun Mar 19, 2006 7:26 pm

I loved a lot of their early club stuff like "Disco Paradise" and "Violins" and stuff like that....the first album was great! I wish they could have stayed truer to that stuff.
Any of that early stuff you care to share...you have my email, I'd love it!

pekka · Post by **pekka** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 1:15 am

I wouldn't call an album featuring songs like "Stop This Game", "Just Got Back" and "The World's Greatest Lover" garbage. Surely "ASU" has some weird stuff but so did the earlier albums. And Tom hating that stuff? I don't think so, at least he enjoyed making the album with Martin and Emerick because "they loved the bass"

ajish4 · Post by **ajish4** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 1:25 am

Hey Fred,

Sorry, I just had some time on my hands and went back to read the start of this thread, I didn't see your pics until just now.

COOL pictures! I too have Photoshop but I can't even get a picture resized for the forum,

I'm amazed at work like yours, I consider myself lucky when I can get my e-mail to work!

12stringbassist · Post by **12stringbassist** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 5:05 am

I quite like the 'All Shook Up' album. 'Go for the throat (Use your own imagination)' has one of the best bass parts ever recorded since 'The real me' by The Who.

I slightly doubt TP refused to play on 'Baby loves to rock', as I think they have done it since with him on bass. He also cheerfully plays a lot of other stuff that comes from the period when he was out of the band.

The main problem appeared to be that Dagmar (TP's now EX-wife) apparently started telling Tom that he should be the singer and frontman, etc. Obviously she had BAD EARS! CT quite correctly keep a dignified and tactful silence on all this in-band business.

They went off and recorded a mini album together, under the name of Tom Petersson and Another Language. It apparently stunk and disappeared quite quickly.

Tom is a great bassist and certainly the best bassist for CT. But his vocals are on a par with Rick Nielsens! Not that hot... Tom demo'ed the vocals for their classic 'Voices' and apparently the results were best described as hilarious.

I'm quite glad he's back in the band.

If I recall correctly, 'Dream Police' used to be called 'Ultramental' and large sections of that were rewritten to make up the song we know and love now.

The actual RN song 'All shook up' remains unreleased, though they did play a fantastic version of the Elvis song on a tribute TV show.

There is a third and final CT song preview from the album on the official CT forum. I'll try to post a link when I get home - I can't view it at work.

atomic_punk · Post by **atomic_punk** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 5:24 am

ASU is actually one of my favorite CT albums, maybe because it is different, I love it. I kinda dig stuff like "High Priest of Rhythmic Noise".

atomic_punk · Post by **atomic_punk** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 5:34 am

Ian, I used to have the TP album, and it did suck.

studiotwosession · Post by **studiotwosession** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 5:59 am

I don't agree that Neilsen is a weak singer. He's demoed stuff where he sounds like he could sing more than capable lead.

>>I slightly doubt TP refused to play on 'Baby loves to rock<<

Right. He just said it for no reason. As Tom Petty wrote "you can belive what you wanna belive."

'C'mon, with a chorus of "my baby loves to rock, my baby loves to roll" how could it NOT be true.

I mean, if the tune was an Alex Chilton kind of thing, where you could tell it was kidding around, then it could have been funny. But, sadly, it wasn't.

>>He also cheerfully plays a lot of other stuff that comes from the period when he was out of the band. <<

Maybe he needs to pay the rent.