Deep Purple and Cheap Trick

Honestly, Manny, if you want the best CT stuff, just get the box set - Sex, America, Cheap Trick. It has all the really good stuff on it with only a couple of exceptions (Downed and Standing on the Edge come to mind).

The classics are Heaven Tonight, Dream Police, All Shook Up, One on One and, of course, Live at Budokan. Thing is, most of their really good songs were spread out across a number of records. Even records like In Color that weren't big hits had I Want You to Want Me, Downed, Come On Come On and Clock Strikes Ten. There really isn't one that sticks out as being their best record ever.

That's why I think the box set would be a good start.

 

I had to push it back to late August or early September. I've got a bunch of work to do on the house, so that has to get done first.

 

I love Deep Purple.

My favorite Deep Purple albums are Machine Head, Perfect Strangers, and The House of Blue Light (the latter being their underrated foray into late 80's style metal).

I also downloaded some of the live Soundboard bootlegs (Hong Kong & Japan) and they were awesome.

 

Manny, there is a common thread amongst these two bands that you may not be aware of. Neither enjoyed wide-spread popularity until they released live albums - oddly enough, both recorded in Japan. CT's Budokan and DP's Made in Japan. All of which makes me want to post a favorite 'Live LP' thread.

Anyway, While liking both bands, I have never been head-over-heels...

I suppose Machine Head is the DP lp to point to (it is very good, as are Fireball and Made in Rock), but I like MIJ better (that is the one with the definitive radio played version of Smoke on the Water, btw). Highway Star is a particular stand out. Like CT (as Jeff aludes), I found DP lp's to be rather uneven, yet damned if my favorite of theirs is not 'Burn' - inspite of my wish that Coverdale should instead 'Burn' in Hell, that is.

I saw Cheap Trick (in support of their 1st lp) as they happened to be backing up The Kinks duiring their 'School Boys in Disgrace' tour. I basically just wanted to fight them - what a bunch of clowns.

That said, I really must admit a great liking to Budakan where their blend of sugary hooks and surpsingly crafty guitar work made me a grudging fan. Take Jeffs advice and buy the box set.

 

Perfect Strangers is my favorite DP Album.

Never got into Cheap Trick, but I remember hearing the "All Shook Up" album (produced by none other than George Martin-the fifth Beatle) played everyday for 2 weeks when it came out. (gotta love life in a dorm)

 

I remember the Deep Purple Perfect strangers tour at the summit. I sat down and this old guy next to me said aren't you a little young to be here (I was 16 or so and I said aren't you a little old to be here. He passed me a joint and we enjoyed the show.

 

I got a great Deep Purple story! Prolly told it here before (oh well)....

In the summer of 1981, I was working in the mail room at Fluor in between semesters at UT. Two guys that I worked with were metal fans, and they had heard on KLOL that Deep Purple was going to play at the old Music Hall downtown. We were all under the impression that Deep Purple was broken up (since Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow had recently been on the road) but we couldn't pass it up, so we got tickets.

We get to the show, and there are signs before you enter the arena that NO FOOD OR BEVERAGES ARE ALLOWED IN THE SEATING AREA. That's strange, we thought...other concerts we'd been to there allowed food and drink in the seating area. Weird.

We walk in, get to our seats, and the lights go down. Big fanfare music with a huge British flag as the stage backdrop. The band hits the stage, the spotlights go on....and it's five impostors, impersonating Deep Purple. People started booing and walking up to the stage with middle fingers raised. By the third song, half the Music Hall was empty.

A couple of weeks later I found out what had happened. Deep Purple's original manager and singer, both fired well before Deep Purple hit it big, somehow gained ownership of the "brand name", hired a bunch of California youngster musicians, and hit the road through the southern US as Deep Purple. The guitar player even played a white Stratocaster and everything! The tour ended after about 3 weeks when Richie Blackmore heard about it and got his lawyer's butt in gear. Rolling Stone had a story about it a few weeks later. Definitely the strangest concert experience I've ever had.

