Reviews (page 4 of 8)
Driving, forceful, pushy. Feels like they could have used this album to replace every song in Baby Driver and it would only detract a little bit. Rock Me Baby > Doctor Please > Out of Focus. Fun 32 min listen
this band or this album-- haven't decided which-- is illustrative of what i perceive to be one of the biggest problems facing music today: there is a fucking label for literally every *sample* of sound. look, i had to google these guys. i won't pretend i've heard of them. here's their "genre" according to wikipedia's compiled list (I am too lazy to actually cite each individual source for each genre assignment, but i promise they exist and they're all more or less bullshit): hard rock, psychedelic rock, blues rock, acid rock, heavy metal, proto-punk, stoner rock, experimental rock. are you fuckin serious? one time the band Blue October wrote a song that reflects my feelings about this: "Or call it rock, or pop, or Bach, or fuck / Goddamn! Where did we go wrong? / Now there's a category for every song" (this is from Inner Glow, for those curious). yeah yeah, i get that Blue Cheer is trying a bunch of different things here, but honestly what this tells me more is that they couldn't find solid enough ground to establish a unique sonic character. instead, these songs feel, at least to me, like a half-baked attempt at being a little bit of everything popular on the cusp of some really monumental movements (for example, some people apparently call "Summertime Blues" the first metal song ever [what the fuck], and Black Sabbath's debut was around the corner in 1970). i wonder if the comparison to Jack White is unavoidable (several reviews housed on this website make such a comparison). i don't buy it. not all garage rock is created equally, and this lacks the soul, punch, and guitarwork of the early white stripes stuff. anyway, this shit's boring. 2/5 on a good day, which i guess today is.
I listened to a lot of Black Keys growing up. This sounds like the stuff the Black Keys listened to a lot of growing up. This sound is one that I've always enjoyed. There's that rawness to it that makes the whole album feel like it's just some dudes recording at home. The instrumentation is messy and I dig it. This is the kind of stuff that I love playing on guitar, but it's not something that I really listen to much anymore. I enjoyed this album thoroughly, but it's one of those albums that I probably won't be relistening to much, if at all. I really liked Out of Focus and Parchment Farm. Second Time Around sounds like a Jack White song (you can take that how you will). Apple Music said this album is credited with inventing heavy metal. I always credit that to Sir Paul McCartney with Helter Skelter. Maybe they both deserve some credit idk. This felt more like a blues album to me. The tone of the guitar is very similar to Hendrix's, and while I have nothing bad to say about that, I wouldn't consider it "heavy metal."
I've gone back and forth about this one, but I think I overall liked it. I'm a huge fan of the blues, so I might be a little biased. I am having to alter my perceptions of heavy metal a bit and do some learning, thanks to this list. I would in no way classify this or Zeppelin as heavy metal -- it's just blues rock, in my opinion. Maybe it's just that no one understands what genre is or means (*insert Simpsons "No it's the children who are wrong" meme here) I think the disconnected aspects of the songs are a bit hard for the listener to fully appreciate the final product. The mixing is pretty terrible but I think that also contributes to what they were trying to accomplish with this sound. "Doctor Please" was my favorite track. The midpoint of the song kicks and I went back to the song as a whole a couple of times just because of the jam.
Sounds like a parody of this era. No wonder the Beatles were so successful if this is what they were up against.
I'm pretty sure I didn’t hate this album but the "Summertime Blues" cover is one of the least tolerable pieces of music I've ever heard. Like... I'm being pedantic but taking out the end of the verses to replace with instrumentals kinda detracts from the whole point of the song. It's some kind of Hendrix meets Peter & The Wolf meets Peanuts nightmare where all the grownups are replaced by instruments. You called your congressman and he said, quote, "*drum fill*"? What did Eddie Cochran do to deserve that? The rest of the record is still a bit “jammy” for my liking, but is just controlled enough that I can find some sounds that I dig. Also, anything with this much fuzz and distortion in 1968 is probably pretty influential on a lot of the stuff I am into. On a lark, I googled “Blue Cheer Iggy Pop” and was unsurprised to learn that they and the MC5 (<3) had played together in 1968. Prooooobably not going in the rotation but I don’t regret listening and am not opposed to revisiting tracks 2 - 5.
‘The hard rock group Blue Cheer were often referred to as being "louder than god" and no band of their era more richly earned that title’ So you can just say anything in your Spotify bio, huh? I haven’t been to church since like 2013 and even I’m incensed by this comparison. Y’all think some of the worst guitar tone ever recorded is bigger than the being that let there be fucking LIGHT? Y’all think the lines about being so depressed that you need to call your senator go harder than the Judeo Christian deity? Kick rocks, Blue Cheer!
Reminds me of being in a power trio, great nostalgic vibes and just the right amount of rough around the edges. Probably a good thing that 70% of the lyrics are fairly indistinguishable.
