Blue Cheer | ||
| Allmusic Biography : San Francisco-based Blue Cheer was what, in the late 60s, they used to call a "power trio": Dickie Peterson (b. 1948, Grand Forks, ND) (bass, vocals), Paul Whaley (drums), and Leigh Stephens (guitar). They played what later was called heavy metal, and when they debuted in January 1968 with the album Vincebus Eruptum and a Top 40 cover of Eddie Cochrans hit "Summertime Blues," they sounded louder and more extreme than anything that had come before them. As it turned out, they were a precursor of much that would come after. Unfortunately, Blue Cheer itself didnt get much chance to profit from its prescience. Shortly after its breakthrough, the group was wracked by personnel changes. Leigh Stephens was replaced by Randy Holden after the release of the second album, Outsideinside (August 1968). Holden left during the recording of the third album, and Bruce Stephens (b. 1946) (vocals, guitar), and Ralph Burns Kellogg (keyboards) joined to finish New! Improved! Blue Cheer (March 1969). Then Whaley quit and was replaced by Norman Mayell (b. 1942, Chicago), leaving Peterson as the only original member. Bruce Stephens quit during the recording of the fourth album, Blue Cheer (December, 1969), and Gary L. Yoder joined to complete it. Peterson, Kellogg, Mayell, and Yoder then made The Original Human Being (September 1970), and Oh! Pleasant Hope (April, 1971) before Blue Cheer broke up. Dickie Peterson reorganized a new version of the group in 1979, and in 1985, Peterson, Whaley, and guitarist Tony Ranier released a new Blue Cheer album, The Beast Is Back... | ||
 | Album: 1 of 15 Title: Outsideinside Released: 1968 Tracks: 9 Duration: 33:07 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Feathers From Your Tree (03:31) 2 Sun Cycle (04:14) 3 Just a Little Bit (03:27) 4 Gypsy Ball (02:59) 5 Come and Get It (03:17) 6 (I Cant Get No) Satisfaction (05:10) 7 The Hunter (04:31) 8 Magnolia Caboose Babyfinger (01:32) 9 Babylon (04:22) |
| Outsideinside : Allmusic album Review : Blue Cheers debut album, Vincebus Eruptum, was widely and accurately described as "the loudest record ever made" when it first appeared in early 1968, and the band seemingly had the good sense to realize that for sheer brutal impact, there was little chance they could top it. So for their second LP, Outsideinside (which appeared a mere seven months later), rather than aim for something bigger and more decibel intensive, Blue Cheer decided to see how much polish they could add to their formula without blunting the skull-crushing force of their live attack. While Vincebus Eruptum was cut in simple and straightforward form with minimal overdubs, Outsideinside found Blue Cheer embracing the possibilities of the recording studio; Leigh Stephens overdubbed multiple guitar parts on several tunes, while the mix sends his leads flying around the room, though aggressive use of panning and the monstrous, fuzzy growl of his tone gets cleaned up on some tunes (check out the wah-wah solos on "Gypsy Ball"), though the results are still as gentle as a chainsaw. The engineering is friendlier to Paul Whaleys drumming; his traps dont sound as much like trash cans on these sessions, though the crude, phase shifting on "Just a Little Bit" remains gloriously amateurish. And if Dickie Petersons bass sounds just about the same, he got to spend more time on his vocals here, and his blustery howl communicates better this time. The opening cut, "Feathers from Your Tree," also added a piano to the mix (which is somehow audible through the dozens of amps), while "Babylon" is almost funky in its lead-footed approximation of an R&B; groove, and "The Hunter" is a broad but playful exercise in sexual swagger that, if nothing else, provided a lyrical