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13 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Reunion Album As Good As (Or Better Than) Their Glory Days, April 8, 2005
Reunion albums are generally lame; bands who break up should stay broken up. Pretty good guidelines. But then we wouldn't have New Roman Times, one of my favorite albums of 2004, and probably a more consistently entertaining album than anything CvB put out back in their original mid-80's incarnation. On its face, it should be a total wash-out -- it's not just a reunion album, but a concept album. Ugh. Some sort of impossible-to-decipher futuristic tale of the fascist apocalypse. Geez, I feel like I'm back at summer camp listening to my stoner bunkmate extolling the virtues of Rush's 2112.
But set aside the concept, and there are an unreasonably large number of great songs here. Now, keep in mind that CvB albums usually have 5-6 good songs and a lot of filler (unless you're a fan of their bizarre Baltic-folk-polka-stomps, which I'm not). This one's got maybe 10 good songs. Still far short of the 20 tracks that appear on the album, but 10 good songs are still more than you find on most albums. And some are really great. "51-7" (no, I have no idea what that means) is their strongest anthem since... well, maybe even their first (and greatest) song, "Take The Skinheads Bowling." And "That Gum You Like Is Back In Style" is the prettiest slice of mellow Americana since... well, maybe their last good song, "Sweethearts" (from their pre-breakup swan song). The rest (excluding the weird instrumental nonsense that I mostly skip) is a pleasant, and at times captivating, blend of alt.country and indie pop, earnest songwriting and goofy humor. By all means check it out.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Camper is back!, October 13, 2004
In a day when a renion cd can mean that half or less of the original band is back, "New Roman Times" actually features all the original members of Camper Van Beethoven. And what an ambitious cd it is. The songs, while great on their own, form a concept cd that is a dark political parable for our times. Everthing you expect from Camper is here: instrumentals, humor, politics, and psychedelics. But this is also a mature group and they bring influences of their individual work since 1989's "Key Lime Pie." In fact, Cracker's John Hickman plays on the cd and co-wrote "That Gum You Like is Back in Style." This is the tightest the band has ever sounded. Just take a listen to "Civil Disobedience" for example. For Camper fans, this is the reunion we've been waiting for. Here's hoping it reaches new fans as well.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Their first in fifteen years, October 13, 2004
This record sounds great, that's the first thing you notice right away. There might be a jig on electric violin out front, but underneath all this monstrous electric guitar soloing. After I played it a few times, I looked at the booklet and there is a rock opera thing going on about a disalusioned soldier and an underground movement. Maybe it took CVB fifteen years because the rocord is quite complex. And funny, LOL stuff. It fits in with CVB II or any of their old stuff; certain references to Cracker crop up. It's a big rock record from left field. I hope some more intelligent reviews than this one follow, because this record is thought provoking, funny, and it rocks (the guitars sometimes remind me of the third Santana album - dare I say acid drenched?). Enough. Glad to have them back.
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is Camper Van Beethoven's 
