"Cheap Trick"
©1977 CBS / Epic Records
Produced by Jack Douglas

01. ELO Kiddies (3:41)
02. Daddy Should Have
Stayed In High School (4:44)
03. Taxman, Mr. Thief (4:16)
04. Cry, Cry (4:22)
05. Oh, Candy (3:07)
06. Hot Love (2:30)
07. Speak Now Or Forever
Hold Your Peace (4:35)
08. He's A Whore (2:43)
09. Mandocello (4:47)
10. The Ballad Of T.V. Violence (5:15)
11. Lovin' Money (Outtake)
12. I Want You To Want Me (Outtake)
13. Lookout (Outtake)
14. You're All Talk (Outtake)
15. I Dig Go-Go Girls (Outtake)

By the time Cheap Trick hit the record racks in February 1977, Cheap Trick was not yet big in Japan (that would take a few more months). But they were the talk of the Midwest bar scene.

Rick Nielsen, Robin Zander, Bun E. Carlos and Tom Petersson grew up in Rockford, III., a city of 150,000 about 80 miles northwest of Chicago, known for its furniture manufacturing and large Swedish immigrant population. It was a working-class city, and Cheap Trick was a working-class band. After Zander finally was persuaded to join the other three, in the fall of 1974, Cheap Trick began playing upward of 250 shows a year.

And what a show. It consisted of four colorfully diverse yet complementary personalities: Zander the golden boy with the golden throat in a three-piece suit; Petersson his darker, cleft-chinned running mate; Carlos the weird, chain-smoking uncle in a Salvation Army tie; and Nielsen, an Archies comic come to life with his baseball caps, cardigan sweaters and arsenal of guitars.

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