The Camper Van Beethoven Albums Poll

Don't/never smoked, but CVB sure as hell did! Love the scuzz and mystery of the first three and EPs and odds n ends, love the polished stuff equally. Even love the Monks of Doom. Chris Pederson - Crispy Dersen - is one of my favorite drummers.

Agree that II & III and CVB are head and shoulders above the rest. A group of true originals, though.

Crispy's work on OBRS, in particular, is crazy good. I've spent entire spins of that record just listening to the hi-hat. OBRS is one of the best-arranged albums in rock. Too bad the engineering stinks & it sounds all tinny. Still I think it's my pick.

p sure i saw their first nyc gig (Folk City, '85) and my reaction was "cute hippies"

Yeah OBRS is super punchy and condensed. Mesa Boogie

Xpost Want to say the remastered OBRS sounded better.

Yeah, the recent Omnivore reissue sounds good, esp on vinyl. But I still kinda wish it was a little less slicked-up. Still in my top 5 records of all time, probs (but that placement is floated by how great all the surrounding records are, too)

(not to discount the first 2 albums, cuz they're great alzo)

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Even love the Monks of Doom.

Yes!

I saw Victor Krummenacher play at the SF Eagle maybe a dozen years ago; he was a teen jailbait cutie in '85.

http://hys2d3ayt6x6b7ts22ypg68p.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/CVB-with-Morgan.jpg

II & III has "(Don't You Go To) Goleta" which was very important to a younger me

Also "(We're a) Bad Trip." And "Sometimes."

Goleta was an early favorite of mine, but I didn't understand it at ALL.

learned me how to say La Jolla

Goleta was an early favorite of mine, but I didn't understand it at ALL

UC Santa Cruz fight song ie all the other UC campuses suck

Yeah, I picked that up eventually.

"Sad Lovers Waltz" (II/III) ftw

I was in high school from 93-97, so when they were inactive, yet they were probably my favourite band. I love all of their original records so much but voted for KLP because of so many songs that personally brought the teenage me from someone who appreciated novelty and humour to someone who saw beauty in art: the aforementioned 'June' especially, but 'Sweethearts' and 'Come on Darkness' kill me to this day.

I listen to them still a good bit and find inspiration across all of them. 'Form Another Stone' on II&III is an amazing deep cut, it's like the most wicked psych jam they ever did. OBRS sounds big and 80s but has some stunning fucking songs.

Speaking of Crispy Dersen, interesting factoid: as far as I can tell, "Key Lime Pie" is one of the very, very few rock albums to feature no ride cymbal. Lots of weird fills and china crashes and stuff, but no ride, as best I can tell.

Another, more high profile example? "Back in Black!"

I think Throwing Muses generally shunned ride cymbals, at least on their early records

Might be true for sort of high strung tribal stuff like early Cure, too. Though CVB by that late stage is more conventional than both, which makes it absence more conspicuous.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

I love Monks of Doom too. "Meridian" was my favourite album in 11th grade and I still listen to it occasionally, and it holds up fairly well though maybe that's nostalgia.

I only ever had the Insect God ep. I'll have to check out the rest sometime soon. Here's a really good blog post I just found.

http://artintodust.blogspot.com/2008/06/monks-of-doom.html

^primarily the reminiscences of Victor Krummenacher.

Saw em for the first time in Detroit, summer 1988, with Mekons opening up. Crispy and the guitarist were hanging out at a table before the show and I gave them a tape. Very nice guys. It was a classic, epic Mekons performance (at the height of their "fame," with Ghosts of American Astronauts on MTV). They blew the place out, ending completely covered with orange silly string. When CvB came on stage, I remember Lowry saying something like, "I hope you realize that you just saw one of the greatest bands of all time," as if he couldn't believe that *they* were not headlining. And of course CvB was good too. It was a super cool night.

Wow, that Monks recollection was great, thanks for that!

Listening to OBRS right now. Started w/side 2. Fuck, so so good.

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.

ditto

u guys r sellouts

Key Lime is pretty spotty, but the run from "Sweethearts" to "Borderline" is my favourite from any CVB record

They're playing Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart in full on some west coast dates:

https://www.facebook.com/CamperVanBeethoven/videos/10153199614402539/

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?

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!

They are more pro now, slightly less character, but the songs remain the same: awesome.

They are the only reunited band I have enjoyed live

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

Huh. One of my favorite bands of all time, but self-titled might be my least favorite of their formative albums.

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.

Camper Van Beethoven:

Waka
Pictures of Matchstick Men (Status Quo cover)
Mao Reminisces About His Days In Southern China
The History of Utah
White Riot (The Clash cover)
Wasted (Black Flag cover)
Shut Us Down
R 'n' R Uzbekistan
Take the Skinheads Bowling
I Live in LA
L'Aguardiente
Northern California Girls
James River (Cracker cover)
Tania
Eye of Fatima (Parts I & II)
Too High for the Love In
All Her Favorite Fruit
S.P. 37957 Medley

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.

Cracker Whiskey A Go Go (Dec. 30, 2016):

Loser (Jerry Garcia cover)
Almond Grove
One Fine Day
Gimme One More Chance
Where Have Those Days Gone
California Country Boy
Teen Angst (What the World Needs Now)
Redneck Mother (Ray Wylie Hubbard cover)
Wedding Day
Low
Euro-Trash Girl
Someday
Beautiful
Get Off This

Encore:
King of Bakersfield

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.

plus Cracker opened with Loser and it lasted like 20 minutes and totally rocked, but most people left as it was really late.