Cheap Trick’s “Sick Man Of Europe” is the first single from their forthcoming album The Latest, and by golly, they certainly sound like they’ve been revitalized over the past few years. The riffs crackle, Robin Zander’s voice sounds nearly curdled, and the whole enterprise brings the words “kick ass” to mind over and over again. (I know, I know, not the most erudite assessment, but when one gets bludgeoned, it’s often hard to sound smart in the immediate aftermath.) Another track from the album–the somewhat more traditional powerpop “When The Lights Are Out,” which is apparently a track from the band’s earliest days–is after the jump.
Cheap Trick - Sick Man Of Europe [YouTube]
Cheap Trick - When The Lights Are Out [YouTube]
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I give the first song 10 stars out of 5. The second one gets a -6. So now, I don’t know what to think.
@PengIn: I’d rate “When The Lights Are Out” a lot higher than that. It’s constructed in the great way that they don’t (or can’t) write Cheap Trick songs anymore. “Sick Man of Europe” has a lot of things going for it…great vocals from Zander, crispy production…but the song itself just gets from A-to-B without doing anything interesting.
Sick Man = 2 stars
Lights = 5 stars
LIghts is much better, but Sick Man not so much. Rockford was supposed to be their “Comeback” album. but after a listen or two a couple of years back it never really caught my ear.
When The Lights Are Out is the more appealing of the two songs, in my opinion. But when watching the accompanying clip of old footage, it drives home the notion that they’ll never recapture their glory days of yore.
I’m fairly certain When The Lights Out is a cover of a Slade song. Sick Man is pretty damn awesome though.
That first song is great, the second one is and old Slade song which is even better. Someone ought to have a hit with an old Slade song every 25 years or so, let’s make a rule.
Hey, you’re right. That explains why it sounds better than anything they’ve written in a long time. (It’s an improvement on the Slade original, tho…no dis on Slade who intended).
@brasstax: Yeah, but you intended the dis on Cheap Trick you bastard!
Both songs sound pretty great to me. I saw them live 2 years ago and they were still really rocking out.
@LostTurntable: Believe me, I have much love for Cheap Trick. Did I ever tell the internet the story (for the 7,000th time) about how my mom and Rick Nielsen went on a date in high school in 1960-something? Oh yes, I think I might have.
Ha ha. Best new thing about this Idolator feature? Sass Jordan loves the new Cheap Trick tune and has shared a link to this story. http://twitter.com/sassjordan