conceit Kiss could use to more profitable effect nine years later. But if Outsideinside is cleaner, tighter, and more ambitious than Vincebus Eruptum, its still clearly the work of the same band, and Blue Cheer sound every bit as thunderous on their sophomore effort. If anything, this LP captures the psychedelic side of their musical personality with greater clarity than the blunt approach of the debut; Outsideinside doesnt sound trippy so much as righteously buzzed, and the speedy roar of this the music is big enough that the legend that parts of this were so loud they had to be recorded outside seems not just plausible, but perfectly reasonable. | ||
 | Album: 2 of 15 Title: Vincebus Eruptum Released: 1968-01-16 Tracks: 6 Duration: 32:09 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify TrackSamples Allmusic Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 Summertime Blues (03:47) 2 Rock Me Baby (04:22) 3 Doctor Please (07:53) 4 Out of Focus (03:58) 5 Parchment Farm (05:49) 6 Second Time Around (06:18) |
| Vincebus Eruptum : Allmusic album Review : Rock & roll had grown louder and wilder by leaps and bounds during the 60s, but when Blue Cheer emerged from San Francisco onto the national rock scene in 1968 with their debut album, Vincebus Eruptum, they crossed a line which most musicians and fans hadnt even thought to draw yet. Vincebus Eruptum sounds monolithically loud and primal today, but it must have seemed like some sort of frontal assault upon first release; Blue Cheer are often cited as the first genuine heavy metal band, but that in itself doesnt quite sum up the true impact of this music, which even at a low volume sounds crushingly forceful. Though Blue Cheers songs were primarily rooted in the blues, what set them apart from blues-rock progenitors such as the Rolling Stones and the Yardbirds was the massive physical force of their musical attack. Jimi Hendrix, the Who, and the MC5 may have anticipated the sound and fury of this music, but Blue Cheers secret was not just being louder than anyone else, but staying simple enough to give each member the space to do damage both as individuals and as a group. Paul Whaleys drumming combined a crashing dustbin tone with a constant, rolling pummel that suggested Ginger Baker with less finesse and more bludgeoning velocity. Dickie Petersons basslines were as thick as tar and bubbled like primordial ooze as he bellowed out his lyrics with a fire and attitude that compensated for his lack of vocal range. And guitarist Leigh Stephens may have been the first genius of noise rock; Lester Bangs once wrote that Stephens "sub-sub-sub-sub-Hendrix guitar overdubs stumbled around each other so ineptly they verged on a truly bracing atonality," and though that doesnt sound like a compliment, the lumbering chaos of his roaring, feedback-laden leads birthed a more glorious monster than many more skillful players could conjure. Put them together, and Blue Cheers primal din was an ideal corrective for anyone who wondered if full-on rock & roll was going to have a place in the psychedelic revolution. From the opening rampage through Eddie Cochrans "Summertime Blues" (which miraculously became a hit single), to the final one-two punch of "Parchment Farm" and "Second Time Around," Vincebus Eruptum is a glorious celebration of rock & roll primitivism run through enough Marshall amps to deafen an army; only a few of Blue Cheers peers could come up with anything remotely this heavy (the MC5s Kick Out the Jams and side two of the Velvet Undergrounds White Light/White Heat were its closest rivals back in the day), and no one could summon so much thunder with just three people. If you want to wake the neighbors, this is still the album to get, and it was Blue Cheers simplest and most forceful musical statement. | ||
