Customer Reviews

Vincebus Eruptum

5 star:		(56)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

When people say that this is one of the noisiest, heaviest, most ear splitting, skull smashing rock albums ever recorded, for the love of all that is holy, LISTEN TO THEM! If you play this too loud you're almost guaranteed ear damage. And make sure you have some good speakers before you crank this monster. I can't even imagine what people thought about this in 1968. By this time folks thought that Hendrix, Cream and The Yardbirds were too much. Lets describe the music for a minute... Chaotic, aggressive, sludgy, heavy, noisy, and years ahead of it's time. The music is very blues based, but the grooves are aggressive and the guitars are transformed by fuzztone and overdrive into monster dinosaur riff makers. One can see that Blue Cheer is another major influence on the current doom/stoner metal scenes. Pretty amazing considering this band predated Black Sabbath by 2 years. Though not nearly as dark as Sabbath, this album is arguably heavier and noisier than "Black Sabbath" and "Paranoid". No doubt this is a hard rock/early metal masterpiece, but it's far from perfect. I rated this album on a basis of how much I enjoy it rather than it's technical merrits. The riffs are almost a-tonal, the guitars are louder and bigger than anything; bass, drums or vocals. The note-blurring distortion makes the riffs almost impossible to not sound sloppy. The guitar solos seem off key at times and the jams sound very random... but that's what makes this record so awesome. It wouldn't be half as good if these guys were proficient, classically trained musicians. This is raw, heavy rock& roll in its purest and most stripped down form. Fuzzed out fury that will rip your face off and leave you in a crumpled heap, twitching and begging for mercy. So if you're into unrestrained, distorted, feedback drenched proto-metal, look no further. If you're looking for something with pristine production, sweet melodies and clean technical proficiency, you might pass on this.

Blue Cheer released this debut in 1968 when groups and artists like Cream, Jimi Hendrix Experience, Iron Butterfly, Steppenwolf and The Doors were putting out psychedelic rock. Blue Cheer were three guys who played loud psychedelic rock and I can still see those stacks of Marshall amps piled a mile high. These guys had one major hit "Summertime Blues" which has been covered by other artists. Their version stands alone by itself as my favorite. The other songs on this album such as "Out Of Focus" and "Parchment Farm" are pure psychedelic kick a.. rock. This groups follow up album "Outsideinside" was also much of the same. Too bad these guys didn't get the credit they deserved and were lost in the shuffle of all the psychedelic groups popping up in the late 60's. If you're into 60's psychedelic rock don't pass this gem up. Highly recommended!

In the sixties, I had a tendency to pick up albums based on the photo of the band, not what I thought I knew about their music. I pretty much hated pop music so looked for the underground bands. The longer the hair, the uglier they were, the weirdest dressed, that was my incentive. Blue Cheer had very long hair, there was only three of them, and I heard Summertime Blues on the radio. Bringing that album home, I eagerly put it on my mono record player and was shocked. If there was a way to blow the tiny little speaker out of that record player and hit me in the face, this album was the one to do it.

Picture three little guys walking out on stage in front of a wall of Marshall amplifiers (they were not actually little, it just seemed that way in front of those Marshalls). What was then mind numbing volume pounded into your whole body as they played through six songs that were crude, nasty, and so different from the peace and love [stuff] of the time it made your head spin. That impression is what hit me in the head as it came out of that little record player.

Blue Cheer were groundbreakers for the time. To me they are the first-ever heavy metal band. When you put them up against other trios of the time like Hendrix and Cream, there was no comparison. Their loud and nasty sound corrupted my musical tastes forever and at fifty years old, I still listen to heavy metal.

As a guitar player, Leigh Stephens became my hero (over Hendrix and others) and I tried to play every song note for note and came close but am not good enough to play them exactly. I still play Rock Me Baby, Summertime Blues, and Doctor Please regularly.

Blue Cheer slapped blues in the face and created a new sound that has progressed into many new forms. Outside/Inside was similar but too refined in comparison. Soon afterwards, Leigh Stephens left the band. Subsequent albums by them completely changed their direction but this first disk is a classic. For any fan of heavy music, it is a required listen.

