Yeah KLP is kind of in its own league in terms of atmosphere and lyrics and sheer drama in the songs, even if there are a few that are tiring to listen to.
― JoeStork, Thursday, 8 October 2015 17:17 (eight years ago) link
"Borderline" is wonderful as well.
when the end comes to this old worldthe rats will cry and the rest will curl upand god won't take the time to sort your ashes from minebecause we zig and zag between good and badstumble and fall through right and wrong'cause the tumbling dice and the luck of the draw just leads us on
---just the fuckin best lyric, I can type it from memory
― sleeve, Thursday, 8 October 2015 17:21 (eight years ago) link
She Divines Water was definitely one of my favorites for a long long time. The sound collage on "Tusk" is pretty great as well. I never listened to the whole of New Roman Times because I heard a couple of tracks and got turned off (hippie chicks, that gum you like). Anyone have any experience with their recent albums?
― the cuddling of the american behind (how's life), Thursday, 8 October 2015 17:22 (eight years ago) link
and yes, that is the best lyric, no doubt.
I never really listened very closely to "The Humid Press of Days" bc it's kind of ugly and slow but someone (maybe Nabisco) posted the lyrics in an earlier thread and reading them when my grandmother was nearing the end of her life hit me pretty hard.
― JoeStork, Thursday, 8 October 2015 17:24 (eight years ago) link
OBRS has good stuff on it - it opens and closes well - but I agree w croup that there are some not-so-great production choices, it sounds tinny and thin and very late 80s in a way most of their catalog does not
xp
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 8 October 2015 17:25 (eight years ago) link
I think "Humid Press Of Days" is amazing fwiw, one of my favorites on the album, love the way the dynamics swoop and roll
― sleeve, Thursday, 8 October 2015 17:26 (eight years ago) link
wow what a great poll. I'd totally vote Vantiquities or Mating Oven if given the chance, but lean S/T or OBRS. I love Key Lime Pie, but to me you definitely hear the absence of Segel, usually filled with over the top guitar solos that haven't aged particularly well.
― campreverb, Thursday, 8 October 2015 17:27 (eight years ago) link
ouch, tough but fair
― sleeve, Thursday, 8 October 2015 17:29 (eight years ago) link
Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart has some of my favorite violin/fiddle parts in rock. Love "One of These Days."
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 8 October 2015 17:31 (eight years ago) link
one of the first 3 i think
― skateboards are the new combover (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 8 October 2015 17:33 (eight years ago) link
The band I was in from 89-90 copped a lot of riffs and "sound" from the eponymous 3rd LP. I remember we did a total ripoff of "Stalin's Cadillac" called "Hindu Chevrolet." Such a great album, bursting with terrific songs and ideas (which we totally lacked).
― Liquid Plejades, Thursday, 8 October 2015 17:36 (eight years ago) link
side 2 of key lime pie has pictures of matchstick men which blew my mind in 6th grade
ditto! well, 4th i think. iirc first saw it on mtv at a sleepover, two of us being blown away, the rest being fairly indifferent. Didn't place song to album until 6th, though, by which point i think cracker was a thing. kinda hilarious in hindsight that it was just a status quo cover.
― da croupier, Thursday, 8 October 2015 18:00 (eight years ago) link
despite that early brush with lowery i don't think i heard any other camper album until the 00s
― da croupier, Thursday, 8 October 2015 18:02 (eight years ago) link
yeah I remember Lowery at the time noting what a stupid song it was, how the cover was a goof etc.
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 8 October 2015 18:02 (eight years ago) link
had a kerosene hat t-shirt bought at the mall tho! xpost
II & III narrowly over CVB. They lost the magical weirdness by the Virgin albums though they still could write some kicking pop gems.
Might pick the live album Greatest Hits Played Faster if it was on here. Has the best versions of the Virgin-era tunes.
― EZ Snappin, Thursday, 8 October 2015 18:13 (eight years ago) link
I don't like those live versions as well but I loooooove the opening orchestral "All Her Favorite Fruit"
― droit au butt (Euler), Thursday, 8 October 2015 18:17 (eight years ago) link
xp: I don't know if I prefer it to the studio versions, but it also has My Baby Just Got Out of Jail and James River.
