Garage D'Or

I have acquired a ridiculous amount of music lately. As usual, I go through phases where I may get something new and listen to it and obsess over it for a week straight. Or I might come back to something older that I had forgotten about.

Two weekends ago, Beth and I were talking and I said something about ice cream, doo-doo-duh-doo doo-doo. The song "Ice Cream Everyday" from Camper Van Beethoven was in my head. All I ever owned from them was a rarities comp called 'Camper Vantiquities'. And she knew the song!

So I went to work the next day, got on Amazon and ordered up a new copy of the CD because I had no idea where mine was and I really wanted to hear it and didn't expect to find it in any local stores considering it was (originally) released in the late '90s. The version I found was a more recent reissue that had some demos tacked onto it.

Everyone knows "Take the Skinheads Bowling." Yeah, it's a fun song, and maybe it's novelty to some, but altogether since 1985, the band has released eight full length albums, three compilations, two live albums, a five disc box set, and numerous EPs and singles. Not to mention the post-Camper acts like Monks of Doom, Magnetic Fireworks, and the most successful and well known spinoff Cracker.

The rarities disc "Camper Vantiquities" is actually a really good deal. You don't get "Take the Skinheads Bowling," but I'm so fucking sick of that song, I think I'll get over it. Instead, you get a good twenty track overview of their career. You get the faux Balkan folk music with string instruments, the cheesy keyboard pop songs, the alt-country roots music, and some cover songs.

Right from the start, "Heart" is a fun pop song reminiscent of ska, "Never Go Back" follows in a similar vein. Then "Seven Languages" gives us ska guitar, cheesy keyboards, AND goofy pop all in one song! "Axe Murderer Song," "SP37597," "Guardian Angels," "A.C. Cover," "Silent Monster," "(We Workers Do Not Undertand) Modern Art," "We Eat Your Children," and "Processional" are all instrumentals that run the the gambit with the many sounds of Camper Van Beethoven. "I'm Not Like Everyone Else" is a cover of The Chocolate Watchband's cover of The Kinks' original. "A.C. Cover" is titled that because an audience member once harassed the band about the faux ethnic instrumental claiming that it was actually an Alex Chilton song, which it is not. But, my favorite cover on the CD is "Photograph," the only good song I've ever heard from Ringo Starr. Then there's "Ice Cream Everyday" which is my favorite song period on this CD. Some of the best cheesy keyboards I've ever heard!

Completely recommended. The liner notes for each song are also an excellent view into the band. SpinArt's re-release has some demo tracks added, and those have no notes in the same format as the original track listing.

Since I'm such a big fan of Dave Lowery's voice, I figured it would be a good idea to pick up something from Cracker as well. Back in 2000, Virgin put out a 16 track best-of from the band that came with a bonus live disc. Then just a week ago, seemingly for no obvious reason, they decided to release ANOTHER best-of from the band. This is the thing, the band is no longer on that label. So, Cracker's fuck you to the man was to go back and re-record their greatest hits, and release it themselves on the same day as this latest comp from Virgin. I opted for the 2000 release which is titled "Garage D'Or" (Garage Gold for the non-francophone inclined).

I'm quite happy with it. I got exactly what I wanted and then some. The only songs I ever heard from Cracker (when I actually paid attention) were from the first two albums: "Cracker" and "Kerosene Hat." This comp spans their whole career. The latter half isn't so good, but I can deal with that. Maybe it'll grow on me, I don't know.

All those hits that are too familiar to everyone who came of age in the late '80s are included. You know, "Teen Angst," "Low," "Get Off This," "Sweet Potato," etc. Then there's something I've never heard...a cover of "Shake Some Action" from the Flamin' Groovies. This took me by surprise. The liner notes don't really say who is singing, but it's not Dave Lowery. It's a good cover, but the vocals sound strained like whoever's singing it wasn't having a good day. I still haven't checked out the live disc yet, but from the reviews I've already seen, it sounds like it's nothing special.

I recommend it if you're looking for a good overview of Cracker's career, but if you're a hardcore fan, you may appreciate the greatest hits re-recorded, "Greatest Hits Redux."

Listening to this stuff is weird for me. I thought it would sound dated, like a throwback to me. Maybe it doesn't because I don't have any important memories to it beyond sitting behind the counter at the record store I worked at in high school. The really big hits from Cracker do sound a little dated, but that's only because radio played the shit out of those tracks. So those sounds come to define a time period, but only slightly. The Camper stuff is different. I've always liked it and it highlights something for me.

In 1989, I was lucky enough to be living in a college town where the college had a really good radio station. College rock was always as vague a term as alternative rock, both don't define a genre. Using the terms to define a genre is something of a paradox. Both words merely meant music that was rock in some way that wasn't being noticed or played by mainstream radio. An alternative. That's all.

Yeah, I know this debate/discussion has been going on since 1990. I'm aware. I've lived it. My point is that when I was still young and impressionable, I had the opportunity to get into all these acts that were still fresh and reaching their peaks, releasing genre-definining, generation-defining, and revolutionary music. Example: between 1987 and 1991, New Order, Ministry, Stone Roses, Meat Beat Manifesto, Sonic Youth, Nirvana, Primus, Depeche Mode, U2, Dinosaur Jr., The Smiths, REM, the Replacements, The Cure, The Pixies, My Bloody Valentine, Morrissey, Jane's Addiction, the Sugarcubes, Peter Murphy, the Pet Shop Boys, Lou Reed, Nine Inch Nails, XTC, Public Enemy, Cocteau Twins, The La's, Happy Mondays, Ride, Social Distortion, They Might Be Giants, The Breeders, Iggy Pop, The Fall, Dee-lite, Slint, Massive Attack, Primal Scream, A Tribe Called Quest, The Orb, Throwing Muses, Overkill, Bad Religion, Mudhoney, Black Sheep, Cypress Hill, Sepultura, Ice Cube, Smashing Pumpkins, Fugazi, and Corrosion of Conformity.

Now, read over that list a few times. Think about how much of that music was truly different. A whole lot of it was. The Orb defined modern ambient music, Nine Inch Nails and Ministry reinvigorated industrial into dance-metal, A Tribe Called Quest showed us that hip hop could be positive and make you think at the same time while Ice Cube helped define gangsta rap. The Smiths, REM, and the Cure were almost single-handedly responsible for bringing sad bastard music out of the downbeat tone of Nick Drake to something danceable. Sepultura and COC changed metal forever. Cypress Hill made hip hop safe for stoner white kids. Fugazi brought the skeery politics of hardcore punk to a less confrontational audience. Mudhoney's trashy grunge was infinitely more interesting than Soundgarden and Pearl Jam. The Replacements made Big Star palatable for the punk kids.

I could go on and on and on, I guess I don't really have a point, I'm just happy that I was there to experience it firsthand. Like Cracker and more importantly Camper Van Beethoven, there will always be 14-year olds freaking out over this stuff the first time they heard it. It's not like I feel like I 'win' because my generation was the first hearing it...it was a really exciting time and without knowing the history of music, I could still tell that there were a lot of important things going on in music at that point.