I first heard this record in 1979, 
the only summer I ever went to sleep-away camp (Lincoln Farm, in Roscoe, NY – home of the marginally famous Roscoe Diner). One of the counselors had a boom-box and played this tape just about every afternoon while I was in the Art Barn doing some craft or another. Batik and tie-dye were favorites of mine as I recall.
At this point, now 10 years old, I was really into Kiss, and Cheap Trick was not Kiss. They were less heavy, more melodic, but still bristling with the energy and the crunchy guitar sound that 10-year-old me was ravenous for. I specifically remember “Surrender” grabbed my attention, at first solely BECAUSE they mentioned Kiss in the song! From there, I started paying attention, and quickly got into “I Want You to Want Me,” as did everyone that year. Then, I really fell in love with “Ain’t That A Shame.” I learned that it was a cover song, originally done by Fats Domino, who also sang “Blueberry Hill” – which I knew from Happy Days. The connections were clicking quickly in my 10-year-old mind.
As much as those hits, I was equally fascinated by the opening and closing numbers on the record. “Hello There” and “Goodnight” were the same song with different lyrics, the first one welcoming the “ladies and gentlemen” to the show, and the latter one wishing the same people a good evening. I remember thinking that seemed pretty creative. And the record is drenched in screaming fans between each song – it sounded exciting as hell!
These songs hold up – we played “Surrender” and “Ain’t That A Shame” in my last band and they both killed. I saw Cheap Trick for the first time in 2015 (that’s 36 years later!) in Englewood, NJ with three of the four original members and they played a great, though far too short, set that included about half of this album’s songs. And they’re still releasing new music almost every year – some of which is pretty good! I still look at finding At Budokan! as the reward for going to summer camp, or maybe as the sole reason I went that one summer.
