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Class 6(66)
Blue Cheer: Vincebus eruptum
09/09/10 || Khlysty
Introduction
…As I was saying before, during the ‘60s the advent of what has been collectively known as the “drug culture” had a serious impact on all expressions of youth (sub)culture, especially so in music. The great amount of narcotics, such as THC or LSD, consumed by aspiring young musicians effectively changed the way that popular music was conceived, played and listened: suddenly, the concise, formalistic and overall melodic approach of rock’n’roll and pop music –as exemplified by musicians like Elvis, Chuck Berry, The Beatles, Rolling Stones, et al- turned into a sprawling, nigh-chaotic and extremely noisy “jamming” session, where musicians would play exactly what their drug-addled minds (and those of their equally unbalanced audience) would tell them to. Thus, psychedelic music was born and inside its almost-infinite framework, different kinds of pop music would emerge.
As the ‘60s and the drug consumption moved on, thus the bases on which rock and pop music was born, only a decade before, would mutate into more “exotic” and more violent shapes and sounds. The Cream inserted a serious “wall of noise” approach to what was basically jazz-blues sounds. Jimi Hendrix showed the world how important white noise and feedback could be to rock’n’roll. Iron Butterfly would expand to monumental lengths what clearly was a simple head-nodding drug-riff. MC5 mixed fiery guitar interplay and sweaty performance into simplistic blues-rock music. And, then, there was Blue Cheer, a band that had neither Cream’s chops, nor Jimi’s talent and flair, but clearly wanted to explore the same waters the aforementioned two were already wading. So, they just pushed the amplification to painful levels, used whatever distortion was available for their instruments and bloated simple rock’n’roll and blues tunes to cosmic proportions, thus creating the first bona fide “heavy rock” sound to emerge from the convoluted ‘60s.
(Oh, I really like playing the academic!!! Anyway, if you don’t like the pretentious style of the above two paragraphs, read this: in 1968, three hippies, stoned and ripped outta their fucking minds and with a deep penchant –but not the prerequisite talent- for Jimi’s noisy overblown rendition of da Blues, entered the studio, set their amps to 11 and set out to create what was basically “heavy metal”, in a day and age when heavy metal, or for that matter, hard rock hadn’t yet been invented. “Vincebus Eruptum”, the end product of these studio jams, is one fuzzy, hairy, demented beast, totally out of its time and place, the ultimate proto-metal record and a good listen, too.)
Songwriting
8,5. Three covers –one of which is a caveman-ferocity, meandering, have-to-listen-to-believe-it rendition of Eddie Cochran’s “Summertime Blues”- and three originals is the whole lot of songs contained within the 31 minutes of “Vincebus Eruptum”. Everything moves within the parameters of da Blues, but I can definitely tell ya that Muddy Waters or Buddy Guy this ain’t. The songs sprawl into behemoth lengths, while the guitar, bass and drums interplay sounds almost amateurish, even when compared with other “heavy” music of the time. No matter, though, since the real revolution the boys bring in lies in the clear intention to bludgeon the listener into a trembling, LSD-tripping pulp. The guitar and bass sound as fuzzed-out and elephantine as humanly possible, the drums have a simplistic caveman-hitting-the-skins-with-bones effectiveness and the vocals are too aggressive for the “flower power” era. And, when the trio sets out for a jam, the waves of noise and drug-induced ugliness coming from the speakers are still super-effective.
Production
9. Abe “Voco” Kesh produced this beast and I bet that he was as flabbergasted as one Rick Rubin, when he was faced with the mountainous mission of recording “Reign In Blood”. Well, Abe, instead of “cleaning” the sound, went for another solution: let’s record everything as loudly as possible and let the kids decide whether they like them heavy soundz or not (they did). The production is phenomenal, clear and organic, but also raw, intense and as fuzz-drenched as possible. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: they don’t make ‘em anymore like they used to. Anyway, if you wanna hear where Chris Goss cribbed some notes, when producing “Blues For The Red Sun”, look no further. In a word, great, great production (I know it’s three words, you nimrods…).
Guitars
9. Leigh Stephens is by no means Jimi. This fact does not prevent him to be one hell of a great guitarist, though. His SG is fuzzed-out to fuck, his playing is the perfect combination of ferocity, flair, aggression and enough talent to make this shit so “out there”, as to be considered paramount to the creation of heavy rock and his love for noise makes the jamming parts of the songs harrowing trips down some totally scary place of howling winds and acid-created monsters.
Vocals
8,5. Dickie Peterson howls his little head out for the whole of the record, sounding for all intents and purposes like some guy comfuckingpletely outta his mind on blue cheer (a kind of blotter acid, if you really wanna know). His performance is perfect for the kind of music contained here…
Bass
9. …As is his bass playing. Dickie’s bass is totally complementary of the guitar’s noise-mongering, sometimes just holding the fort, sometimes going into fuzzed-out mania, sometimes just adding to the noise. Great playing. Dickie died in 2009, age 63, and he will forever be missed.
Drums
9. Paul Whaley does what great drummers of that age do. That is, he (barely, but competently) keeps the rhythm and then does whatever gets into his mind. His playing is blunt, forceful and wonderfully all over the place. Love it.
Lyrics
8. “Help me please, Doctor/Doctor, won’t you please/I need your pain killer, Doc/Shot inside of me”. Hmm, I don’t think I need to add or subtract anything…
Cover art
8,5. Silver, purple, wavy shapes, the bandmembers’ mugs, psychedelics… Perfectly rendered, for its day and age.
Logo
6. No logo, just a psychedelic font. ‘S okay, though
Booklet
None. I bought this –used- in vinyl in 1986 for the (then) exorbitant price of 3.000 drachmas. It’s got no booklet, okay? Live with it.
Overall and ending rant
“Vincebus Eruptum” remains one of my favorite albums of all time. Not only because it’s a pioneering album for heavy metal, but, mainly, because it is a record that full of exciting, heavy-rocking tunes and incredible –for the time it came out- noise. Blasting “Vincebus Eruptum” is one of the best experiences to be derived from an age whose music hasn’t aged quite well (go and listen to, say, Strawberry Alarm Clock and then tell me…), since it was completely out of place and time when it came out. Blue Cheer’s blunt, fuzzy, noisy, monolithic take on ‘60s rock and blues was a revelation and remains one of the most revolutionary things to come out of that time. Also, it’s great fun to listen to, so, if one’s interested in heavy music’s stone age, one better grab this record A.S.A.P. Satisfaction guaranteed, mofo, satisfaction guaranteed!!!
- Information
- Released: 1968
- Label: Philips Records
- Website: www.bluecheer.us
- Band
- Leigh Stephens: guitar
- Dickie Peterson: bass, vocals
- Paul Whaley: drums
- Tracklist
- 01. Summertime blues
- 02. Rock me baby
- 03. Doctor please
- 04. Out of focus
- 05. Parchment farm
- 06. Second time around
