055: Camper Van Beethoven - Key Lime Pie (1989) (feat. 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 Tusk—on 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
The Third Mind, Victor Krummenacher’s ‘60s psychedelia cover band
Wayne’s World VCR Board Game (Board Game Geek)
Discord & Rhyme’s Key Lime Pie playlist (Spotify)
Discord & Rhyme Roll Call
Chris Willie Williams (host)
Amanda Rodgers (moderator)
Rich Bunnell
Dan
Key Lime Pie tracklist
Opening Theme
Jack Ruby
Sweethearts
When I Win the Lottery
(I Was Born in a) Laundromat
Borderline
The Light from a Cake
June
All Her Favorite Fruit
Interlude
Flowers
The Humid Press of Days
Pictures of Matchstick Men
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.