Retro Review: In Color, by Cheap Trick

The 1970s, a decade of even louder rock & roll than the previous decade was capable of delivering.  This one decade brought along novel concepts, such as nostalgia in music, as heard in Don McLean's timeless classic "American Pie"; the first benefit concert, disco music was all the rage, and the idea of a live two-record album was born.

In the midst of all of the loud rock & roll teenagers listened to at that time was a band called Cheap Trick, Robin Zander on lead vocals and Rick Nielsen as lead guitarist. Their second studio album, In Color, produced by Tom Werman, was released just seven months after their debut studio album, Cheap Trick.  Though they failed to chart in the States, they had a fan base in Japan with these two albums.

The album starts out with a short but simple message:  Are you ready to rock?  Though it is a rhetorical question to this day for the lifetime rock music followers, it is a great way to start off an album in the late '70s.  What makes me drool are the sound effects.  It's just to make sure you're "all ears." because the songs ahead are going to blow your ears and your mind.

The quality of the music only gets better.  

Of course, you can't forget the immortal "I Want You To Want Me."  Sadly, this song didn't receive any favorable attention or ratings until the Live in Budokan album a few years later.  And the rest, they say, is history.

This one album has the sounds I have always loved about Cheap Trick:  loud but simple guitar melodies, vocals, and drum patterns.  It's the type of music I can play for days and years on end without ceasing.  The simplicity of this music is heard in such songs as "Southern Girls" and "Clock Strikes Ten." That latter song, and many more that were to come from Cheap Trick, makes me feel forever young.  

Another trait about 70s rock music that I consider unusual is, rock bands recording at least one disco song.  Hey! If the Rolling Stones and KISS did it, why shouldn't Cheap Trick, right?  "You're All Talk" has a raw disco-esque rhythm, combined with vocals of the same kind to appropriately and simultaneously contrast and fuse with the beat.

Though it has taken me 40 years for my ears to be graced with this album, I'm glad to have spent the summer listening especially to Cheap Trick, especially the songs I had never heard, most of which are on this one album.  Am I ready to rock?  Well, even more so; I know you are, too.