Camper Van Beethoven-- Classic or dud?

I saw em on the reunion tour in Philly and just as they started Tusk Lowery complained that someone from the crowd had sprayed mace in his face (?!). They left and didn't come back...

Lowery's letter regarding the incident: http://pwblogger.com/articles/5098/columns--letters

I missed that -- thanks!

New CVB coming! "La Costa Perdida." First listen reveals it to me as perhaps the dope-iest, most psych-y thing they've done since the self-titled third disc.

http://www.429records.com/sites/429records/429details/d_campervanbeethoven.asp

Artists that just touch you so many times over the course of your life.

Interesting! I'll have to check this out. I couldn't get into the last one, but hey! It's been eight years. Could be an anything. They were my absolute favorite band when I was in high school which was after they had broken up and the albums were a real passion in the ass to track down.

pain in the ass

New one's really not so hot .Not terrible, but the last one I'd ever reach for, I think. Pretty casual affair.

I think Ronald Reagan was the "12th man" of this team.

"Sad Lovers Waltz" is a great song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8tJF6VEi9o

Got the new "My Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart" and "Key Lime Pie" reissues today. Packed with bonus stuff, and the liner notes are absolutely ace.

ooh what are the Key Lime Pie extras? love that album so much

CD version
1. “Opening Theme”
2. “Jack Ruby”
3. “Sweethearts”
4. “When I Win The Lottery”
5. “(I Was Born In A) Laundromat”
6. “Borderline”
7. “The Light From A Cake”
8. “June”
9. “All Her Favorite Fruit”
10. “Interlude”
11. “Flowers”
12. “The Humid Press Of Days”
13. “Pictures Of Matchstick Men”
14. “Come On Darkness”
Bonus tracks:
15. “Closing Theme (aka Guitar Hero)”
16. “(I Was Born In A) Laundromat” (Edit)
17. “Country 2″ (Demo)
18. “Good Guys & Bad Guys” (Live)
19. “Wasted” (Live)
20. “Take The Skinheads Bowling” (Live)
21. “Before I Met You” (Live)
22. “L’aguardiente” (Soho Natural Session)
23. “(I Don’t Wanna Go To The) Lincoln Shrine” (Soho Natural Session)

nice

crispy derson

Original liners are pretty funny

New ones not funny, but pretty solid, anyway. Also, they reprint the original liners, too.

OK, seeing them tomorrow night. When they tour in tandem with Cracker, who generally goes on first?

I just saw them, Cracker closed. boardid=41&threadid=102871

The Camper Van Beethoven Albums Poll

I like this thread better, dammit! Anyway, thanks, allows me to enjoy CVB and consider bailing on Cracker in real time.

there's some good stuff on Cracker's first album (Dr. Berenice felt like a Key Lime Pie b-side). I stopped paying attention after that.

Kerosene Hat was huge for me. I was disenchanted by "I Hate My Generation" but listened to it again recently and think I could give Golden Age another chance someday. I dipped back in with their Countrysides album, which in retrospect didn't sound so good, but introduced me to Terry Allen.

I recall liking Golden Age a lot. And I heard their new double album is really good.

Some of the Cracker stuff on the most recent double disc thing was actually very good

I saw one of Cracker's very first (maybe even the first?) shows in Santa Cruz and the most entertaining part of the show was when they broke into a Massive Attack cover, which Lowery seemed to think no one in the crowd recognized

https://archive.org/details/cracker1991-11-10-flac

haha wow yup that's it

i dont' know how it is that I've never seen CVB live. I miss these shows with cracker every year for some reason or another.

what a band

So classic. And ended on top. Hmm, I wonder how many band's first and final* albums are equally classic?

Zeppelin lol

they reunited tho! sellouts

Hmm, LZ1 and In Through the Out Door equally classic? Don't know about that. Equally good, perhaps!

xpost In their defense, reunited Camper albums are weird and intentionally erratic.

Don't think I agree with that re. New Roman Times (which I like a lot), but I know they took a different songwriting approach on the two California-themed albums. Still have not dug into those too much.

Well, all I know is that I don't listen to them, because I liked them only about as much as I liked the Camper Van Chadbourne albums. Which is an exaggeration, maybe, because I don't listen to those either, and can't remember if they're that good or not. Anyway, the last two CVB albums, they're fine, but they don't feature much of anything akin to what I love from literally everything the band did from Telephone to Key Lime Pie. New Roman Times, I can hum a song or two from that one, but as far as similar concept albums go, I think at the time I was focusing more on the Thermals record.

"51-7" might be their best song ever!

Well, that's not true, but it is the only song from that album I know off the top of my head!!

Huh, there's a new Monks of Doom record.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phMv_db7Mgc

"Take The Skinheads Bowling" sounding really good to me today for some reason.

Wish the last couple of albums had been better. New Roman Times was awesome.

I was blasting She Divines Water on the way to work last week. Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart and Key Lime Pie are where it's at.

Key Lime Pie is super underrated by the people who rate things.

Listening to those late 80s albums it’s noticeable how melodic and imaginative Victor Krummenacher’s bass lines are

Not to mention Crispy Dersen’s drums! ESP on OBRS. Fuggin Xgau lambasting them for not having “chops”.

All Her Favorite Fruit may be my all time Camper jam. But that changes a lot because they have many excellent jams.

Saw them playing a split gig with Cracker a couple of years ago and they've still got it. Very good show. It was just weird seeing Camper open for Cracker when we know who the better band is.