Cheap Trick

The Doctor (1986 Epic Records)

1. It's Up To You mp3 clip
2. Rearview Mirror Romance
3. The Doctor mp3 clip
4. Are You Lonely Tonight
5. Name Of The Game
6. Kiss Me Red mp3 clip
7. Take Me To The Top mp3 clip
8. Good Girls Go To Heaven (Bad Girls Go Everywhere) mp3 clip
9. Man-U-Lip-U-Lator
10. It's Only Love mp3 clip

Mike's Review
The Doctor is a one of a kind affair. There's no other Cheap Trick album quite like it, and there's no other album by anyone quite like it. Even the cover alone tells you this is going to be something crazy, and it could only be a product of the 80s. Synthesizers and programming run rampant (at least one or the other on every track), which you know right away from the beginning of "It's Up To You." It's an inspirational rocker to "get things started." "Rearview Mirror Romance" is a kinky tale of romance in the rearview mirror that could only be told by Cheap Trick. "The Doctor" is a histrionic number that would be crazy enough to fit in a Las Vegas revue. "Are You Lonely Tonight" has one of the most beautifully simplistic keyboard hooks I've ever heard. "Kiss Me Red," although written by outsiders, is an awesome song. Robin Zander delivers an awesome vocal and the song is just incredibly catchy. It was planned to be released as a single, and it should have been, because it very well could have been Cheap Trick's comeback hit, two years earlier than "The Flame." "Take Me To The Top" is a stellar ballad. Thankfully the boys brought it out for their Silver concert, but they should try to keep it in the set list more often. "Good Girls Go To Heaven (Bad Girls Go Everywhere)" is the album's hardest song. "It's Only Love" had a crazy video (it had a shaking effect the entire song) and should have had more success.

Mike's Picks: Actually just about all of them, but I'd leave out "Man-U-Lip-U-Lator." It's not awful, but one of my least favorite Cheap Trick songs and probably one of their worst.

Mike's Rating

Derek's Review
I want to say that I once wrote an extremely in-depth analysis of The Doctor and will post it here. This review does not necessarily follow the format of the website now, since this website did not exist at the time I wrote this review. Please enjoy and support The Doctor.

This was written 10-28-2002.

The Doctor

In order to take what I say with any credibility, the reader should know my opinion of Cheap Trick. The Doctor is not my favorite Cheap Trick album, however I don't think it's the piece of shit most Cheap Trick fans do. I have always been fond of band's pursuing a slightly different musical direction. My favorite Cheap Trick albums are relatively in this order every time I think of this list: Dream Police, In Color, Woke Up With A Monster, One On One, All Shook Up, Cheap Trick '97, The Doctor, Heaven Tonight, Cheap Trick, Standing On The Edge, Busted, Lap Of Luxury, Next Position Please (I want to note that this order has since changed again). Again, I love Cheap Trick with all of my heart and this review is just my take on an album that I had been anticipating. It should be known that I have had an interest in Cheap Trick ever since I saw their 12/31/99 show in Disney World, but I didn't purchase their greatest hits for quite some time later. I am relatively a new fan and acquired all of their albums since about the mid-summer of this year. This is more or less a rookie fan's opinion of a very controversial album. It must also be noted that this album did come out in the mid-80s when synthesizers were the "in" thing and they fully indulged here. That is just a sign of the times, and although important, must be kept in the proper mindset.

Album cover: There's hardly an album released where the cover completely signifies the music that is on the album. Among these albums only a few come to mind: Poison's debut, Queensryche's Operation Mindcrime, a few Frank Zappa albums, KISS albums, and of course The Doctor. The complete glitteriness of the cover completely depicts the capitalist decade of the 80s to a T. The cover is very reminiscent of a new generation's version of Led Zeppelin 3. The icon on the cover, supposedly Rick, is very symbolic of what the technology of the 80s can do to a single piece of music. It can mix it, remix it, fix it, and then break it up without having any sense of continuity at all within the same song. This is also the first album cover not to feature any or all of the band members. Perhaps they were on to something; they would later continue this on Woke Up With A Monster and Cheap Trick 97.

