Cigarettes & Carrot Juice - The Santa Cruz Years [Box set, Limited Edition]

Camper Van Beethoven | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 5, 2002)
• Number of Discs: 5
• Format: Box set, Limited Edition
• Note on Boxed Sets: During shipping, discs in boxed sets occasionally become dislodged without damage. Please examine and play these discs. If you are not completely satisfied, we'll refund or replace your purchase.
• Label: Cooking Vinyl
• ASIN: B00006L2ZT
• Also Available in: Audio CD
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #114,429 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. Border Ska

2. The Day That Lassie Went To The Moon

3. Wasted

4. Yanqui Go Home

See all 17 tracks on this disc

Disc: 2

1. Abundance

2. Cowboys From Hollywood

3. Sad Lovers Waltz

4. Turtlehead

See all 19 tracks on this disc

Disc: 3

1. Good Guys & Bad Guys

2. Joe Stalin’s Cadillac

3. Five Sticks

4. Lulu Land

See all 16 tracks on this disc

Disc: 4

1. Heart

2. Never Go Back

3. Seven Languages

4. Axe Murderer Song

See all 17 tracks on this disc

Disc: 5

1. All Her Favorite Fruit (Orchestral)

2. Sweethearts

3. Tania

4. Eye of Fatima pt l

See all 14 tracks on this disc

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Before Camper Van Beethoven, no "punk" band would've thought to blend Eastern European folk rhythms with Tex-Mex, ska, reggae, psych-rock, punk-rock, pop-rock and...well, whatever else was out there. This five-disc box set features all the early CVB albums on compact disc. Their first outing, Telephone Free Landslide Victory, sounds as unique and fresh today as it did in 1985. Mostly remembered for the sublimely ridiculous "Take the Skinheads Bowling" and their take on Black Flag's "Wasted," it set the bar high for subsequent releases. The band followed the oddball masterpiece with more cleverness and irresistible charm on II & III. Dabbling in Mekons country-punk turf for the first half, they slid into a wry psychedelia in the second. It really is two albums in one. The band's self-titled third outing found the California boys scratching their heads out loud, wondering exactly what to do next, and not arriving at a consensus. It's an adventurous jumble, with a few really outstanding tracks. Also in the box is the Vantiquities collection of various 1980s recordings, originally released in 1993 after their two-record stint with Virgin Records and a live collection, Greatest Hits Played Faster, which opens with a magisterial "All Her Favorite Fruit" and ends, appropriately, with a sad-sounding "One of These Days." --Lorry Fleming

Product Description

Full Title - Cigarettes & Carrot Juice - The Santa Cruz Years. From one of the 80's great seminal college rock bands comes this 5 CD box set containing four albums that have been out of print since 1994 (Telephone Free Landslide Victory, II & III, Camper

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Boxed Evolution, November 7, 2002

By 

G. Preston (Baltimore, MD United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cigarettes & Carrot Juice - The Santa Cruz Years (Audio CD)

Long live Camper Van Beethoven!! This is a blessing for long time CVB fans who didn't have a chance to upgrade their collection to CD before most of this went out of print. Wow, where to begin? CVB was a band that matured on record, so to speak, so this is really a fascinating and entertaining listen from beginning to end.
Of course you get the endearing and humorous debut album with goofy anthems ala "Take the Skinheads Bowling" and various folk/ska instrumentals; the increasingly warped and psychedelic "II & III"; and this collections' centerpiece: the self titled 3rd album!! Forget the editorial remark above about them "scratching their heads out loud" on this because there's nothing confused, unfocused, or tentative about this album. I'd say it's a characteristically irreverent and eclectic psych-rock masterpiece. The song writing has fully matured with the sarcastic humor still intact, and it seems to be intentionally conceived as an album that gets stranger and stranger as it goes on, with the group mastering every diverse style they apply themselves to. I could go on and on about this album, but suffice it to say it's a classic.
"Camper Vantiquities", the 4th CD is a top notch odds and ends collection containing perhaps the best Camper song ever: "Seven Languages" and the Harrison/Starkey composition "Photograph." Finally, the live CD is a competent but not revelatory live set from 1990 with 2 songs from 1988. I would've prefered to hear an earlier and more chaotic live recording, but I'm sure the quality wouldn't have been as good.
All in all, you can't go wrong with this. The packaging is quality: a thick , bright orange box with the 5 Cds in simple glossy slip cases, (well, the box is relatively thin but it's made of nice thick cardboard) and a full color booklet with 2 essays. One is an entertaining first-hand account of what Santa Cruz was like when Camper formed; the other is a dry and factual journalists view on the Camper "phenomenon" MUCH LIKE THIS REVIEW. I hope it was helpful. Rock on Comrades!!!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars For a CVB fan, this is a gem., December 29, 2002

By 

Brendan M. Howard (Kansas, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cigarettes & Carrot Juice - The Santa Cruz Years (Audio CD)

The notoriously out-of-print early albums of Camper Van Beethoven get a bare-bones presentation (CDs come in cardboard single sleeves).

The price is exceptionally cheap, there's a full-length live album, and also included is a lengthy booklet with essays on the Santa Cruz college rocker lifestyle of the early Campers.

For any CVB fan, this is a sure thing, a godsend for those who didn't snap up early CD printings of the first albums.

For those curious about Camper Van Beethoven, this is the set to get.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars I got some funny ideas of what sounds good., March 13, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Cigarettes & Carrot Juice - The Santa Cruz Years (Audio CD)

Last year a friend of mine invited me to see Camper Van Beethoven on their recent limited reunion tour, and although I only had Key Lime Pie, their last full album of new studio material, I agreed. While still a pretty good record, their set proved "Key Lime Pie" to just scratch the surface of their musical diversity. Basic guitar pop songs would rest beside russian can can ska instrumentals, straight country ballads, hardcore punk satire and power-book enhanced Fleetwood Mac covers. Needless to say, I was intrigued by their earlier releases, and the next time I had enough cash to blow, I found myself the proud owner of this box set. Although the first disk is the best in my opinion, all three of the original albums show a creative, clever, unique, and musically talented band at work. In addition, the rarities colection camper vantiquities, despite being a compilation of 3 years worth of material, doesn't feel any more or less cohesive than the rest of their albums, a credit to their freewheeling style, and is far less mixed than one would expect from such a compilation. Finally disc five is a live album mostly drawn from what was to be their final tour in europe, which focuses on material from their two major label albums. While a bit dissapointingly slow for something called "Greatest Hits Played Faster", it still captures some fine perofmances of the band, and is a nice extra, though probably not something you'd want to buy the whole box set for if you already own the rest of the albums. All in all, if you're curious about the band or just want to hear some challenging but catchy diverse rock music, this is a great place to start.