Nochmal anhören
Ah, "Vincebus Eruptum", rien que le titre, on sent le mec qui a ouvert un dictionnaire de latin au pif en buvant une bière. "Je vaincrai par l'éruption", ou un truc du genre. C'est pompeux, c'est ridicule, et c'est absolument parfait pour ce disque. Nous voilà donc en 1968, San Francisco, l'amour libre, les fleurs dans les cheveux, le "Peace and Love", Jefferson Airplane, le Grateful Dead... Et puis il y a Blue Cheer. Blue Cheer, c'est le "bad trip" auditif de la bande. C'est le mec qui débarque à la soirée hippie, qui vomit sur le tapis en poil de chèvre, insulte la meuf du taulier et met le feu au canapé avant de repartir en rotant. On va mettre les choses au clair tout de suite. Cet album n'est pas "bon". Il n'est pas "mauvais". Il est... Il existe. On m'a vendu ça comme "l'album fondateur du Heavy Metal". Du "proto-metal", du "proto-stoner", du "proto-tout-ce-qui-fait-du-putain-de-bruit". La légende dit qu'ils étaient "plus forts que Dieu" ("Louder than God") et quand tu lances le disque, tu comprends pourquoi. Ce n'est pas de la musique, c'est une agression physique. C'est fort. C'est saturé. C'est... primitif. Bon, on va être honnête deux minutes, si comme moi, tu as bouffé du son lourd, tu as écouté Godflesh, tu t'es pris les murs de drones de Sunn O))), tu as disséqué la lourdeur tectonique des Melvins. Alors, "Vincebus Eruptum" en 2025... ça sonne presque... propre. Et c'est là tout le paradoxe de ce disque, il n'a "plus rien d'exceptionnel" aujourd'hui. Il a été tellement copié, dépassé, digéré, que son pouvoir de nuisance originel s'est émoussé. Ce n'est pas la lourdeur calculée et maléfique d'un Black Sabbath. Ce n'est pas le chaos nihiliste des Stooges. C'est juste... du bruit. Le jeu est approximatif, voire carrément bordélique. La guitare de Leigh Stephens... le mec a découvert la pédale Fuzz, et il a décidé que c'était la seule note qui existait. Il ne fait pas des riffs, il fait des vibrations. C'est un tremblement de terre. La basse de Dickie Peterson... elle n'existe pas. Elle est fusionnée avec la guitare pour créer une seule, énorme, masse sonore saturée qui te décolle le papier peint. Et la batterie de Paul Whaley... le mec ne joue pas, il TABASSE. Il se bat contre ses fûts comme s'ils avaient insulté sa mère. Et la voix. Oh, la voix. Peterson "chante". Non, il hurle, il éructe. Il sonne comme un Lemmy Kilmister qui aurait avalé du gravier et qui serait en train de le vomir. Et pourtant... Je veux bien admettre qu'à l'époque c'était une petite révolution. En 1968, Hendrix et Cream avaient déjà commencé à pousser les potards, mais Blue Cheer, eux, ils n'ont pas poussé les potards : ils les ont arrachés. L'album est surtout connu pour sa reprise du "Summertime Blues" d'Eddie Cochran. L'original est un petit bijou de rockabilly sur la frustration adolescente. La version de Blue Cheer, c'est la frustration adolescente qui a muté en rage thermonucléaire. C'est brutal, c'est gras, ça déborde de partout. Ils ont pris la chanson, l'ont tabassée dans une ruelle sombre et l'ont laissée pour morte, couverte de fuzz. Et c'est juste brillant. Le reste de l'album... c'est un peu plus compliqué. "Doctor Please", "Parchment Farm"... c'est la même recette appliquée en boucle. Du blues lourd, lent, poisseux. Ça fonctionne, mais ça manque cruellement de... dynamique. Car en tant que fan de Sonic Youth ou des Pixies, on sait apprécier le "calme/tempête". Blue Cheer, c'est "tempête/tempête/tempête/pause clope/tempête". Il n'y a aucune subtilité, c'est un bloc de distorsion. Et c'est là qu'arrive mon 3 sur 5. C'est "loin d'être une purge", absolument pas. C'est même un disque fascinant, c'est un document historique. C'est le son d'un groupe qui, par accident ou par génie (probablement les deux), a ouvert une porte que des légions de mecs chevelus allaient s'empresser de franchir. C'est un disque "important", et comme beaucoup de choses "importantes", c'est un peu chiant par moments. Mais il fallait qu'il existe car sans lui, pas de Sabbath, pas de Motörhead, pas de "grunge". C'est l'homme de Neandertal du metal. Il est indispensable à l'évolution, mais on est quand même contents d'avoir inventé le feu et la roue depuis. Il ne rentre pas "par la grande porte" dans nos discothèques. Il rentre "par la fenêtre", comme un cleptomane un peu bourré qui viendrait juste piquer les bières avant de repartir faire du bruit dehors.
Not very memorable. Lots of fuzz, for sure.
Bluesy, heavy rock
Boring psych rock
Bedroom garage blues punk. No idea. Drugs.
Oh how I wish I could go back and listen to this when it came out with no knowledge of what was to come. I wonder how heavy it would sound then. Now it doesn't really sound like much of a step up from Hendrix or the Electric Prunes. It's still plenty blistering though, just not enough to cover for the songwriting. The jammy moments and solos of "Doctor Please" rock, blasting the drums and chords into your brain. But the verses are clumsy. "Summertime Blues" and "Parchment Farm" sound similarly awkward with their transitions from verses to noise. In general the original songs - written to sound like this - work better than the covers. In its best moments this sounds like it could still rip your face off, but those moments don't last long, and what's left instead ranges from boring to ugly.
generic psychedelic 60's band. i like their drums... they only have 60k monthly listeners on Spotify... how iconic could they possibly be?
Mixage weird (hard panning). Pas inintéressant.
Not my thing, won't go back
I know I should be open minded when going into any new album, but enough past evidence and an understanding of my own taste indicated that an album from 1968 by a band whose name is an LSD reference was just going to be a dud for me. I'm just never gonna love that San Francisco Sound™
Dope
A monster…..not great, but great in its time.
Hard classic rock pretty good
Name something better than white dweebs from the Bay Area playing “the blues” - doesn’t exist.
Blues metal, huh? Decent but kinda samey. It makes sense to include this for its historical value. Their cover of Parchman Farm is spooky and ominous.
I respect this for its influence, but it's not something I'd ever return to, and I didn't especially want to listen to it while it was playing. I don't mind self-indulgence in rock music, but this wasn't my flavor of it, y'know?
Honestly felt like a long 32 mins HOWEVER for early days Psych rock I really enjoyed it and was toe tapping whilst working at the email factory. Favourite track: Rock me Baby
2,5
Eh
This album wasn't any better than the last album I reviewed. "Vincebus Eruptum" is a product of its time with songs that once sounded cool. It's similar to Gratful Dead's live album, another lousy effort. I liked the sound of some of the tracks. There's a decent song that isn't on the original release. 2 stars for "Vincebus Eruptum".
Would be awesome live!
A good rock album from the 60s. Reminds one of Black Sabbath and Uriah Heep.
As crunchy as fall leaves. 3/5
Cool album I liked it 👍🏿
love the overall coherence between the album title and the song feel
Found this interesting! Definitely very raw and the guitar soloing kept me hooked.
Liked this album sounded like it was heavily influenced by blues music will need to investigate further. Listen to more of this artist
die liste (und glaub musigjournis allgemein) isch obsessed mit punk und sine vorläufer. vlt tuen ich blue cheer etz unrecht. aber am erste song ah tönts wie sehr e hössigi 60er band wo punk beiflusst het. rock me baby tönt wie schlechter gspielte led zeppelin. ok wiki nennts proto-heavy metal. finds reeecht ass. aso so ich sött jo gern bluesrock haa. aber s isch seehr unorganisiert und nöd uf die cool art. mega afoch versueche lärm mache mit de gitarre und s groovt nöd würklich. biah parchment farm isch au so fucking lang. bruudi. ha etz nochli über s album noglese und jo mega wegwiisend und unglaublich luut für ihri ziit. aber ich check nöd so ganz. es isch nöd guet.
hahahah okee jaa schono cool aber au eifach LUUT GSPIELT we vomit all night long?? doctor please SLAPPT, het mich ziitewiis au sehr ah black sabbath erinneret de proto-grunge ghöri jz weniger usse hmm musses glaub nomal lose, iwie hanis schona cool gfunde, au dass so roh und chräftig gspielt wird aber joo jz am morge au mengisch chli sehr ahstrengend zum lose hahaha oops maybe I forgor ich weissss nöd, ah sich ischs scho cool aber teilwiis ischs echt eifach DUTUDLUDULTUDLUDLU jo es 3. schono fun aber jo (summertime blues schochli en banger)
Not my music but interesting as a precursor to punk
Knock off Jimi Hendrix experience with less talent and songwriting ability. Drummer was pretty awesome but other than that it seemed unoriginal
Enjoyed the non-radio songs as much as the well known radio hits.