 | Album: 3 of 15 Title: New! Improved! Blue Cheer Released: 1969-03 Tracks: 9 Duration: 32:18 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 When It All Gets Old (03:03) 2 West Coast Child of Sunshine (02:42) 3 I Want My Baby Back (03:19) 4 Aces ’n’ Eights (02:49) 5 As Long as I Live (02:22) 6 It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry (03:18) 7 Peace of Mind (07:25) 8 Fruit & Iceburgs (06:06) 9 Honey Butter Lover (01:14) |
 | Album: 4 of 15 Title: Blue Cheer Released: 1969-12 Tracks: 10 Duration: 37:17 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Fool (03:36) 2 Youre Gonna Need Someone (03:35) 3 Hello L.A., Bye-Bye Birmingham (03:27) 4 Saturday Freedom (05:59) 5 Aint That the Way (Loves Supposed to Be) (03:10) 6 Rock and Roll Queens (02:44) 7 Better When We Try (02:51) 8 Natural Man (03:38) 9 Lovin Yous Easy (03:57) 10 The Same Old Story (04:17) |
| Blue Cheer : Allmusic album Review : After working with two monstrously loud guitar heroes, Leigh Stephens and Randy Holden, Blue Cheer wanted to pursue a more subtle musical direction, and on their fourth album, simply titled Blue Cheer, they followed the path of the first half of 1969s New! Improved! Blue Cheer, featuring guitarist Bruce Stephens and keyboard man Ralph Burns Kellogg, instead of the power trio format they pioneered on their first two albums and the second half of New! Improved! with Holden. Drummer Paul Whaley had also dropped out of the band by album number four, with Norman Mayell taking over the traps and leaving bassist and singer Dickie Peterson as the only original member of Blue Cheer, all within two years of the release of Vincebus Eruptum. Given all these changes, its no wonder Blue Cheer sounds so much different than they did on the bands first two LPs, but so long as youre not expecting the monolithic power of their earliest stuff, its a fun album that generates an impressive groove. Blue Cheers music was always rooted in the blues, but here the approach is less mutated and more organic, with a touch of boogie in the rhythms and enough swagger to keep this from sounding like country-rock, even if the tone is more rootsy and significantly less punishing. The raspy twang of Petersons vocals shows a lighter, more graceful touch here, though he still sounds good and gritty, and the interplay between Kelloggs piano and organ and Stephens guitar work suggests some improbable but effective cross between the Band and Steppenwolf. And while Peterson didnt contribute much to the songwriting on Blue Cheer, Stephens and Kellogg step up with some good tunes (as does Gary Yoder, who guests on two tunes and would join the group for album number five), and the cover of Delaney Bramletts "Hello L.A., Bye Bye Birmingham" is inspired. If Vincebus Eruptum and Outsideinside sounded like music for an acid-and-amphetamine-crazed Saturday night biker party, Blue Cheer is the stuff the same bikers would put on for a Sunday beer-and-weed cookout; its a more laid-back and relaxed effort, but it still rocks with a strong and steady roll. | ||
 | Album: 5 of 15 Title: BC #5 The Original Human Being Released: 1970-11-03 Tracks: 11 Duration: 45:52 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Good Times Are So Hard to Find (03:22) 2 Love of a Woman (04:35) 3 Make Me Laugh (05:06) 4 Pilot (04:49) 5 Babaji (03:46) 6 Preacher (04:01) 7 Black Sun (03:31) 8 Tears in My Bead (02:06) 9 Man of the Sun (03:58) 10 Sandwich (05:01) 11 Rest at Ease (05:34) |
 | Album: 6 of 15 Title: Oh! Pleasant Hope Released: 1971 Tracks: 9 Duration: 33:59 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Hiway Man (04:22) 2 Believer (03:42) 3 Money Troubles (04:06) 4 Traveling Man (03:11) 5 Oh! Pleasant Hope (02:41) 6 Im the Light (05:44) 7 Ecological Blues (02:25) 8 Lester the Arrester (03:10) 9 Heart Full of Soul (04:36) |
