Tag: Smile

Cheap Trick – ‘The Latest’ (2009) – Album Review (The Cheap Trick Collection Series)

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We are now to the band’s 16th Studio album. The album was released on June 23, 2009 and only went to #78 on the Billboard Charts and sadly sales only reached 24,000 records as of 2016 which is an absolute shame as this is a hidden gem. The Latest is the last studio album to feature all four members of the original band of Robin Zander, Rick Nielsen, Tom Petersson and Bun E. Carlos. In 2010, Bun E. Carlos stopped touring with the band and it led to him not recording with the band. There were lawsuits back and forth and it was ugly. But that is another discussion for another day.

Cheap Trick really lost their way in the mid to late 80’s and early 90’s. But with ‘Woke Up With a Monster’ up to ‘Rockford’, Cheap Trick was slowly remembering who they were. With ‘The Latest’, the band was back in full form and putting out their best album in years. Cheap Trick was back baby, but sadly, no one knew it. This was the Cheap Trick sound I loved. They band sounded refreshed, rejuvenated and reborn. ‘The Latest’ is the best we’ve seen from them in a very long time.

The version of the album I have is a digipak CD with a fold out cover (as seen below). There was no booklet inside as everything was printed on the reverse sides of the flaps below. One thing cool the band did for this release is they released a version of the album on 8-Track. This was 2009 and 8-Tracks were not a blip on anyone’s radar (except maybe Tim Durling).

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Katy Perry – The Albums Ranked Worst to First

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic35 Comments

I know, I know…if you read this blog regularly you know this is completely out of left field for the site. Katy Perry actually has a special place in my heart. Her first three Katy Perry albums were when my kids were really little. They loved her and would act out the songs almost daily and we have some great videos capturing those special moments. And when we were in the car, they would sing at the top of their lungs when her songs came out. As a result, when I hear those songs today, it takes me back to those amazingly fun times with my kids. She has been able to imprint a memory with her songs and that is hard to do. My oldest is away and at college and I have to say I miss her terribly. So to keep her in my thoughts, I figured why not rank all Katy’s albums from worst to first.

You might not know that Katy Perry came out with her first album back in 2001 when she was Katy Hudson and a Christian singer, then she became a sugary, sweet pop princess and for awhile she ruled the airwaves. Now she’s a judge on American Idol and she still puts out albums, but the massive fame and craziness has slowed down a little (at least on the radio). Like her or not, she was the driving force in the industry and what she did, people noticed and paid attention.

We are only going to go through her studio albums, no live albums or E.P.’s or any compilations (which I am not sure she has one yet). So sit back, relax and I hope you enjoy and maybe learn something new.

THE WORST: Katy Hudson (2001):

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