Noisy
Decent, quick, rock with a side of blues. Doesn’t feel like a predecessor of heavy Metal though
Playing is hard and loud, but the songcraft is very lacking. Interesting for being proto-metal or early metal, or even an originator of metal, but beyond that the interest is not there.
I like badly recorded noise
Reminded me of The Doors. Don't know if this came first or the doors did. I quite liked it. Never heard of the group before.
This is interesting. Some of these songs are like a prototype of heavy metal, with the heavier and grittier guitar sounds. That said, being a prototype, it isn't totally there, and some of it sounds a bit samey. The overall blues rock isn't bad, though, and it's interesting to hear seeds that would grow into heavy metal later.
Pretty solid album. Not sure if I could listen to a much longer on. 3/5
Pretty cool
Cool to hear some Hard Rock from the late 60s but it's also kinda whatever.
Kinda boring
Heavy. Duty. Heavy duty rock and roll.
Mediocre
It’s amazing to to think this came out seven months after Sgt Peppers and almost two years before Black Sabbath’s debut and a year before Led Zeppelin’s debut album. This is a must listen just for that - a relatively obscure band that gets easily forgotten made something that would still vital in an underground club show today.
I see... middle finger. social oprør. skrammelspade, en solo der er et lille raseri. Jo jo. Fint. Har muligvis dannet skole for noget psychrock? Ikke noget, der rockede min verden.
Of all of the needless versions of Summertime Blues this one was the worst I’ve heard, and unfortunately it was the highlight of this one for me.
Cool album, short but impactful. Enjoyed the sound 3/5
Pretty average 60s psychedelic rock. Favorite track: Summertime Blues
This is an interesting artifact of the history of hard rock and heavy metal music. While not as sublime as Zeppelin or Black Sabbath’s initial releases, it’s a solid, heavy record that probably sounded groundbreaking at the time for those that discovered the band on its release. None of the tracks particularly stand out to me, but it’s a cohesive listen throughout and it’s an album that I’d love to have in my record collection.
Cited as the wellspring of heavy metal, a trio, thumping drums very similar in approach to Cream. Interesting artefact.
Well, its obvious why I've never heard of them.
Gets some props for being one of the first to do it, although you can very much make the argument that they’re just copying Hendrix, who did it better. This one falls off hard after the first two songs. There’s a lot of overindulgence, which doesn’t work without the talent of a Hendrix.
I really enjoyed this album and think that with more listens it may grow on me more.
Meh, bad instrumentation, not great songwriting either. Forgettable
Pretty good. Reminds me a lot of Deep Purple. 4/5
Never heard of this band till I listened to this album. The sound took me to a Deep Purple cover band playing their best version of Jimi Hendrix with a male version of Janis Joplin on vocals. Hardly enough tunes to constitute an album, but I would listen again.
3.5
This was a snooze
praised as "eruptuous blues" that would eventually become to basis for both heavy metal and grunge, this 1968 album features aggregious distortion, fast drums, and a really intense blues sound that sounds very wildly different. To be honest, this feels like it could also be the precursor for some modern bands like Wolfmother. It's a like wild fusion of Zeppelin and Black Sabbath. Honestly, a pretty wild album that i've never heard of and i love it.
Gear: Dunu SA6 Artwork: 🪯☮️♾️ Productio): 👌🥩🤘 Music: 🐢💀🌋 Rating: ♒♒♒♒(♒)/5
A few catchy songs, sadly strewn amidst a lake of generic songs
This was partly kinda enjoyable, partly hard to listen to. I'm not a terribly huge fan of blues-rock riffing so the noisyness redeemed it for a while until it really tipped over the edge. 1 point for brevity and 1 point for influence.
early signs of people starting to figure out the whole rock n roll thingn
Every album released in the 60s that has heavy drums was apparently received as an indication of Satan's influence upon the youth, a harbinger of death, a sign that humanity is descending into chaos. It's so unbelievably stupid in retrospect that it really makes me reconsider a lot of things in my life, in a negative way. This opens with "Summertime Blues" for Christ's sake
-yaaay i fucking love heavy psych -aside from being a little bit aimless and hard to pay attention to it went hard as shit, i gotta give it points for that -definitely felt like a Hype Moments and Aura album but in a much more stimulating way than most. idk what i’m talking about i’m high as shit -Favorites are Parchment Farm and Second Time Around
60s acid rock
Not my thing.
Leurs guitares j’aime pas mais alors pas du tout et c’est l’instrument principal donc bon.
I give a three. I wish I could go back and change a number of past 3’s to 4 ———————————— My non-musician scoring system. 5 - Love it. Would play anytime, buy, see live… 4 - Good music. 3 - Average playlist. Depends on time and setting. 2 - I can’t listen to entire songs…skipped ahead on all of them 1 - No.
Rock and roll the way it should. Raw and high energy
Fairly uniform all-volume no-dynamics 60s hard rock. Meandering and bloated. The heaviness is the only remarkable feature.
It was like a cross between Cream and Mountain. In fact, immediately afterwards I wanted to listen to Mountain instead of more of Blue Cheer (that's never good). I didn't realize Rush had used the Blue Cheer version of "Summertime Blues". Hearing the original take of this version doesn't make me like the version any better. I guess I shouldn't rag on it so much. But the Who (and the original version, of course) are just so... iconic. It's tough to get over that. It's decent hard rock, bordering on heavy metal. The drum solo in the middle of the one song didn't help much, it just made them feel like they were out of ideas. (I loves me a good drum solo, but not as much on studio tracks). Top tracksw: "Rock Me Baby," "Second Time Around"
One of the first heavy metal albums, but it is and it isn't metal. It's heavy in that the guitar/bass is fuzzy and dense, with thudding drums. But it's still San Fran acid rock, which isn't heavy but more wandering and trippy. Their Summertime Blues cover is heavy - loved it. Rock Me Baby is acid rock - could've been Janis Joplin singing. Doctor Please is both - the first and last third acid rock (so-so) and the middle heavy (from about the 2:20 to 4:45 mark, so good). Out of Focus sounds like Jimi Hendrix while Parchment Farm is too acid-filled for me. But Second Time Around is a good closer - heavy, pumping. Feels like a 3.5. Part of me wants to round up for it being early heavy metal but part of me feels like it didn't really define the genre because it's too rough and too close to acid/psychedelic rock than heavy metal. Heavy metal sounds like Sabbath, not these guys.