Some groups' debut albums are straight from the garage: Raw, gritty, unrestrained, and yet to be tamed by success. Aerosmith's debut album was that way, as was Velvet Underground's, and The Stooges'. This debut album by Blue Cheer, called "Vincebus Eruptum" (Latin for "Controlled Chaos"--or in this case, lack thereof!) defintely fits that mold. The producer simply flipped the switch and let'em bang out the tunes as hard and as crude as they wanted to--possibly in one take! A lot of the "Blue Cheer sound" was in the equipment they used and the way they used, or abused, it. Certainly, what strikes me the most on this album is the guitar playing of Leigh Stephens. He was to the "whammy bar" what Stooges' guitarist Ron Asheton was to the "wah-wah pedal". When describing the Stooges' first album, one critic called Asheton the bands' "wah-wah pedaler". I will thus refer to Leigh Stephens here as this bands' "vibrator". His specialty was to find more ways to use and abuse one part of a guitar more than anyone else ever thought about doing, and that "whammy bar" was his toy on this album! Another thing about Stephens' playing is that it doesn't sound like he used a whole lot of Fuzztone. he just had his Marshall amp cranked, and when he played rhythm, you could tell he was hitting the strings hard to get natural amp distortion (unlike, say, Tony Iommi or Leslie West, who didn't hit the strings as hard, but it came out hard, because of the Fuzztone.) Leigh Stephens guitar solos are a little better than Ron Asheton's, but then he decides to overdub his solos with some completely off-kilter solos on a few songs like "Out of Focus", "Doctor Please", and "Second Time Around", and the way he overdubs them, it comes out sounding like an all-out, sonic blitzkrieg assault!! Far from the "Controlled Chaos" the album title promised! Then there is the drummer, Paul Whaley--one of the few American drummers of his day to own a double-drum kit--with his drum sticks all nicely filed down for a blunter sound, and his bass drums exposed!!(no pillows, no cover, no nothin'--just microphones. If you saw the photo of them on stage on the inside sleeve of their second album, "Outside/Inside", then you'll see what I mean.) If there is a weak link to all of this, perhaps it's Dickie Petersen--only there because every power trio needs a singing bass player. And when it comes singing bass players, Jack Bruce, he ain't. But, hey. At least he could write songs! And, of course, on the liner credits, the 'props' going to "Jim Marshall Ltd. of London, for the amplification." And there you have it. But I can't say enough guitarist Leigh Stephens, the real standout musician here. He wasn't the most gifted guitarist in the world, but he was unique. It's a shame he gave up rock music altogether after Blue Cheer's second album (because, as he said, "It was getting too violent"--yeah, right. As if he didn't have a lot to do with that!!). His "New Improved", more technically-proficient replacement on guitar, Randy Holden ended up having some kind of guitar-virtuoso career after Blue Cheer-however, not on the same level with a Jeff Beck or a Steve Vai. Blue Cheer was originally from Boston, but I think they would have thrived better in a place like Detroit, than in San Fransisco. Their brand of anarchic, heavy-blues with an attitude would have been better appreciated in the "Motor City" that spawned the likes of Alice Cooper, Ted Nugent, Iggy Pop, MC5, and Grand Funk Railroad. I think San Fransisco mellowed them out, and made them too much like the Grateful Dead. And hiring laid-back, native Friscoids to replace original members only made things worse (of course, Frisco has come a long way since then, with the likes of Metallica.) But I digress. If you like a good, raw first album, this one's for you.

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.

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 ("The Crazy World of 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 Brits like The Who and Led Zeppelin), Blue Cheer were ahead of their time in dealing out 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 Metal, get this and give it a good, loud listen.

Blue Cheer was a group of drugged out hippies, and the albums that followed this werenıt so hot, but this has become about my favorite record. This single album has three of the coolest recordings ever made, and they come one after the other: Doctor Please, Out of Focus and Parchment Farm. (Typically, the albumıs biggest single, Summertime Blues, is the weakest song on the record.) Of them, Doctor Please is not only the best, but the single greatest rock song from the sixties, bar none. It starts cool and with each twist and turn of crunching noise and hysterical vocals (and great lyrics) gets better and better. Almost 8 minutes of pure glory. I work in a place where people listen to Lite Radio. I put this CD on and set Doctor Please to repeat over and over again all morning. That alone justifies the invention of the CD. Buy this album and play it loud. Itıs a killer.

These guys had everything I wanted. The longest hair, the loudest guitars, Marshalls, a silver album cover and had fun making their music. This is raw unpretensious rock & roll being played for the sheer joy of it. As I approach my half century mark I return to music like this to get back to where I belong. This is a piece that must be listened to at max loadness. Just like ZS&TSFM. This one hurts real good.

1968, when this album came out, was a busy year on the music scene. Pretty much everyone was still wrestling with Are You Experienced? - the Hendrix debut. That album was so technically dazzling and daringly innovative that it dwarfed everything else happening at the time - which is saying rather a lot. Vincebus Eruptum came from California, but had none of the ethereal, spacey sound characteristic of Cal - especially San Fran - groups. While it lacked the technical virtuosity Hendrix demonstrated - you couldn't deny it either. It commanded attention.

Vincebus Eruptum artfully combines the subtly of professional wrestling with the acoustic dynamics of jackhammers. This group was only after two things - volume and intensity. While the "power trio" was not a new concept then - see Hendrix and Cream - Blue Cheer definitely kicked it up a notch. The album is surprisingly entertaining to listen to today, 40 years after its release. This is perhaps because - amazingly - it introduced a prodigiously influential sound. You can say it gave rise to heavy metal if you like, but frankly, I'm much more taken by the resemblance to Led Zeppelin. The ear-bleed volume, the desire to over-do everything, and the certainty that the harder you strike an object the more compelling your point will become, all scream Zep.

Blue Cheer manages to handle two blues classics in pretty respectable fashion, and their rendition of Parchment (sic) Farm helped put a little jingle in the pocket of its author, Mose Allison, which is a good thing. The LSD references, and they could hardly be stronger - Blue Cheer being slang for a type of LSD - a poem by LSD purveyor, Owsley, on the jacket - are something of a mystery. LSD, for you kids out there that never tried it, tends to be a rather cerebral, breezy experience, something akin to floating in an aquarium full of exotic, tropical fish - and being able to communicate with them. This music, by contrast, which is ideally suited to smashing your head against a spinning millstone, calls to mind different intoxicants. Moonshine perhaps, crystal meth, or sterno. It's a fun little album, absolutely unruly, but good fun. If you decide to buy it and play it, make sure your neighbors are out - or dead.

Originally released in 1968,as this was the band's very first lp.Still cannot believe this was my FIRST time I've ever heard this album.Well,at least that I can remember.I've heard only a couple of Blue Cheer live/compilation releases,until now.I can honestly see WHY old school rockers consider this title to be a true American hard rock classic.Most rocking tunes here are their sole(at least here in the states)hit,Eddy Cochran's "Summertime Blues","Doctor Please","Out Of Focus" and the should've-been-a-hit "Second Time Around".Just six tracks,with a duration of 31:54.By today's standards,this would have been an EP.How things have changed.Well,not EVERYTHING.'Vincebus Eruptum' still packs quite a punch.Vintage heavy blues/psych.A must have.Should appeal to fans of Amboy Dukes,MC 5,Vanilla Fudge and Iron Butterfly.