Cheap Trick - The Flame b/w Through the Night

I have always been a fan of the iconic slow jam that is "The Flame." It's the very reason I picked this 45 (oh, I'm going through my records too, by the way) out of a 50 cent bin. With that out of the way I think you should know that up until today I had never heard the b-side to this single.

"Through the Night" is the flipside of this 7-incher and it is a good enough song to make you say, "Sheesh, if this isn't good enough for the album how great is the album?" Turns out Lap of Luxury is a pretty good album though not so good that it would not have benefited from the addition of "Through the Night." As a matter of fact, the two albums preceding Lap of Luxury would have been better with a gem like this (I'm looking at you, The Doctor).

"Through the Night" is a pretty simple song lyrically, and the tune is straightforward. It's just that the song jangles and pops and just when you think Robin Zander's voice couldn't go higher, it does. Also, it has the greatest bridge of any Cheap Trick song that I can conjure into my memory as I write these words. The song is just a solid 8 out of 10, which means it's too good to be a b-side in an era when Cheap Trick had some slip-ups (I'm looking at you, The Doctor). This is a great single and can be had for as little as 50 cents. There's no reason not to own it.