Ok, a lot of sources say this is the first heavy metal album. I hear the Who, Cream, and Jimi in this (all of which came first). What makes this heavy metal then? Louder? More distorted? Honestly, it sounds to me just like sloppy playing and amateurish recording quality (even for the 60s). I can acknowledge their influence - heck, about 4 minutes into Doctor Please there's a riff that Rush clearly ripped off (I mean, adapted!) in the instrumental break in Working Man. Plus, I really hear Deep Purple in this album. I feel like I should give them an extra star for historical significance, but honestly I have no urge to ever hear this again, making it a 3 at best. Tracks I liked best: Summertime Blues, Parchment Farm (cool groove).
I listened to this in the shower. Pretty boring shower music.
Great stuff
Crucial guitar
This sounds like a mashup of Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin, but not as good as either. I can hear where they are kind of bridging the gap between acid rock and metal, but this lacks the darker sound that groups like Black Sabbath did so well. This isn't a terrible album, but the 2nd half drags and some of the guitar solos cross the line into self-indulgent. I appreciate the influence this album and this group had, but I'm not sure I would listen to this one again.
Some cool parts, but mostly meh. Standout song: Second time around
This is a historic album that any fan of heavy metal should listen to.
Proto Sabbath
Otro disco y banda fundamentales. Pioneros de un sonido más pesado que dio origen al Heavy, Punk etc. No es el estilo que más me gusta, pero siguen sonando potentes hoy en día.
Cool blues rock record! The singer has a cool voice, lots of sprawling guitar and bass lines, very sludgy mix overall. Pretty fun listening!
Meh
This was a hard miss for me. Really just sounds like someone grabbed some people in a room and told them to play whatever they wanted without considering what the others played. Don't ask me about lyrics because I couldn't tell what was lyrics versus the guitar.
Short. Had a Rolling Stones vibes. I’m surprised at the length of this album
2nd rate Doors anyone?
There seems to be an unlimited supply of these late 60s US psychedelic,/garage/hard Rock Bands that are new to me - but none have grabbed me. Raucous and raw - possibly influential but better stuff existed shortly before and after this.
Didn’t do much for me, just heard it mainly in the background whilst driving. Very of it’s time.
Lyden af noget som godt kunne. Inde i en meget poleret Iggy. Godt, fint, og kort.
Man kan godt høre at det er banebrydende for metal musikken. Men det læner sig stadig for meget op af den klassiske blues-rock.
Glad that is over
Probably the first full proto heavy metal album - it was recorded in 1967 and released early 1968, it's really mindblowing how new this sound must have been at that time. It's also a mix with psychedelia thanks to the amount of LSD they were using while recording this album. However, there was still a lot of refinement to do and it's distorted and heavy without much directions - the album lacks in good songwriting. As much as I wanted I didn't really enjoy it. It gets one extra star because of its influence.
Influential? Sure. Very early heavy metal type of music. Does it make for a fun listen? Meh. Only in some parts.
I can't really see it... people saying it sounds like Black Sabbath but it's more like Cream or something and I just don't find it too interesting. 4/10
Clearly several artists I love loved Blue Cheer, reminds me of loads of other groups.
10/09/2025 Never heard of these guys before, probably won't again, but i enjoyed the album, was a nice little surprise on my burfday. Spotify listeners: 74.9k
I think this is one of those that because it's the first album to do what it did, it's more influential than it is actually enjoyable to listen to. Don't get be wrong, I still really liked hearing an album that was so important to the history of heavy metal, but I think that considering how primitive it is there is still a hell of a lot of refinement that still needed to happen.
People say this is part of the bands that shaped what metal would become, summertime blues do sound like it would be, other songs, not so much...
Cool record that many think started the heavy metal movement. It's early and it's rough, but it's still a good time.
I was born way too late for this. Or I'm not enjoying a spliff quite often enough to enjoy this. Probably both.
meh
Guitar rock at its best
So I'm not saying that Jazzy Jo and the Bonheur Bros is a better band than Blue Cheer but I do think that at our last performance if we had have played this album as recorded, the audience would have cleared out almost immediately. The decent covers don't come close to making up for the mindless fiddling of the rest of the album.
Started very rough but half-way through I was loving this! Early start of psychedelic rock!!
No thanks
Sounds cool, didn’t like the overtly blues second track, but otherwise thought this was texturally good
Reminds me of Cream but maybe a little heavier. The quality is pretty bad and the playing is very loose. Probably stood out much more at the time than it does now.
Not for me
A little too raw recording production and poor songwriting put a serious dent into the optimism I had for hearing this album for the first time. Nope, not the proto metal album I was led to believe it was. Doesn't match the hype, and not an all time album that needs to be heard over other great 60s albums that were not included on the list to make room for this one.
That was a total surprise. Have never heard of them but loved it. I had no idea that they were one of the creators of such a large genre. Rating: 4.4
3.0 - Ok
Psychedelic rock blues, with fuzz - sound reminds me of Cream. With some newer (what must have been cutting-edge) electric guitar techniques. Experimental compositions with extended/improv sections. It's quite avant-garde. Sounds like a drunken mess at times in Doctor Please. Best track - Parchment Farm (nothing stands out really) 3 stars
There are just others that do the sound much better than they do.
Metal my universe. Not hit song too big a target.
The obsession with tracing genres back to some singular origin - a holy moment of conception, an immaculate birth - leads to a bunch of mediocre but early albums having a load bearing weight put on them they really can't sustain. Take away the 'first heavy metal' tag and your left with a classic San Francisco psych blues album that's a bit wilder, louder, and fuzzier than its peers, fun stuff that sounds basically like shit. The vocals are a weak Pigpen, the guitar a pale Hendrix, the bass and imitation Entwistle, and the drums a pretty decent Bonham. Sounds like a very fun band to be in though, tripping your ass off and making a louder noise than anything a boomer had ever heard before. If not a direct inspiration for, a manifestation of the same spirit than has animate a billion basement jam sessions.
There is absolutely one thing that i cannot deny about Vincebus Eruptum and that is that it is one of the most important albums on this list. It used a very blues rock style of sound which doesn't sound like much at first glance but if you actually start listening to the album, it is very easy to hear that this type of sound influenced a genre that we all know as heavy metal. Even with it's sheer influence aside, i really enjoyed this album. It does sound rough sure, but i think that the sheer roughness really adds to the charm of this album. It also had plenty of great musicianship throughout. It may sound rough but this is a really important album that's really good to boot. Best Song: Parchment Farm Worst Song: Second Time Around
Psychedelic Rock with a tingle of fuzzy distortion, so much fuzzy distortion... Great cover of "Summertime Blues" kicks it off and it's probably the highlight, again I struggle with album who blow their creative load right off the bat.
