If any one record sums up all the ludicrous indulgence of ‘80s record-making it’s
The Doctor,
Cheap Trick’s ninth album. Cluttered with cacophonic electronic drums and clanking with cheap overdriven synths, the record is cavernous and hollow, every instrument echoing endlessly in a fathomless digital stage. As sonic archaeology, this holds some interest, as it contains every bad record production idea of the mid-‘80s -- it’s as garish as its record cover. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine