Blue Cheer (album)

{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2025}} {{Infobox album | name = Blue Cheer | type = studio | artist = [[Blue Cheer]] | cover = Blue cheer st.jpg | alt = | released = {{Start date|1969|12}} | recorded = 1969 | studio = [[Wally Heider Studios]], San Francisco, California | genre = [[Psychedelic rock]], [[hard rock]] | length = {{Duration|m=36|s=15}} | label = [[Philips Records|Philips]] | producer = Michael Sunday, [[Eric Albronda]] | prev_title = [[New! Improved!]] | prev_year = 1969 | next_title = [[The Original Human Being]] | next_year = 1970 }} '''''Blue Cheer''''' is the fourth album by American [[rock music|rock]] band [[Blue Cheer]]. It was recorded at [[Wally Heider Studios]] in San Francisco and released in December 1969 by [[Philips Records]]. [[Gary Lee Yoder]] contributed songwriting for the opening and closing tracks and would later join the group as guitarist on their next album ''[[The Original Human Being]]''.<ref name="allmusic">{{cite web |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/blue-cheer-mw0000040927 |title=Bluee Cheer - Blue Cheer review |last=Deming |first=Mark |work=[[AllMusic]] |publisher=[[All Media Network]] |accessdate=2020-03-16 }}</ref>

== Release and reception == {{Music ratings |rev1 = [[AllMusic]] |rev1score = {{Rating|3.5|5}}<ref name="allmusic"/> |rev2 = [[Robert Christgau]] |rev2score = B<ref name="christgau">{{cite news|last=Christgau|first=Robert|author-link=Robert Christgau|issue=June 18|year=1970|url=http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/cg/cg11.php|title=Consumer Guide (11)|newspaper=[[The Village Voice]]|location=New York|accessdate=January 5, 2015}}</ref> }} According to [[Lillian Roxon]]'s ''Rock Encyclopedia'', the album was released in December 1969.<ref>{{cite book|page=67|last=Roxon|first=Lillian|author-link=Lillian Roxon|title=Lillian Roxon's Rock Encyclopedia|publisher=Grosset & Grosset & Dunlap|year=1978|isbn=0448145723}}</ref> Reviewing for ''[[The Village Voice]]'' the following June, [[Robert Christgau]] gave the album a "B" grade and wrote: "There ought to be hundreds of groups like this one—hard, competent, slightly commercial—but there probably aren't more than 20. This is not especially original, but it's good, and I'll bet they're a stone happy gas live."<ref name="christgau"/> [[AllMusic]]'s Mark Deming later gave it three-and-a-half out of five stars and appraised it in comparison to the band's harder previous records, calling it "a fun album that generates an impressive groove ... a more laid-back and relaxed effort, but it still rocks with a strong and steady roll."<ref name="allmusic"/>

== Track listing == ;Side one # "Fool" (Gary R. Grelecki, [[Gary Lee Yoder]]) – 3:26 # "You're Gonna Need Someone" (Norman Mayell, Bruce Stephens) – 3:31 # "Hello LA, Bye Bye Birmingham" ([[Delaney Bramlett]], [[Mac Davis]]) – 3:29 # "Saturday Freedom" (Stephens) – 5:47 # "Ain't That the Way (Love's Supposed to Be)" ([[Ethan James (producer)|Ralph Burns Kellogg]], [[Dickie Peterson]]) – 3:11

;Side two # "Rock and Roll Queens" (Kellogg, Peterson) – 2:44 # "Better When We Try" (Kellogg) – 2:48 # "Natural Man" (Kellogg, Peterson) – 3:36 # "Lovin' You's Easy" (Stephens) – 3:50 # "The Same Old Story" (Grelecki, Yoder) – 3:53

The 2007 Japanese mini-LP sleeve reissue of ''Blue Cheer'' contains the mono non-LP single "All Night Long" (Kellogg) b/w "Fortunes" (Peterson) along with the single versions of "Fool" and "Ain't That the Way" as bonus tracks.

== Personnel == ;Blue Cheer * Bruce Stephens – [[electric guitar|guitar]], [[backing vocals|backing]] and [[lead vocals|lead]] (2, 4, 7, 9) vocals * [[Dickie Peterson]] – [[bass guitar|bass]], lead vocals (1, 3, 5, 6, 8, 10) * [[Ethan James (producer)|Ralph Burns Kellogg]] – [[keyboard (instrument)|keyboards]] * Norman Mayell – [[drum]]s

;Production * Michael Sunday – producer<ref name="am_credits">[https://www.allmusic.com/album/blue-cheer-mw0000040927/credits AllMusic credits]</ref> * [[Eric Albronda]] – assistant producer, backing vocals * John Craig – cover design<ref name="am_credits"/> * Russ Gary – engineering<ref name="am_credits"/> * Richard Germinaro – liner note art<ref name="am_credits"/> * Baron Wolman – photography<ref name="am_credits"/>

== References == <references/>

== Further reading == * {{cite magazine |magazine=[[Rolling Stone]] |issue=57 |page=60 |date=April 30, 1970 |last=Bangs |first=Lester |author-link=Lester Bangs |title=Blue Cheer ''Blue Cheer'' > Album Review }}

== External links == * {{Discogs master|type=album|17297|name=Blue Cheer}}

[[Category:1969 albums]] [[Category:Blue Cheer albums]] [[Category:Philips Records albums]] [[Category:Albums recorded at Wally Heider Studios]]