Vincebus Eruptum | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | January 16, 1968 | |||
Recorded | 1967 | |||
Studio | Amigo Studios, Hollywood, California | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 32:08 | |||
Label | Philips | |||
Producer | Abe "Voco" Kesh | |||
Blue Cheer chronology | ||||
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Singles from Vincebus Eruptum | ||||
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Vincebus Eruptum ( /vɪŋˈkeɪbəs ɪˈrʌptəm/; pseudo-Latin) is the debut album of American rock band Blue Cheer. Released on January 16, 1968, [1] [2] [3] the album features a heavy-thunderous blues sound, which would later be known as heavy metal.
A commercial and critical success, Vincebus Eruptum peaked at number 11 on the Billboard 200 albums chart and spawned the number 14 hit cover of Eddie Cochran's " Summertime Blues". Being an example of hard rock, [4] it is also lauded as one of the first heavy metal albums. Spin magazine placed it at number 22 on their list of the 40 greatest metal albums. [5] [6]
Blue Cheer's debut album was recorded in 1967 at Amigo Studios in North Hollywood, California. [7] In an interview, frontman Dickie Peterson explained that "Some songs I wrote have taken 20 years to really complete. And there are other songs like 'Doctor Please' or 'Out of Focus' that I wrote in ten minutes." [8]
On "Doctor Please" in particular, Peterson explained that "when I wrote the song (in 1967), it was a glorification of drugs. I was going through a lot of 'Should I take this drug or should I not take this drug? Blah, blah, blah.' There was a lot of soul searching at the time when I wrote that song, and I actually decided to take it. That’s what that song was about and that’s what I sang it about, sort of a drug anthem for me." [8] On the band's cover of Eddie Cochran's "Summertime Blues", Peterson noted that "We kept changing it around and adding/taking bits away. It also has to do with large doses of LSD." [9]
Review scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [10] |
Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal | 6/10 [11] |
Pitchfork | 9.0/10 [12] |
Rolling Stone | (negative) [13] |
Blue Cheer's debut album has widely been held in high regard by critics. Writing for music website AllMusic, Mark Deming described Vincebus Eruptum as "a glorious celebration of rock & roll primitivism run through enough Marshall amps to deafen an army", praising the band's "sound and fury" as one of the founding movements of heavy metal. [10] Pitchfork reviewer Alexander Linhardt gave the album nine out of ten points, noting that the album was less structured than its successor, Outsideinside. [12] It has been described by Billboard as "the epitome of psychedelic rock", [14] while VH1 called it an " acid rock masterwork". [15] Martin Popoff was less enthusiastic in his review and called the music "derivative" and "equating closer to acid-washed loud and slurring renditions of '60s rock" than heavy metal, judging the album "a howling mess." [11]
Online music service Rhapsody included Vincebus Eruptum in its list of the "10 Essential Proto-Metal Albums", suggesting that the band "not only inspired the term ' power trio,' they practically invented heavy metal." [16] In 1998, The Wire included Vincebus Eruptum in their list of "100 Records That Set the World on Fire (While No One Was Listening)", calling it a "seminal" album that "snarled rabidly in the face of hippy innocence and soon became a Hells Angels party stomper." They also note the strong influence the album had on 1990s Japanese noise trios such as High Rise and Musica Transonic. [17]
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | " Summertime Blues" | Eddie Cochran, Jerry Capehart | 3:47 |
2. | " Rock Me Baby" | B.B. King, Joe Josea | 4:22 |
3. | "Doctor Please" | Dickie Peterson | 7:53 |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
4. | "Out of Focus" | Peterson | 3:58 |
5. | " Parchment Farm" | Mose Allison | 5:49 |
6. | "Second Time Around" | Peterson | 6:17 |
Total length: | 31:54 |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
7. | "All Night Long" | Ralph Burns Kellogg | 2:06 |
Total length: | 34:00 |
Blue Cheer
Additional personnel
Remastered version
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