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Primordial is the most suitable adjective to define the sound of Blue Cheer, a Californian combo from the late '60s. Interpreters of a wild and hallucinatory way of playing the so-called "electric blues", Blue Cheer are almost exclusively remembered for their fiery version of Eddie Cochran's classic, "Summertime Blues".
Their first album, Vincebus Eruptum, represents the peak of their musical production and the sonic testament of the band, whose greatest merit remains, regardless of their songs, that of redefining the meaning of "heavy sound", raising volumes to excess and focusing everything on a devastating rhythmic impact. At the time - 1968 - no Bay Area group, where the folkish sound of the Grateful Dead dominated, played so "noisy" and out of tune; to find similar groups, one indeed had to move to Detroit.
Unmistakable trademarks of the Blue Cheer workshop remain the hoarse and rowdy voice of bassist Dick Peterson and the neanderthal drumming of Paul Whaley, obsessive and unsettling. Above all rose the six-string of Leigh Stephens, dispenser of axe-hewn riffs, who compensated for his not-so-excellent guitar technique through a rampant use of fuzz and an almost carnal approach to the instrument.
Vincebus Eruptum opens with the aforementioned Cochran cover, transfigured into a tribal dance, and continues with a canonical blues but with a sickly halo ("Rock Me Baby"), chaotic rides based on crazy guitars ("DOctor Please"), pseudo-blues setting off for space ("Out Of Focus"), sonic assaults that turn into feedback improvisations ("Second Time Around") and another cover passed through the meat grinder ("Parchment Farm" by Mose Allison).
An album and a formation, therefore, that created a megalithic sound, foreshadowing by a year the style of various sacred monsters of British hard rock, and that inspired, for better (Mudhoney, Kyuss, Monster Magnet, and generally the current stoner-psychedelic scene) and for worse (the most predictable and arid Heavy metal) much of the "heavy" music to come.
Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos
01 Summertime Blues (03:47)
I'm gonna raise a fuss ,
I'm gonna raise a holler
About workin' all summer
Just to try the eart a dollar
Well ev'ry time I call my baby
Try to get late...
Sometimes, I wonder what I'm gonna do
But there ain't no cure,
For the summertimes blues
Well my mom and papa told me son
Ya gotta earn some money
Uh if ya wanna use the car
To go a ridin' next sunday
A well I didn't go to work
Told the boss I was sick
Sometimes, I wonder what I'm gonna do
But there ain't no cure,
For the summertimes blues
I'm gonna take two weeks
Gonna have a fine vacation
I'm gonna take my problems
To the United Nations
Well I called my congress man
You're too young to vote
Sometimes, I wonder what I'm gonna do
But there ain't no cure,
For the summertimes blues
I'm gonna take two weeks
Gonna have a fine vacation
I'm gonna take my problems
To the United Nations
Well I called my congress man
You're too young to vote
Sometimes, I wonder what I'm gonna do
But there ain't no cure,
For the summertimes blues
03 Doctor Please (07:53)
(Dickie Peterson)
Help me please, Doctor
Doctor, won't you please
I need your pain killer, Doc
Shot inside of me.
Well I ain't got no money, child
But I been here before
Cash me in, Fill me up
Why don't you throw me out the door!
Well help me, Doctor
Well why won't you
Why don't you
C'mon and help me please
Won't you please
Whoa, I need your good living
Shot inside of me, Yeah!
I got this funny feeling
Feeling inside my head
Without your good living, Doc
Well I believe that I'll be dead
Doctor don't you turn me down
And won't you hear what I say
I need your good living, Doc
And I need it right away!
Well help me, Doctor
Well why don't you
Why won't you C'mon and help me please
Won't you please
Without your good living
No! What would I be!
Alright!
I got this funny feeling
Feeling inside my head
Without your pain killer, Doc
Well I believe that I'll be dead
Doctor don't you turn me down
Don't burn me away
I need your pain killer, Doc
And I need it right away.
Well help me, Doctor
Well why won't you
Why don't you
C'mon and help me please
Won't you please
Without your pain killer, Doc
Lord! What would I be - Alright, Stick it to me Doctor!
04 Out of Focus (03:58)
Alright!
A cold, cold darkness
And past confusion
Is quickly calling
Yeah, all of my illusions
Now won't somebody
Tell me what's wrong
Tell me what's wrong with me.
From within
The magic madness
I could feel deep in my heart
A little bit of gladness
Now won't somebody
Tell me what's wrong
Tell me what's wrong with me.
Won't somebody
Tell me what's wrong
I been searchin'
Searchin' so long
Oh, won't somebody
Oh, won't somebody
Tell me what's wrong with me.
Alright!
Won't somebody
Tell me what's wrong
I been searchin'
Whoa so goddamn long
Oh, won't somebody
Oh, won't somebody
Tell me what's wrong with me.
And then from out
Of a mystic dream
There came an angel
She spread her wings.
Now don't nobody
Tell me what's wrong
Tell me what's wrong with me.
05 Parchment Farm (05:49)
(Mose Allison)
I been sitting over here on Parchment Farm
I been sitting over here on Parchment Farm
I been sitting over here on Parchment Farm
Ain't ever done nobody no wrong.
Oh Lord, I bet I'll be here for the rest of my life.
Oh Lord, I bet I'll be here for the rest of my life.
Oh Lord, I bet I'll be here for the rest of my life.
All I did was shoot my wife.
She was no good!
I done picking that cotton in a leather foot sack.
I done picking that cotton in a leather foot sack, yes I have.
I done picking that cotton in a leather foot sack.
A goddamn shotgun at my back.
I been sitting over here on Parchment Farm
Ain't ever done nobody no wrong, no!
I done sitting over here on the longest time.
I been sitting over here on the longest time.
I done sitting over here on the longest time.
All I did was drink my wine.
I swear I'll be here for the rest of my life.
Yeah, I know I'll be here for the rest of my life.
I know I'll be here for the rest of my life.
All I did was shoot your wife.
She was no good, you can take my word for it!
I been sitting over here on Parchment Farm
I been sitting over here on Parchment Farm
I been sitting over here on Parchment Farm
All I did was shoot my arm.
Oh, no!
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