"Heaven Tonight"
©1978 CBS / Epic Records
Produced by Tom Werman

Surrender (4:14)
On Top Of The World (4:02)
California Man (3:45)
High Roller (3:58)
Auf Wiedersehen (3:41)
Takin' Me Back (4:53)
On the Radio (4:33)
Heaven Tonight (5:25)
Stiff Competition (3:40)
How Are You? (4:14)
Oh Claire (1:01)

Cheap Trick were years ahead of the punks in recognizing how ridiculous and pompous rock had become in the mid-'70s, with a live show that both celebrated and satirized the ego-gratification rituals of the typical "Rock on, Peoria!" stadium spectacle. At the same time, the band had a deep respect for classic-rock songcraft, an appreciation for the skill involved in not just writing a good song but In making a dynamic record. What separated Rick Nielsen, Robin Zander, Bun E. Carlos and Tom Petersson from the pack of self-serious arena-rock dinosaurs of the day was a wicked sense of humor, while the sophistication of their songwriting, arrangements and musicianship put them a cut above the young upstarts in the punk clubs.

By the end of 1977, three years after its formation, Cheap Trick had already made two critically acclaimed studio albums. But Cheap Trick and In Color barely made an impression on the pop marketplace. Both were relatively stripped-down, guitar-bass-drums records. Cheap Trick showcased the band's hard-edged side, In Co/or its power-pop tunefulness. When the band returned to the studio with producer Tom Werman in early 1978, they set out to make a three-dimensional record, one which integrated all aspects of the group's musical personality.

Heaven Tonight is that record. Though bashed out in a matter of weeks in Los Angeles between tours, the album hardly sounds like it. Nielsen, who again wrote the bulk of the songs with assists from Petersson and Zander, brought in an outside musician to assist in the recording for the first time: keyboardist Jai Winding. In addition, the disc marked the recorded debut of Petersson's 12-string bass and the arrangements incorporated strings, harpsichord and layers of guitars and drums to create a depth lacking on the earlier records. The approach suited the ambition of the songs, which are among the most enduring in the Cheap Trick catalog-none more so than the opening track, "Surrender."

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