Vincebus Eruptum

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.

Vincebus Eruptum
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

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]

Background and history

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]

Reception and legacy
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[10]
Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal6/10[11]
Pitchfork9.0/10[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]

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. Woodstra, Chris; Bush, John; Erlewine, Stephen Thomas (2007). All Music Guide Required Listening: Classic Rock. ISBN 9780879309176.
  4. Various Mojo Magazine (2007). The Mojo Collection: 4th Edition. Canongate Books. p. 137. ISBN 978-1-84767-643-6.
  5. "The 40 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time". 30 October 2019.
  6. Chris Smith (2009). One Hundred and One Albums that Changed Popular Music. Oxford University Press. p. 56. ISBN 978-0-19-537371-4.
  7. "Blue Cheer – Vincebus Eruptum (Vinyl, LP)". Discogs. Retrieved September 25, 2010.
  8. "Blue Cheer interview, Dickie Peterson". StonerRock.com. Archived from the original on September 28, 2011. Retrieved September 25, 2010.
  9. "Interview with Dickie Peterson of heavy metal hard rock band Blue Cheer". Get Ready to ROCK!. Retrieved September 25, 2010.
  10. Mark Deming. "Vincebus Eruptum > Review". AllMusic. Retrieved September 25, 2010.
  11. 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.
  12. Alexander Linhardt (October 7, 2003). "Blue Cheer: Vincebus Eruptum / Outsideinside". Pitchfork. Retrieved September 25, 2010.
  13. Michael Geary. "Vincebus Eruptum > Review". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on March 6, 2013. Retrieved August 24, 2012.
  14. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. (March 2, 1968). Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. p. 52. ISSN 0006-2510. {{cite book}}: |author= has generic name (help)
  15. McPadden, Mike (August 17, 2015). "10 Hard Rock + Heavy Metal Cover Songs Better Than the Original". VH1. Retrieved May 26, 2020.
  16. 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.
  17. "100 Records That Set the World on Fire (While No One Was Listening)". The Wire. No. 175. September 1998.
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