Outsideinside

by Blue Cheer

Overview

Blue Cheer's debut album, Vincebus Eruptum, was widely and accurately described as "the loudest record ever made" when it first appeared in early 1968, and the band seemingly had the good sense to realize that for sheer brutal impact, there was little chance they could top it. So for their second LP, Outsideinside (which appeared a mere seven months later), rather than aim for something bigger and more decibel intensive, Blue Cheer decided to see how much polish they could add to their formula without blunting the skull-crushing force of their live attack. While Vincebus Eruptum was cut in simple and straightforward form with minimal overdubs, Outsideinside found Blue Cheer embracing the possibilities of the recording studio; Leigh Stephens overdubbed multiple guitar parts on several tunes, while the mix sends his leads flying around the room, though aggressive use of panning and the monstrous, fuzzy growl of his tone gets cleaned up on some tunes (check out the wah-wah solos on "Gypsy Ball"), though the results are still as gentle as a chainsaw. The engineering is friendlier to Paul Whaley's drumming; his traps don't sound as much like trash cans on these sessions, though the crude, phase shifting on "Just a Little Bit" remains gloriously amateurish. And if Dickie Peterson's bass sounds just about the same, he got to spend more time on his vocals here, and his blustery howl communicates better this time. The opening cut, "Feathers from Your Tree," also added a piano to the mix (which is somehow audible through the dozens of amps), while "Babylon" is almost funky in its lead-footed approximation of an R&B groove, and "The Hunter" is a broad but playful exercise in sexual swagger that, if nothing else, provided a lyrical conceit Kiss could use to more profitable effect nine years later. But if Outsideinside is cleaner, tighter, and more ambitious than Vincebus Eruptum, it's still clearly the work of the same band, and Blue Cheer sound every bit as thunderous on their sophomore effort. If anything, this LP captures the psychedelic side of their musical personality with greater clarity than the blunt approach of the debut; Outsideinside doesn't sound trippy so much as righteously buzzed, and the speedy roar of this the music is big enough that the legend that parts of this were so loud they had to be recorded outside seems not just plausible, but perfectly reasonable. ~ Mark Deming

Product Details

Release Date:	10/18/2024
Label:	Sundazed
UPC:	0090771415011
Rank:	120926

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Blue Cheer   Primary Artist
Dickie Peterson   Bass,Vocals
Leigh Stephens   Guitar
Paul Whaley   Drums
Ralph Burns Kellogg   Keyboards

Technical Credits

Jay Snyder   Engineer
Brendan Ford   Project Manager
Carson J. Wells   Composer
Al Jackson   Composer
Henry Cattaneo   Sound Consultant
Stephanie Kennedy   Production Coordination
Bob Irwin   Mastering
Blue Cheer   Arranger
Stef Leinwohl   Photography
Jim Marshall   Photography
Eddie Kramer   Engineer
Donald "Duck" Dunn   Composer
Dickie Peterson   Composer
Leigh Stephens   Composer
Peter Wagner   Composer
Hank McGill   Engineer
Doug Sheppard   Annotation
Tony May   Engineer
Steve Cropper   Composer
Keith Richards   Composer
Booker T. Jones   Composer
Carl Wells   Composer
Mick Jagger   Composer
Abe "Voco" Kesh   Original Recording Producer
Bruce Stephens   Composer
Tim Livingston   Project Manager
Bill Dhalle   Design