Round Trip in Bloomington, MN

It must suck to be
the Knack
. First off, there was the huge unexpected success of their debut album,
Get the Knack
, followed almost immediately by the equally unexpected career-damaging "Knuke the Knack" underground campaign. If that wasn't bad enough, their superior sophomore release,
...But the Little Girls Understand
, was universally and unfairly dismissed as an inferior rehash of the debut. After such a tumultuous two-year roller coaster ride, the boys in
took a well-deserved breather. When their third album,
Round Trip
, emerged in 1981,
Doug Fieger
and the boys in
had matured ten-fold and had created their best album to date. Produced by
Jack Douglas
,
had more musical layers than any
Knack
album before (or since).
"Just Wait and See,"
"Radiating Love,"
"Boys Go Crazy,"
and
"She Likes the Beat"
were instant
classics, but with more skin and bone.
"Lil' Cal's Big Mistake"
could've been an unreleased
Blood, Sweat & Tears
track.
"Africa"
was
Weather Report
on
pop
-flavored steroids.
"We Are Waiting"
"Sweet Dreams"
sound like outtakes from the last
John Lennon
sessions (
Douglas
produced
Double Fantasy
). Two of
's best tracks are here, and both are worth the price of admission alone.
"Pay the Devil (Ooo, Baby, Ooo)"
is a beautifully haunting
ballad
while
"Another Lousy Day in Paradise"
is
's entire musical essence squeezed into one three-minute
song. Brilliant. A few weeks after this brilliant album was released (to poor reviews, it should be said),
split up. While they were at their creative high, they were at their commercial and critical low. Again, it must suck to be
. ~ Steve "Spaz" Schnee