The Camper Van Beethoven Albums Poll

whoa was just listening to them!

def underrated, they were one of the most important bands in my world as an ado. it's hard to trace where their lineage goes. like I REALLY hate They Might Be Giants but Campus isn't a million miles away, and yet

so hard, I love the 3rd, 4th and 5th albums almost equally

I think they had a tangential influence on Americana/alt-country, at the very least

of the first six the only one I'm not considering is II/III, just b/c I didn't get a copy until later

Vampire Can Mating Oven!

on the whole my favorites are the first two - production/synth choices bug me on CVB and OBRS. Key Lime Pie is half-great.

mmmmm "Sweethearts"

yeah side one of KLP really makes me wish Lowery had gone further down that road, not dumbed down so much in cracker

have only ever heard II & III so it feels wrong to vote, but i loved the shit out of that at the time

side 2 of key lime pie has pictures of matchstick men which blew my mind in 6th grade

xp DUDE get yerself over to albums 3, 4, and 5 ASAP

also, this was one of the best live bands I ever saw

is this stuff even on spotify? oh okay yes

hmm looks like there will be little consensus here

KLP for me all the way, a rare case of the "funny" band making a "serious" record that is actually really well done

and side 2 has the best song on the album "All Her Favorite Fruit" (tho "Sweethearts" is close)

yeah that is probably my fave if I get really objective about it, but man did I love the S/T and OBRS when they came out

otm

I heard Pictures of Matchstick Men on a fellow camper's mix-tape when I was maybe 11 or 12? Asked him what it was and he told me it was RUSH. Several disappointing album purchases later, I somehow finally figured out that it was Camper Van Beethoven, but I bought II&III first because it was in the cut-out bin for like a buck.

Key Lime Pie wins it for me though. Side 2 has the best song on the album "June", imo.

"She Divines Water" is a classic too; a spiraling song that I don't understand literally ("which was Zion") but that's only a minor matter as the vodka sinks in and she dances

yes yes yes

Yeah KLP is kind of in its own league in terms of atmosphere and lyrics and sheer drama in the songs, even if there are a few that are tiring to listen to.

"Borderline" is wonderful as well.

when the end comes to this old world
the rats will cry and the rest will curl up
and god won't take the time to sort your ashes from mine
because we zig and zag between good and bad
stumble and fall through right and wrong
'cause the tumbling dice and the luck of the draw just leads us on

---just the fuckin best lyric, I can type it from memory

She Divines Water was definitely one of my favorites for a long long time. The sound collage on "Tusk" is pretty great as well. I never listened to the whole of New Roman Times because I heard a couple of tracks and got turned off (hippie chicks, that gum you like). Anyone have any experience with their recent albums?

and yes, that is the best lyric, no doubt.

I never really listened very closely to "The Humid Press of Days" bc it's kind of ugly and slow but someone (maybe Nabisco) posted the lyrics in an earlier thread and reading them when my grandmother was nearing the end of her life hit me pretty hard.

OBRS has good stuff on it - it opens and closes well - but I agree w croup that there are some not-so-great production choices, it sounds tinny and thin and very late 80s in a way most of their catalog does not

xp

I think "Humid Press Of Days" is amazing fwiw, one of my favorites on the album, love the way the dynamics swoop and roll

wow what a great poll. I'd totally vote Vantiquities or Mating Oven if given the chance, but lean S/T or OBRS.
I love Key Lime Pie, but to me you definitely hear the absence of Segel, usually filled with over the top guitar solos that haven't aged particularly well.

ouch, tough but fair

Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart has some of my favorite violin/fiddle parts in rock. Love "One of These Days."

one of the first 3 i think

The band I was in from 89-90 copped a lot of riffs and "sound" from the eponymous 3rd LP. I remember we did a total ripoff of "Stalin's Cadillac" called "Hindu Chevrolet." Such a great album, bursting with terrific songs and ideas (which we totally lacked).

