Cheap Trick - Cheap Trick At Budokan: The Complete Concert

Originally released as a 10-track live album in the late 1970s when live albums were all the rage, At Budokan neatly summed up this oddball power-pop/hard rock band with the added ferocity a live show brings. Tracks such as "Hello There," "Surrender," "I Want You to Want Me," and Fats Domino's "Ain't That a Shame" were infused with a power their studio versions only hint at. Twenty years after the original concert in April 1978, the classic live album has been expanded to include nine additional tracks that make this a must-have for fans of the original. --Rob O'Connor Amazon.com essential recording

Cheap Trick At Budokan: The Complete Concert

I bought this as a gift. I was very happy with the price and the speed of delivery.
My friend, a HUGE Cheap Trick fan was estatic to get it. It is in perfect condition and made him very happy. February 12, 2008

A Masterful Double Live!

A killer live album from a band that seems to be summarized by only a couple of songs, this one shows the type of dynamic live show that Cheap Trick could put on, and the quality of their material beyond "Surrender" and "I Want You to Want Me."

Man...this is a great double live! Nowhere is Cheap Trick better than they are on this one! February 2, 2008

finally the full Budokan concert CD

This is the album that should have been released in 1978. Would it have changed Cheap Trick's career for better or for worse? I don't know, maybe. In 1978 I bought the At Budokan LP and there began my love affair with the band. Soon I had In Color and Heaven Tonight, then several others followed. Then decades later they released a CD called Budokan II and I was thrilled! These were the "lost" songs from the old album! Cool! Now, 30 years after picking up that first record, I picked up the two-CD set Cheap Trick At Budokan: The Complete Concert. Finally, the double-album I would have loved to have the whole time! Yay! Now I can enjoy the whole concert in the correct running order as it was played on stage. This is Cheap Trick live and at the top of their game, although I have seen them in concert recently and they haven't lost a step at all. They were and are fantastic musicians, showmen, and just a great rock n' roll band. I have sentimentalness for the original single record At Budokan, but this new version is way better. I will not discard my CD of Budokan II because it contains three tracks from their '79 Japan tour that are not on Cheap Trick At Budokan: The Complete Concert - Stiff Competition, How Are You, and On Top of the World - and those three songs make the price of a used CD worth it to me anyway. But I did buy Bukokan II new... oh well. So, anyway the point is that Cheap Trick At Budokan: The Complete Concert is a classic, and a must have for any Trickster, and a great introduction if you don't have any Cheap Trick CDs at all yet (so is the Sex America box set!). The more-famous live version found on Budokan of "I Want You To Want Me" blows away the studio version. It's like a whole different song when played live. Also the pre-Dream Police release version of "Need Your Love" is spellbinding- the vocals and guitar are both just jaw-droppingly good. I always loved the song "Lookout" and waited for a studio release that never came (that I know of). My favorite tracks from disc 1 include the intro into Hello There into Come On Come On, Big Eyes, Downed, Surrender, Auf Wiedersehen. Disc 2 favorites are Need Your Love, I Want You To Want Me, Aint That A Shame, and Clock Strikes Ten. Get this CD if you have a clue about rock n' roll, seriously. January 4, 2008

The 'Not Quite Complete' Concert

I am giving this CD 4 stars because it's an excellent concert, and Cheap Trick fans will be very pleased to have the extended concert in their music library. The title is a bit of a misnomer though. Let me explain:

I own both 'halves' of the Budokan concerts. The famous "At Budokan" and the rest of the concert that was released in 1993 titled, what else? "Budokan II". All the songs that are on their first live album, "At Budokan" are here on this extended CD "The Complete Concert", however there are three songs on "Budokan II" that are NOT on this CD. Those three are "Stiff Competition" (one of my favorites!), "How Are You" and "On Top of the World." This means one of two things:

1) Either the three songs I mentioned above were not REALLY performed during the band's Budokan shows, or
2) The claim that this CD is the 'complete concert' is deceiving.

I have to go with option 2 here, folks. While this is, indeed, a much larger compilation of their Budokan shows, it is not, as advertised, the complete concert.

This may be splitting hairs to some of you, but I'm for a little truth in advertising, and the truth is, this is NOT the complete concert. Sorry, just my take. This CD would have gotten 5 stars from me, had this been the complete concert. I would also have given it 5 stars had the title been something like, "The Extended Budokan Masters". Since neither is the case, I am giving it 4 stars. It's still a worthwhile purchase, as it's a great CD! It's just that I don't like being snowed by deceptive packaging. Peace. September 1, 2007

On the drums...Mister Bun E. Carlos...

Face it, folks...if you're reading these reviews to decide if you should by "Cheap Trick At Budokan," you haven't been paying attention to the world around you. As Mike Meyers said in "Wayne's World," this album was shipped with packets of Tide to everyone in the suburbs. It became the mission in life for every second, third and fourth rate band to do a "Live At Budokan" album, but Cheap Trick did it FIRST, and Cheap Trick did it BEST. The magic moment here is during "Clock Strikes Ten," and I believe Robin Zander KNEW his words were magic the moment they left his mouth. "ON THE DRUMS...MISTER BUN E. CARLOS"...and B.E.C. rips forth with a tight, compressed drum solo that's the equal of Ringo's on "The End." Grand Funk may have coined the catch-phrase "An American Band," but for many of the air guitar faithful in garages across America, Cheap Trick is king of that hill. A five star album, and if you need to ask why, don't even bother asking. March 4, 2007

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