The latest cheap trick from Can-rockers Cheap Trick is an album released on an 8-track tape. Bah! My album will be released in the form of incidental grooving on the side of a thrown pot made in the style of ancient Greek potters!

As you might imagine, finding a manufacturer today for the 8-track version of Cheap Trick's The Latest wasn't easy. "There was a lot of looking under rocks," admits Frey, who finally found a small plant in Dallas, Tex., for the retro-fit. "They're expensive to make, and they don't make very many at a time," he says of the cartridge which will sell to the public for something close to $30.
The new album, issued on Cheap Trick's own label, is comprised of 12 songs broken into four sets of three songs each - suites that unfortunately don't fit nicely into the four 10-minute programs of standard 8-tracks, but which may be available at some point as a three-for-the-price-of-one deal on iTunes. As Frey explains the discount, "We're kind of more worried about being ignored than being ripped off."

Cheap Trick brings back the 8-track

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Anonymous

“Unlike bands that release things on vinyl, they can’t possibly float the claim that the 8-track medium offers any inherent fidelity advantages over other media.”

I can assure you, music recorded on 1/4″ tape, uncompressed, DOES sound better than, say, highly compressed mp3s.
But sadly, most people under 40 or 50 will never get to hear it.

CD’s have a hugely better quality than mp3s, but are much harder to ‘pirate’ (That means STEAL, for you young folks.)

Spend years making your music, and 10 minutes after you release it- its all over the internet for free, compressed, and sounding crappy.

We ARE Devo.
webmonkees

Wow. When I saw them on Colbert I thought it was just a joke for the show. Beats the last album I got from Weird Al, Dual layer DVD with videos, alternate tracks, and a 12″ EP vinyl.

The 8-track to cassette adapters are still sought after, for car owners who still don’t want to change the original factory radio.

While the tape will likely be new and somewhat reliable with this, as always, have your recording equipment set up if you’re trying to copy a old 8-track. You will likely only get one chance.
Timothy Hutton

All I can say is Ker-CHUNK!

And that I suspect the folks that made the 8 track cartrdige were able to retrofit machines like those used in radio stations for commercials (the “carts” you sometimes hear DJs talking about)… While the digital revolution has hit the radio business, I think there is still an industry around those cartridges…
cbentsen23

Excellent. I can add this to my late 70′s “punk rock on 8 track” collection.
Anonymous

Contrary to what the article sez, the 8-track medium is more than adequate to hold an CD’s worth of music. In fact, you could put an hour or more of music on a cartridge if you loaded the cartridge with enough tape. The original design was intended for playing long background music recordings, not albums. Ultimately, of course, most commercial 8-tracks were released as alternatives to LP records, which were limited to about 40 minutes of music, so 8-tracks rarely contained more than 40 minutes worth of tape.
Anonymous

here’s the thing: sure, they’re releasing it on 8-track… but the article says that the album doesn’t even fit well on the format! why on earth would they release it on 8-track if they weren’t prepared to do a good job?

does that make it MORE authentic?
Timothy Hutton

Dorothy Haskin alleged:

Back in the real day, we used to buy **4-TRACKS** to hear our music

I never heard of 4-tracks, so I googled, and found out that there were briefly 4-tracks, but they appear to have been an evolutionary step towards 8-tracks.

My personal experience with music technolgy biased me to think Dorothy was writing about 4-track recorders, like the Tascam 414 cassette recorder/mixer all-in-one, which records all four tracks at once by using both the stereo L+R channels from the A side and the B side at the same time.
Takuan

http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/unfairpark/2009/07/ktswe_have_been_selling_and.php
Takuan

banned for drugs? Did they ban all other objects that had three substantial dimensions as well?
nosehat

Timothy Hutton: “I think the answer is to have excellent musicians in front of the mics, a good engineer behind the console, and a strong idea of what you want before you start.”

Very, very true! But it can be a hard lesson to learn. There’s an appeal to having things emerge spontaneously/organically/surprisingly as you go along, but mostly this just leads to muddled projects.

The other hard lesson I’ve had to learn over and over again: Less is more. In my experience, most of the time it’s better to fix a piece by taking something away (a track, some measures, a process or effect) rather than adding something.
Anonymous

Hey what about 1/4 inch Reel-to-Reel.
I have some tapes here, but wher the heck is that deck?
Anonymous

Now only if I can find my book of matches so that I can wedge it in between the 8 track tape and player opening in order to get the output to sound good… (kind of what I do on my analog TV tuner).

I hope that the song ‘Surrender’ is recorded so that half of it is on one track and the other half is on another such as the Pink Floyd 8 track ‘Dark Side of the Moon’ with the song ‘Time’.
wisekwai

Cheap Trick are from Rockford, Illinois. So that makes them Ill-rockers. Or Rock-rockers.

Now, where did I put that 8-track player?
nosehat

Except as an “any publicity is good publicity” publicity stunt, I don’t get it.

Unlike bands that release things on vinyl, they can’t possibly float the claim that the 8-track medium offers any inherent fidelity advantages over other media.

