CD: Cheap Trick - Next Position Please
Originally Released 1983
CD Edition Released June 1988
AMG EXPERT REVIEW: by Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Perhaps sensing something was going wrong, Cheap Trick hired superstar
producer Todd Rundgren for Next Position Please. Rundgren helped the
band return to the appealing pop/rock of their In Color days, albeit
stamping it with his heavy-handed production. However, Cheap Trick do
benefit from Rundgren's control, since it gives them a sense of focus
lacking on All Shook Up and One on One. Though the record was hampered
somewhat by Epic's insistence of adding a bad cover of the Motors'
terrific "Dancin' the Night Away" and the lightweight "You Say Jump,"
Next Position Please is effectively a return to form for Cheap Trick,
boasting their most consistent set of songs since Heaven Tonight. "I
Can't Take It," "Borderline," "Younger Girls," "Heaven's Falling," and
"Invaders of the Heart" may not quite reach the heights of the first
three albums, but they come within shooting distance, making Next
Position Please Cheap Trick's last satisfying record.
Amazon.com Customer Review
Next Producer Please, February 5, 2003
Reviewer: Timothy Brough "author and music buff" (Springfield, PA
United States)
Todd Rundgren's underproduction makes "Next Position Please" one of
the oddest in the Cheap Trick catolog. This album has absolutely no
zip! Some very strong Rick Nielsen songs are given a sound so thin,
it's almost sterile. If there was one thing Cheap Trick was never
meant to be, it was sterilized. And I may be one of the few men on the
planet who thinks that the decision to cover The Motors' "Dancing The
Night Away" was a good match for the band, even if the band swore they
hated it. Too bad the whole thing sounds like it was meant to be
played out of some tinny car AM radio.
On an up note, the band liked the songs here so much that FIVE of the
album's fourteen numbers made it to the "Sex America Cheap Trick"
collection, so that may tell you just how good the songwriting for
"Next Position Please" was. Maybe if this ever gets a remaster, the
band will take the time to fatten up the sound.
Amazon.com Customer Review
The pleasant early 80's surprise, April 27, 2004
Reviewer: William J. Eichelberger "Tainted deity" (Ft. Thomas, KY)
In the liner notes to the box set, Rick mentioned that I Can't Take It
was a number one hit down under and advised the American public to
wake up. It's a sentiment that I wholly agree with on one hand, but
also one that worries me on the other hand. After hitting the top 40
with the Dream Police and Voices from the Dream Police album, the band
suddenly found themselves in a top 40 slump that lasted until the Lap
Of Luxury vomit-fest. Despite four singles that seemed like sure fire
hits in the 1980-83 time period (Everything Works If You Let It, Stop
This Game, If You Want My Love, and I Can't Take It,) the band
couldn't break a song into the top 40. While this doesn't say much for
the musical tastes of the top 40 audience, it isn't really a bad thing
considering that the next Cheap Trick song to have a chart impact was
The Flame. Given the choice between the bowl-swirling nausea of Lap Of
Luxury and Busted, I'll take the early 80's near misses in a heartbeat.
Next Position Please and Heaven's Falling are two other songs from
this album that have made every compilation I've ever made.
Amazon.com Customer Review
Great Album For Anyone Who Hated "Lap of Luxury", April 1, 2004
Reviewer: Bud Sturguess (Seminole, Texas, USA)
On VH1's countdown of the 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock (Cheap
Trick landed at #25), respected sound engineer and recent CT producer
Rob Albini described the group's music as having "moments of rage and
ugliness and power...but there are also things about it that are
genuinely very pretty and elegant." This album is their "elegant" side
(or as elegant as a blistering power-pop band can get anyway).
Like all of their string of commercially-failed 80s albums, "Next
Position Please" is a real gem, and a worthwhile reward for anyone who
gives panned albums a chance. Renowned pop producing expert Todd
Rundgren was brought on board to man the switches, a move that many
say is to be given credit for the album's accessibility. On Cheap
Trick's previous "failed" album, "One On One," there were subtle hints
that their commercial slide was interfering with the confidence in
their music, but that's certainly not the case with "Next Position
Please." Cheap Trick sounds determined and focused, despite what shows
up in many CT bios. The title track sounds like it was written during
the band's glory days of the late 70s, and Rundgren's glossy
production actually works on 'Y.O.Y.O.Y.', 'I Can't Take It' (Trick at
their most sincere), and the album's best track, 'I Don't Love Here
Anymore' (which is complete with Beatles-like backing vocals). It's
also obvious that the group were trying to regain a younger, modern
audience with songs like 'You Talk To Much' and 'Heaven's Falling.' A
wildly left-center version of 'Dancing the Night Away' meanwhile, can
be seen as only Cheap Trick being their erratic, oddball selves.