 

Since we already discussed DP in chat, I'll not bother rehashing it..

but I am surprised to see that my fellow rivithead(aceshigh) and BobFinn* both agree with me about Perfect Strangers...

which is amazing to me cause I thought I was the only one that really liked that album.

also secodn (or third) Jeff's suggestion to go for the boxset for Trick...their albums were kinda inconsistent...each album always had two or three good songs, two or three ok songs, and the rest were kinda blah...there were enough really good songs so that unless they did a double album of greatest hits, they would end up leaving some must-haves off the album.

 

I guess the boxed set is a good place to start. I don't really ever listen to boxed sets though, I usually prefer albums, that goes for any band.

I rarely listen to anything outside of their 1st three albums, along with Budokan (make sure you get "Budokan: The Complete Concert", not the original "Live at Budokan"). Check out the AMG reviews of their 1st three, they seem pretty decent. They used to sell all three together for like 20 bucks - I don't think they do anymore (you'd want the remastered versions anyway). The first three are really not all that much alike either - the first one is almost punk, "In Color" is pure power pop (maybe the best PP album of all-time in fact), and "Heaven Tonight" is sort of a mix of those two, I guess. They do have hits spread out over like 20 years, but if you want the real Cheap Trick, what people mean when they talk about how great and influential they are, I'd go with the first 3 albums. (Just a quick note that the version of "I Want You to Want Me" you're probably familiar with is not on "In Color" - it was the live version on "Budokan" that made them huge I believe)

I guess one thing about them though that could be good or bad, is that you can just like the 'hits' and maybe not be into a lot of the album stuff. The first album is probably definitely not what a casual fan is expecting when they think 'Cheap Trick'.

Doubtful you will find another band in rock-n-roll with the catalogue and influence (Smashing Pumpkins opened for them a few years back for multiple club shows, they like them that much) of Cheap Trick that is more underrated.

 

The first Record I ever owned that wasn't Sesame Street-based was:



IMO, the best two Cheap Trick songs haven't even been mentioned yet.

Indisputably, their best song was "Surrender". "She's Tight" is a very close second.

Make sure you burn a CD looping these two songs, and you'll be golden.

 

This was my first record of any kind, and yes I still own it:

 

My favorite Deep Purple song is Highway Star. Way better, IMO, than Smoke on the Water (not nearly as cliche). If you see them live, the guitar player they are touring with is Steve Morse. That guy is probably the best electric guitar player on the planet. He is amazingly versed in a ton of styles and is proficient in all of them (rock, jazz, country, classical). His technique is amazing and he's a nice guy to boot. I've seen him a couple of times as a solo act and he is one of my favorite guitar players.

I also shook Robin Zandar's hand once. When I was in radio, our station (Z-107.5) was a sponser of the Freedom Festival at Buffalo Bayou park on July 4th. One year Cheap Trick was playing and we did a contest called "Show Us Your "Z" where the person with the best Z-107 logo (as seen from the stage) would get to watch Cheap Trick from the stage.

We picked a winner and walked over to them and it's this long haired, toothless, tatoo'd dude. He randomly picked some girl who was nearby to be his "date" and we took them backstage to meet Rick Nielson. It was kind of funny because Rick was totally NOT interested in meeting the contest winner but instead zoomed staight onto that girl he grabbed. Interestingly she didn't even know who Cheap Trick was (young and into Country music apparently) and was not interested in Rick (she looked like she didn't even care).

Anyways, my job was to "escort" the winners on stage as Cheap Trick played in order to make sure they didn't do anything stupid like run out onto the stage (they were well behaved). After Cheap Trick was done, Robin Zander walked by me and just randomly shook my hand and said "thank you very much". Weird. I guess he's learned over the years to be nice to everyone "just in case..."

 

A damn good thing to learn, I might add!

 

Well...... my first "single" 45 was: Bay City Rollers: "Saturday Night", and Shaun Cassidy "Da Doo Run Run".

 

"Goin to see the Rollers.....got a ticket for the Bay City Rollers"