If they are going for the (very) retro nostalgia market, they would do much better with regular cassette tapes, since they are much cheaper to produce, and since retro nostalgia fans are much more likely to have a functioning cassette player than a functioning 8-track.

Maybe they are hoping to go down in history as the last commercial 8-track ever produced, but I don’t see much margin in that.
Anonymous

8-trak quality varied greatly, but good ones did and still do sound better than any MP3 or FM radio, and I still buy’m and play’m. I actually started with them just as they were closing out in the mid eighties. They are cheap and so I’ve discovered a lot of music I might have missed. I’m am also now probably the best 8-trak cartridge repair person in the world, having put about 85 cartridges back on the road.
hi fi snock
Anonymous

The album’s that bad, huh?
Takuan

http://www.cheaptrick.com/
nosehat

@#30 Timothy Hutton: Tascam 414 cassette recorder/mixer

I had a less fancy version of that “back in the day.” It was my first home studio. One spent a lot of time bouncing down the tracks, thinking “How the hell did George Martin do this and make it seem so easy?!”

I bet I could still find some of my 4-track cassettes if I went digging. It would be a snap to convert these to digital too. Just record left and right from the cassette playing both ways, reverse the two backward tracks, and line them up.
Anonymous

I was watching some video online of the place that makes the Cheap Trick 8-tracks, and the decks they use to make the tapes are all different, like 6 different tape decks all different brands. Each deck records different than the other-what a fiasco ! At least they could use all the same brand machines so all the tapes sound the same ? For $30/each the tapes should be consistent, not half assedly recorded. They have some hole in the wall place run by some joker named Dan Gibson making them, the guy is a first class jerk. He’s ripped off many people in the collectible 8-track tape hobby and can’t be trusted, he gives out the personal contact info of his customers and harasses them online, and with prank phone calls. Beware, the guy making these tapes is someone to be avoided. Cheap Trick obviously doesn’t know the history of this Gibson guy- he’s not well liked in the 8-track collector circles.
Takuan

better than a bacon business card
http://shop.ebay.com/?_from=R40&_trksid=p3907.m38.l1313&_nkw=eight+track&_sacat=See-All-Categories
The Lizardman

Do not move Rockford, Il into Canada. Rockford is a fun place (I love playing at Kryptonite when I pass through) and deserves credit for Cheap Trick. It is also home to the driving force behind Lizard Skynard (Mossy Vaughn) and spawned the Heavils.

This statement,

“We’re kind of more worried about being ignored than being ripped off.”

reflects the attitude that many more people in the industry should (IMO) embrace.

Finally, Rick Nielsen is one of the nicest rock stars I have had the pleasure of (briefly) meeting and working with.
Anonymous

A modern album on 8-track?! Sounds like nothin’ but a “CHEAP TRICK” to me! Wakka-wakka!
Telecustard

I do not think that they really made any new 8-tracks. I base this feeling on the photo, because surely if you could photograph the actual product with its cardboard sleeve, wouldn’t you?

Hoax-ish.
Anonymous

#2 They’re releasing it on CD, LP, and 8-track.

#5 Huh?
jon_a_thon

Of course this is a publicity stunt! Who would be talking about Cheap Trick’s latest album if it came out on any other format (other than maybe as a digital download that came with a property purchase in Rockford.

I work at Invisible Records in Chicago with Martin Atkins. His band Pigface decided to release their latest album, “6″, on 8-track about 7 months ago… You can check out the video announcement here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoKkdji75-k) . Maybe it’s a coincidence that both these bands had the same idea, but I think something must be in the water in Northern Illinois that’s making all these bands make CRAZY decisions.
Daemon

They should have had a thumbdrive built into the 8-tracks, so it would work both ways.
thatbob

“Who actually has an 8-track player?”

All kinds of hipsters, tech geeks, nostalgiacs, and music snobs have working 8 track players – and the combined interest among them in buying a new release is probably greater than the combined interest the world had in buying a new Cheap Trick CD. Also, as anyone making money in music can tell you, the profits come from merchandising and sales of physical artificats. Releasing this would be a smart move, IMO.

But it looks like it’s not actually going to be for sale – just a promo-only for the “Classic Rock” record stations who, to be honest, were not going to play their new songs anyway. IMO, a very gentle F.U. to the industry from a cheeky, classy, classic act.
Anonymous

The new Pigface album is also released on 8-track.
See the pre-order page.

rev
Opspin

That’s awesome, I can’t wait for the music videos to come out on BetaMax and Laserdisc ;)
Anonymous

It’s also being released on CD and vinyl. In my neck of the woods the young hipsters are momentarily into 8 track paraphernalia. BTW, we’re not far from Rockford.
Anonymous

Surely just a marketing ploy.
I always thought the 8-track continuous loop design had a basic flaw.
The more you play the tape the tighter it gets until it seizes up?
inness

This is one item that need not be rated on technological merit. The 8-track had, and still has, a wuzzy place in the hearts of many late -70s barefoot teens wandering along Chicago’s Southshore Beach of Lake Michigan, listening to Rick, Robin, Tom and Bun E. under the summer sun, some having just heard them play live at Mother’s the night before, so . . . hold on a sec . . . that’s not sobbing, I have to sneeze and I have the hiccups, just FYI.
The 8-track release is another terrific idea on the nostalgic, novelty and publicity levels from a band that’s been faithful to its Midwestern/Chicago roots throughout its existence. Rock on boyz!
The Thompson Five

What amazes me is that they could find anyone at all to make an 8-track at all. Do these things still have some kind of legacy commercial application somewhere?
Itsumishi

But it looks like it’s not actually going to be for sale – just a promo-only for the “Classic Rock” record stations

You can pre-order it from their website.

