| Cheap Trick at Budokan | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Live album by | ||||
| Released | October 8, 1978 | |||
| Recorded | April 28 & 30, 1978 | |||
| Venue | Nippon Budokan, Tokyo | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 42:27 | |||
| Label | Epic | |||
| Producer | Cheap Trick | |||
| Cheap Trick chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Cheap Trick at Budokan | ||||
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Cheap Trick at Budokan (or simplyAt Budokan) is the firstlive album by Americanrock bandCheap Trick, and their best-selling recording. Recorded at theNippon Budokan inTokyo, the album was first released in Japan on October 8, 1978, and later released in the United States in February 1979, throughEpic Records. After several years of constant touring but only middling exposure for the band,At Budokan steadily grew off radio play and word-of-mouth to become a high-selling success, kickstarting the band's popularity and becoming acclaimed as one of the greatest live rock albums of all time and a classic of thepower pop genre.
It was ranked number 426 in the 2003 edition ofRolling Stone magazine's list of "the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time".[1] In 2019, the album was selected by theLibrary of Congress for preservation in the United StatesNational Recording Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".[2] An album featuring leftover tracks from the band's 1978 Budokan set, plus additional material from their 1979 tour of Japan, was released in 1994 asBudokan II, and a two-disc reconstruction of the complete original Budokan performances, titledAt Budokan: The Complete Concert, was released to commemorate its twentieth anniversary in 1998.
Cheap Trick found earlysuccess in Japan, and capitalized on this popularity by recordingCheap Trick at Budokan at theNippon Budokan in Tokyo on April 28 and 30, 1978, with an audience of 12,000 screaming Japanese fans nearly drowning out the band at times. The idea for a live album originated with Japanese record executives.Epic Records, then a subsidiary ofCBS Records, released Cheap Trick’s albums through its Japanese branch, CBS/Sony. Drummer Bun E. Carlos explained, “In Japan, CBS/Sony was splitting into two companies. They decided that every time a band on Epic or Columbia came over, they’d record their show and put out a series of Live at Budokan albums. Bob Dylan and Cheap Trick were the first albums they released.”[3] The album was intended for release only in Japan but with strong airplay of the promotional albumFrom Tokyo to You, an estimated 30,000 import copies were sold in the United States and the album was released domestically in February 1979.[4] The album also introduced two previously unreleased original songs, "Lookout" and "Need Your Love".
An unusual aspect of the album release in the UK was the use of coloured vinyl, then primarily restricted to singles and EP's, and soon replaced as a marketing gimmick by so-called "picture discs". A prominently displayed sticker on the sleeve ofLive at Budokan announced that it had been released on "kamikaze yellow vinyl", and, unlike most coloured discs, which were usually as opaque as the conventional black vinyl records, the disc in the album is translucent.
WhenCheap Trick at Budokan was first released oncompact disc in the U.S., the first pressing contained a slightly different, possibly unpolished mix of the concert.[citation needed]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |  [5] |
| Christgau's Record Guide | B−[6] |
| The Rolling Stone Album Guide |  [7] |
In the U.S., the album peaked at number four on theBillboard 200[8] and became the group's best selling album with over three million copies sold. It also ranked number 13 on Billboard's Top Pop Albums of 1979 year-end chart. The single "I Want You to Want Me" reached number seven on theBillboard Hot 100 chart. The second single, a cover of Fats Domino's "Ain't That a Shame" also charted, reaching number 35.[9]Cheap Trick at Budokan was certified triple Platinum in 1986 by theRIAA.[10]
In Canada, it went to number one, hitting the top of theRPM 100 Albums chart on August 11 of the same year.[11] By November 1979, it had achieved quintuple platinum status (500,000 units) in that country.[12]
The album received mostly positive contemporary reviews. In the UK, Sandy Robertson fromSounds, while critical of Jack Douglas' production, concluded that "Cheap Trick are melodic enough to please pop-obscurity fans, heavy enough to net the Aerosmith mob, wacky enough to be eye-catching and good enough to take on the world. Possibly the best hard rock band in the USA."[13] Nick Kent inNME was more muted in his praise, writing that "Though it doesn't match up toIn Colour as the best Cheap Trick initiation,Budokan is no disgrace. A live album of the old school – likeThe Kinks Live At Kelvin Hall orGot Live If You Want It – it's nothing essential or ground-breaking; just a fair approximation of the band in a live context."[14] In the US,Billboard, marking the album as a Top Album Pick, wrote that "With the fans behind them, the members of Cheap Trick put out its best, playing good hard and steady rock. Unlike so many current live LPs, the audience is always there, giving it more of a sense of space. The slight echo doesn't hurt the music."[15]
