Heaven Tonight

Japanese reissue of 1978 album, packaged in a limited edition miniature LP sleeve. Features 13 tracks including the 2 bonus tracks that were originally released on the 1998 reissue, 'Stiff Competition' (Previously Unreleased Outtake) & 'Surrender' (Previo

The unexpected success of Live at Budokan (originally available in America only as a Japanese import) in 1978 very nearly overshadowed the band's most accomplished studio album, Heaven Tonight, released just months earlier. In Color's occasionally candy-ass studio gloss isn't entirely lost, just supplanted by healthy doses of the band's awesome raw power. Kicking off with the crypto-anthemic "Surrender," Heaven maintains a level of quality in songwriting, performance, and production rare in a rock album; some lesser band would covet this as its greatest-hits collection. There's another peerless Trick cover choice (the Move's "California Man") and a batch of originals that cover everything from suicidal tendencies ("Auf Wiedersehen") and drug abuse (the eerily moving title track) to blank nostalgia ("Takin' Me Back"), FM bliss ("On the Radio"), and jaded big spenders ("High Roller"). This "Expanded Edition" is sonically superb and includes new liner notes, photos, and a pair of live-in-the-studio outtakes. --Jerry McCulley

The last record in Cheap Trick's pre-Budokan trilogy, Heaven Tonight had some of the band's best and strongest material they've ever recorded. Opening with the teenage battle cry "Surrender," the record built upon guitarist Rick Nielsen's love of the Beatles, but with his own skewed interpretations of his heroes' craft. Although never credited as such, the band had a bit of the pre-punk angst in them, as evidenced by "Surrender," "Stiff Competition," and the furious ending of their suicide theme "Auf Wiedersehen." Vocalist Robin Zander has been hailed as the best voice of '70s rock, and his delivery of the Ron Wood rave-up, "California Man," put him in a league with the likes of Elvis Presley. The title track showed the band's great range as an eerie invitation to the nocturnal pleasures of rock and roll. --Steve Gdula