Cheap Trick: Robin Zander (vocals); Rick Nielsen (guitar, keyboards); John Brant (bass); Bun E. Carlos (drums, cymbals).

Producers: Todd Rundgren, Cheap Trick, Ian Taylor.

Recorded at Utopia Sound Studio, Woodstock, New York.

Personnel: Robin Zander (vocals); Rick Nielsen (guitar, keyboards); Todd Rundgren (guitar); Bun E. Carlos (drums, cymbals).

Recording information: Utopia Sound Studio.

Perhaps sensing something was going wrong, Cheap Trick hired superstar producer Todd Rundgren for Next Position Please. Rundgren helped the band return to the appealing pop/rock of their In Color days, albeit stamping it with his heavy-handed production. However, Cheap Trick do benefit from Rundgren's control, since it gives them a sense of focus lacking on All Shook Up and One on One. Though the record was hampered somewhat by Epic's insistence of adding a bad cover of the Motors' terrific "Dancin' the Night Away" and the lightweight "You Say Jump," Next Position Please is effectively a return to form for Cheap Trick, boasting their most consistent set of songs since Heaven Tonight. "I Can't Take It," "Borderline," "Younger Girls," "Heaven's Falling," and "Invaders of the Heart" may not quite reach the heights of the first three albums, but they come within shooting distance, making Next Position Please Cheap Trick's last satisfying record. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

This was Cheap Trick's third album in a row made with a high profile producer identified with a specific sound--here it's Todd Rundgren, previously it was George Martin, and before that Roy Thomas Baker. And yet, the band sounds resolutely consistent. This is vintage Cheap Trick and stylistically identical with classics like HEAVEN TONIGHT.

Granted, there are a few new wrinkles, notably Rick Neilsen's guitar work on the opening "I Can't Take It," which appears to have absorbed the influence of the Police's Andy Summers. Elsewhere, however, it's melodic pop-rock business as usual, with "Y.O.Y.O.Y." (perhaps the band's most breathtakingly ironic ballad), and the melodically exquisite "Heaven's Falling" being particular standouts.