''Standing on the Edge'' is the eighth studio album by the American rock group
Cheap Trick
Cheap Trick is an American rock band from Rockford, Illinois, formed in 1973 by guitarist Rick Nielsen, bassist Tom Petersson, lead vocalist Robin Zander and drummer Bun E. Carlos. The current lineup of the band consists of Zander, Nielsen and ...
, released by
Epic in 1985. The album was produced by
Jack Douglas, the producer of Cheap Trick's 1977 debut album ''
Cheap Trick
Cheap Trick is an American rock band from Rockford, Illinois, formed in 1973 by guitarist Rick Nielsen, bassist Tom Petersson, lead vocalist Robin Zander and drummer Bun E. Carlos. The current lineup of the band consists of Zander, Nielsen and ...
''. ''Standing on the Edge'' reached No. 35 on the
''Billboard'' 200 and remained on the charts for 18 weeks.
Overview
''Standing on the Edge'' saw Cheap Trick return to their standard hard-rocking sound. The album was produced by
Jack Douglas, who produced the band's eponymous debut album as well as the ''
Found All The Parts
''Found All the Parts'' is an EP released by Cheap Trick in 1980. It was released on a 10-inch disc as part of Epic Records' short-lived Nu-Disk series. The EP also contained a bonus promotional 7" single of "Everything Works If You Let It". '' ...
'' EP. Originally, Cheap Trick planned on returning to the rough sound of their first album. However, Douglas backed out of the mixing process due to legal issues he was having with
Yoko Ono
Yoko Ono ( ; ja, 小野 洋子, Ono Yōko, usually spelled in katakana ; born February 18, 1933) is a Japanese multimedia artist, singer, songwriter, and peace activist. Her work also encompasses performance art and filmmaking.
Ono grew up i ...
. Mixer
Tony Platt
Tony Platt is an English sound engineer and record producer, best known for his work with a diverse mix of artists, including, AC/DC, Cheap Trick, Bob Marley, Iron Maiden, Shy, Buddy Guy, Foreigner, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Sparks, Jaz ...
was called in, and as a result, keyboards and electronic drums were featured more prominently than the band and Douglas had intended.
The first single, "
Tonight It's You
"Tonight It's You" is a song by American rock band Cheap Trick, which was released in 1985 as the lead single from their eighth studio album '' Standing on the Edge''. It was written by Rick Nielsen, Robin Zander, Jon Brant and Mark Radice, and p ...
", is the most successful and well-known track from the album and also appears on numerous greatest hits compilations. Two promotional music videos were made for the song and both clips received much airplay on
MTV
MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...
.
The song "Love Comes" was re-recorded for Zander's solo album ''Countryside Blvd.'' This album was due for release in 2010 but has been held back, remaining unreleased to date, although various download sites did legally offer the album for a few hours.
Background information
Bun E. Carlos
Brad M. Carlson, better known by the stage name Bun E. Carlos, is the original drummer for American rock band Cheap Trick. He recorded and performed with the band from 1973 to 2010. Carlos was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2016 ...
insisted on being credited with "acoustic drums" because of Platt's addition of electronic drums to much of the album during post-production.
Song doctor
Mark Radice
Mark Radice is an American singer, musician, songwriter, and producer. Since the early 1970s he has worked with a variety of different artists while also achieving success with his own material. He is a multi-instrumentalist and is credited with ...
was brought in to help the band with the songwriting process. He played keyboards and co-wrote 8 of the album's 10 tracks.
Guitarist
Rick Nielsen
Richard Alan Nielsen (born December 22, 1948) is an American musician best known as the lead guitarist, primary songwriter, and leader of the rock band Cheap Trick. He is well-known for his numerous custom-made guitars from Hamer Guitars, inclu ...
's name is misspelled on the back cover of the original American compact disc pressing as "Rick Nelson", although the Japanese version has his name spelled correctly.
Physical copies of the album were out of print for several years (except in Japan), making the original pressing of the CD something of a collectors' item.
Reception
Upon release, ''
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
'' stated: "Cheap Trick's checkered recent career could get a boost from this spirited set; lusty, layered production spotlights the band's sense of guitar-driven rock classicism."
''
Cash Box
''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', was an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...
'' wrote: "The pranksters of pop are back in full splendor. This record really could be the one that pulls this band out of its recent doldrums. All the elements that contributed to the group's worldwide success are here."
David Fricke of ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...
