"I Want You to Want Me" - Cheap Trick

The actual commercial 45 run time of Cheap Trick's "I Want You to Want Me" is 3:37. (Timing info once again is brought to us courtesy of Jim. The printed record label time is 3:38.) In the database, the correct "live" hit version of this song have run times ranging widely from 3:32-3:44. I'm guessing the main reason for the big time differences is the result of the CD mastering engineers manually fading out the cheering audience at different points on each disc.

Edited by Todd Ireland

It's been a long time since I've listened to the Cheap Trick's Live at the Budokan (unfortunately I no longer have it on CD), but I'm pretty sure the audience cheers segue continuously throughout the album from one track to the next. That said, I'm not sure how one would be able to pinpoint an exact LP time for "I Want You to Want Me" since there's really no way to determine the beginning and end points for the applause.

Non-hit 1977 studio version

The song was first recorded for Cheap Trick's 1977 album In Color. Here, it's a studio recording, running about 3:08 or 3:09. This was not the hit version.

My guess is that the studio LP version sounds great on the original '80s-era release of In Color, which I don't have. I'd also guess that the same analog transfer is used for Razor & Tie's 2-CD Those Rocking '70s and Sony's cheapie Rock N' 70's (1993). I prefer the Sony disc here.

The studio LP version on CBS's Seems Like Yesterday Vol. 3 (1990) fades a second or two earlier than the other discs, and has tape azimuth alignment problems, so that it sounds like mud when summed to mono. Avoid.

Oddly, the studio LP version on the 1998 rerelease of In Color also has the same tape azimuth alignment problems. Avoid this one, too.

Hit 1979 live version

The oldest version on CD that I have is on Silver Eagle Records' 3-CD Formula 45. It sounds OK here; it's probably not the lowest-generation source tapes. I'd guess that this uses an unedited portion of the live concert, because at the very end of the fade, you can hear something spoken to the audience. This spoken part is edited out of all the other versions.

There's a new analog transfer on Time-Life's Sounds Of The Seventies Vol. 9 1979 (1990), which fades in a little too slowly and fades out a little too early. Avoid. The same analog transfer is used for:

• Capitol's Hearts Of Gold Rock (1991; differently EQ'd digital clone)
• Time-Life's Guitar Rock Vol. 2 1978-1979 (1993)

The version on The Greatest Hits (1992) uses the same digital source as the Time-Life disc, adds a little compression/limiting, edits at the beginning and end to fix the fades, and inadvertently truncates the fade. Despite all this, it sounds pretty good here, with a little more life than the Time-Life disc. The same analog transfer is used for:

• Time-Life's Guitar Rock Vol. 23 Live (1996; differently EQ'd digital clone)
• TM Century's GoldDisc 10 (differently EQ'd digital clone)
• swaitek's promo 50-CD set The A List Disc 1 (1994)

The version on Sony's Forever Rock Vol. 2 (1996) clips at about -2 dB in the right channel only, and is EQ'd very trebly.

The version on Authorized Greatest Hits (2000) is actually less compressed than the 1992 GH, and sounds very nice. This disc lets the song partially fade until 3:39, then cross-fades into applause from a different track to track into the next selection. The version on Essential is digitally exactly 0.5 dB quieter than Authorized.

The track on the 1998 rerelease of At Budokan starts at the drums, with the spoken line in the previous track, so you'd have to do some editing to recreate the 45.

Best bets

For the non-hit studio version, I like Sony's cheapie Rock N' 70's (1993), which is likely based on the '80s-era CD release of In Color.

For the hit live version, I would have recommended Authorized, but I don't like the added applause at the end of the song. Instead go with The Greatest Hits (1992) , even though it has a little added compression/limiting.

Edited by crapfromthepast

Was there a DJ/Promo edit that eliminated the spoken "I Want You To Want Me" at the beginning? That's what I remember hearing on WLS at the time. Maybe they just cued to the drums themselves??

To Hykker:

I think you made an inadvertent typo on the above post.

The B side of "California Man" was the future LIVE HIT TAKE of "I Want You To Want Me". (I don't know if it has the same applause fade-in/fade-out points as the later hit release.)

Cheap Trick was big in Japan; sellout concerts, #1 singles. Epic was yearning to break Cheap Trick in the States in a big way. 'Live At Budokan' was a Japan-only release at that time. US follow-up single to "Surrender" had the live "I Want You To Want Me" on the flip-side EVEN ON PROMO 45s just to let programmers know they were an energy-inducing live act.

Some programmers, including one station in my market, played the live "I Want You To Want Me" a couple months before the 'Budokan' album & eventual single came out.

Andy