–

CD’s have a hugely better quality than mp3s, but are much harder to ‘pirate’ (That means STEAL, for you young folks.)

Wow thanks for the education Devo. You sure have enlightened my attitude towards the music business with that ever so helpful advice.
Uncle_Max

My dad’s 1979 Ford pickup is in fact still running, and has a built in 8-track player. It doesn’t sound, terrible exactly… but it’s not, you know, good. I’m not sure if the 8-track being new would help that at all.
shibumi

further this:

leave a recording as a fingerprint. that’s fairly easy to ‘play’ given it’s 2 dimentions.

thimble shaped ‘players’ to play our fingertips (sorry stevie wonder)?

/john
Smokin

Man. You guys scared me!

Hey can anybody help me get my “Smoke on the Water” tape back into the cartridge? It’s a little crunched but I think it’ll still work?
Anonymous

ummmm, wait a minute…”Can-rockers”?? is that to imply that they’re Canadian?? Since when is Rockford, IL part of Canada?
Anonymous

#36: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoKkdji75-k

I think Martin Atkins had this in the bag last year…
yri

The new album, issued on Cheap Trick’s own label, is comprised of 12 songs…

Comprises 12 songs, you mean. Or you could say is composed of. But please, let’s end the horrid misconstruction “is comprised of.”
Anonymous

They do want to sell albums, don’t they? Who actually has an 8-track player?
Anonymous

Band that nobody has given much thought since 1982 releases new album and gets a write-up in a major newspaper and a massively influential blog before the album is even released.

I’m still looking for the Fail in this.

“We’re kind of more worried about being ignored than being ripped off.” Sounds to me like this choice has been successful in helping minimize that fear.
Anonymous

What do mean by “Can-Rockers”? The article you’re linking to is from Canada, but Cheap Trick is from Illinois. Rockford, to be exact.
Anonymous

“Who actually has an 8-track player?”
—————–

8-Track home players are still one of the most widely sold used stereo components – available at swap meets and thrift stores. Going price: about five bucks

My first stereo system (bought by mom at Sears) was a combo AM/FM tuner with an 8-Track…only ever had 3 or 4 cartridges including Johnny Winter, Aerosmith…and various artists LIVE at Isle of Wight (1970)

The sound was always a bit bass-y and the fade-outs and clicks and thuds were hard to take. 8-Track was (and is…) definitely more of an experience in the car, where audio deficiencies are masked by the traffic

4-Track cartridges were around a long time, at least five years.

The unassuming 8-Track Heaven has the best information regarding 8-Tracks…seems as if many old 8-Track cartridges came with music not featured on standard LPs (transition music, etc)
ill lich

I seem to remember somebody (Pearl Jam?) released an 8-track in the mid-90′s, again basically as a promo-only item.
BingoTheChimp

@#32

Hey what about 1/4 inch Reel-to-Reel.
I have some tapes here, but wher the heck is that deck?

They are the heck all over the place, my friend. Do an ebay search for “reel to reel deck” and you’ll get over a hundred, everything from consumer hi-fi stereo decks to pro decks to “Mission: Impossible”-style portables. I even have an 8-track open reel 1/4″ deck (that’s 8 tracks for multitracking, not “8-track” like an 8-track cartridge).
mokey

i remember the melvins releasing an 8-track a few years back. you know if any band would do it, it’d be the melvins.
Anonymous

How dare you give Canada credit for Cheap Trick ! They are from Rockford Illinois ! The best band ever to come out of Rockford. Followed closely by The Goodyear Pimps
(The Pimps,God damn pimps)
Timothy Hutton

Nosehat responded with:

I had a less fancy version of that “back in the day.” It was my first home studio. One spent a lot of time bouncing down the tracks, thinking “How the hell did George Martin do this and make it seem so easy?!”

Bruce Springsteen recorded demo version of his solo “Nebraska” album on a four-track cassette recorder (like the Tascam I mentioned) at home and legend has it brought the demo tape in to the record company in a pocket in his denim jacket unprotected (no case) and they ultimately decided to use that tape (cleaned up, but otherwise as-is) instead of the “big band” version recorded with The E Street Band…

I think the answer is to have excellent musicians in front of the mics, a good engineer behind the console, and a strong idea of what you want before you start. Too many weaker performers attempt to “find” their song at the mixing console, after it is recorded… (That’s my opinion, anyways)
Takuan

I hope that one day a capsule falls to Earth with a message of First Contact – in a format chosen from waves propagated in the 70′s.

Cheap Trick releases an album on 8-Track

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