Bonus points for being groundbreaking, and I like the rawness, but after the two covers and the great Doctor Please it's pretty much a jam session.
It's just loud for the sake of being loud. Every now and then they just bang random instruments for no reason. Best song: Summertime Blues
Sounds like where the doors got the basis of their sound before adding the carnival keyboards
No cóż, protoplaści mocnego grania, czy coś. Taki mocny rock dla ludzi, którzy kiedyś byli młodzi. Kiedyś może nowatorskie, ale teraz traci myszką. 5/10
C'est bruyant, mais c'est bien. Mais c'est bruyant.
Buen blues y algo más
Un álbum interesante de rock psicodélico, bastante común para la época en la que fue publicado. No tiene nada realmente especial pero tampoco es malo. 2'5/5
Oldie "son of flowers" stuff. Nice play with audio channels. Lot of distorted guitar though.
Decent drum patterns and feels like almost an inspiration for a lotta early punk rock. Shows its age though!
eh
Psychedelic blues rock album, almost protopunk-ish mixing (Stooges like) Crazy extended solos, not dissimilar to Big brother and Janis Joplin. Fuzzy guitar and almost maniac vocals Second half a bit more repetitive, still feels quite ahead of its time
It's not a bad album - just not something i listened to and will listen to :)
Nice enough blues rock, but it lacks the insane amount of aura the Black Sabbath self-titled has to be coined the origin of heavy metal. The songs are quirky and memorable considering this is blues rock we are speaking of, but it doesn't immediately demand a relisten. Just fun jams for your summer if you ask me.
1001albumsgenerator project: Album 5 - Vincebus Eruptum by Blue Cheer I don't know what to say here honestly. I don't have much to say for this album. As influential as it can be, to me it sounds like many other blues rock albums except this one feels like it was recorded in a tin can. The guitar freakouts are pretty good admittedly but that guitar is actually TOO loud and ends up burying the drums and the bass, which is the album's biggest problem of this album. Led Zeppelin's debut album came out just one year after this and it doesn't have such rough mixing. The Stooges' debut album came out one year after this one as well, and it doesn't have such a bad mixing. There's really no excuse for this one. I'm positive the song would sound much better with different production, and Summertime Blues is actually pretty good despite all the production's flaws. So I think the songs aren't necessarily bad (although they really lack creativity and can get boring quickly), but the record is a tough listen and not only by today's standards. Either way, this is just my opinion. So try not to pay too much attention to it.
Raw blues that sounds a little like what Sabbath would eventually become, fun listen.
Розумію впилвовість та важливість, але зараз це слухається більш як артефакт часу.
Bluesy charm
not sure, all the songs sounded pretty similar for me.
Though I don’t think I’ll be listening again, I was surprised that the angry, chaotic, drunken heavy metal vibe wasn’t that bad. Could see it being somewhat cathartic haha
Possibly one of the worst listening experiences of my life. Extremely unpleasant, I get that they were pushing boundaries but still the lack of talent at their instruments really stuck out.
she vince on my bus til i eruptum
Solid blues rock album, quite liked it
This sounded so nice after records we have been listening during last day!
This was nice and groovy.
I've a 1999 repress of this album on vinyl. Gorgeous piece of music history that one. These guys made heavy metal before it was a thing. I mean, I've gone on about Black Sabbath in the past, but they definitely were not the first or the only to go heavy. Cactus, Iron Butterfly and Coven et. al. did some crushing music way back when too! It's heavy handed blues rock with freak out guitar solos, but the root of future to come is there.
Old time 60’s rock - like The Doors
60’s rock
Not my style
Nothing special.
Fantastic psych rock album that was clearly ahead of its time
Thanks. It's been a number of years since I've listened to this wild, unhinged slab of proto-metal/proto-grunge/proto-stoner rock.
I enjoy fuzzy guitar and raw production as much as the next gal, but I just hear a band influenced by Hendrix, Cream, etc. and not really innovating anything further.
Proto heavy metal just does not do anything for me at all
Would not have described this as hard rock, but it was 1968 so I guess it was. Kind of cool and different.
Not my style, I didn't really enjoy it.
I had never heard of this band before, so it was interesting to discover their heavy style. I wasn't sure that I liked it at first, but after a couple of playthroughs, I've decided that while they are no Black Sabbath, their music moves me enough to nudge into five-star territory.
it's always interesting hearing the really early attempts at heavy, rebellious rock music from the late 60s. i probably have said this before but it's a pivotal point in history when it came to how rock music evolved, and definitely for the better. this album is really scratchy. you've probably heard plenty of blues albums, but this one feels a lot more AGGRESSIVE than most. lots of tracks are very messy in terms of production. these guys aren't going to hold your hand, they're going to overdose you on LSD and make you vent out your frustrations... a reviewer states that it's more about feeling than form. while imperfect, it stands out pretty well and serves as a massive inspiration for artists to come, like zeppelin and ozzy. i feel like a lot of people would rate this lower. oh well.
precurseurs!
Thank god it’s only 32 mins. I get it. But I didn’t like it
3.5 stoner rock!
Not fully my vibe
I don’t really know the affect this band had on heavy metal but who cares? It’s horrid. Endless one note solos, fuzzy guitar noodling with no direction or melody. Play the first albums of Led Zeppelin and Jimi Hendrix and compare.
Half the songs on this album are cover songs. Admittedly well done covers, but I can't give high rankings to albums that benefit so much from the work of others. So I'll be docking a point for that reason. The songs they wrote themselves though are pretty dang good. I would have liked them to have swapped out a few covers for more of their own stuff. They give off Zeppelin vibes.
Interesting. This band is like Hendrix meets Black Sabbath, but this album predates Sabbath's debut by a couple of years. Solid album of proto-metal.
This music must have been so fun to make. I can feel myself *feeling myself* on that whammy bar. To be young and bluesy and amplified! The nostalgia is almost enough to add it to my library.
felt like eating a good batch of raw carrots!
This album was nice to listen to. Early hard rock distortion at its best.
Ein lautes, rohes Debüt, das als Proto-Metal-Meilenstein gilt. „Summertime Blues“ kracht mit Energie, doch das Album leidet unter mangelnder Vielfalt und chaotischem Sound. Mehr Wucht als Feinschliff – historisch wichtig, musikalisch durchwachsen.
For how raw and industrial the production and instrumentation is in this album the song still have such a groove This feels like the best concert anyone has ever seen in the bare basement of a factory This maybe be a considerable work of genius I worry about its replay-ability but right now it works
Boo. I did not like psychedelic.
sounded fun to play, but not so much to listen to.
pass
Really cool to draw the lines between blues, rock, and heavy metal. Not sure if it's an album that I'll come back to personally, but I'm really happy to have heard it.
