Review Summary: Can I get another doctor?
Here it is, the popularly accepted lowest point in the Cheap Trick discography. Or, to be more precise, this is the opinion many music fans gravitate towards. But is it really so? Before going into the next album, this reviewer considered
Standing on the Edge to be worthy of that uncomplimentary title. Can
The Doctor be even worse?
But first let’s go back a bit. After several all-around excellent releases in the 1970s it seemed Cheap Trick would be as confident in the next decade. However, the reality turned out to be different: the output in the first half of the 1980s was getting worse and worse (with a couple of exceptions). Yes, the band still managed to maintain some quality here and there, but it seemed that in their attempt to have a hit song in order to increase sales and please their label Cheap Trick were losing focus. This finally resulted in
Standing on the Edge, their largest artistic failure at the time, which surprisingly sold quite well. And this leads us to the subject and the band’s next album –
The Doctor.
The first thing you will notice if you put on the record is a more active role of synths, although it should be noted they are implemented a lot more organically here compared to the previous album. On some tracks they even practically replaced one of the main weapons in the Cheap Trick’s arsenal – Rick Nielsen’s guitar, pushing it back to accompaniment! And it would understandable if the synth parts contained at least an ounce of Cheap Trick’s quirkiness. But no, they sound so banal and typical for its time with its commercial requirements, it is unsurprising the fans gave the album such a hostile reception.
However, the synths are not the only problem here. It’s difficult to say exactly why, but many of the Cheap Trick members openly ‘fill in the hours’ on a lot of tracks. For example, Bun E. Carlos’ drum parts became so primitive, even I feel embarrassed for him. On some of the cuts it is like he just stepped out for tea (or something stronger) leaving a lazily programmed drum machine in his stead, and nobody even noticed. That background tapping on
Name of the Game cannot be taken seriously, but Cheap Trick considered it good enough to include in the final version. The basslines are barely audible, and Rick more often than not takes the path of least resistance – his trademark melodies are pretty much absent on the album. Instead he decided to make away with one or two simple riffs per song, viewing it as sufficient input. The only one who at least tries to put in some effort on the album is Robin Zander, and even his contributions often feel routine.
And yet, however paradoxical it may sound, there are some bright spots that put
The Doctor a couple of notches above
Standing on the Edge. For example,
Rearview Mirror Romance turns out to be a solid track, and the eponymous track serves as a nice remainder that Rick still remembers how to play guitar, giving us something to appreciate. Moreover, the cut demonstrates pretty good balance between the 1980s cheese and the band’s own style, which, if applied to the entire record, might have changed our perception of it.
Man-U-Lip-U-Lator and closing
It's Only Love are also fun. Although, to be honest, neither track can be labeled as ‘classic’ in the band’s discography.
As a result, it turned out that
The Doctor is not as awful as it is painted to be, however it is difficult to call an achievement as well. It would seem that the main problem here is perceptible weariness of the band. It is as if they no longer understand what their strengths are, and the imposed need to release a hit song only applied an additional pressure on the already frail foundation. If only the band spent more time working on the tracks and had a better understanding of what they wanted to achieve (and the
The Doctor song gives us a brief glimpse into what could have been), the end result might have been completely different. But what we have instead is an uneven album, which I cannot call as the worst in the band’s catalogue.