BLUE CHEER heavy metal history anniversary

August 1968: Blue Cheer - Outsideinside

In January 1968 American heavy metal pioneers Blue Cheer announced themselves with the massive heavines of their influential debut album Vincebus Eruptum. That same year they returned with this album that is generally less heavy, but it is still Blue Cheer heavy, though!

Outsideinside is the second album by American rock power trio Blue Cheer. Philips Records put it out in August 1968, just seven months after their huge debut, Vincebus Eruptum. The band recorded parts of the album outdoors and parts indoors, which is how it got its name. Every member wrote songs for the record, and they also threw in two heavy covers: "Satisfaction" by the Rolling Stones and "The Hunter" by Albert King. The album hit number 90 on the Billboard charts. Their single "Just a Little Bit" also made the charts, peaking at number 92.

Leigh Stephens – guitar; backing vocals on "Feathers From Your Tree"

Dickie Peterson – bass, lead vocals; backing vocals on "Feathers From Your Tree", "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" and "The Hunter"

Paul Whaley – drums; backing vocals on "Feathers From Your Tree", "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" and "The Hunter"

Wikipedia observes: In a retrospective review for AllMusic, Mark Deming commented:

[Outsideinside] 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.

In a review of the two-for-one reissue of the album (coupled with Vincebus Eruptum), Pitchfork's Alexander Lloyd Linhardt noted, "Outsideinside converts their [Blue Cheer's] stylistic enthusiasm and leathery attitude into structured song. If it doesn't sound as influential as Vincebus's cataclysmic insanity, it's because it defines 'classic' rock."

Canadian journalist Martin Popoff praised the album where the band "pre-dispose of Purple, thwack the face of Hendrix, and generally pound psychedelia into the dirt" and concluded that "by most definitions this ain't heavy metal, but by most measures Blue Cheer stomp over Zep I and II".

1. "Feathers from Your Tree" 3:29

2. "Sun Cycle" 4:12

3. "Just a Little Bit" 3:24

4. "Gypsy Ball" 2:57

5. "Come and Get It" 3:13

6. "Satisfaction" Jagger/Richards 5:07

7. "The Hunter" 4:22

3. "Magnolia Caboose Babyfinger" 1:38

4. "Babylon" Peterson 4:22

Total length: 32:44

BLUE CHEER - Just A Little Bit