― the cuddling of the american behind (how's life), Thursday, 8 October 2015 18:22 (eight years ago) link
i think i prefer the played faster version to the revolutionary sweetheart versions, but that's an album i've kinda avoided due to immediate sonic distaste - if you heard the studio cuts first and plenty before the live takes it'd be a very different experience
― da croupier, Thursday, 8 October 2015 18:29 (eight years ago) link
After nearly 15 years with the Our Revolutionary Sweetheart versions it was a breath of fresh air.
― EZ Snappin, Thursday, 8 October 2015 18:36 (eight years ago) link
voting for telephone free, if only for the mind-blowing drum fills in the ska instrumentals.
― J. Sam, Thursday, 8 October 2015 21:04 (eight years ago) link
can I just say
crispy derson
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 8 October 2015 21:08 (eight years ago) link
incredible band. my favorite '80s alt group I got into via the '90s work of a more mainstream follow up (filed alongside sugar/husker du, westerberg/replacements)
― nomar, Thursday, 8 October 2015 21:18 (eight years ago) link
KLP by a mile. I can listen to the pedal steel intro on Sweethearts on repeat.
― asthmatic american, Thursday, 8 October 2015 22:58 (eight years ago) link
man I totally forgot Garth Hudson plays on KLP
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 8 October 2015 23:00 (eight years ago) link
Can't choose just one. CVB were the most important planet in my orrery for a good chunk of the 80s and 90s.
― hardcore dilettante, Thursday, 8 October 2015 23:29 (eight years ago) link
I can listen to the pedal steel intro on Sweethearts on repeat.
yes. It's the song that got me into pedal steel.
― the cuddling of the american behind (how's life), Thursday, 8 October 2015 23:51 (eight years ago) link
II & III - it may seem strange but this album seemed pretty radical at the time mostly because indie/alternative/whatever music then was mostly derived from the punk and post-punk canon and this felt like it came out of nowhere. I think they were a big influence on a lot of Scottish bands at the time (BMX Bandits and Teenage Fanclub covered them, Pastels cited them) and certainly the gig they played in Glasgow back then felt like a huge epiphany...like hey you can be a great musician in a more or less traditional way and not have to reinvent your instrument or be confrontational, self-conscious about your limitations and all that other stuff that was going on at the time. Just being creative and entertaining with normal instruments seemed...unusual. (Maybe it was just me.)
The first Camper Van Chadbourne album is actually my favourite but correctly not included here. It's part of the Eugene Chadbourne oeuvre.
― everything, Thursday, 8 October 2015 23:56 (eight years ago) link
Ah, Garth Hudson is "Interlude".
http://www.davidlowerymusic.com/300-songs-blog/blog/59-stairway-to-heavan-sic-in-praise-of-half-baked-ideas-and-unfinished-things-the-importance-of-not-being-earnest
― the cuddling of the american behind (how's life), Thursday, 8 October 2015 23:58 (eight years ago) link
Come on Darkness is a better album closer than Closing Theme.
― the cuddling of the american behind (how's life), Friday, 9 October 2015 00:32 (eight years ago) link
s/t is my favorite with Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart a close second
― too young for seapunk (Moodles), Friday, 9 October 2015 00:34 (eight years ago) link
when the debut came out, it was really an unexpected curveball in indiedom
― skateboards are the new combover (Dr Morbius), Friday, 9 October 2015 00:56 (eight years ago) link
hey you can be a great musician in a more or less traditional way and not have to reinvent your instrument or be confrontational, self-conscious about your limitations
This is so totally key to how great they were!
― timellison, Friday, 9 October 2015 01:16 (eight years ago) link
Nice to see the love on this thread
― Οὖτις, Friday, 9 October 2015 01:18 (eight years ago) link
if any of you haven't heard Lowery's wtf interview w/Maron from last year, you should check it out.