CD: The CD itself is quite odd, it says Cheap Trick in bold at the top, however it lacks the title of the album that is found on most other releases.

Songs: Okay, this will be my interpretation of them from a few listens, which isn't all that many, however I bet there are a few of you out there that have only listened to this album a few times since its release in '86!

It's Up To You - The first few measures of this song set the tone for the album with a simple keyboard intro with what sounds like synthesized drums in the background. Actually, it sounds very much like a new version (read screwy) of "Baba O'Riley" with a strong keyboard follow up coming in at seven seconds into the song. When Zander first sings, he has a deep voice that doesn't quite sound anything that the man with a thousand voices has sang before. The second line in the album sums up the album perfectly for the listener. "Some things are hard to define" writes Rick Nielsen. Later on he claims "Gotta go all the way/Start today/It's up to you to get it right/Gotta try, gotta try" almost as if he needs a new musical direction to pursue to have a sense of creativity. The song ends the way it starts, with a simple drum beat fading out into obscurity. Overall, it is a catchy song and I guess it's the best way to "get things started."

Rearview Mirror Romance - I must admit I have an affinity for songs involving rearview mirrors. Mostly I get this from a song off Meatloaf's comeback album Bat Out Of Hell II: Back Into Hell. Though this does pre-date Jim Steinman by a few years, I might have to go with Steinman's song on overall originality. Anyways, this is indeed a very original song and kudos must be given to Nielsen for writing it. With an almost synthesized drum beat and a bluesy lick from Rick leading into the song, it is cut off by the sound and feeling of technology butting in. Zander keeps singing about this chick he sees in the rearview mirror and can't take his eyes off of, however once the guitar solo buts in, we find out that she escapes into the soundness of the night, and unknown love was lost but not forgotten. This song is very catchy and poppy. You can definitely catch the 80s sound on this song, but that's nothing to be ashamed of, it perfectly fits in with the decade it represents.

The Doctor - "The Doctor" almost sounds like it was recorded for a Broadway musical soundtrack more than an album. It does mention, "Call me the Doctor, Doctor Feelgood, hey!" Perhaps Motley Crue took a lesson from Cheap Trick for their 1989 Dr. Feelgood album. The song really doesn't make much sense in the lyrical sense, but it does contain a ripping solo from Rick. From the book Reputation Is A Fragile Thing, there is a quote with Rick talking about The Doctor that I'm going to paraphrase. His quote was something to this extent: The Doctor is like happy juice that goes off inside of your head when you listen to the album and makes you feel happy. Somebody check that quote for me please if you have the book. While the song definitely isn't bad, it just doesn't sound much like anything except an odd Broadway song. I find myself subconsciously singing this in my head on occasion though, so it definitely must be given credit for being catchy.

Are You Lonely Tonight - The weird keyboard melody is actually more catchy to me than annoying. It seems to actually add something good for once for me. The song kind of moves along without any surprises. The chorus is quite expected and could be more uplifting. The verse after, though, is quite clever: "Travel 'round the world/Seen a million girls/I know I've been around/And nothin' gets me down/'Cause someone's out there just like you/Someone's out there just like me too." Overall, this song is probably one of the worst on the album, just kind of "blah" and filler.

Name Of The Game - A good break away from the previous track, "Are You Lonely Tonight," "Name Of The Game" is a gem in the rough. Though the song starts with keyboards, the drum beat is quite cool. Rick writes some odd lyrics on this song, however it perfectly fits with Zander's great voice. The chorus is the coolest part of this song. Though I don't quite get the line, "Remember "Surrender," remember the verse," I still think it's a nice inclusion. The second chorus is quite cool with the high-pitched singing overlapping Zander singing the final verse over and over.

