Search - Camper Van Chadbourne :: Used Record Pile

Between 1987 and 1991, college radio heroes Camper Van Beethoven got together with former shockabilly frontman and all-around crazed troubadour Eugene Chadbourne to make some noise. The two entities did a few albums that have been long out of print, but Used Record Pile is a harvest of most of that material. Musically, Camper Van Chadbourne belt out a neat blend of garage rock, Arabian noise, and a bit of coffee house. However, most of the tracks' lyrics are embarrassingly dated. Used Record Pile features a whole lot of songs about Iran-Contra, televangelists, and of course, Ronald Reagan. It also doesn't help that a lot of these tirades are meant as satire, like a musical Doonesbury, but they come off as ham-handed and preachy, ruining an otherwise fun time. --Jason Josephes