Many complain that "Next Position Please" is much too pop-oriented to
sound like vintage Cheap Trick; but whoever thinks that can compare
this record to their 1988 'comeback' "Lap of Luxury," an album the
band members themselves criticize, in which the group was forced to
bring in outside songwriters. So in that light, "Next Position Please"
is the more Cheap Trick-sounding substitute for "Lap of Luxury." As
for this album's commercial stance, the next position for Cheap Trick
would be a disappointing peak at number 61.
Amazon.com Customer Review
Next Position....... Please?, November 26, 2003
Reviewer: Timothy N. Knight (Knoxville, TN United States)
Well, you would think that this was a match made in musical heaven. On
hindsight, given the excellent production that Rundgren afforded such
pop/metal exports as The Purssuit of Happiness the question mark grows
even larger. Being a big fan of Rockford's best export, upon release I
was hoping for the best. However, there was much trepidation since the
band had released the woefully compromised affairs since their
departure with producer Tom Werman; George Martin (The Beatles)and Roy
Thomas Baker (Queen). Who knows who's to blame here, but Next Position
Please sounds like a warm up to the real affair. "I Can't Take It"
jumps off the record with warmth, but lacks the punch that Cheap Trick
is known for. From there the band grinds through some fine tunes, none
of which really ever seem to get going. Fortunately, the band does
leap off the album for one very fine, penned by Todd song, "Heaven's
Falling". Even though the chord structures are atypical of Nielsen,
the Cheap Trick sound makes the song among one of the best they ever
committed to tape (What happened on the box set...that is another
story). Go buy it if you have everything Cheap Trick recorded up to
Dream Police, and may have stumbled on their last two studio relases,
Cheap Trick and Special One.
Amazon.com Customer Review
The Trick's Last (to Date) Great Album, August 26, 2003
Reviewer: "jd2002" (Seven Hills, OH United States)
As an avid collector of all of Cheap Trick's CD's, and having seen
them live over a dozen times...I believe I can consider myself a
fairly hardcore Trick fan. That said, this (as of Aug 2003, anyway)is
the last work from the group that can honestly be enjoyed all the way
through. The frequently maligned production by Rungren is different
for the Trick, but works well...giving them an even more Beatlesque
sound than on previous efforts. More to the point, almost every song
on this album is different, fun and blessed with great hooks. Best of
the lot are (oddly) a remake of The Motor's "Dancing the Night Away"
and "Heaven's Falling", a shimmering tune straight out of pop-rock
heaven.
If you are fairly slim on your Cheap Trick collection, this CD and
anything else they put out before would make fine selections. After
that, the group would drift aimlessly through the late eighties and
nineties with sellouts like "Lap of Luxury" (much of it written by
outside songwriting hacks like Diane "Syrup of Ipecac" Warren).
When they finally realized that they had sold their souls, CT went
back in 1997 for a self-titled effort that crashed and burned on
release. Sadly, the songwriting inspiration that began in the late
seventies ended after Next Position Please.
Amazon.com Customer Review
Great songs Produced All Wrong., July 19, 2002
Reviewer: Kevin OConnor (Florida)
"Next Position Please" is an interesting album. As far as songs go
there are some great ones on here. However, as far as production goes,
it is not so good. Todd Rundgren, who produced the album wanted to get
Cheap Trick away from Whoish-bomb-bast, and strip them down to
barebones. There are some moments where this works, like on, "Won't
Take No For an Answer," Invaders of the Heart," and the title track
but most of the time it just falls flat on it's face. What "Next
Postion Please" needed was stronger production, dare I say fuzzy
guitars, and fat walking basslines Instead we get washed out guitar
sounds, and tiney sounding bass lines. Having heard the majority of
these songs live I can say that they were made to be played loud, and
fast, not slow and restrained.(To see, or rather hear, what I mean
listen to the live version of "I Can't Take It, for 1999's Music for
Hangovers).
Also their label, Epic, started to flex their muscles on the creative
control aspects of things by forcing the band to cover The Motors'
"Dancing the Night Away." I believe it was either "record this song or
we shelve the album". I have heard the songs that were thrown off this
album for "Dancing the Night Away", and it just goes to prove that at
that time, and probably now, record execs have not a clue about what
is good and bad, only what they think will sell -- and most of the
time they are well off the mark on both. Maybe if record companies
like Epic nutured bands and tried to develop them instead of using the
assembly line approach with them, then the record industry would not
be in the sad and sorry state they it is in now. Anyhoo, this could
have been a classic, right up there with anything that the Rolling
Stones or the Beatles did if produced right, instead it is a mixed bag
of great songs produced wrong. I have always said that if Cheap Trick
could come out with an album of songs as good as the ones on Next
Position Please, with the strong production of All Shook Up, it would
be a wonder to behold, well check out their self titled album from
1997 to see what I mean.
Amazon.com Customer Review
This album lacks the cohesiveness of most Cheap Trick Albums, July 23,
1998
Reviewer: Mark Ostendorf (Ismay, MT USA)
This album is all over the place, and for that reason misses the mark.
A number of the punkish songs seem to be afterthoughts that were never
even finished, and should have been left in the studio. Y.O.Y.O.Y., a
very sappy ballad is an example of one of the bands ill-advised
realeases, that while it may show a little move on the charts, adds to
the public perception that the band lacks depth and songwriting
ability. As a result, a few excellent efforts were lost in the mess. A
small hit, "I Can't Take It" is one of the bands most unusual, and
talented songwriting efforts (attempt to play it yourself and see),
and has an addictive, dreamy and hypnotic sound. "Borderline" is a
lost gem, and I would rank it in my top 5 favorites by Cheap Trick. It
is filled with the same tremendous rhythmic guitar work as found in
"Can't Take It", filled with clever bridges that culminate in a guitar
solo that can only be described as "beautiful"! ;, and constitutes
some of Robin Zander's most challenging vocal work ever, from the
beginning to the very end. "Heaven's Falling", though predictable, is
a very pleasant pop song. Carlos as always, provides Cheap Trick's
signature steady, driving and leading drum work, which is solid even
on the numerous "half songs" on this scattered effort. This is likely
one of the records that critics refer to as "Cheap Trick's 10 years of
bad albums" My advice? Give it a listen, and like most of Cheap
Trick's albums, you'll find yourself liking something about it for
years to come.
Half.com Album Credits
Paul Klingberg, Engineer
Todd Rundgren, Engineer
Album Notes
Cheap Trick: Robin Zander (vocals); Rick Nielsen (guitar, keyboards);
John Brant (bass); Bun E. Carlos (drums, cymbals).
Producers: Todd Rundgren, Cheap Trick, Ian Taylor.
Recorded at Utopia Sound Studio, Woodstock, New York.
This was Cheap Trick's third album in a row made with a high profile
producer identified with a specific sound--here it's Todd Rundgren,
previously it was George Martin, and before that Roy Thomas Baker. And
yet, the band sounds resolutely consistent. This is vintage Cheap
Trick and stylistically identical with classics like HEAVEN TONIGHT.
Granted, there are a few new wrinkles, notably Rick Neilsen's guitar
work on the opening "I Can't Take It," which appears to have absorbed
the influence of the Police's Andy Summers. Elsewhere, however, it's
melodic pop-rock business as usual, with "Y.O.Y.O.Y." (perhaps the
band's most breathtakingly ironic ballad), and the melodically
exquisite "Heaven's Falling" being particular standouts. YEAR: 1983
01. I Can't Take It [0:03:28.12]
02. Borderline [0:03:34.81]
03. I Don't Love Here Anymore [0:03:51.64]
04. Next Position Please [0:02:51.22]
05. Younger Girls [0:03:14.80]
06. Dancing The Night Away [0:04:58.24]
07. You Talk To Much [0:01:55.89]
08. 3-D [0:03:37.73]
09. You Say Jump [0:03:06.73]
10. Y.O.Y.O.Y. [0:04:54.93]
11. Won't Take No For An Answer [0:03:13.77]
12. Heaven's Falling [0:03:48.00]
13. Invaders Of The Heart [0:04:00.08]
14. Don't Make Our Love A Crime [0:03:44.06]