Cheap Trick/ Dream Police(1979)

As many of you now know late 1979 and heading into 1980 Kiss and Cheap Trick were my super duper fav acts! While we all know (except for me at the time)that Kiss’ career was starting to downward spiral Cheap Trick on the other hand were on top of the world so to speak!

Tricks Live At The Budokan blew the doors off many a stereo speaker in many a household back in 1979 so much so that the record company suits had to sit on Dream Police for a year as it was finished but as Budokan was selling zillions of copies Dream Police was not released until the Budokan album slowed down. It must have been a good feeling for those wacky Tricksters to know they had a completely finished album in the can and didn’t have to worry about anything other than playing I Want You To Want Me to screaming chicks while cashing some big paycheques along the way….

Dream Police when it was released i was onboard and this was my first Trick studio album and second owned Trick(Budokan of course being the first!) album.

I loved Cheap Tricks deal i mean you had the two cool rock guys out front! That being Robin Zander(lead vocals and guitar) and Tom Petersson (bass)…

Than you had the two geeks in the dressed up nerd Rick Nielsen(guitar) and chain Smokin drummer who looks like he’s selling real estate Bun E Carlos(drums)…

Say what Ya want but the 2 geeks and the 2 cool dudes could play and write real catchy hard rock pop ditties…

Dream Police is that album….a well written slab of hard rock tunes crafted and performed well and to this day this album is still a solid ball of rock! Love the gatefold sleeve and lyrics included! These guys knew how to package a rock record!

Ello Kiddies…….

DREAM POLICE-well even if your not a ol school Tricker you know this tune and it’s the title and lead off track and the Tricks lay down the law! Big sweeping driving tune mixed with the synth that propels the song along at a nice clip! Rick Neilsen the dorkie looking guitarist could write great songs and up to this point he was doing just that! Of course having a great vocalist in Robin Zander also helps! Zander for me is the reason I have always liked Trick! Dream Police the song here has that middle part with just Nielsen yapping and playing the creepy part of a creeper while Tom drives the bass and well poor Nielsen he gets persecuted by the judge an jury and before he’s hauled off to the clink he wobbles out a classic guitar solo. The song ends with big bombastic symphony like sounds while Bun E plows the song forward on his drums! Watch the clip I posted of the Tricks playing Dream Police live on there 1980 Tour! The sound is raw,loud and it’s real cool it’s filmed in black n white! Crank it! Bonus points for Bun E sporting a double bass kit and smoking ..hahahaha…

WAY OF THE WORLD-It’s  The Way Of The World! This is a great song with real good  verses and a real good chorus! They even have symphonic like strings weaving in and out to enhance the sound! Driving tempo keeps the album moving on all cylinders!

THE HOUSE IS ROCKIN(Domestic Disturbance)-“He Said…She Said” The House is Rockin indeed! The guitar drives this tune along with the drums while the bass jives  up and down the neck!  It’s a good rocking number! Straight ahead late night rock romper with all the trimmings of a hard rockers delight with a great chorus and vocal by Zander!

GONNA RAISE HELL-9 minutes of Tom Peterssons 4 or is 8 or is it 12 string Hamer Bass that he fuzzes the vinyl grooves out at the beginning of the song when he’s locked in tight with Bun E on the drums! I think when i got this album back in 79 I had never heard a studio song so long  before in my life! Of course later on in life thru the help of my old friend John Young I learnt that Zep,Floyd and Skynryd and others did do over 9 minutes tunes but hey folks at the time I was (age 13)subscribing to the Kiss Army where the direct order was tunes no longer than 3.5 minutes and they could only be done long if they were in a live album entailing a drunk guitar solo(Shock Me/Kiss Alive 2) or  a coked induced drum solo(100,000 Years/Kiss Alive or God Of Thunder/Kiss Alive 2) take Yer pick! Gonna Raise Heeeeeeeell sings Robin and he sings it in different tones and man i dig the bass on this song! Tom Weman produced this album and of course he did those Crue albums in the 80s that sound like crap but man on Dream Police,Tommys cooking the sonics nicely….

I’LL BE WITH YOU TONIGHT-this is a great never talked about track than again these guys have a ton of these songs as everyone always focuses on I Want You To Want Me all the time fair enough but dig deeper into then archives of the Cheap and that’s no Trick!

VOICES-a smattering of Voices start well Voices! Slow strummer of a song and this is where Zander pulls off the double duty of not only singing straight ahead rockers but mid tempoish tunes! Voices has a nice blend of acoustic,electric,pedal steel mixed in the back,strings and the song is not wimpy as Bun E floats the boat with his drums!

WRITING ON THE WALL-Trick ramps it up and this is a ass kicker of a track! Wowzers even Trick name drop Canada in the tune along with the Midwest and well of course Tokyo and lookie lookie they even sample there opening of the Budokan album during the middle of the tune! Snappy tune many a time change and toss in some percussion at the end!

I KNOW WHAT I WANT-Bass guy Tom takes the lead vocal on this track and it ramps up in the chorus when Robin joins in and hey we got some handclaps going on in them sonics! This is a good song. Tom has a different kinda vocal while Rick peels off a nice solo…

NEED YOUR LOVE- this tune made its debut on the Budokan album. This song builds off of Buns drums and the guitars along with Toms fuzzed up 12 string Hamer bass and Zander delivers a real great vocal! Need your love……looooooooooooove! The song as I had mentioned builds up to a huge jam out rock n sock em jam out! Ricks out of control at the end while the rest of the guys hold it down …song ramps up..chills out Ramps up….a classic!

IN CONCLUSION-Dream Police just flat out rocks! Too many people got hooked on the opening tune man get past it as there are many a Gems on here! Trick delivers all the goods here and check back on Friday when I spitball in words out another Trick album that is soooooooo good that many don’t know of it’s existence!