side 2 of key lime pie has pictures of matchstick men which blew my mind in 6th grade

ditto! well, 4th i think. iirc first saw it on mtv at a sleepover, two of us being blown away, the rest being fairly indifferent. Didn't place song to album until 6th, though, by which point i think cracker was a thing. kinda hilarious in hindsight that it was just a status quo cover.

despite that early brush with lowery i don't think i heard any other camper album until the 00s

yeah I remember Lowery at the time noting what a stupid song it was, how the cover was a goof etc.

had a kerosene hat t-shirt bought at the mall tho! xpost

II & III narrowly over CVB. They lost the magical weirdness by the Virgin albums though they still could write some kicking pop gems.

Might pick the live album Greatest Hits Played Faster if it was on here. Has the best versions of the Virgin-era tunes.

I don't like those live versions as well but I loooooove the opening orchestral "All Her Favorite Fruit"

xp: I don't know if I prefer it to the studio versions, but it also has My Baby Just Got Out of Jail and James River.

i think i prefer the played faster version to the revolutionary sweetheart versions, but that's an album i've kinda avoided due to immediate sonic distaste - if you heard the studio cuts first and plenty before the live takes it'd be a very different experience

After nearly 15 years with the Our Revolutionary Sweetheart versions it was a breath of fresh air.

voting for telephone free, if only for the mind-blowing drum fills in the ska instrumentals.

can I just say

crispy derson

incredible band. my favorite '80s alt group I got into via the '90s work of a more mainstream follow up (filed alongside sugar/husker du, westerberg/replacements)

KLP by a mile. I can listen to the pedal steel intro on Sweethearts on repeat.

man I totally forgot Garth Hudson plays on KLP

Can't choose just one. CVB were the most important planet in my orrery for a good chunk of the 80s and 90s.

I can listen to the pedal steel intro on Sweethearts on repeat.

yes. It's the song that got me into pedal steel.

II & III - it may seem strange but this album seemed pretty radical at the time mostly because indie/alternative/whatever music then was mostly derived from the punk and post-punk canon and this felt like it came out of nowhere. I think they were a big influence on a lot of Scottish bands at the time (BMX Bandits and Teenage Fanclub covered them, Pastels cited them) and certainly the gig they played in Glasgow back then felt like a huge epiphany...like hey you can be a great musician in a more or less traditional way and not have to reinvent your instrument or be confrontational, self-conscious about your limitations and all that other stuff that was going on at the time. Just being creative and entertaining with normal instruments seemed...unusual. (Maybe it was just me.)

The first Camper Van Chadbourne album is actually my favourite but correctly not included here. It's part of the Eugene Chadbourne oeuvre.

Ah, Garth Hudson is "Interlude".

http://www.davidlowerymusic.com/300-songs-blog/blog/59-stairway-to-heavan-sic-in-praise-of-half-baked-ideas-and-unfinished-things-the-importance-of-not-being-earnest

Come on Darkness is a better album closer than Closing Theme.

Show was great, people were indeed old. We had the same setlist you posted, more or less. The medley at the end was half "Hava Nageela," with a bit of "Kashmir" and "Dazed and Confused," and the opening harmonics of "Roundabout" thrown in (which made some dude behind me yell "do it!!!"). Best was me listening in the back toward the beginning of the set, struggling to see the band and noting that Frank had put some extra effort into playing drums like the album. And then David introduced everyone, and ... it was Chris Pederson back on drums this tour! He lives in Australia and rarely plays with the group these days. He's one of my fave drummers of all time, so it was such a treat to listen to him, if not see him.

Whoah nice!

"She Divines Water" is a classic too; a spiraling song that I don't understand literally ("which was Zion")

Other times they sampled/repurposed their own work: on II and III, one of the songs (is it “Circles”?) is the another of their songs (is it “Ambiguity Song”?) backwards, with some overdubs. I think there’s a version of “Processional” or “The Fool” with lyrics, under a different title. I think there were a bunch more examples, but I haven’t listened to them seriously in probably 20 years & my auld memory is shot.