5/10
some classic tunes that I don't need to hear for a long time.
Short and sweet! The album didn’t immediately smack me in the face with its greatness but I still enjoyed the listening. Perfect example of a 3 star album.
2.5
The opening couple of tracks were not bad and the last called "Second Time Around" is interesting to a certain degree, but for the most of the duration, I could not feel that the record is a GOAT. I'll call "Rock Me Baby" my fav on this album and give it two stars; the punk/use of dissonance did not really deliver.
Not for me
I like the immediate sound of this more than the overall end result. In other words, if you took a random two second snippet, I'd say it would sound like it would come from a song I'd like, but in this case, it doesn't. I like the fuzzy guitar tone, but the songs are too unstructured.
Pretty hard rock, not moving the needle
Not bad psychedelic rock from the 60s. It has a decent feel, but there is something uninspiring by about it. Perhaps I’ve been inundated by those who have done it better.
Some interesting but not very good songs after Summertime Blues which was better. 2 stars or D+.
I had never heard of this band and I think I could’ve lived without ever hearing this band. Not my style of music. The songs were long and had too many instrument solos.
Cool
groovy
Itse asiassa aika hyvää metallia! Tässä oli mukavasti huumoria mukana, vaikka oltiin tosissaan.
I feel like my rating system still needs to be adjusted a bit since I gave some albums high grades a bit too easily. This one is an excellent album but I am not sure if I'm ready to give it anything about 4. It is in many ways a precursor of stoner rock and some of the metal and that does give it a lot of credence. The performances are wild and incendiary but it does lack a bit more substance.
Inoffensive and boring and I barely remember it now, 16 hours later. I see this was an early pioneer in heavy metal. I was surprised to read this came out in 1968 as it sounded newer than that.
No business being on this list.
Prima album, maar ook niet geweldig. Vond het veel van hetzelfde, wel echt anders voor die tijd.
Of course I like The Who’s version of Summertime Blues better, but the one here is quite good. The rest of the album was fine, nothing spesh (Momma White-speak for “special”).
If Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath birthed good metal, but bad metal exists, it must follow that bad metal came from somewhere outside of Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath. Pretty sure Aristotle said that. I think we’ve found the ur-bad metal.
One of the first heavy metal albums. Wow does this kick ass. The guitar work is insane and I love the tone of these drums, and the drummer's fun fills. "Summertime Blues" is their big hit but the rest of these tracks well enough hold their own, "Doctor Please" being a total banger. Only 6 songs and 30 minutes but still world changing. Fitting I get a proto heavy metal album the day The Prince of Darkness passed. I had already gotten the other Sabbath albums earlier
This shit is good. Real good. I had never heard of this band until they came up on this list. See? It's a good list every now and then... when the author can tear himself away from the god awful Britpop of the 90's. 3.6/5 stars = 4.
No tenía la menor idea de la existencia de los Blue Cheer y el disco me pareció genial. De hecho lo escuché justo después del Aftermath de los Stones y resultó ser un following perfecto. Bluesero, psicodélico, progresivo y con unos solos extensísimos que vuelven loco a cualquiera. Discazo.
It kinda bored me. It was ok though.
This might have been remarkable during the last millennium, but now it's just another Proto-metal-psych-blues-hard-rock band.
Es interesante para los que gustan de la distorsión y más aún para quienes buscan el origen del hard rock y el heavy metal.
Favorites: Summertime Blues, Doctor Please, Second Time Around Holy moly, this is some really great, heavy psych rock. I had no expectations walking into this one, and it was a truly special experience. Two thumbs up!
Alright background music
A chaotic burst of fuzzed-out energy that straddles the line between psychedelic rock and something heavier. It’s easy to hear why some call this the birth of heavy metal, but it still feels more like a raw, overdriven take on acid rock than a genre blueprint. Loud, aggressive, and occasionally thrilling — but also messy and repetitive. Interesting more for its influence than its consistency.
Chunky, blaring blues/psych/proto-metal rock. Nothing crazy amazing, but not too shabby. The guitars are seriously intentionally super loud and saturated, I think that’s a quality that would snowball into the metal that would come years after this project. The end of “Doctor Please” is the best example of how it’s just loud guitar city. Zero variance in the structure and delivery of these songs (other than the break in “Parchment Farm”), not that it was something Blue Cheer was concerned about at the time. “Rock Me Baby” is probably my pick from the album. Personally a 2/5, but I recognize the good things this album has going for it, so maybe a soft 3/5
Blue Cheer - nie gehört! Aber dafür habe ich mich auf dieser Seite angemeldet! Die ersten Lieder sind ganz gut, dann lässts etwas nach. Ein wenig Blues, ein wenig Rock.
Lo puedo apreciar en su contexto.
4/10
Listened in the truck via YouTube music. This was surprising and fun garage rock to the max. You can see where everyone from Kyuss to Fuzz were definitely influenced by this. Fun long jams.
Good, but I can’t help but feel that this is very boring at some points. The only true standout for me was the great end with each instrument going at full 1968 force. That was excellent. The rest is ok. Solid 3
While undoubtedly a very important and monumental Psychedelia/ Heavy rock record, it really just doesn't have the same punch now as it probably did almost 60 years ago. 6/10
Very bluesy. Kinda like a rougher creedence. Solid 3.
Boring, wanky bullshit.
i have no problem believing this was important and influential at the time, now it's just kind of limp and unremarkable
Sounds like 17yo cream and Jimi fanboys fooling and fumbling with electric guitars and drums 2.2
This is the definition of meh... Really not my thing and close to annoying... Barely 3 stars
Not the worst but not really that memorable.
Første låta er knall. Resten høres ut som gutta står i garasjer og baller. Rangerer etter første :)
Ikke ille, men begynner å bli lei prosjektet. Bare gubberock fra 60-70-tallet...
bum
Not very interesting.
Pretty alright rock
Not quite the true birth of heavy metal like some have said, but a very important early influence. Just nasty, loud blues rock.
Archival evidence of a churning metal machine
Fascinatingly ahead of its time but still not my thing.
Honorable mention to "Rock me baby"
Yes, maybe it's one of the first heavy metal albums, but I still don't like it. Overall, it sounds very raw—not the rawness of heavy metal, but the rawness of absolutely terrible recording quality. Honestly, I find the cover of "Summertime Blues" awful. No, that gets a thumbs down. The whole thing has more of a school band feel to it. I don't know how "Blue Cheer" evolved, but in my opinion, that was nothing. Maybe the "chaos" should be a bit more "controlled."
Short but powerful, unapologetical, psychedelic, blues rock
Tedious blues rock. Lots of other bands did it better
Did they invent metal before Sabbath? I don’t think so, I found it to be a dull bluesy album that hasn’t got much production value.