'' commented: "Cheap Trick roars back to life with its best collection of bubblegum bazooka rock in years. ''Standing on the Edge'' recombines the devious Beatlesque gestures and Who-ish arena-rock jolt of the band's brief platinum period with melodic authority and playful wit."
In a retrospective review, Mike DeGagne of
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
felt the album's only highlight was the "silvery-sounding" "Tonight It's You". He added: "Like 1983's ''Next Position Please'', ''Standing on the Edge'' finds the band without any pizzazz or rock & roll exuberance. The tracks are dull and colorless, with only the single sporting any signs of enthusiasm."
Dave Swanson of ''
Ultimate Classic Rock
Townsquare Media, Inc. (formerly Regent Communications until 2010) is an American radio network and media company based in Purchase, New York. The company started in radio and expanded into digital media toward the end of the 2000s, starting wi ...
'' highlighted tracks such as "Little Sister", "Tonight It's You", "Cover Girl" and the title track, but felt the album was "bogged down by the use of contemporary production techniques".
Track listing
*The original Jack Douglas mixes of "Little Sister" and "She's Got Motion" were released on the "Epic Archive Volume 3" in 2015.
Outtakes
* "A Place in France" (Available on the ''
Sex, America, Cheap Trick
''Sex, America, Cheap Trick'' is a 1996 box set by the rock band Cheap Trick. It includes 17 previously unreleased songs (among them the earliest studio recording of the 1979 hit " I Want You to Want Me"), as well as the band's biggest hits. A ...
'' box set)
* "Don't Ever Let Me Go" (Unreleased)
* "Lesson in Love" (Unreleased)
* "X-Rated" (Unreleased)
Personnel
;Cheap Trick
*
Robin Zander
Robin Wayne Zander (born January 23, 1953) is an American musician, best known as the lead singer and rhythm guitarist for the rock band Cheap Trick, but is also a solo artist. Zander was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2016 as a ...
–
lead vocals
The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of t ...
,
rhythm guitar
In music performances, rhythm guitar is a technique and role that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with other instruments from the rhythm section (e.g., drum kit, bass guitar ...
*
Rick Nielsen
Richard Alan Nielsen (born December 22, 1948) is an American musician best known as the lead guitarist, primary songwriter, and leader of the rock band Cheap Trick. He is well-known for his numerous custom-made guitars from Hamer Guitars, inclu ...
–
lead guitar
Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featur ...
,
backing vocals
A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are use ...
*
Jon Brant
Jonathan Edward "Jon" Brant (born February 20, 1955 in Chicago) is an American musician and business owner, best known as the bass guitar, bass player for the band Cheap Trick from 1982 to 1987. Brant was a founding member of the Chicago band D' ...
–
bass, backing vocals
*
Bun E. Carlos
Brad M. Carlson, better known by the stage name Bun E. Carlos, is the original drummer for American rock band Cheap Trick. He recorded and performed with the band from 1973 to 2010. Carlos was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2016 ...
– drums,
percussion
A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...
;Additional musicians
*
Mark Radice
Mark Radice is an American singer, musician, songwriter, and producer. Since the early 1970s he has worked with a variety of different artists while also achieving success with his own material. He is a multi-instrumentalist and is credited with ...
–
keyboards
Keyboard may refer to:
Text input
* Keyboard, part of a typewriter
* Computer keyboard
** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping
** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware
Music
* Musi ...
, vocals
;Technical
*
Jack Douglas –
producer
* Paul Klingberg –
engineer
Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...
, keyboards (Sound Summit Recording)
* Bill Dooley – engineer (Atlantic Recording)
* George Tutko – engineer (Cherokee Recording)
*
Bob Rosa
Bob Rosa is an American record producer who has worked with artists such as Madonna, Janet Jackson, Mariah Carey and Espen Lind.[Tony Platt
Tony Platt is an English sound engineer and record producer, best known for his work with a diverse mix of artists, including, AC/DC, Cheap Trick, Bob Marley, Iron Maiden, Shy, Buddy Guy, Foreigner, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Sparks, Jaz ...]
–
mixing
* John Patterson, Eddie Garcia, David Eaton, Roey Shamir – assistant engineers
* Mark-Larson –
art direction
Art director is the title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film and television, the Internet, and video games.
It is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and unify the visi ...
*
Gilles Larrain –
photography
Photography is the art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is employed ...
Chart performance
Album
2017 reissue
Singles
References
{{Authority control
Cheap Trick albums
1985 albums
Epic Records albums
Albums produced by Jack Douglas (record producer)