Budokan 30th Anniversary 3CD 1DVD by Cheap Trick @ ARTISTdirect.com

In 1978 America, despite glowing accolades from the music press, Cheap Trick’s first three albums, Cheap Trick, In Color and Heaven Tonight, failed to make a dent on the charts - until the band visited Budokan.

Halfway around the world, the story was altogether different. Enamored by their catchy tunes and cartoon image, Japan embraced the band with Beatle-like fervor. Looking back, no one could have predicted how the group's first Japanese tour would inexorably transform their career.

Bolstered by the hit singles, "I Want You To Want Me" and "Ain't that A Shame", 1978’s Cheap Trick at Budokan is the album that catapulted the Rockford, Illinois quartet to international superstardom. Originally intended as a souvenir for their Japanese fans, the album's unprecedented import sales paved the way to its eventual domestic release. A picture perfect document of the band's thrilling live shows, the album was a massive seller, soaring to #4 on the Billboard charts and achieving triple platinum status. Voted by Rolling Stone magazine as one of the top 500 albums of all time, Cheap Trick at Budokan stands as the group's crowning achievement, its classic songs forming a bedrock of the band’s live shows today.

Budokan!, the 30th Anniversary DVD/3-CD box set includes everything a Cheap Trick fan would want and more.

* For the first time ever, DVD premiers the previously unseen historic 1978 Japan concert - aired only once on Japanese TV

* Bonus features include a new interview with the band plus two songs taped at a recent 2008 Budokan show

* Two CDs feature At Budokan: The Complete Concert, newly remastered

* Third CD includes the audio counterpart to the DVD plus four bonus songs not included in the original film

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All Music Guide Review

Some fans may look at At Budokan: 30th Anniversary Collectors Edition with a skeptical eye, as it's the third reissue of the classic concert. Each edition expands by a full disc: the original 1979 LP was a single disc, the 1998 At Budokan: The Complete Concert spilled out over two discs, and now this 2008 set runs a whopping three CDs, plus a full DVD. It may seem as either exploitation or overindulgence for an album that was a model of efficiency in its original humble ten-track form, but this triple-CD box provides plenty of thrills for those inclined to venture once more into familiar territory. Despite the inclusion of a full second concert -- the second show Cheap Trick played at Budokan two days later on April 30, 1978, present as a third CD and in the first video release of a concert originally broadcast on Japanese TV -- there are no real revelations here, just more of the same high-octane, high-quality power pop of the original. Comparatively, the Friday the 30th show isn't as tight as the April 28th gig that provided the source for the original LP and the 1998 The Complete Concert (which takes up the first two discs of this reissue), but this a minor and subtle difference, as this essentially captures the same band in the same setting playing the same set; they were at a peak on the 28th, and they remained so on the 30th, so this is certainly worthwhile for fanatics who have listened to At Budokan for 10, 20, or 30 years and have never gotten enough -- but the less dedicated will be just fine sticking with either their one- or two-disc sets. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide

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