I dug this, it's a bit raw and gets distracted a few times ("Doctor Please") but overall pretty good record that rocks a ton.
🤩
I didn't find anything to cheer about.
Obviously a historic album but I just didn't enjoy it that much. It's definitely Blues, I can see the beginnings of heavy metal maybe? But I think blues rock just maybe isnt my thing
Ok, very loud at times
This was a pretty grating album. Like the worst parts of psychedelic rock with all of the dissonant screetching. A genre I normally turn to but have no desire to play this again. 3.5/10 (1.75/5)
Sooo not my thing
I don‘t know why I put off listening to this for so long, but i finally did. It started promising but damn, it turned into a slog really quickly. I listened to it twice and each listen felt significantly longer than the half hour it actually took. This is too unfocussed, too raw (but also kind of limp), too… meh, overall. I guess this was ahead of its time in some regards and it is always different to judge an album 60 years after release but man… what a slog.
solid musical record!
This was a pleasant surprise - really good.
Different
I did not begin the 1001 albums to listen to this.
First time with blue cheer. I can hear why folks consider this early metal, but Black Sabbath is a much closer representation. To my ears, this sounds more like Cream. I liked it.
Used to be a big fan of classic rock, but there is a reason why no one speaks of this band or album any longer 68k listeners a month on Spotify.
На момент появи цього альбому вже існувало таке явище, як гаражний рок, що привносило в музику хаос та відчуття «бурхливого життя». Проте на своєму дебютному альбомі Blue Cheer, які були названі на честь сорту ЛСД, зробили настільки щільний, гулкий та гучний звук, якого ще до них не робив ніхто. На той час таке низьке звучання було в буквальному сенсі нищівним, адже ходять чутки, що під час першої спроби запису цього альбому вони «спалили» пульт звукорежисера. Звісно, це швидше за все красива легенда, але легенди не народжуються на пустому місці. Саме з цього гурту починає відлік такий жанр, як Heavy Psych, з якого потім виросте Heavy Metal. Це була суміш блюз-року та психоделічного року з якоюсь «панківською» енергетикою та гіпнотичними імпровізованими соло. Звісно, це не найтехнічніший блюз, який ви можете знайти, проте один з найбільш експериментальних на той час. З цього альбому черпатимуть натхнення такі легенди, як Led Zeppelin та The Stooges, та ще безліч гуртів 70-х. Але самі Blue Cheer, на жаль, більше ніколи не повторять такого успіху, хоч і випустять потім ще два доволі гарних альбоми. Але якщо ви подумали, що зараз це вже все звучить архаїчно та не захопить вашу увагу - ви глибоко помиляєтесь. Адже навіть зараз, не зважаючи на те, що ми маємо набагато важчу музику, це все ще звучить як дуже цікавий, атмосферний та душевний, психоделічний блюз-рок, що розйобує тебе своїм брудним, але до біса щирим звучанням. Він став класикою в момент виходу, я вважав його шедевром, коли почув уперше, та й вважаю таким досі. Хай живе рок-н-рол!
Solid (Hard-)rock but nothing that would hook me anymore nowadays.
Coolt! Jävligt fet klassisk första låt. Lyssnade med hörlurar på en uteservering på min födelsedagslunch. Fett som tusan
This was just... fine. It sounded good but I didn't feel anything while listening to it. Maybe I just don't "get it" but it was meh and I definitely didn't need to hear this album
First song great. The rest is a lot of noise
Me thinking that Alan Jackson wrote Summertime Blues....meanwhile Blue Cheer in 1968.... I liked the album! Classified as 'heavy metal' but they are early enough that it gives more bluesy/jam band vibes which I prefer.
Basic blues rock. Solid cover of summertime blues, but the original is better.
Nice mix of styles ..is it heavy metal??
Ignore it. Stupid scream and noise.
I like a heavy blues freak-out as much as the next guy, but this album lacks personality. I also have a low tolerance for white dudes singing about picking cotton.
Pretty amazing given the time period. Could be right at home in many ages of music. Definitely a progenitor of some of my favorite stuff.
Good fun. Not as a good as The Doors, but like a more raucous version of them.
I like to believe that everybody involved recorded in separate rooms.
Rubbish
Grunge before grunge, metal before metal, a sludgefest
Not quite Led Zeppellin and not a lot of cheer.
Right. So it's just bog standard blues, but this time with extra distortion. Starts with a cover (of as song I already hated), so I'm not going to be converted by this.
54/100. Historically significant record, often cited as one of the first heavy metal albums. While its raw energy and influence are undeniable, the overall experience feels rough and unfocused. In my opinion, the distortion-heavy sound and muddled mixing make it a challenging listen by today’s standards.
Definitely a must listen but not a great album.
Well made and well produced, but still cut rate led zeppelin. Blues heavy rock n roll with tinges of psychedelia. Not good enough to be a stand out unless I'm missing somthing. Peter Green's fleetwood mac and the bluesbreakers blow this out of the water.
God rock n roll
Hard rock 70s. The guitar reminds me a lot of Jimmy Hendrix with the whammy bar.
JFC that album is loud. I read that Blue Cheer are proto-Heavy Metal but I don't hear it apart from just being really, really bloody loud. Hear lots of Jimi and contemporaries in that psychedelic rock space which was fun - but loud. Did I mention it was loud?
good conventional rock
I see why this album is important in context, but it is not SUPER interesting now.
Heavy blues/proto-metal. Not exactly my thing, but I know there are plenty of bands that I love that wouldn’t exist without Blue Cheer. What I expect to be playing when I walk into certain independent record stores.
Ok
Kuusi biisiä joita kerran kuuntelee. Turos hevigee on suomentanut yhden
Love the old school, fuzzy distortion of the guitar. Summertime Blues was a great intro song, setting the pace for what is to come. Rock Me Baby ups the intensity and cathartically releases it with the drum solo at the end. Second Time Around puts a nice bow on the album, with a similarly impressive drum solo midway through. Excellent piece of metal history, the influences and similarity to Sabbath is apparent.
I can see how this album was influential to the heavy metal genre - I can hear elements of Deep purple here, but I don't really like rock n roll and if this was self-penned I may be a bit forgiving, however only three of the six tracks here were written by a member of the band. Hmm
Bonus point for making me think about The Walkingseeds track Blue Cheer from their debut album Skulkfuck
I guess this is here for historicity, but I'm not quite seeing it. Jimi Hendrix's first album came out the year before which had the guitar sounds but with infinitely better playing, songs, and singing. And The Who were already well into their career. Having a somewhat heavier distortion on its own doesn't seem like a big deal but I guess I'm missing something here.