Kiss Me Red - I don't quite like this song a whole lot. Zander kind of croons on this one. This sounds more or less like it belongs on Bon Jovi's first or second album. It could definitely ditch the keyboards and pump up the drums. From Reputation Is A Fragile Thing, I believe it said that Bun officially hates this song. I don't quite blame him, it's kind of pop drivel. The guitar solo really needs some work on this one also, there doesn't seem to be any inspiration at all.

Take Me To The Top - I loved this song when I first heard it. That was on Silver, though, not this album. This truly is a great song and should get more recognition. I think this is one of Rick's greatest lyrical moments as far as ballads go. The keyboards even sound good on this song and deserve to be there. Again, this song should be played live more often as well, that was an awesome performance of it on Silver. I don't think I need to expand further on why this song is amazing.

Good Girls Go To Heaven (Bad Girls Go Everywhere) - What a long song title to type! This song picks up the tempo again. The chorus is quite odd, but very melodic. Zander still shows he can hit the high notes. Again, the keyboards are a bit too dominant in the background. The drums and guitar riffs are great in the background together. Overall, this song is a good change of pace and keeps The Doctor moving along.

Man-U-Lip-U-Lator - Cheap Trick has had at least one oddball song on almost every album following All Shook Up - The Doctor is just a weirder album than anything previously done. This is the "High Priest Of Rhythmic Noise," "3-D," "I Want Be Man" of The Doctor album. The chorus is really cool and the offbeat tempo is cool to listen to. Zander again uses a new voice for this song that we haven't heard up until this point. It doesn't really matter if the lyrics make sense or not, and whatever the hell this song is about is second to the song itself. Dee Lewis and Coral Gordon really add a nice touch to the backing vocals on this one. The song, is overall a great rocker.

It's Only Love - Zander passionately sings out the first verse in this mid-tempo song. The song sounds like it's a typical 80s song, which really isn't an insult considering what some of their other 80s material sounds like. This could easily have been on Next Position Please or Standing On The Edge. For some reason the chorus really grabs me, and it segues nicely into the verse after. It's an odd way to close the album out, it doesn't really rock and it doesn't really roll, but somehow it kind of gets the job done.

Now that the album is done and the songs analyzed, what does this mean? The Doctor isn't Cheap Trick's shining moment by any means. But the point I am trying to make is that I don't think it's their most embarrassing, and is extremely under-appreciated. I'm sure the band was quite burned out, listened to Tony Platt too much, and didn't have enough confidence in themselves to make another album like One On One or the excellent Standing On The Edge. The bottom line is that The Doctor has to be judged on its own merits and not up to those of say, In Color or Dream Police. The album is a perfect representation of power pop in the 80s from one of the best power pop bands in history. I think it's often misunderstood, and although it isn't the most conventional representation of what Cheap Trick has come to stand for, it's a very catchy and pop savvy album. Cheap Trick helped invent 80s pop, and they produced a record that almost defines what they invented, a pop oriented album with guitar licks, drums, and catchy choruses. I think that "Take Me To The Top" and "Name Of The Game" would be two very cool songs to hear live, once you strip away the dominant keyboards. I am trying to hear The Doctor songs on a bootleg of The Doctor tour, but have not had much success in finding one yet. If you possess or have heard songs on this tour, let me know how they sounded without the keyboards. I'd be very interested to know. As always, this is just my two cents. You can either agree with some stuff I say or disagree, but please don't give a stupid two word review like "shit sandwich," because that shows no musical intelligence whatsoever and gives no insight into anything intellectual on any level. My purpose of this review was to bring The Doctor back into the light and possibly give it some new insight from a relatively new fan's perspective.

That was my review at the time and my opinion of this album hasn't really changed that much. I still think it's a great album and hold it dear to my heart.

Derek's Picks: Take Me To The Top, The Doctor

Derek's Rating