Vincebus Eruptum

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Vincebus Eruptum
BlueCheerVincebusEruptum.jpg
Studio album by
Blue Cheer
ReleasedJanuary 16, 1968 (1968-01-16)
Recorded1967
StudioAmigo Studios, Hollywood, California
Genre
Length32:08
LabelPhilips
ProducerAbe "Voco" Kesh
Blue Cheer chronology
Vincebus Eruptum
(1968) 		Outsideinside
(1968)
Singles from Vincebus Eruptum
  1. "Summertime Blues"
    Released: 1968

Vincebus Eruptum (/vɪŋˈkeɪbəs ɪˈrʌptəm/; pseudo-Latin) is the debut album of American rock band Blue Cheer. Released on January 16, 1968,[1][2] 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 top-20 hit cover of Eddie Cochran's "Summertime Blues". Being an example of hard rock,[3] it is also lauded as one of the first heavy metal albums. Spin magazine placed it 22 on their list of 40 greatest metal albums.[4][5]

Background and history[]

Blue Cheer's debut album was recorded in 1967 at Amigo Studios in North Hollywood, California.[6] 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."[7]

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."[7] 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."[8]

Reception and legacy[]

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic4.5/5 stars[9]
Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal6/10[10]
Pitchfork9.0/10[11]
Rolling Stone(negative)[12]

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.[9] Pitchfork reviewer Alexander Linhardt gave the album nine out of a maximum ten points, noting that the album was less structured than its successor, Outsideinside.[11] It has also been described by Billboard as "the epitome of psychedelic rock",[13] while VH1 called it an "acid rock masterwork".[14] 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."[10]

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."[15]

Track listing[]

Side one
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Summertime Blues"Eddie Cochran, Jerry Capehart3:47
2."Rock Me Baby"B.B. King, Joe Josea4:22
3."Doctor Please"Dickie Peterson7:53
Side two
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
4."Out of Focus"Peterson3:58
5."Parchment Farm"Mose Allison5:49
6."Second Time Around"Peterson6:17
Total length:31:54
2003 remastered reissue
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
7."All Night Long"Ralph Burns Kellogg2:06
Total length:34:00

Personnel[]

Blue Cheer

Additional personnel

Remastered version

  • Bill Levenson – production
  • Ellen Fitton – remastering

References[]

  1. ^ "JAN. 16, 1968: THE RELEASE OF BLUE CHEER'S 'VINCEBUS ERUPTUM'". Arthur Magazine. Joshua Tree. Retrieved July 28, 2015.
  2. ^ "Celebrating the 45th birthday of Blue Cheer's mighty Vincebus Eruptum…". Classic Rock Magazine Facebook Fanpage. Retrieved July 28, 2015.
  3. ^ Various Mojo Magazine (2007). The Mojo Collection: 4th Edition. Canongate Books. p. 137. ISBN 978-1-84767-643-6.
  4. ^ https://www.spin.com/2019/10/best-metal-albums/
  5. ^ Chris Smith (2009). One Hundred and One Albums that Changed Popular Music. Oxford University Press. p. 56. ISBN 978-0-19-537371-4.
  6. ^ "Blue Cheer – Vincebus Eruptum (Vinyl, LP)". Discogs. Retrieved September 25, 2010.
  7. ^ Jump up to: a b "Blue Cheer interview, Dickie Peterson". StonerRock.com. Archived from the original on September 28, 2011. Retrieved September 25, 2010.
  8. ^ "Interview with Dickie Peterson of heavy metal hard rock band Blue Cheer". Get Ready to ROCK!. Retrieved September 25, 2010.
  9. ^ Jump up to: a b Mark Deming. "Vincebus Eruptum > Review". AllMusic. Retrieved September 25, 2010.
  10. ^ Jump up to: a b Popoff, Martin (October 2003). The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal: Volume 1: The Seventies. Burlington, Ontario, Canada: Collector's Guide Publishing. p. 52. ISBN 978-1894959025.
  11. ^ Jump up to: a b Alexander Linhardt (October 7, 2003). "Blue Cheer: Vincebus Eruptum / Outsideinside". Pitchfork. Retrieved September 25, 2010.
  12. ^ Michael Geary. "Vincebus Eruptum > Review". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on March 6, 2013. Retrieved August 24, 2012.
  13. ^ Nielsen Business Media, Inc. (March 2, 1968). Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. p. 52. ISSN 0006-2510.
  14. ^ McPadden, Mike (August 17, 2015). "10 Hard Rock + Heavy Metal Cover Songs Better Than the Original". VH1. Retrieved May 26, 2020.
  15. ^ Justin Farrar (June 22, 2010). "Classic Rock Crate Digger: 10 Essential Proto-Metal Albums". Rhapsody. Archived from the original on September 20, 2012. Retrieved September 25, 2010.
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