Y'know, I spend a lot of time gassing up Black Sabbath's debut album as the start of heavy metal. The legendary record birthed straight from the fires of Hell to deliver crashing drums and crunching riffs unto the world... That sort of thing, y'know. I mean, heck, that record excited me so much, I spent half of my 1.5k review on prose adapating the first song 'coz I felt that was the only way to really get across how I felt about it. Whether or not that was a waste of space is up to you, but you can't say it didn't inspire me. For much as I pile hype on Black Sabbath, though, I think it's also worth taking some time to pay respects to what brought us to it and heavy metal in the first place: proto-metal! The loud-ass music laying down the path metal would soon tread upon. Of course you've got your classics in this field, like "Helter Skelter" and "Communication Breakdown" whatnot, but of course, today we're focusing on one of the progenitors lesser-known to the public at large, Blue Cheer and VINCEBUS ERUPTUM. And let's cut straight to it: this shit fuckin' rules. It's a half-hour straight of some of the loudest and most distortion-filled psych blues you'll hear this side of Jimi Hendrix. Seriously — I can just imagine going to one of their live shows and coming out with hearing damage, because, like, **wow**. There's only six songs on here, but they're beyond electrifying. The drums are blasting away, the guitar's wildin' out, the singer's makin' a racket... It's so raw and simple, and it's so good. It's like, I can understand people's problem with this album, no doubt. It can be a little, y'know, much if you're just not used to this kind of stuff. It's not even the heaviest thing out there, nor is it even really metal... But **by gawd**, it's balls to the wall with its volume and distortion. Not even Sabbath's first album was this aggressively distorted and loud. It's **so fuckin' GOOD**, though! I realize I'm biased 'coz I'm a metal girlie, but it is just flat-out incredible to hear proto-metal that's just so... Off the rails, really. Leaning **so far** into Hendrix's heavy psych freak-outs, without even a "The Wind Cries Mary" sitting around as a pace changer. It's full force and nonstop, and, yeah, I can imagine getting sick of this if I heard it too much. But, hey, you take in too much of anything in one sitting you get sick, right? And on this spin around, absolutely, I have nothing but nice things to say about this album. Really, the only thing I wanna knock it for is some of that classic "60's mixing" nonsense on the last song. I'm sure I woulda enjoyed that "Moby Dick"-style drum assault a bit more if it wasn't confined **entirely** to my right ear, y'know? Give the left one some, too. In the grand scheme of this album, though, it's a minor complaint. And as much as I can understand the 2.8 average this thing has, on the whole, it strikes me a bit like that guy from BACK TO THE FUTURE who says Marty's band is "too darn loud." Me: I say crank it up higher! Make a dog explode if he sits on your shit! It's, jus'— ah, it's beautiful. All of my love, all of my respect. Horns all the way fuckin' way up. In two words: hell yeah.
Mostly recognized for being proto metal, yet kicks ass by itself as a blues record. Solid 5 Stars.
I’m at a 3.5 that I’ll bump down to a 3. It’s definitely got elements of heavy metal, that’s for sure. I just don’t think it’s very polished metal, and while that roughness might appeal to others, I think it just sort of bounced off of me this time. Part of it is 1960s production jank, and hard panning to the left/right channels that sort of messes with the mixing, but a lot of it just boils down to the guitar solos being that unpolished to the point where a harmony between the vocals & drums disappears for a lot of them. I respect this album’s “fuck it, let’s jam” mentality, but in terms of actually listening to it, there’s a lot of times where a super cool vibe and a nice rhythm get totally washed away by the harshness of two guitars clashing against each other like they’re both playing separately in different rooms. With that said, I enjoyed 4 of the 6 tracks here a lot, and I admire the proto-metal elements of this for sounding relatively close to the stuff that would later be polished to a much higher & much more culturally significant degree. This is more of a prelude to what Led Zeppelin would do, at least to my ears, but it’s a pretty nice prelude. There’s really not THAT much to say as far as the quality goes, because it really is a “you like it or you don’t” sort of album. Clearly, based on the average on the site, it seems like a number of people don’t, but I do think this is worth listening to. It’s no worse than a 3, and maybe with time, this could go up to a 4 if some of the more discordant solos click a little nicer. For now, though, I’m fine with the bump down. Wouldn't blame anyone at all for giving this as high as a 5, though.
70s Hendrix-like vibes, was enjoyable but nothing stood out
The singer sounds like a male Janis Joplin, all raspy and shrieky. It’s not bad.
Hm. I guess it's worthwhile to have this album in this collection because of it's early-/proto-/semi-metal heritage, but aside from highlighting how much the blues infuses so much harder-edged rock music (especially in the 60s and 70s), there's not a lot going on here that seems all that notable or particularly distinctive, at least from a 2025 perspective. They have a pretty good cover of Eddie Cochran's "Summertime blues", and "Parchment farm" was also entertaining, but otherwise it's pretty forgettable. I'd say that I was churning out about the same quality music when I was in high school, but I know that's nowhere near true; it just kind of feels that way.
In the spirit of The Hit Man's "all pie is good pie" I'll say that all versions of "Summertime Blues" are good, though this one could've been a little faster. I couldn't help compare this to Deep Purple and MC5, and I'll give Blue Cheer credit for doing more with less and for doing it all a little earlier than those two bands. Still, the energy isn't there for me. Sorry, Blue Cheer.
Loud and bluesy.
In the context of when it was released this is pretty cool. Pretty heavy. Enjoyed especially the first few songs.
They trying their best to sound hip, but it’s just sloppy and unoriginal. Wasn’t interested throughout, but there were multiple times I got annoyed. 2/5
“Top 1000 albums ever” and they pull This out 😭
The epitome of what I hate in music. 60’s blues rock with screams vocals with kinda eh mixing. Like, what can you do haha. Thank goodness it’s 32 minutes long… any more and I’d scream
Respect them for defining the genre of heavy metal, and making something that contrasts with the time of music it was made in. However, is this album good? No. Rock Me Baby was a pretty neat track; however, the rest felt a bit lacking, which is fine because this is a radical album for the time, so that I won't complain.
Pretty boring, like a lot of the albums of this era. A worse version of what their peers were doing.
The first Heavy Metal album. OK, I guess? I'm not getting Heavy Metal here, but the covers - which is half the album, are certainly hard rock with a big blues influence.
This was a promising album from descriptions but failed to live up to being the birth of Heavy Metal. Aside from a song or two which stood out, it wasn't enough to make this an album that could be listened to again.
Quite a decent album. Nice riffs and blues notes throughout. Obv holds historical significance as a precursor to heavy metal. Favourite tracks: Summertime Blues & Rock me Baby. 2.5/5
Another album I never would have come across previously. Lots of imperfections but I can see why it's on the list. Some riffs sound like they were inspired from a Hendrix record but this could also be a White Stripes demo...just a few decades ahead. 2.5/5. Raising to 3.