In Color by Cheap Trick

In Color, Cheap Trick's second album, came out on Epic in 1977 with Tom Werman producing, and it's power pop with the lights turned all the way up. The Rockford, Illinois band, Rick Nielsen and Robin Zander on guitars, Tom Petersson on bass and Bun E. Carlos on drums, drags vintage guitar pop and '70s hard rock into the same room and makes them shake hands, with a little punk sneer on the side.

At home it was a slow burner, entering the Billboard 200 at number 149 and topping out at number 73, the band's first appearance on that chart. Japan was another story: the singles "I Want You to Want Me" and "Clock Strikes Ten" caught fire there. The former only became a top 10 hit in America later, in a live version taped on their first Japanese tour for At Budokan, and it's still their signature song. The power pop guide Shake Some Action ranks the album fourth best in the genre.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.