Discord & Rhyme: An Album Podcast

Discord and Rhyme is a podcast where we discuss the albums we love, song by song.

055: Camper Van Beethoven - Key Lime Pie (1989) (feat. Victor Krummenacher)

“It’s the music business. Are people supposed to be sane?”

—Victor Krummenacher

After spending the last couple of decades converting all of his friends into Camper Van Beethoven fans, Will is now doing the same for all of you - with the help of one of the band members! Victor Krummenacher, CVB bassist and swell guy, was kind enough to talk to Will about the making of Key Lime Pie and some general band history, and you can hear that interview in this episode before we start our usual discussion (and listen to the entire, unedited audio file right here). Key Lime Pie is a terrific album full of unconventional song structures, clever lyrics, and interesting sounds, and we hope you all like it as much as we do. 

Miscellany

  • As Amanda mentioned, our Spotify playlist for CVB is rather, well, spotty, since Key Lime Pie isn't available on there. However, you can freely stream it—and all of CVB's other releases up through their amusing and often genuinely excellent 2002 cover of Fleetwood Mac's double album Tuskon their website

  • It looks like you can buy the 2014 Omnivore Recordings expanded rerelease of Key Lime Pie here. As mentioned in the episode, the sound is infinitely better than the thinly-mixed Virgin Records original. Omnivore also released a similarly-essential remaster of CVB's prior album, Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart—which contains a stupendous cover of the Buzzcocks' “Harmony in My Head” as one of several bonus tracks—but that one appears to be out of print.

  • Sparklehorse, which Victor Krummenacher discussed in the interview, was an excellent indie-rock band active from 1995-2010, when frontman Mark Linkous tragically took his own life. Will is a very big fan. 

  • This is the photograph of Jack Ruby that won the Pulitzer, but this is the one that Amanda thinks is better.

Other links

Discord & Rhyme Roll Call

  • Chris Willie Williams (host)

  • Amanda Rodgers (moderator)

  • Rich Bunnell

  • Dan 

Key Lime Pie tracklist 

  1. Opening Theme

  2. Jack Ruby

  3. Sweethearts

  4. When I Win the Lottery

  5. (I Was Born in a) Laundromat

  6. Borderline

  7. The Light from a Cake

  8. June

  9. All Her Favorite Fruit

  10. Interlude

  11. Flowers

  12. The Humid Press of Days

  13. Pictures of Matchstick Men

  14. Come On Darkness 

Other clips used 

Camper Van Beethoven:

  • Take the Skinheads Bowling

  • Stairway to Heavan [sic]

  • Eye of Fatima (pt. 1)

  • Where the Hell Is Bill

  • Border Ska

  • Might Makes Right

  • She Divines Water

  • Still Wishing to Course

  • Interstellar Overdrive 

Others:

  • Trevor Duncan - Grip of the Law

  • Gilbert Vinter - Towards Adventure

  • They Might Be Giants - Ana Ng

  • Cracker - Low

  • Drive-By Truckers - Puttin’ People On the Moon

  • Madonna - Borderline

  • Hopeton Lewis - Take It Easy

  • Lily Allen - Smile

  • The Moody Blues - Nice to Be Here

  • Box o’ Laffs - Flowers

  • Status Quo - Pictures of Matchstick Men

  • Dave Matthews Band - Rapunzel

Band/album personnel

  • Morgan Fichter – Violin (apparently only on “Flowers” and “Pictures of Matchstick Men”), backing vocals

  • Victor Krummenacher – Bass, backing vocals

  • Greg Lisher – Lead guitar, backing vocals 

  • David Lowery – Vocals, guitar, harmonica, keyboards

  • Chris Pedersen – Drums, percussion, backing vocals

  • Dennis Herring – Production

  • Csaba Petocz – Engineering and mixing

  • Don V. Lax – All strings except the violin on “Flowers” and “Pictures of Matchstick Men” 

  • Davey Faragher, Danny Faragher, Mary O' Neil, and Wally Sound – Backing vocals

  • Hammer Smith – Harmonica

  • Tim Cook – Pedal steel

  • Garth Hudson – Pump organ, backing vocals, and “stuff”

Credits 

“Discord & Rhyme (theme),” composed by the Other Leading Brand, contains elements of: 

  • Duran Duran - Hungry Like the Wolf

  • Amon Düül II - Dehypnotized Toothpaste

  • The Dukes of Stratosphear - What in the World?? ...

  • Faith No More - Midlife Crisis

  • Herbie Hancock - Hornets

  • Kraftwerk - Autobahn

  • Talking Heads - Seen and Not Seen

  • Camper Van Beethoven - Pictures of Matchstick Men (this episode only) 

You can buy or stream Key Lime Pie and other albums by Camper Van Beethoven at campervanbeethoven.com or at your local record store. Follow Discord & Rhyme on Twitter @DiscordPod for news, updates, and other random stuff. Editing is by Rich, Will, and Amanda, and special thanks to our own Mike DeFabio, the Other Leading Brand, for production and original music. See you next album, and be ever wonderful.


This website and all episodes' discussion/commentary © 2018—2024 Discord & Rhyme. Excerpts from recordings appearing in episodes are included for purposes of review only, and all rights to such material remain property of their copyright holders. Please note that we make a good-faith effort to ensure all information included in these episodes is accurate, but if we get something wrong, let us know at discordpod@gmail.com and we will print a correction in the show notes. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Website design by Amanda Rodgers. Thank you for visiting, and keep as cool as you can.

Powered by Squarespace