AMG Review of Setlist: The Very Best of Cheap Trick Live

Stephen Thomas Erlewine
All Music Guide

Sony’s Setlist series isn’t a standard budget-line compilation: these discs bypass hits in favor of live tracks cut throughout the years, mixing up highlights from classic live albums with a handful of rarities. In the case of Cheap Trick’s entry, this rare material is culled from the acclaimed expanded editions of Live at Budokan, Dream Police, All Shook Up, and the 1996 box set Sex, America, Cheap Trick, which means there’s nothing previously unreleased but the material is by and large cherrypicked from the band’s prime (with the notable exception of a live version of “The Flame” which is livelier than the hit version) and emphasizes quirkiness over hits, making it a pretty interesting compilation.