Archive for cheap trick at budokan album

Happy Birthday Bun E. Carlos of Cheap Trick!

Posted in 1970's hard rock, 1970's Rock, 1980's rock music, 1980's hard rock, classic rock, current hard rock albums, Drums, essential hard rock albums, essential rock albums, Hard Rock, hard rock drummers, hard rock guitarists, hard rock songs, live rock albums, Music, new hard rock album, Rock, rock & roll, rock and roll, rock celebrity birthdays, rock music, vintage hard rock albums, vintage rock albums with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on June 13, 2009 by Metal Odyssey

main-150-1Bun E. Carlos, drummer of Hard Rock legends, Cheap Trick, turned 58 Rockin’ years young today, (June 12, 2009). Metal Odyssey extends a huge Happy Birthday to Bun E. Carlos! I am not holding back when I say, I have been a fan of Cheap Trick since I was in 6th grade… (back in the late 1970’s)… when owning 8-track tapes of Cheap Trick was the norm and collecting Kiss trading cards was cool. I still get a cool kick from listening to Bun E. Carlos’s  classic drum intro, to the live track of “Ain’t That A Shame” off of the “at Budokan” album. Listening to Bun. E. Carlos over the years, I have never lost sight of the fact, that this drummer is as capable and talented as any other in Hard Rock history. Just give the album “Dream Police” a listen, especially the title track, you will hear Bun E. Carlos solidifying the song with precision. Bun E. Carlos has proven to me, it is not the glitz and glam that make a real Hard Rock drummer, it is the playing, the integrity in the musicianship that really matters. Many Hard Rock drummers have the look, yet they do not have half the talent with the drumsticks, like Mr. Carlos bestows. Bun E. Carlos is not an overnight sensation, this is a drummer that along with the entire Cheap Trick band… have paid their Hard Rock dues spanning three decades. 

Cheap Trick, as stated on the official Cheap Trick website, have achieved 40 gold and platinum recording awards, have more than 5,000 performances, 29 movie soundtracks and 20 million records sold. If I am not mistaken, this appears to be Hard Rock success and excellence, personified. 

I am Metal smitten that Robin Zander, Rick Nielsen, Tom Petersson and of course, Bun E. Carlos are still Rocking heavy and steady to this very day! Cheap Trick will be releasing yet another new album, adding more credence to an already storied and legendary career. As reported on the official Cheap Trick website, “The Latest” will be the new Cheap Trick album, with it’s release date set for June 23, 2009. Amazon.com will have exclusive rights in selling “The Latest” for one month. The official Cheap Trick website also states that limited editions of this album will be available on LP and 8-track tapes… that is correct… 8 -track tapes!! (Now that is what I call vintage). Thank you Bun E. Carlos and Cheap Trick for your incredible contributions to Rock and Hard Rock history… thank you for being a mainstay in my music listening life.

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Cheap Trick “At Budokan” – a vintage vinyl reunion

Posted in 1970's hard rock, Album Review, classic rock, essential hard rock albums, Hard Rock, hard rock album review, hard rock guitarists, hard rock songs, live rock albums, Metal, Music, Rock, rock & roll, rock and roll, rock music, rock music vocals, vintage hard rock albums, vintage live hard rock albums with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 22, 2009 by Metal Odyssey

I love perusing the local thrift stores. You just never know when you will make that Hard Rock or Heavy Metal find. Cheap Trick “At Budokan” was just that for me this past winter – a Hard Rock find. It was a dreary, cold and blustery winters day, I decided to venture to one of the local thrift shops that has been infamous for having many vintage vinyl albums available for sale – at fifty cents each!! As I entered the shop, I made my way towards the used CD and albums section… there it was… just sitting there, abandoned, found useless by a former owner. Cheap Trick “At Budokan”, in all of it’s vintage vinyl, Hard Rock glory! This live album was released in the U.S. in February of 1979. This album is a live Hard Rock masterpiece, in my Metal opinion. I saw, from just a few feet away, that this album was in near perfect condition too! The coast was clear, I made my move and Cheap Trick was in my hands. I have finally been reunited with my long lost Cheap Trick album!! Holding this album, staring at the front cover photo of Robin Zander and Tom Petersson, well, it took me back to a moment in time.

Sometime back in the very early 1980’s, my cousin, Michael, well, he asked me if he could “borrow” my beloved Cheap Trick “At Budokan” album. I replied, “yes”. You live and learn. You learn from your past mistakes. I never saw that album again, not until this find at the thrift store was in my hands. You see, throughout the years, I never repurchased this classic Cheap Trick album, nor did I ever get it on CD. I guess, deep down inside of me, I was waiting, maybe hoping, that this cousin of mine would someday return the album to me. Dream on. Did I ever ask my cousin for the album over the years? Nope. It was not worth it. Eventually realizing how my cousin actually took care of material possessions, well, I just knew the album would not be in the same mint shape as it was, when it left me.

At this point, the past is just that, the past. I now have the Cheap Trick “At Budokan” live album and I could not be happier with it’s condition. As an amazing bonus – the liner notes are still inside this album that I found! The liner notes are in black and white, however, they are like a giant tour program. The photo’s alone are fabulous. To actually get my hands on this album at a thrift store, in this perfect shape, with the original liner notes tucked inside, that to me… is a find. Plus, upon my scrupulous inspection, it appears to me, that these liner notes were never taken out of the album sleeve! I am not kidding, no creases, tears or even signs of other people’s fingerprints! (My very own fingerprints were immediately left onto these liner notes, for the majority of the ink on the artwork is black). Do I sound a tad obsessive? Maybe so, however, when you are a collector of vintage Hard Rock/Metal albums, you do tend to inspect the memorabilia more than the average/casual consumer of such items.

Now, for the actual music found on this excellent album: Cheap Trick “At Budokan” is an incredibly essential, live Rock & Roll album to own! I have this album in the top ten live Rock albums ever released, it is that good. The songs are tremendous, filled with the trademark energy of Cheap Trick, yet the live essence surrounding the music makes for an inspiring listen. This album was recorded in Japan, at Budokan, in April of 1978! This music is incredibly relevant to today’s Rock sound, it has not lost any mileage with me after all these years. This is the album that truly made Cheap Trick a household name. Since “at Budokan”, Cheap Trick continues to stay current with Rock & Hard Rock, releasing an extensive catalog of great Rock albums which spans four decades! The very famous track “I Want You To Want Me” is here in all of it’s Rock glory, with the classic cover of Fats Domino’s “Ain’t That A Shame”. “Surrender” is a signature song of this great band, it borderlines on the Punk Rock side and still has that catchy appeal it bestowed so brightly, back in the day. “Need Your Love” and “Come On, Come On” are two more tracks that can light up any concert stage today. Overall, this is required Rock & Roll listening for fans of all Rock genres. You can honestly walk away from listening to “At Budokan” and realize how much influence Cheap Trick has on today’s Rock sound. Musically, Cheap Trick is so good, simply one of a kind. Cheap Trick are: Robin Zander on vocals, Rick Nielsen on guitar, Tom Petersson on bass and Bun E. Carlos on drums.

Cheap Trick "At Budokan"

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