Customer Reviews

Cigarettes & Carrot Juice - The Santa Cruz Years

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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!!!

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.

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.

Why are you considering this box set? Probably not because you have "CVB II & III" or the third album ("CVB") on vinyl and are now jumping at the chance to get them on CD. Maybe this popped up as a recommendation and you're curious about the "punk" band that covered "Interstellar Overdrive." Here's the deal: This is the best collection of the early recordings of one of the best bands on the "indie/college" scene in the 1980's. "Eclectic" is a much-abused adjective, but as you listen to these albums, you'll see it is entirely appropriate. So is "amazing." There's a reason why CVB has a fanatical following: they played great, original music.

If you're a CVB fan, you probably already have the studio albums in this box set, but even a die hard Camper head will want to get their mitts on the awesome live disc "Greatest Hits Played Faster" which documents a typically excellent set from April 1990--right before the ignominious end!
I hate to use cliches like, "Five stars isn't enough," but in this case it's true. The CDs come in cute little cardboard repros of the original album covers and the sound is amazing, especially considering the source tapes. What with the "Tusk" album, the reunion concerts and now this, 2002 has been the unlikely year of Camper Van Beethoven.

In my wallet I keep a "want list" of music and movies for all of those times I find myself in a store and can't remember that album or movie I wanted. One of the first entries is "Camper Van Beethoven--First three albums". Finally, this wonderful boxed set is available. The collection includes, as stated, all of the band's work from the Santa Cruz years. The CD cases are cardboard miniature reproductions of the original album jackets and the fourth and fifth discs are rarities and a live disc. If you remember the fun of their music and haven't heard it for a while, get this set. It brought back memories of a less responsible time and the music, it seems, hasn't been remastered leaving the vocals slightly buried which was always a part of their sound I liked. They could entertain you with light ska instrumentals or rock with catchy guitar riffs. The extensive liner notes are interesting too, except the part where the writer tries to defend the band's selling out as not selling out but simply wanting to sign to a bigger label to make their music more available. No problem here with selling out if you don't change your music to do it; and that's exactly what they did. I feel their major label stuff just isn't as fun as the early stuff..... and Cracker was horrible. If you remember why you liked Camper Van Beethoven in the first place, buy this set.

First of all, if you get this, spend the extra $ or so for some jewel cases: you won't want to keep these discs in the supplied cardboard slipcases. I was worried mine might be scratched, but luckily the CDs were clean. Other than that, the packaging is nice, with decent liner notes and album art.

I only had "Key Lime Pie" prior to buying "Cigarettes and Carrot Juice", and I was worried that I wouldn't like the "lo-fi" sound of this collection. Not to worry. The rougher sound is engaging, not off-putting. To my ears, some of the songs (not many) are throwaways, but at $ for 83 tracks, who cares?

The diversity of the music makes the collection listenable. Pop, ska, punk, rock, country, and middle-eastern sounds all mix together in varying amounts, and the result is very enjoyable.

If you are a CVB fan, just get it. If you are curious, find the samples on the internet and give them a listen. This is my favorite find of the past few months.

So, my wife and I already had doubles of the first four CVB albums on cd, plus copies of most on vinyl and some on cassette, too... as well as several bootlegs from the 1990 tour. But of course I ran out and got the boxset on the release date. And do I regret it? No. The live album sounds great and the packaging and booklet are terrific too. There are several songs on the live disc that many fans may not have heard before, like Jail or L'aguardiente, or James River, as well. I've long considered "II& III" to be the best album of all time, with the self-titled third album to be a close second. So you can see I'm a fairly obsessed fan. Well, there is good reason! And at the price of only 2 new cds, you can get five amazing albums from the greatest band in rock and roll history! Don't miss out kids!

5 great CD's with great songs like "Crossing Over" or "Mao Reminices About his Days in Southern China". The songs on Greatest Hits Played Faster, the live CD, sound better than the recordings on Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart or Key Lime Pie. It is relatively cheap for a 5 CD set.

A great collection of music from CVB> A great way to get into CVB if you've recently become a fan.
I Have had an interest in CVB since I heard the track Pictures of matchstick men on the local community radio station probably in the late 90's.It was a good track,with many of the elements I look for in music. I like the variety of instruments the band employs(violin,banjo,steel guitar & sitar etc) are some of the instruments used in the cigarettes & carrot juice collection.
Even though I only heard my second CVB track when I bought this collection in late 2010, It does'nt really matter as unique, lively & colorful music such as this loses nothing over time.Don't know if they have ever toured Australia,but it would definitely be on my list.