Next Position Please

Background

Cheap Trick's eighth album Next Position Please, is a return to the pop-oriented sound of In Color. It was produced by Todd Rundgren. The LP peaked at #61 on the Billboard 200 LP charts.

The then-band members (Zander, Nielsen, Jon Brant, and Bun E. Carlos) consider it one of their best albums. "I Can't Take It" has become a concert staple over the years. Several of the album's tracks were re-worked older material, such as the title track and "You Talk Too Much."

Physical copies of the album were out of print for several years (with the exception of Japan), but as of April 6, 2010, it was reissued together with the previous album, One On One, on a single CD.

Cover art

The album cover is a parody of Bruce Springsteen's pose on the cover of Born to Run. The guitar on the cover is Rick Nielsen's Hamer double-neck "Uncle Dick". Rick Nielsen is pictured on the cover with 8 fingers extended plus a folded-in-half pinky. 8 1/2 was a potential album title with Cheap Trick releasing 7 full albums and a 4-song EP prior to this release.

Releases

The original vinyl record included 12 tracks. "You Talk Too Much" and "Don't Make Our Love a Crime" appeared as bonus tracks on the cassette version and later on the CD. The record was originally supposed to include both of these tracks along with two others called "Twisted Heart" and "Don't Hit Me With Love," but Cheap Trick's label at the time, Epic Records, forced the band to include a cover of The Motors' "Dancing the Night Away" and the outtake "You Say Jump" in their place. Rundgren refused to produce "Dancing the Night Away," so the track ended up being produced by the band with Ian Taylor, who had engineered the band's previous album, One on One. "Twisted Heart" eventually surfaced on the box set Sex, America, Cheap Trick. There was one video shot for this LP; "I Can't Take It."

In 2006, Cheap Trick and Epic/Legacy reissued Next Position Please as a digital download, calling it Next Position Please (The Authorized Version). The title refers to the fact that the 13 tracks intended for the original album were restored and sequenced according to the band's wishes, while "You Say Jump" and "Dancing the Night Away" were put at the end as "bonus tracks" along with the previously unreleased track "Don't Hit Me With Love." The track "I Don't Love Here Anymore" is incorrectly titled "I Don't Love Her Anymore."

Track listing

All songs written by Rick Nielsen, except where noted.

Original version

1. "I Can't Take It" (Robin Zander) – 3:28
2. "Borderline" – 3:34
3. "I Don't Love Here Anymore" – 3:51
4. "Next Position Please" – 2:51
5. "Younger Girls" (Zander, Nielsen) – 3:14
6. "Dancing the Night Away" (Nick Garvey, Andy McMaster) – 4:58
7. "You Talk Too Much" – 1:55 (Bonus track - Cassette/CD only)
8. "3-D" – 3:37
9. "You Say Jump" – 3:06
10. "Y.O.Y.O.Y." – 4:54
11. "Won't Take No for an Answer" – 3:13
12. "Heaven's Falling" (Todd Rundgren) – 3:48
13. "Invaders of the Heart" – 4:00
14. "Don't Make Our Love a Crime" – 3:43 (Bonus track - Cassette/CD only)

2006 "Authorized" reissue

1. "I Can't Take It"
2. "Borderline"
3. "I Don't Love Here Anymore"
4. "Next Position Please"
5. "Younger Girls"
6. "Don't Make Our Love a Crime"
7. "3-D"
8. "You Talk Too Much"
9. "Y.O.Y.O.Y."
10. "Won't Take No for an Answer"
11. "Heaven's Falling"
12. "Invaders of the Heart"
13. "Twisted Heart"
14. "Don't Hit Me with Love"
15. "You Say Jump"
16. "Dancing the Night Away"

Singles

Outtakes

Personnel