BLUE CHEER: WHAT DOESN'T KILL YOU (2007)
1) Rollin' Dem Bones; 2) Piece
O' The Pie; 3) Born Under A Bad Sign; 4) Gypsy Rider; 5) Young Lions In
Paradise; 6) I Don't Know About You; 7) I'm Gonna Get You; 8) Maladjusted
Child; 9) Just A Little Bit (Redux); 10) No Relief.
Seeing as how Dickie Peterson died in 2009, a
mere two years after the release of Blue Cheer's last album, he maybe should
have thought of a different title. On the other hand, it is not likely that the
recording of What Doesn't Kill You
could in any way be responsible for the Original Beast's demise — first, most
of the sessions were held in 2005, way before Dickie developed prostate cancer,
and second, it's not as if the songs were the result of any superhuman effort
strong enough to cause cell deformation. Even if they do sound like they were rather painfully pooped out, pardon my
French and all.
Although Peterson had retained an active
network of German connections until the very end, this record was ultimately
made in the States, with Duck MacDonald resuming his guitar duties and the
German guy pulling out for good. The drumming was originally done by Joe
Hasselvander, but then Paul Whaley returned from Germany as well to resume
touring with the band, and they promptly replaced the original drum parts with
Whaley's re-recorded ones, for the sake of authenticity (and maybe royalties
as well, but I seriously doubt that the album could have sold more than a few
hundred copies, or that Peterson or Whaley could have hoped otherwise).
The final result is certainly a huge
improvement on Dining With The Sharks.
Twelve years of relief from making new music were enough to make the band
forget their one-time allegiance to the military riffage and mock-Wagnerian
solos of German pop metal, not to mention the excesses of Eighties' hair metal,
and advance to a sound that was closer in spirit to the original Blue Cheer —
namely, that of the «sludge metal» and «stoner rock» categories. The typical
Blue Cheer song is now a slow, draggy, grinding chain of distortion and fuzz,
over which the lead guitar rises in waves of wah-wah terror and «woman tone»
overdrive, but not loud enough to outscream the persistent roaring crunch of
the rhythm.
It's a good sound, in theory and practice,
capable of assigning good shape to good ideas. But since Blue Cheer have always
been short on good ideas, the general result is easy to predict — just about
everything on this hour-long CD sounds like one lengthy trip on a road of
sludge, whether we be dealing with newly «written» compositions, more remakes
of one's own oldies (ʽJust A Little Bitʼ), or a cover of Albert King's ʽBorn
Under A Bad Signʼ that reduces the original's unforgettable riff to the exact same
sludgy monotonousness. On the positive side, it no longer matters that the
final behemoth, ʽNo Reliefʼ, with its running length of 9:30, is about twice as
long as common sense should have dictated — the listener's ordeal is to endure
fifty-five minutes of this stuff, who cares if some pieces of the pie are
larger than others if they all taste the same?
Fans of Peterson's
«the-beast-got-sensitive-soul» side might want to check out the only exception
from the rule — ʽYoung Lions In Paradiseʼ is a «heavy ballad» with a strong nostalgic
component, as Dickie reminisces about those who are no longer with us. It is
so unusual in the context of this record and Peterson's career in general that
it almost becomes touching — in fact, Dickie's vocal part is touching, and far more credible and just plain human than ʽPiece
O' The Pieʼ, ʽMaladjusted Childʼ, or any other macho / «bad boy» anthem on the
album. Nothing out of the ordinary in terms of melody, but a fitting last
goodbye to his old pals from someone who, even if he did not know that at the
time, would soon be saying hello once again.
However, one song out of ten is hardly enough
to make a big change in the weather, and the others do not seem to deserve even
one-liner descriptions. The best I can say is that Blue Cheer never once
attempted to sell out in an Aerosmith kind of way — not a single «power ballad»
on any of their comeback albums, not a single attempt at wooing the MTV crowds.
Detractors might say that Peterson and Co. were simply too stupid to even try
that, but even if that is true, a principled fool still deserves more respect
than an opportunistic wise guy. The record, naturally, gets its usual thumbs down,
but it also brings down the curtain on an overall thumbs-up career, and may the
Beast rest in peace — even if I am not at all sure that even Paradise could
cure this particular old lion's summertime blues.
Check "What Doesn't Kill You" (MP3) on Amazon
Check "What Doesn't Kill You" (MP3) on Amazon
Maybe he knew that it soon will be over, just look at this last cover and the one of the first album - parallels? I think so. And 'Young Lions in Paradise' is a good song, no doubt.
ReplyDeleteAn unfortunate end to a rather unfortunate career. Sometimes all the will in the world doesn't equal one ounce of honest inspiration. But it was an honest effort, and Blue Cheer do have their place in history. RIP.
ReplyDeleteI really liked this album when it came out, but I was very much in the target audience for it at the time, going through a massive stoner rock/metal phase. I still like the genre, but favour the more droney end of it, will have to see how this will measure up now.
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