Cheap Trick’s 18th studio album We’re All Alright! is a bit more than alright; it’s a pure rock and roll gem. Singer Robin Zander, guitarist Rick Nielsen, bassist Tom Petersson and drummer Daxx Nielsen, push through on these 13 tracks with hard and heavy riffs, snapping straight ahead beats, and Zander singing with as much passion and power as ever.
“You Got It Going On” with its stomping riff, sloppy lead and catchy chorus opens the record, leading into another hard pop rocker, “Long Time Coming.” The band has come to rock hard here, as is evident in these punchy openers. Petersson and Daxx Nielsen create a low, thick bed on the sexy “Lolita,” a tune with lots of space and Zander doing that teasing taunting vocal he does better than any other rock singer. Even his falsetto on the ballad “Floating Down” is still strong.
From the Who, the Kinks, Queen, the Ramones, even Elvis — who Zander summons on “Radio Lover” — Cheap Trick throws it all at the wall. What has always been one of this band’s biggest strengths is an ability to mine numerous rock styles and still end up sounding like Cheap Trick. Another strength the foursome have mastered is a very important rock and roll songwriting skill: writing a nasty, heavy tune that delivers its punch in just the right amount of time it needs to.
If you want more time with Cheap Trick, a deluxe edition of We’re All Alright! offers three additional songs, including their own modern psychedelic read on the Move’s “Blackberry Way.” Let’s hope we are all as ‘alright’ as Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame inductees Cheap Trick when we get into our own mature rocking years.
~ Ralph Greco, Jr.
