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Camper Van Beethoven

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Camper Van Beethoven

 
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Camper Van Beethoven

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Avg: 4.0 (99 ratings)

Camper once again wrestles with the space between the Woodstock generation's dreams and its soundtrack.

  • We Say...

    Alternative music has always had a difficult relationship with classic rock, and most of Camper Van Beethoven's third album is a wrestling match with the Woodstock generation's dreams and soundtrack. Highlights: multiple Led Zep jokes, a sardonic recitative called "Peace & Love" and a Pink Floyd cover that dissolves into entropic noise over the course of eight minutes. CVB, however, was also very much a California band, dancing in the trash-strewn wake of punk rock and Reagan-era politics. The group's best records ran on the friction between singer David Lowery's deadpan jokes and violinist Jonathan Segel's woozy Eastern European folk-inflected melodies, and this one's got their funniest and most plangent moments.

  • They Say...

    CVB's self-titled third album generally differs little from II & III, continuing the blend of wistfully weird lyrics, any number of musical touches from all over the map and good-time vibes. The opening "Good Guys & Bad Guys" proves that much, with reggae, folk, country and more stewed together as Lowery plaintively sings about lawyers and the people in Russia and the like. From there on in it's another collection of generally short and generally fun ditties, but with a few more tweaks here and there. The bandmembers definitely have more fun with the studio this time out, thus a lot of tape manipulation and semi-psychedelic oddities sprinkled around the album. Something of a Led Zeppelin fascination seems to crop up throughout, perhaps not too surprising considering that band's similar fondness for many musical influences and Jimmy Page's more acoustic numbers. Lowery drawls "Has anyone seen the bridge?" on "Joe Stalin's Cadillac," the following song is "Five Sticks," while later on in the album one gets "Stairway to Heavan (sic)," most definitely not a remake of the referenced song in question. Not to say there aren't reinterpretations here as early Pink Floyd gets the band treatment with an impressive, strong version of "Interstellar Overdrive." Then there's the catchy pop salute to a certain Mr. Garcia of the Grateful Dead, "We Saw Jerry's Daughter," the sitars and kicks on "Still Wishing to Course," the concluding 90-second long "Shut Us Down" and more to fill out this album's corners well.

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