In its official press release upon the album's entry into theNational Recording Registry, theLibrary of Congress stated that, along with its success in the Japanese market,Cheap Trick at Budokan "proved to be the making of the band in their home country, as well as a loud and welcomed alternative to disco and soft rock and a decisive comeback for rock and roll."[2]Allmusic criticStephen Thomas Erlewine has also stated that with this album, "Cheap Trick unwittingly paved the way for much of the hard rock of the next decade, as well as a surprising amount of alternative rock of the 1990s."[5] InPitchfork, Stuart Berman wrote on the album's success and influence, respectively, that "At Budokan, is not just one of rock's greatest live albums, but also one of its most triumphant underdog tales, an exemplar of pre-internet viral phenomena," and that "for theFoo Fighters,Weezer,Smashing Pumpkins,Ted Leo,the Raconteurs—basically any band that's ever tried to weld aBeatlesque melody to a power chord—all roads lead back toBudokan."[16] Further invoking comparison to theBeatles, Nwaka Onwusa, director of curatorial affairs at theRock and Roll Hall of Fame, spoke with1A on the parallels betweenBeatlemania in the United States and Cheap Trick's reception in Japan:
Sure we have the story about the Beatles...how Beatlemania hit the United States, but to have Cheap Trick then go overseas and do that same very thing...in Tokyo. The girls, the screaming, throwing flowers at the plane. That’s total "Trickmania," for sure...it's actually a beautiful story that [doesn't] get a lot of shine or recognition because it didn't happen here, but we have an American band...that created such tidal waves that then boomeranged back here in the United States.[17]
The album was included in the book1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.[18]
All songs byRick Nielsen, except where noted.
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Hello There" | 2:27 | |
| 2. | "Come On, Come On" | 3:18 | |
| 3. | "Lookout" | 3:00 | |
| 4. | "Big Eyes" | 3:55 | |
| 5. | "Need Your Love" | Nielsen, Tom Petersson | 8:47 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6. | "Ain't That a Shame" | Antoine "Fats" Domino,Dave Bartholomew | 5:10 |
| 7. | "I Want You to Want Me" | 3:38 | |
| 8. | "Surrender" | 4:25 | |
| 9. | "Goodnight Now" | 3:08 | |
| 10. | "Clock Strikes Ten" | 4:01 |
| Budokan II | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Live album by | ||||
| Released | February 1994 | |||
| Recorded | Nippon Budokan,Tokyo, 1978 and 1979 | |||
| Genre | Rock,hard rock,power pop | |||
| Length | 54:14 | |||
| Label | Epic /Sony Music | |||
| Producer | Cheap Trick | |||
| Cheap Trick chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |  [19] |
| Chicago Tribune | [20] |
Budokan II was released in February 1994 as a sequel of the first album, consisting of the remaining tracks from the concert not included on the original album and the tracks "Stiff Competition", "On Top of the World", and "How Are You?", recorded in 1979 during their follow-up tour.
An expanded version of the original album was released in 1998 asAt Budokan: The Complete Concert, remastered and fully restored to include all the concert tracks left off the original album. This version of the album was performed in full at the Metro in Chicago on April 30, 1998, to coincide with the Complete Concert CD release.
A 30th Anniversary Edition,Budokan! was released on November 11, 2008, as a four-disc set. In addition to the two-disc "Complete Concert", it includes a DVD and CD version of the concert from April 28, 1978. The filmed concert had originally been shown on Japanese TV, and was not previously commercially available. The original vinyl album is also to be reissued in conjunction with the 30th anniversary.[21]
Weekly charts[edit]
| Year-end charts[edit]
|
| Chart (2017) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Japanese Albums (Oricon)[32] | 106 |
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| Australia (ARIA)[33] | Gold | 20,000^ |
| Canada (Music Canada)[34] | 5× Platinum | 500,000^ |
| Netherlands (NVPI)[35] | Platinum | 100,000^ |
| United States (RIAA)[36] | 3× Platinum | 3,000,000^ |
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. | ||
rolling stone cheap trick album guide.