Loved his story about a fan telling him that he had a dream that their next album was going to be called Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart and Lowry was all like "whoa no way! well, guess what, buddy!"
― Darin, Friday, 9 October 2015 02:32 (eight years ago) link
I got snippy with Lowery in a certain rock critic's FB thread last week; this thread is making me regret it, for a second.
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 9 October 2015 02:33 (eight years ago) link
I bought TFLV cause Michael Stipe said it was his fave thing that year in some year end review. Paths to new music were a bit different back then... Loved the vibe. Lots of worthy albums but gonna have to vote for the first.
― that's not my post, Friday, 9 October 2015 07:00 (eight years ago) link
Vampire Can Mating Oven!
― droit au butt (Euler), Thursday, October 8, 2015 12:43 PM (Yesterday)
This is likewise my favorite CVB release, but I guess since it's only an EP I can't vote for it here. Instead, I'll go with TFLS.
― Johnny Fever, Friday, 9 October 2015 07:14 (eight years ago) link
er, TFLV.
― Johnny Fever, Friday, 9 October 2015 07:15 (eight years ago) link
http://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/photo.goodreads.com/books/1393978395i/20900876._UY475_SS475_.jpg
― can't stop won't stop chooglin (how's life), Tuesday, 13 October 2015 17:43 (eight years ago) link
I love all of them unabashedly save Tusk (which doesn't/shouldn't count). "Key Lime Pie" is perfect, "Sweetheart" a great transition, of the original sound/batch I'd say first or II/II. Third is my least fave, I suppose. Love Vantiquities as much as the albums. Could go "Vampire Can Mating Oven" for "Seven Languages" alone.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 13 October 2015 17:46 (eight years ago) link
One of my fave old school Xgau takes:
Some believe "Take the Skinheads Bowling" makes these pranksters a one-joke band, but there are loads of jokes in that song alone, most of which they don't bother to tell--for instance, do you bowl with the skinheads or with the skinheads' heads? So count them a seventeen-joke band, one for each cut, including instrumentals.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 13 October 2015 17:47 (eight years ago) link
David Lowery is on the record as a big fan of the Glands which makes him cool in my book.
― kornrulez6969, Tuesday, 13 October 2015 18:40 (eight years ago) link
went back and did a quick run through of the albums, and voted OBRS. I have a vague sense that KLP is better, but the sequencing on OBRS is so amazing that when I listen to it even a filler track like 'The Fool' doesn't sound out of place.
― campreverb, Tuesday, 13 October 2015 20:00 (eight years ago) link
II & II, narrowly over debut
― skateboards are the new combover (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 13 October 2015 20:10 (eight years ago) link
OBRS is one of the great '80s jumps to major label. CVB totally an underrated component of the '80s indie scene.
"KLP" also one of the best sounding albums of all time. Lowery told me once that credit goes to the engineer, Csaba Petocz, this Euro guy working in Nashville. Looks like from that era he'd worked with everyone from Metallica to Vince Gill.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 13 October 2015 20:38 (eight years ago) link
what kind of indie ppl are you? oh
― skateboards are the new combover (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 13 October 2015 20:40 (eight years ago) link
?
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 13 October 2015 20:42 (eight years ago) link
Wow, that Monks recollection was great, thanks for that!
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 17 October 2015 21:05 (eight years ago) link
Listening to OBRS right now. Started w/side 2. Fuck, so so good.
― hardcore dilettante, Thursday, 22 October 2015 05:31 (eight years ago) link
I had no idea Key Lime Pie was so well loved. I remember feeling deeply disappointed when it came out. Also very surprised that OBRS didn't get more love.
― too young for seapunk (Moodles), Thursday, 22 October 2015 12:20 (eight years ago) link
ditto
u guys r sellouts
― skateboards are the new combover (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 22 October 2015 13:03 (eight years ago) link
Key Lime is pretty spotty, but the run from "Sweethearts" to "Borderline" is my favourite from any CVB record
― Chuck_Tatum, Thursday, 22 October 2015 14:05 (eight years ago) link
They're playing Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart in full on some west coast dates:
https://www.facebook.com/CamperVanBeethoven/videos/10153199614402539/
― timellison, Tuesday, 22 December 2015 23:41 (eight years ago) link
i'm seeing these guys on Friday night at the World Famous "Whiskey A Go Go" on the Sunset strip in Hollywood. looking forward to this and hope they are good live. anyone seen them before, what can i expect?
