You work hard, you went hungry, now the taxman is out to get you!

You'd think there wouldn't be a whole lot left in the vault. Cheap Trick first threw the doors of their metaphorical clearinghouse in 1996 with the Sex, America, Cheap Trick box/book set that included it's fair shake of outtakes and scarcities. This was followed up by expanded reissues of their classic 1970s to early '80 albums. If that weren't enough, there was eventually a series of rarities collections, (The Epic Archives - that to a large extent were a rehash of b-sides and bonus tracks that had already been available for decades), and unless you're a CT fan that's been living under a rock for the last five years or so, there's been a slew of archival live albums flooding the market, with a good chunk of those being Record Store Day titles.  And just a few years ago I even did my part when I shared unreleased material surrounding the Next Position Please and One on One albums.

Believe it or not, there's more "unheard" CT music that the vast majority of folks haven't encountered. Perhaps not so much in the way of revelatory unreleased songs, but at the very least abandoned session takes, demos and such, which is what I have for you tonight, particularly centering around the early Epic Records years. 23 songs total including alternate studio versions and edits from the first five albums, with a few random covers the band tinkered with privately in the early days. Most interestingly, after decades of looking I was finally able to uncover a small allotment of tracks cut by Sick Man of Europe, a CT precursor band featuring Tom Petersson and Rick Nielsen, circa 1972. Once Robin Zander was added to the lineup in '73, this was when they officially evolved into Cheap Trick. Oddly enough, it sounds like Robin singing on the SMoE tracks, even though the timeline doesn't exactly mesh. Still, the Sick Man... songs (all three of them) point to the band's blooming power pop chops and impressed me even more than expected. Certainly worth the wait. My track list is accompanied by the years the songs are derived from. There were more All Shook Up outtakes I could have included, but considering some of those were pretty rank, it's easy to understand why they didn't make it onto the record. I like to think I did a decent job of cutting the wheat from the chaff and hope you find a few tidbits here you'll enjoy. 

1-5 & 7 - first album, In Color outtakes
6 - from "Bun E's" basement bootlegs
8-10 - Heaven Tonight outtakes
11-13 - Dream Police outtakes
14-18 - All Shook Up outtakes
19 & 20 - "Bun E's" basement covers
21-23 - Sick Man of Europe 1972 demos. 

01. Southern Girls [alt]
02. Speak Now or Forever Hold Your Peace [alt]
03. Taxman Mr Thief [alt]
04. I Dig Go Go Girls
05. Lovin' Money [alt]
06. Waitin' for the Man
07. Don't Lie to Me
08. California Man [alt]
09. Heaven Tonight [alt]
10. Surrender [remix]
11. It Must Be Love
12. Next Position Please [alt]
13. Dream Police [remix]
14. Everything Works If You Let It [alt 1]
15. Everything Works If You Let It [alt 2]
16. Machines Make Money
17. Merry-Go-Round
18. Stop This Game [alt]
19. Wild Horses
20. You've Got to Hide Your Love Away
21. Sick Man of Europe - Beans
22. Sick Man of Europe - Hot Tomato
23. Sick Man of Europe - I'm a Surprise

Hear