The Internet combined with my shiny new iPod has given me an embarrassment of riches. I can usually find great pricing on lots of new releases via Amazon or the like, and good ol' iTunes itself is chock full of great music at a price lower than most places that I could buy them physically. The real treats lie in the unexpected ephemera floating on the fringes, however.
Last week, whilst visiting one of the many places that I find out of print, never in print, and long lost goodies, I ran across Cheap Trick's 1998 unauthorized In Color sessions with Steve Albini. Now, for those of you who never knew Cheap Trick worked with Albini, be not surprised. No album actually resulted from the sessions. What did emerge (via Internet leaks) was a complete re-recording of Cheap Trick's classic In Color record from 1977. The original In Color contained some of Cheap Trick's most memorable numbers including "I Want You To Want Me" and "Clock Strikes Ten". While the record is remembered fondly, it contained some clunky production by Tom Werman to include a horrible honky-tonk piano riff on "I Want You to Want Me". In re-listening to it, I found it pleasant but uninspired with a ham handed nod toward the Beatles' sound which detracted from the brilliant power-pop songs on the record.
The Albini sessions are another matter entirely. Albini has a notorious hands-off approach to recording bands. Stripped of all grandiose polish and gloss, the songs become the centerpiece. Robin Zander's voice has never sounded better, and Rick Nielsen's guitar has all the rifftastic chunkiness that you could hear live, but almost never on Cheap Trick's studio recordings. It simply sounds like a great power-pop masterpiece. If you can find the damn thing... this one comes highly recommended.
Original In Color: B- / Albini's In Color: A
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