 | Album: 7 of 15 Title: Motive Released: 1982 Tracks: 11 Duration: 41:39 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Summertime Blues (03:45) 2 Feathers From Your Tree (03:29) 3 Sun Cycle (04:12) 4 Just a Little Bit (03:24) 5 Gypsy Ball (02:57) 6 Come and Get It (03:13) 7 (I Cant Get No) Satisfaction (05:07) 8 The Hunter (04:22) 9 Magnolia Caboose Babyfinger (01:38) 10 Babylon (04:22) 11 Parchment Farm (05:10) |
 | Album: 8 of 15 Title: The Beast Is Back Released: 1985-02 Tracks: 8 Duration: 37:16 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify AlbumCover | 1 Nightmares (05:03) 2 Summertime Blues (03:58) 3 Ride With Me (05:25) 4 Girl Next Door (03:40) 5 Babylon (04:12) 6 Heart of the City (04:19) 7 Out of Focus (03:44) 8 Parchment Farm (06:55) |
 | Album: 9 of 15 Title: Louder Than God: The Best of Blue Cheer Released: 1986 Tracks: 12 Duration: 49:10 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Summertime Blues (03:44) 2 Out of Focus (03:53) 3 Parchment Farm (05:43) 4 Feathers From Your Tree (03:29) 5 Just a Little Bit (03:25) 6 Babylon (04:20) 7 Magnolia Caboose Babyfinger (01:30) 8 Come and Get It (03:12) 9 Peace of Mind (07:12) 10 Fruit & Icebergs (05:59) 11 Fool (03:30) 12 Hello L.A., Bye-Bye Birmingham (03:13) |
| Louder Than God: The Best of Blue Cheer : Allmusic album Review : Released in 1986 on Rhino records, Louder Than God is an adequate "best of" collection for those interested in a brief but complete assortment of Blue Cheers greatest proto-metal hits. Rhino wisely chose studio wiz Bill Inglot to remaster the 13 tracks on this offering, making it one of, if not the best, post-70s repackaging of Blue Cheer material. Inglot -- whose credits include hundreds of impressive titles from the likes of Ray Charles, David Bowie, Deep Purple, Aretha Franklin, and many more stars from the world of rock, pop, soul, blues, and jazz -- adds some of his trademark punch and sizzle to the somewhat hastily (if not cheaply) recorded tracks from Blue Cheers seminal early recordings, Vincebus Eruptum and Outsideinside. The groups biggest hits, "Summertime Blues" and "Out of Focus," get spruced up nicely on Louder Than God, as does the remaining material from the especially small sounding Vincebus Eruptum. Obtaining this record might indeed be the best, or at least most cost-efficient way for casual fans to add essential music from the very influential Blue Cheer to their hard rock/heavy metal collection. | ||
 | Album: 10 of 15 Title: Blitzkrieg Over Nüremberg Released: 1989 Tracks: 8 Duration: 1:01:24 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 Babylon / Girl Next Door (09:20) 2 Ride With Me (08:50) 3 Just a Little Bit (04:27) 4 Summertime Blues (06:39) 5 Out of Focus (04:36) 6 Doctor Please (12:05) 7 The Hunter (06:37) 8 Red House (08:47) |
 | Album: 11 of 15 Title: Good Times Are So Hard to Find: The History of Blue Cheer Released: 1990 Tracks: 16 Duration: 1:14:06 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Summertime Blues (03:47) 2 Out of Focus (03:58) 3 Parchment Farm (05:49) 4 Feathers From Your Tree (03:31) 5 The Hunter (04:31) 6 Babylon (04:24) 7 Peace of Mind (07:03) 8 Fruit and Icebergs (06:05) 9 Fool (03:33) 10 Hello L.A., Bye Bye Birmingham (03:18) 11 Saturday Freedom (05:57) 12 Good Times Are So Hard to Find (03:18) 13 Pilot (04:47) 14 Preacher (03:57) 15 Hiway Man (04:22) 16 Im the Light (05:38) |
 | Album: 12 of 15 Title: Highlights and Lowlives Released: 1990 Tracks: 9 Duration: 44:00 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 Urban Soldiers (04:06) 2 Hunter of Love (05:29) 3 Girl From London (05:38) 4 Blue Steel Dues (06:45) 5 Big Trouble in Paradise (04:06) 6 Flight of the Enola Gay (03:45) 7 Hoochie Coochie Man (05:50) 8 Down and Dirty (04:32) 9 Blues Cadillac (03:49) |