― Bee OK, Thursday, 29 December 2016 02:34 (seven years ago) link
are any ILXor's going? i would like to say hi if so...
Great live band! Or at least they were in 1989, dunno about these days. Probably better!
― everything, Thursday, 29 December 2016 02:38 (seven years ago) link
They are more pro now, slightly less character, but the songs remain the same: awesome.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 29 December 2016 03:11 (seven years ago) link
They are the only reunited band I have enjoyed live
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 29 December 2016 03:13 (seven years ago) link
Saw them live in 2003 and they were everything I wanted. They have a decent collection of recent shows up on archive.org
https://archive.org/details/CamperVanBeethoven
― how's life, Thursday, 29 December 2016 10:27 (seven years ago) link
I saw them in the late 80s. They were ok, they sounded a little bit like the American Pogues at the time. They mixed several styles with a focus on folkrock and punk.
― it's the distortion, stupid! (alex in mainhattan), Thursday, 29 December 2016 20:37 (seven years ago) link
I saw them at the Knitting Factory in New York right after they first reunited and they were pretty good. I have not seen any of their shows in the subsequent ten or so years. It is kind of lame that they always tour with cracker as well, because I don't want to see cracker. Also, I missed camper van Beethoven drummer, who barely plays with them these days.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 29 December 2016 21:14 (seven years ago) link
I saw them in like '87, and they were a killer live band with Led Zep covers zinging here and there, and the best version of Pink Floyd this side of Syd Barrett. Probably one of the top live bands I've ever seen, especially given that they didn't have any gimmicks/light shows/etc.
― dlp9001, Friday, 30 December 2016 00:13 (seven years ago) link
I'll add that Key Lime Pie winning this poll is just insane. The self-titled album is one of the best things in the history of R&R.
― dlp9001, Friday, 30 December 2016 00:15 (seven years ago) link
Huh. One of my favorite bands of all time, but self-titled might be my least favorite of their formative albums.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 30 December 2016 00:33 (seven years ago) link
I think they were pretty fully formed by self titled. They were touring on that album when I first saw them, and if ever there was a band that was just firing on all cylinders, they were it. Like I mention the Led Zep covers, but they were doing *great* Led Zep covers, when other indie bands...weren't. And we all know their Floyd cover slays the original. I was kind of knocked out; front row at Bard.
― dlp9001, Friday, 30 December 2016 03:15 (seven years ago) link
Camper Van Beethoven:
WakaPictures of Matchstick Men (Status Quo cover)Mao Reminisces About His Days In Southern ChinaThe History of UtahWhite Riot (The Clash cover)Wasted (Black Flag cover)Shut Us DownR 'n' R UzbekistanTake the Skinheads BowlingI Live in LAL'AguardienteNorthern California GirlsJames River (Cracker cover)TaniaEye of Fatima (Parts I & II)Too High for the Love InAll Her Favorite FruitS.P. 37957 Medley
― Bee OK, Sunday, 1 January 2017 01:30 (seven years ago) link
Key Lime Pie is by far my favorite. In my youth I was really pushing to name a band I was in after that album. The others didn't go for it.
― Wimmels, Sunday, 1 January 2017 01:33 (seven years ago) link
Cracker Whiskey A Go Go (Dec. 30, 2016):
Loser (Jerry Garcia cover)Almond GroveOne Fine DayGimme One More ChanceWhere Have Those Days GoneCalifornia Country BoyTeen Angst (What the World Needs Now)Redneck Mother (Ray Wylie Hubbard cover)Wedding DayLowEuro-Trash GirlSomedayBeautifulGet Off This
Encore:King of Bakersfield
― Bee OK, Saturday, 7 January 2017 03:15 (seven years ago) link
i actually liked Cracker better. CVB seemed a bit more gimmicky and old, everyone had gray hair. Cracker came on and seemed to have some youth on more profession to their set, totally different guys outside the singer. i just liked the dad rock stuff better this night but my friend liked CVB better. so go figure.
