Cheap Trick is back with another rocking album “In Another World” their 20th album and their first new album of material since 2017. They still show they are one of the world’s greatest Rock bands ever as lead singer Robin Zander still has his amazing tenor voice that made them famous, and Rick Nielsen is still out there with amazing guitar riffs that are synonymous with Cheap Trick.
The album starts off with a great rock-anthem “The Summer Looks Good on you” with catchy lyrics and amazing guitar work with a Beatles quality but with a harder edge. In “Quit Waking Me Up” it has a nice blend of amazing guitar riffs with Zander singing about a woman he loves that is bothering him and has a little bit of horns mixed in too. While “Boys & Girls & Rock N Roll” has an old school sound to it like they are playing the local scene in the Midwest especially with Daxx Nielsen on drums matching his father Rick on the old school style of rock. Songs “The Party” & “Light up the Fire” are the shorter tracks on the album but still rock out like the others do.
The song “Final Days” has a different vibe to their rocking out as it has a very groovy feel to it and has harmonica from Grammy Award-nominated singer and Wet Willie frontman Jimmy Hall playing of Nielsen’s great rifts as they go back and forth. It has a very retrospective view to it has they are looking at their past and what is next to come. Also “Here’s Looking at You” has that groovy feel a little different from the other tracks as it has some keyboard in it.
“In another World” the title track has this mellower feel to it compared to the others with amazing vocals by Zander about the state of the world we live in that no matter what he will be there for you. They then decided to do another version of this a reprise which is a harder version that sounds like a more sped up version of it. “Passing through” is also another track with a mellower feel to it with acoustic guitar being noticeable and is a love song of sorts. While “So it Goes” is also a quieter acoustic guitar song about a relationship ending with amazing vocals by Zander. “I’ll see you again” is also a quieter acoustic song about their hope to see this person again, something we all can relate to after this past year.
They end this album with a cover of John Lennon’s “Gimme Some Truth” which has been done by others but this is one really rocks out with help from Stephen Jones of Sex Pistols on guitar. For a rock band out of Rockford, Illinois that started in the 1970’s you can’t say they are getting older/slowing down but you can say they are getting better, as music is what holds the band together. They snagged their first #1 album with this one and they deserve it as this is one of the their best albums ever, so blast this album just like it’s one of their old ones as we are all now living in another world.