Post by isis on Sept 4, 2007 8:39:34 GMT -5
CD review: 'What Doesn't Kill YouA
By Ray Hogan
Stamford Advocate
August 30, 2007
Original Stamford Advocate article: CD review: 'What Doesn't Kill YouA
Emerging in the midst of flower power era San Francisco, Blue Cheer helped usher in both hard rock and heavy metal. History hasn't been kind to them. While Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin are given rightful kudos for ushering in all distortion-laced powerful music that followed, Blue Cheer is remembered for 'Summertime Blues,' an Eddie Cochran cover and surprise hit during 1968.
'What Doesn't Kill YouA<' is a well-timed comeback because the trio's trademark feedback-laced and amped-up wall of sound is so currently prevalent - in acts ranging from the surprisingly popular Wolfmother to the more creative noise and sludge metal scenes.
It can't be a good omen when a group of roughly 60-year-olds begin a disc with a tune that brags about their pot smoking abilities. Yet 'Rollin' Dem Bones' wins listeners over pretty quickly thanks to the muscular groove that Dickie Peterson (bass/vox), Andrew 'Duck' MacDonald (guitar/vox) and Paul Whaley prove is still intact. The tune's main riff is both brutish and boogie-inducing. MacDonald's solo proves, as his playing does throughout, that pyschedelia and power weren't mutually exclusive in the late 1960s and they are surely not in the here and now.
At 55 minutes, the disc doesn't let up. Even when the trio slows thing, which it does on the Stones-ish blues groove of 'Young Lions in Paradise,' it stands out as one of the disc's best cuts. The closing slow burn and nearly 10 minutes of 'No Relief' is 1970s hard rock nirvana. A cover of Albert King's 'Born Under a Bad Sign' doesn't need to be made in 2007 but Blue Cheer does it justice despite some vocal macho posturing in the chorus.
The biggest drawback to 'What Doesn't Kill YouA<' is some unfortunate lyrics and occasional larynx-shredding vocals that are no doubt enthusiastic but sometimes strained. Aside from the boasting title track, Peterson and MacDonald come across as clueless johnny-come-latelies rather than veterans in their tough guy approach to storytelling.
Still, this is a strong statement. Forty years into it, Blue Cheer make other power trios sound diminutive in comparison. With all the ballyhoo surrounding the 40th anniversary of the Summer of Love, here's a reminder of another sound that was starting to hold sway; it's a sound that is much more prevalent in much of today's music.
Copyright © 2007 Stamford Advocate, All Rights Reserved.
By Ray Hogan
Stamford Advocate
August 30, 2007
Original Stamford Advocate article: CD review: 'What Doesn't Kill YouA
Emerging in the midst of flower power era San Francisco, Blue Cheer helped usher in both hard rock and heavy metal. History hasn't been kind to them. While Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin are given rightful kudos for ushering in all distortion-laced powerful music that followed, Blue Cheer is remembered for 'Summertime Blues,' an Eddie Cochran cover and surprise hit during 1968.
'What Doesn't Kill YouA<' is a well-timed comeback because the trio's trademark feedback-laced and amped-up wall of sound is so currently prevalent - in acts ranging from the surprisingly popular Wolfmother to the more creative noise and sludge metal scenes.
It can't be a good omen when a group of roughly 60-year-olds begin a disc with a tune that brags about their pot smoking abilities. Yet 'Rollin' Dem Bones' wins listeners over pretty quickly thanks to the muscular groove that Dickie Peterson (bass/vox), Andrew 'Duck' MacDonald (guitar/vox) and Paul Whaley prove is still intact. The tune's main riff is both brutish and boogie-inducing. MacDonald's solo proves, as his playing does throughout, that pyschedelia and power weren't mutually exclusive in the late 1960s and they are surely not in the here and now.
At 55 minutes, the disc doesn't let up. Even when the trio slows thing, which it does on the Stones-ish blues groove of 'Young Lions in Paradise,' it stands out as one of the disc's best cuts. The closing slow burn and nearly 10 minutes of 'No Relief' is 1970s hard rock nirvana. A cover of Albert King's 'Born Under a Bad Sign' doesn't need to be made in 2007 but Blue Cheer does it justice despite some vocal macho posturing in the chorus.
The biggest drawback to 'What Doesn't Kill YouA<' is some unfortunate lyrics and occasional larynx-shredding vocals that are no doubt enthusiastic but sometimes strained. Aside from the boasting title track, Peterson and MacDonald come across as clueless johnny-come-latelies rather than veterans in their tough guy approach to storytelling.
Still, this is a strong statement. Forty years into it, Blue Cheer make other power trios sound diminutive in comparison. With all the ballyhoo surrounding the 40th anniversary of the Summer of Love, here's a reminder of another sound that was starting to hold sway; it's a sound that is much more prevalent in much of today's music.
Copyright © 2007 Stamford Advocate, All Rights Reserved.