 | Album: 13 of 15 Title: Dining With the Sharks Released: 1991 Tracks: 10 Duration: 48:00 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 Big Noise (04:51) 2 Outrider (06:19) 3 Sweet Child of the Reeperbahn (04:12) 4 Gunfight (06:53) 5 Audio Whore (03:53) 6 Cut the Costs (03:41) 7 Sex Soldier (05:05) 8 When Two Spirits Touch (03:52) 9 Pull the Trigger (05:20) 10 Foxy Lady (03:51) |
| Dining With the Sharks : Allmusic album Review : The on-again-off-again relationship between classic Blue Cheer members Dickie Peterson (bass/vocals) and drummer Paul Whaley was indeed on-again when the pair went into the studio to record Dining With Sharks. There might be a little residue left over from the old-time magic the band enjoyed in the ‘60s on this 91 release, but it isnt easy to absorb or appreciate as the two musicians (plus guitarist Dieter Saller) slog their way through mostly forgettable metallic fare. The group branches out stylistically on tracks like "Sweet Child Of The Reeperbahn" but somehow, all the songs still sound alike--due mostly to thin hooks and only average-to-good riffing. The cover of Jimi Hendrixs "Foxy Lady" starts out promising enough, but decomposes rather quickly, and like the rest of Dining with Sharks, falls more than a little flat. Blue Cheer (in its many forms) remained relatively busy making and supporting questionable records like this one through the ‘80s and well into the ‘90s. Whats strange about this is that they adopted a faceless musical direction during this "revival" period that was somewhat derivative of artists that had (in all likelihood) been influenced by the band. The results are just about as disappointing as one would expect considering these circumstances. | ||
 | Album: 14 of 15 Title: Hello Tokyo, Bye Bye Osaka (Live in Japan 1999) Released: 1999 Tracks: 11 Duration: 1:13:34 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify AlbumCover | 1 Babylon (04:59) 2 Big Trouble in Paradise (04:15) 3 The Hunter (04:42) 4 Blue Steel Dues (07:27) 5 Urban Soldiers (04:22) 6 Girl Next Door (04:56) 7 Ride With Me (08:01) 8 Summertime Blues (05:46) 9 Down and Dirty (05:19) 10 Out of Focus (05:43) 11 Doctor Please (18:04) |
 | Album: 15 of 15 Title: What Doesnt Kill You... Released: 2007-08-21 Tracks: 10 Duration: 55:35 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Rollin Dem Bones (04:50) 2 Piece O the Pie (05:06) 3 Born Under a Bad Sign (03:39) 4 Gypsy Rider (04:54) 5 Young Lions in Paradise (06:50) 6 I Dont Know About You (05:01) 7 Im Gonna Get to You (06:33) 8 Malajusted Child (05:09) 9 Just a Little Bit (Redux) (04:02) 10 No Relief (09:31) |
| What Doesn't Kill You... : Allmusic album Review : If youre old enough, you encountered this band sitting in someones never-cleaned Mustang, while bong hits were traded in the front; trapped by rain from escaping the fetid reek, but strangely intrigued by the thickest, loudest band youd ever heard on the 8-track -- Blue Cheer turning Eddie Cochrans Crickets-like 1958 number eight "Summertime Blues" into a bludgeon for a shocking 1968 number 11. (True story.) Even the Whos subsequent Live at Leeds cover was a popgun to Blue Cheers howitzer! With Iron Butterfly, Led Zeppelin, and prime heirs Black Sabbath, this psychedelic San Francisco trio birthed metal by playing huge blues. 40 years later, bassist singer Dickie Peterson and drummer Paul Whaley still jam with joined-in-the80s guitarirst Duck McDonald, making metal as beefy as a brontosaurus. Todays cover is Albert Kings "Born Under a Bad Sign," and that and more are a dust bomb of the dirtiest, rottenest rock this side of slower Motorhead. | ||