Vincebus Eruptum

Artist: Blue Cheer
Label: Island / Mercury
Category: Music

Average customer rating:

Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 1

UPC: 731451468520
EAN: 0731451468520
ASIN: B000001DYA

Release Date: 1993-04-06

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Listmania:

Heavy Metal 101: How did we get where we are today?
STONER
Early Heavy Metal
More Great U.S. Psychedelia
Bands that more people should know about
\m/ 70's Heavy Metal \m/
70s Heaviness
Gary Xia's List of Great Albums #3
Roots of Metal - Songs of the 1960s
(FWOAHM) First Wave Of American Heavy Metal

Tracks:

Summertime Blues
Rock Me Baby
Doctor Please
Out Of Focus
Parchment Farm
Second Time Around

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Customer Reviews:

1958 revisited and revised.......2006-11-21

Blue Cheer were a psychedelic-era power trio in the mold of the Jimi Hendrix Experience and Cream. Although they are often credited with pioneering the heavy metal genre, that honor would have to be reserved for Hendrix and Cream. The band did take decibel levels to unparalleled extremes, however, beating other power trio's such as Grand Funk Railroad and Mountain to the mega-punch by a year or so. Their reason for cranking up the volume, however, may have been as much to hide the still rather obvious musical limitations of the band members as it was to venture into uncharted seas. It is much more entertaining, after all, to hear Leslie West or Eric Clapton shred paint from rafters than the Cheer's Leigh Stephens.

While Blue Cheer was the name of a laundry detergent, it was also slang for a particular strain of LSD. It's about as likely that the band had phosphates rather than acid in mind as it is that 'Lucy In the Sky With Diamonds' wasn't a John Lennon acronym for LSD. Just look at their hair. But these boys weren't solid psychedelic rockers. Their bent was much more in the blues-rock tradition, as evidenced by bassist Dickie Peterson's compositions 'Out of Focus' (which features a tasty bridge as one of the few instrumental zeniths on the disc), 'Doctor Please' (a meandering 7:53 foray into grunge 'n' sludge, a fitting complement to lyrics which basically add up to beggin' for drugs), and 'Second Time Around', about an on-and-off again relationship, which tacks some psychedelic sound effects on the end, seemingly as an afterthought rather than a coherant extension of the piece.

The band exists on a much higher plane when it comes to cover tracks, which claim one-half of the selections offered. All three of these numbers have been, or would be, covered by other, more competent performers, even when it comes to Blue Cheer's singular claim to fame, their number 14 cover of Eddie Cochran's 1958 scorcher, 'Summertime Blues'. Despite Cheer's commendable effort, The Who's 1970 version from 'Live At Leeds' blows their version away. Blowing away anything by Blue Cheer is no small accomplishment, but The Who did it in a big way. Blue Cheer returned to 1958 to pick up another widely covered rock track, B.B. King's 'Rock Me Baby', partially credited to Joe Josea (although King has claimed sole credit for the composition), and also covered by the likes of Deep Purple, Lee Michaels, Ike and Tina Turner, and Eric Clapton. It's one of the better tracks on the disc, but it comes up short to what performers like Clapton and even Lee Michaels did with it. Finally, we have a version of Mose Allison's 'Parchment Farm', about doing time on a prison farm in Mississippi. It contains the interesting sentiment that "all I did was shoot my wife... she wasn't any good", yet "I didn't do anything wrong". Not sure who can identify with that...

Blue Cheer is an interesting artifact in 1960's rock, and if you're into loud, distorted guitar music, you probably won't be offended by any of this, and may actually enjoy much of it. Unfortunately for most of us, better versions of the cover songs offered here are readily available, and Blue Cheer's own compositions are clearly second tier. Three stars, primarily for bravado. Worth a listen, but sure to gather a lot of dust on your shelf.

Metal Mother..........2006-11-12

This is indeed the album that gave birth to metal music and, in my mind, has never been equaled, except perhaps by their own follow-up, "Outsideinside." I bought this one when it first came out and never tired of it. Along with the Doors, Arthur Brown, Moby Grape, and a few others, this album defines the initiation of 60s "post-Beatles" rock music. Blue Cheer kicked butt and they kept their music uncomplicated. Unlike the other bands of the time (especially the Brits like The Who and Led Zeppelin), Blue Cheer were ahead of their time in dealing a deceptively simple, industrial-strength wall of sound. "Vincebus Eruptum" contains a two classics that should never fade away: "Parchment Farm," which many of us had first heard sung by Mose Allison, though in a very different style; and, of course, "Summertime Blues" was a classic of the late 50s, but notched up quite a lot on this album. At just six songs, there's no wasted space here; this is concise Blue Cheer at their best, not unlike the Doors first album, which they never really surpassed. If you'd like to hear the Mother of all Metal, get this and give it a good, loud listen.

Better "The Second Time Around".......2006-10-18

My friend recommended this album to me about three years back. I wasn't totally oblivious of this group, I had heard of "Summertime Blues" but then again, even my grandma has heard of that one. So I got the CD in prompt fashion (thanks, amazon) and put it in the 'ol player..."What the $#@&*?"

Was my friend serious?

This group sounded muddy, warbled, and totally off their nut. But my friend insisted, "You gotta listen to them like you're there with them, man..."

"Okay, dude, you're almost 40...stop drinkin' the frickin' bong water..."

But I did and I'm glad that I didn't make this CD a $15.00 coaster. They're loud, crude, fuzzy, and a total delight. Maybe I was the one that was drinking the tainted H20 because this album really kicks.

My personal favorite songs on this album are:

1) Out of Focus
2) Second Time Around
3) Summertime Blues

I decided to put this CD in my wife's CD alarm clock. At 5:45 AM, Blue Cheer just wailed us both out of bed. All my wife could say was, "What the $#@&*?"

Yeah, man...it's that good.

really surprised by the praise of all fans.......2006-09-14

This review will not endear me to the fans of Blue Cheer, I know - but I would like to enter a different perspective on this record. I've had it (in lp format) for a long time, but never really liked it much. The recording itself is not well produced (it sounds rather muddy) and I don't think the playing itself is that great to start with. A famous song like "Summertime blues" is, while competently performed, not in any way revolutionary or remarkable, and Blue Cheer's own songs aren't really memorable either: "Doctor please" for example is a kind of blues workout that does not stick in the mind as it should.
This record may be of historic importance in the sense that it pointed the way for other bands to follow, but I could not help being disappointed.
While all Blue Cheer fans will now go for the "no help" button, I hope the other readers will check this record out before buying it.

Blue Cheer.......2006-07-07

A few months back, I was up late checking out some music on the internet when I stumbled upon Blue Cheer. I remembered a few of their tunes from years back, but I had to listen again. WOW, I listened to one after the other. I was blown away! Back to current time. I read in the paper that Blue Cheer is coming to Cleveland, June 5 at the Beachland Ballroom. So I take my teenage kids and a few of their friends and go. I have to say, it was one of the best rock concerts I have ever been to, these guys rocked the house!

After the show they mixed with the crowd, signed autographs, shook hands and were totally down to earth. If you like hard blues based rock, you have to have music of Blue Cheer in your collection to make it complete.

enjoy!

Music CD:

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Inside In ~ Mike Gordon

Rock Treasures ~ Various Artists

The Wild Bunch ~ Jerry Fielding

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