Night Music: Cheap Trick, “Sgt. Pepper Reprieve” and “A Day in the Life”

A lot of Beatles buzz on the site the last few days, and I wondered how much of the world knew that Cheap Trick actually covered the entire Sergeant Pepper album a few years back, taking it to the road (kind of like Phish, who do someone’s classic album every Halloween)?

Though I was a big Trick fan during their early years–especially In Color and Black and White,  Heaven Tonight, and Dream Police–I sort of lost track of their newer stuff after that (shame on me, as that is when Buddakon came out, but as good a live band as the Trick are, that one seemed like too much hype too after I had found them).

Not that I ever wrote the band off: I still love all three of those albums from the Rockford band (about 40 miles from where Diane lived in Algonquin) who so emulated the Beatles with their own spin. Though the Trick have been a lot more. Poppy, tuneful, funny, and they don’t take themselves too seriously, which to me means if they take from other bands (like the great bridge chords in I Know What I Want and I Know How to Get It that are lifted from Eight Days a Week)  it is more of an homage than a rip.

Well, a few years ago my friend, drummer Steve Chattler turned me onto the Trick doing Sergeant Pepper in its entirety, and the band does a killer job.

See for yourself. I mean, this is nothing like watching a tribute/cover band.

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