― Bee OK, Saturday, 7 January 2017 03:17 (seven years ago) link
plus Cracker opened with Loser and it lasted like 20 minutes and totally rocked, but most people left as it was really late.
― Bee OK, Saturday, 7 January 2017 03:18 (seven years ago) link
sorry for bumping this thread instead of today but i already had CVB set list on this thread.
― Bee OK, Saturday, 7 January 2017 03:22 (seven years ago) link
old, everyone had gray hair.
Join the club! These kids today, with their Cracker and youth ... bah.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 7 January 2017 14:17 (seven years ago) link
Show was great, people were indeed old. We had the same setlist you posted, more or less. The medley at the end was half "Hava Nageela," with a bit of "Kashmir" and "Dazed and Confused," and the opening harmonics of "Roundabout" thrown in (which made some dude behind me yell "do it!!!"). Best was me listening in the back toward the beginning of the set, struggling to see the band and noting that Frank had put some extra effort into playing drums like the album. And then David introduced everyone, and ... it was Chris Pederson back on drums this tour! He lives in Australia and rarely plays with the group these days. He's one of my fave drummers of all time, so it was such a treat to listen to him, if not see him.
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 8 January 2017 14:29 (seven years ago) link
Whoah nice!
― Οὖτις, Sunday, 8 January 2017 17:18 (seven years ago) link
"She Divines Water" is a classic too; a spiraling song that I don't understand literally ("which was Zion")
Other times they sampled/repurposed their own work: on II and III, one of the songs (is it “Circles”?) is the another of their songs (is it “Ambiguity Song”?) backwards, with some overdubs. I think there’s a version of “Processional” or “The Fool” with lyrics, under a different title. I think there were a bunch more examples, but I haven’t listened to them seriously in probably 20 years & my auld memory is shot.
― Una Palooka Dronka (hardcore dilettante), Wednesday, 18 September 2019 03:24 (four years ago) link
"Five Sticks" uses a different (drum-free) mix of "Ambiguity Song" played backwards with overdubbed (forwards) acoustic guitar and tambourine."Circles" uses the chorus of "Oh No!" ("Oh no, here it comes again, that funny feeling") played backwards."Border Ska" (instrumental) and "Heart" (which has vocals) are both ska songs with very similar guitar melodies, if that's what you're thinking of.The beginning of "Stairway to Heavan" is a somber version of "Processional."
― ernestp, Wednesday, 18 September 2019 04:17 (four years ago) link
Ernest comes through! Another one that comes to mind is the they recycled some of the background vocals from “Peace and Love” into “Eye of Fatima Part II” (“Cowboys on acid”, “No-one ever conquered Wyoming”).
― Una Palooka Dronka (hardcore dilettante), Wednesday, 18 September 2019 10:55 (four years ago) link
It’s actually pretty astonishing how productive they were during their few years together the first time. Five LPs, an EP, enough outtakes and B-sides to make a whole other LP, not to mention 2 Monks of Doom records and 3 albums of Camper Van Chadbourne stuff, was all written & recorded between ‘84 and ‘89.
― Una Palooka Dronka (hardcore dilettante), Wednesday, 18 September 2019 11:46 (four years ago) link
"We're All Wasted and We're Wasting All Your Time" features backwards stuff from "Devil Song" and "Take the Skinheads Bowling."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-kguFNwwko
It's on that "Camper Van Beethoven Is Dead. Long Live Camper Van Beethoven" comp, which is itself pretty confusing, since some of it is old and some of it is new, but it's not always clear which is which. For example, this track features parts of "Devil Song" backwards, but "Devil Song" didn't show up until "Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart." But this "Wasted" mishmash also appears on the reissue of "Telephone Free Landslide Victory." So who knows.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 18 September 2019 13:07 (four years ago) link