"Five Sticks" uses a different (drum-free) mix of "Ambiguity Song" played backwards with overdubbed (forwards) acoustic guitar and tambourine.
"Circles" uses the chorus of "Oh No!" ("Oh no, here it comes again, that funny feeling") played backwards.
"Border Ska" (instrumental) and "Heart" (which has vocals) are both ska songs with very similar guitar melodies, if that's what you're thinking of.
The beginning of "Stairway to Heavan" is a somber version of "Processional."

Ernest comes through! Another one that comes to mind is the they recycled some of the background vocals from “Peace and Love” into “Eye of Fatima Part II” (“Cowboys on acid”, “No-one ever conquered Wyoming”).

It’s actually pretty astonishing how productive they were during their few years together the first time. Five LPs, an EP, enough outtakes and B-sides to make a whole other LP, not to mention 2 Monks of Doom records and 3 albums of Camper Van Chadbourne stuff, was all written & recorded between ‘84 and ‘89.

"We're All Wasted and We're Wasting All Your Time" features backwards stuff from "Devil Song" and "Take the Skinheads Bowling."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-kguFNwwko

It's on that "Camper Van Beethoven Is Dead. Long Live Camper Van Beethoven" comp, which is itself pretty confusing, since some of it is old and some of it is new, but it's not always clear which is which. For example, this track features parts of "Devil Song" backwards, but "Devil Song" didn't show up until "Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart." But this "Wasted" mishmash also appears on the reissue of "Telephone Free Landslide Victory." So who knows.

Interview with Jonathan Segel, he has a sad anecdote where following his departure from the band, he avoided listening to Key Lime Pie until one day he borrowed someone's copy since he saw it sitting on their desk, and as he listened to it in the car, he literally stopped driving because he thought it was the best album the band ever made, a bittersweet feeling since he wasn't a part of it. He then decided to write an actual letter and mail it to Lowery, telling him all that....but he didn't realize the band had pretty much split by then, and Lowery never responded because he thought Segel was being sarcastic. Goes without saying they straightened it out, but still...

(I would've voted for either the debut or self-titled.)

Segel's "Storytelling" LP is pretty good, iirc.

I thought it was still considered weird to *really* like Key Lime Pie, the first I bought as a child. The ranking up top might even match my own ranking some days, given that I can still barely listen 'through' the production of OBRS.

Listening to the interview. Thanks!

They lost me with Key Line Pue, it didn't work for me.

Had a dream last night. It was about nothing.

New Roman Times over Revolutionary Sweetheart and KLP. Love this band.

fan from the beginning and imho KLP is the best, with the 3rd (S/T) LP narrowly behind

two of the best live shows I have ever seen (Jonathan the 1st time and Morgan the 2nd), both are in my top 20 easy

KLP is one of the best sounding records, it's mixed soooo well.

The growth in songwriting from the first album to KLP is WTF

And I love Telephone Free Landslide Victory. It’s a perfect debut.

Listening now, "Sweethearts" has always felt pretty remarkable lyrically, but it occurs to me that it was actually spookily *prescient* in describing a daydreamy cognitive decline for Reagan, by 1989?!? Or was there already widespread speculation? It's ridiculously affecting.

there was def widespead speculation - also the lyrics refer to:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arrow_Air_Flight_1285R

A-haaaaa! Thanks.

I have a hard time ranking their albums*. Except for the first two, each is its own little world that has its own atmosphere and ecology.

I can’t really fathom not liking Key Lime Pie even if it’s not your favourite. Some of those songs are just devastating.

* The first run, that is. From CBV Is Dead onward the quality is deadly variable. I can’t even listen to the post-NewRoman Times stuff.

Some nice live clips out there:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnkxlOjMIAs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2l81NiGF5g

Every couple years i’ll try those last two albums and they are dullsville. It’s like they got rid of everything that made CVB good.

aw. they do lose the garage rock, but the song writing says really strong, and some regards get stronger.

