Forgetting for the 100th time whether Cheap Trick or Thin Lizzy did The Boys are Back in Town (its Thin Lizzy) got me thinking about both bands - 2nd tier, coupla hit wonders who I didn't know much about. It feels like progress that these are the the kinds of albums I'm filling in blanks on now.
This starts off promising, Surrender is a classic, and On Top of the World is the finest example of this band's Queen side. And throughout there is some vaguely catchy, slightly menacing rock that would later inspire plenty of soft-edged 90's songs. Stiff Competition in particular is good, Rock Band-style fun.
But the rest of it is just so uninspired. It's important to remember that this came out in 1978, and therefore inspired a lot of the bad 80's rock it evokes, but it also rips off so much that came before it. The title track has kind of a nice thing going (the prospect of heaven as both the promise of bliss and the threat of death, perfectly straddled) but it so thoroughly apes Cashmere and She's So Heavy that I can't get into it. High Roller must have some conspiracy with Hot Blooded (also 1978!) to make that the lamest riff of the year, with the Cheap Trick version mixing in some Jean Genie copping. And the stuff that isn't derivative is just kind of slick and boring. This stuff was reasonably ahead of its time, but it was ahead of a time I don't much appreciate.
I started off liking this more than I expected to, and ended up liking it less than I expected to. If I was less jaded, I might have found more fun here, but then, I'm pretty jaded 2.5/5
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