Recent Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame inductees Cheap Trick have been making music for over 40 years. Bang, Zoom Crazy Hello their 17th studio album is their first without co-founder Bun E. Carlos and first with Daxx Nielsen (son of guitarist Rick) is a very nice mix of everything that is great about the Trick.
This Record Store Day release offered the new 10” EP Found New Parts – a reference to their last 10” EP Found All The Parts. It's a four song-sampler from their new album. “When I Wake Up Tomorrow” sounds vocally like a David Bowie track and is a great recording. “No Direction Home” & “Do Yo Believe Me” reference Cheap Trick referencing The Beatles. “Arabesque” is repetitive and riffy and only appears on the Japanese version of the album.
The EP works as both a nice little sampler and a nice collectors piece for fans of the band.
Here's the video review:
Special thanks to: Bun E. Carlos and Big Machine Records.
Goo Goo Dolls are most famous for their hits "Name", "Iris" and "Slide". However, several years before all of these name-making hits, the band were a ratty, bratty, thrashy punk band. They'd first released Goo Goo Dolls (Mercenary/1987) and Jed (Metal Blade/1989), but really hit their stride on their third album, the first to be distributed by Warner Brothers, Hold Me Up. It was on this album that guitarist Johnny Rzeznik (aka Johnny Goo), sings lead on four (and co-lead on "Hey") of the songs on the album. Bassist Robby Takac (aka Robby Goo) was the lead lead singer on the band's first two albums (okay, Johnny sang two of the songs on Jed), however, Johnny undeniably assumed the role of front man/lead singer by the time of the band's fifth album (and multiple-platinum release) A Boy Named Goo.
I first discovered this band in late 1990 with the video/single for "There You Are" on MTV's 120 Minutes. I saw the band live before I'd heard the album, and was completely blown-away. The album did not disappoint when I did in fact hear it. The influence of The Replacements, Cheap Trick, Hüsker Dü and The Ramones are evident throughout the album. The singles, "There You Are" and "Just The Way You Are" are highlights. The two covers (Prince's "I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man" and The Plimsouls' "A Million Miles Away") are exceptionally rocking.Takac is responsible for a few of the albums' exceptional tracks; the intense Ramonesesque opener "Laughing", the amphetamine-rockabilly of "Out Of The Red" and minor-key-yet-optimistic "So Outta Line". The stalker song "Hey" could be a contender for best song on the album. The instrumental "Kevin's Song" is oddly the album's centerpiece and is kind of wonderful. The mid-tempo "You Know What I Mean" and the acoustic (the bands first acoustic song, a taste of the future) "Two Days In February" both appeared on the Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare soundtrack- as did the non-album single "I'm Awake Now".
If you think you know the Goo Goo Dolls and haven't heard this (or their early work), I highly suggest giving it a serious listen. It still holds up (no pun intended) as a great pop/punk album.
Great, tight playing and very fine material. Also Superstar Car Wash (the album that followed Hold Me Up) is definitely work a listen.
