April 9th marked a milestone for old school rock band, Cheap Trick, as it was the release date of their 20th studio album, In Another World. Cheap Trick is one of my top favorite bands and what I love most about them, other than being one of the greatest live rock acts of all time, is that they continue to release new music. While releasing new albums, they have always been able to maintain their signature sound which very few artists from their time have been able to do. This album is another prime example of that.
Before the album was released, Cheap Trick put out two singles: ‘Light Up The Fire’ and ‘Boys & Girls & Rock N Roll’. These were great choices for singles and the strongest sounding songs on the album. I love the lyrics in ‘Light Up The Fire’ and ‘Boys & Girls & Rock N Roll’ has such a great melody that's so fun to sing along to. I pretty much had both of these songs on a constant repeat to hold me over until the album came out.
The first song on the album is ‘Summer Looks Good on You’, which was actually a single they released in 2018. I love this song as the opener because it's just such a fun and uplifting song to set the tone for the album. It’s the perfect song to not only get you through the remainder of spring, but to listen to throughout the summer. I’ll definitely be listening to it all summer long! Next is ‘Quit Waking Me Up’, which right off the bat is a great name for a song. This song has a kind of a Beatles sound to it, which if you didn’t know, Cheap Trick is heavily influenced by The Beatles. I also heard this again a little later in the album with ‘So It Goes’.
There are two versions of the title track, ‘Another World’, both with the same lyrics but completely different versions of the song. The first version is a ballad filled with so much emotion and its overall just such a beautiful song. For the reprise, they crank the volume up to eleven, boost their energy, and deliver the most rock n’ roll, Cheap Trick style song. So when you're in the mood for a ballad, you have the regular version, but when you really wanna rock out, you have the reprise.
One of my favorites on the album is ‘The Party’. It has a funky groove to it and the way Robin’s rough voice contrasts with the smooth sound of female backup singers creates this unique sound that is indescribable yet so addicting. I just wanna listen to that one part over and over again, it's so good. Another favorite of mine is ‘Here’s Looking You’. The keyboards in this song give it the old school, timeless Cheap Trick sound.
The album ends with a John Lennon cover, ‘Gimme Some Truth’. Cheap Trick released this song as a single in 2019 so the album starts and ends with singles that were already put out. The song is very demanding and gets more and more aggressive as it goes on, after all it is a political protest song.
The more I listen to this album, the more I fall in love with it. 20 studio albums later and they still sound almost exactly the same as they did when they first started out. Not to mention these guys aren’t stopping anytime soon, I think any Cheap Trick fan would say the same thing. Well done as always, Cheap Trick!