II & III - 40TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION

Description

Absurd, unfriendly, sometimes unfinished. Camper Van Beethoven's second album, II & III, saw the folk-punk of the band's first LP transform into an even broader melting pot of stylistic influences and (un)ironic contradictions, all brought together in a coherent and incoherent collection of some of the band's most striking songs. Originally released in 1986, the follow-up to Telephone Free Landslide Victory largely helped develop Camper Van Beethoven's already iconoclastic musical language. II & III ranges from alt-country ballads ("Sad Lovers' Waltz") to nods to the European folk instrumental pieces of the first album ("No Krugerrands For David", "4 Year Plan"). It also features the band's bluegrass-Americana cover of Sonic Youth's "I Love Her All the Time," feeding their appetite for covers. Note that the deluxe double CD version brings together the original album II & III and a 17-track live album from Camper Van Beethoven's concerts opening for REM during their Life's Rich Pageant tour. This recording was made primarily at the concert in Lincoln, Nebraska, on October 10, 1986, but is supplemented by excerpts from other shows on the tour.