It was interesting to hear Segel's take on the last two albums (before they reunited). IIRC, he basically said Herring was more suited to be the engineer, not the producer, because the only ideas he had were to make the record sound like everything else that was out there. Then later one, after Segel was no longer in the band, Herring ran into him and told him he actually applied all these ideas that Segel was lobbying for on the previous album, which was nice but not something Segel wanted to hear since Herring didn't do it while they were working together.

*Then later on,

Lowery told me once that it's the engineer on key lime pie, a Czech guy, that gave the album its distinctive sound.

I love KLP so much. Top ten album ever for me.

What do blind dogs see??

When I said the last two albums are dullsville, I’m talking about the two that came out after New Roman Times.

OBRS and KLP are amazeballs

Ha, I forgot about all the reunion records, which are afaict akin to the Pixies post reunion albums.

Oh yeah, those last two records are appalling. I made it halfway through each of them and *phew* what stinkers.

I really did like chunks of New Roman Times, even if it felt like a weird hybrid of CVB and Cracker more than CVB proper.

Never really got into Tusk but I appreciate its weird place in the canon.

CVB is Dead is a rough listen, but it plays like a clearinghouse of odds & sods, which of course it largely is, and I never object to those things. I wish more bands had b-sides and one-offs these days; CVB and REM were always fascinatingly generous with that stuff.

I remember being very hyped up when they announced New Roman Times. I had only gotten into CVB after the fact, so when Camper Van Beethoven is Dead..., Cigarettes and Carrot Juice, and Tusk came out, I feverishly scooped them up, even though the first is definitely "a rough listen," the second mostly had albums I already owned. Tusk, at least, I had never heard before, and so introduced me to Fleetwood Mac, who I previously only knew through Bill Clinton.

The only songs I heard from New Roman Times were "That Gum You Like Is Back in Style" and "Hippie Chix" and I just sorta gave up. I don't know if there's anything of merit on the rest of the record, but those two tracks didn't have the spark, and re-listening now, I agree with my younger self.

The poppies of balmorhea!

NRT is definitely not as good as any of the classic albums but I still like it. It feels like CVB in a way that the later two albums do not. Those sound like cracker b-sides or something.

I think it's as good. Part of its charm is the way it harkens to so many aspects of their original style. I find it very moving and think "51-7" is their most anthemic song of all.

Jonathan's violin so beautiful on that song.

"51-7" might be the only one of the new era songs I know off the top of my head.

You also kind of have to follow along with the album story, which you obviously can’t do if you just play it on a streaming service.

The story didn't really hit for me, certainly not the way the Thermals' "The Body, the Blood, the Machine" did a couple of years later. But I haven't listened to the CVB album in 20 years.

It’s not very involved, but it certainly provides context for something like “Hippie Chix.”

Camper Van Beethoven totally needed to record a full-on concept album and they succeeded way more than I would have expected. They even cover Steve Reich on it! “Discotheque CVB” is pretty sweet as well.

I heard Pictures of Matchstick Men on a fellow camper's mix-tape when I was maybe 11 or 12? Asked him what it was and he told me it was RUSH. Several disappointing album purchases later, I somehow finally figured out that it was Camper Van Beethoven, but I bought II&III first because it was in the cut-out bin for like a buck.

This is such a great story from way upthread

Happy to see so much love for KLP! Listening now and I'm falling in love with that big ass drum sound all over again!

"Sweethearts" still sends me.

klp is so good

The big ass drum sound rules. iirc no ride cymbal, and pretty much all Chinas or stacked cymbals, which sound cool.

i liked about half of New Roman Times, I think the title track is lovely and there's a good stretch at the start of the second half, but I never got super into the storyline.

The big ass drum sound rules. iirc no ride cymbal, and pretty much all Chinas or stacked cymbals, which sound cool.

Yr totally right!

I remember seeing Cracker at a festival while touring their first album -- they played "Queen of the Trailer Park" and it was fantastic.