Heaven Tonight in Bloomington, MN

Heaven Tonight
, like
In Color
, was produced by
Tom Werman
, but the difference between the two records is substantial. Where
often sounded emasculated,
regains the powerful, arena-ready punch of
Cheap Trick
, but crosses it with a clever radio-friendly production that relies both on synthesizers and studio effects. Even with the fairly slick production,
sound ferocious throughout the album, slamming
heavy metal
,
power pop
, and
hard rock
together in a humongous sound.
"Surrender,"
the definitive
song, opens the album with a tale about a kid whose parents are hipper than himself, and the remainder of the record is a roller coaster ride, peaking with the sneering
"Auf Wiedersehen,"
the dreamily psychedelic title track, the roaring rocker
"On Top of the World,"
the high-stepping, tongue-in-cheek
"How Are You,"
and the pulverizing cover of
the Move
's
"California Man."
is the culmination of the group's dizzying early career, summing up the strengths of their first two albums, their live show, and their talent for inverting
pop
conventions. They were never quite as consistently thrilling on record ever again. [
Epic
/
Legacy
's 1998 reissue adds outtakes of
"Stiff Competition"
and
"Surrender."
] ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine