Blue Cheer "Hello Tokyo, Bye Bye Osaka Live In Japan 1999" US Hard Blues Rock
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San Francisco-based Blue Cheer was what, in the late ‘60s, they used to call a “power trio”: Dickie Peterson (b. 1948, Grand Forks, ND) (bass, vocals), Paul Whaley (drums), and Leigh Stephens (guitar). They played what later was called heavy metal, and when they debuted in January 1968 with the album Vincebus Eruptum and a Top 40 cover of Eddie Cochran’s hit “Summertime Blues,” they sounded louder and more extreme than anything that had come before them. As it turned out, they were a precursor of much that would come after. Unfortunately, Blue Cheer itself didn’t get much chance to profit from its prescience. Shortly after its breakthrough, the group was wracked by personnel changes. Leigh Stephens was replaced by Randy Holden after the release of the second album, Outsideinside (August 1968). Holden left during the recording of the third album, and Bruce Stephens (b. 1946) (vocals, guitar), and Ralph Burns Kellogg (keyboards) joined to finish New! Improved! Blue Cheer (March 1969). Then Whaley quit and was replaced by Norman Mayell (b. 1942, Chicago), leaving Peterson as the only original member. Bruce Stephens quit during the recording of the fourth album, Blue Cheer (December, 1969), and Gary L. Yoder joined to complete it. Peterson, Kellogg, Mayell, and Yoder then made The Original Human Being (September 1970), and Oh! Pleasant Hope (April, 1971) before Blue Cheer broke up. Dickie Peterson reorganized a new version of the group in 1979, and in 1985, Peterson, Whaley, and guitarist Tony Ranier released a new Blue Cheer album, The Beast Is Back… ~ William Ruhlmann….~
Being a band that by all standards was finished by the early '70s, Blue Cheer plays here, on a disc culled from shows in 1999, like the group still matters. The trio — original rhythm section Dickie Peterson and Paul Whaley joined by Andrew “Duck” MacDonald — bash out their loud proto-metal workhorses like «Summertime Blues» and «The Hunter» alongside lesser material and forgettably newer ones. Occasionally, MacDonald’s pounding riffs approximate the beautifully distorted mess of Blue Cheer sides of old, but his modern gear cannot replicate the sounds the band originally coaxed out of (at the time) severely limited equipment. Epitomized by Peterson’s embarrassing on-stage blathering («Are you ready… I can’t f*cking hear you!»), the whole thing too often sounds like a pale imitation: stereotypical ripoffs from the worst kind of metal that, sadly, often followed the band’s initial impact a generation ago. Still, you can’t fault a band for playing as loud as Motörhead (having predated Lemmy by eight years) long after its name has largely, and regrettably, been forgotten from hard rock history. For band fanatics and metal scholars only. The band’s 1968-1972 albums, now available in remastered form, are really all you need.
Reviewed by John Duffy …..~
After reissuing the albums “Vincebus Eruptoin” and “Outsideinside”, Blue Cheer returned in the 60s to their psychedelic-metal sources. Recorded in 1999, this live album says that they are in good health. Two-thirds of the original trio are still together - vocalist / bassist Dick Peterson and drummer Andrew “Duck” McDonald was with them only half a career, still it’s a full 17 years.
Their fundamental acidic grunge they perform with unrelenting energy and stunning loudly, down to distortion. Peterson, with his gnashing voice and frenetic bass, can undoubtedly beat even Lemmy, and McDonald loads in full. Their flight begins just from the moment on which Hendrix’s first album landed. Proto-grunge style Blue Cheer makes their sound more significant than ever. In fact, this corporate style is so dominant that it is even difficult to distinguish their old, classic things like the powerful “Summertime Blues” from new ones, such as “Blue Steel Dues”. Ends with all this endless yell Dickey: “Blue fucking Cheer!”…..~
Credits
Bass, Vocals – Dickie Peterson
Drums – Paul Whaley
Guitar – Andrew Duck MacDonald
Tracklist
1 Babylon 4:59
2 Big Trouble In Paradise 4:15
3 The Hunter 4:42
4 Blue Steel Dues 7:27
5 Urban Soldiers 4:22
6 Girl Next Door 4:56
7 Ride With Me 8:01
8 Summertime Blues 5:46
9 Down And Dirty 5:19
10 Out Of Focus 5:43
11 Doctor Please 18:04
Personnel Members
Dickie Peterson – bass, vocals (1967–1972, 1974–1975, 1978–1979, 1984–1994, 1999–2009; died 2009)
Leigh Stephens – guitar (1967–1968, 2005)
Paul Whaley – drums (1967–1969, 1969, 1984–1985, 1990–1993, 1999–2004, 2005–2009)
Eric Albronda – drums (1967)
Jerre Peterson – guitar (1967, 1974–1975)
Vale Hamanaka – keyboards (1967)
Jere Whiting – vocals, harmonica (1967)
Randy Holden – guitar (1968–1969)
Mitch Mitchell – drums (1969)
Tom Weisser – guitar (1969)
Bruce Stephens – guitar (1969, died 2012)
Ralph Burns Kellogg – keyboards (1969–1972; died 2003)
Norman Mayell – drums (1969–1972)
Gary Lee Yoder – guitar (1969–1972)
Troy Spence Jr. – guitar (1972-1974)
James L. Curry – drums (1972-1974)
Ruben De Fuentes – guitar (1974–1975, 1987–1988)
Terry Rae – drums (1974–1975)
Nick St. Nicholas – bass, vocals (1975)
Tony Rainier – guitar (1978–1979, 1984–1987)
Mike Fleck – drums (1978–1979)
Brent Harknett – drums (1985–1987)
Billy Carmassi – drums (1987)
Eric Davis – drums (1987–1988)
Andrew “Duck” MacDonald – guitar (1988–1990, 1999–2005, 2005–2009)
David Salce – drums (1988–1990)
Dieter Saller – guitar (1990–1994)
Gary Holland – drums (1993–1994)
Prairie Prince – drums (2005)
Joe Hasselvander – drums (2004-2005, 2009)
Discography
Studio albums
1968 Vincebus Eruptum
1968 Outsideinside
1969 New! Improved!
1969 Blue Cheer
1970 The Original Human Being
1971 Oh! Pleasant Hope
1984 The Beast Is Back
1990 Highlights and Lowlives
1991 Dining with the Sharks
2007 What Doesn’t Kill You
Live
Blitzkrieg Over Nüremberg (1989; Thunderbolt/Nibelung Records)
Live & Unreleased, Vol. 1: '68/'74 (1996; Captain Trip Records)
Live & Unreleased, Vol. 2: Live at San Jose Civic Centre, 1968 & More (1998; Captain Trip Records)
Hello Tokyo, Bye Bye Osaka – Live in Japan 1999 (1999)
Live Bootleg: London – Hamburg (2005; Rockview Records)
Rocks Europe (CD/DVD, 2009; Rainman/Captain Trip Records)
Live at Anti WAA Festival 1989 (2014; Nibelung Records)
Party Hard at the Underground Cologne (online only, 2017; Nibelung Records)
