0363. Blue Cheer
Vincebus Eruptum

In the same proto-metal genre as Iron Butterfly's In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida, Blue Cheer was a blues-rock band on the heavier side of the scales. Their top twenty hit cover Summertime Blues opens the album and even though it might have been the first released heavy metal song it's by far the lesser of the pack of songs they amassed for this debut.

The vocals and music fit together better on their three original songs Doctor Please, Out of Focus and Second Time Around, as on their versions of the blues-standards Rock Me Baby (made famous by B.B. King) and Parchment Farm [fact check: 1001 Albums You Must Hear... believes the latter is written by the band]. Probably due to them not forcing the genre meld. Rock me Baby starts out as a fairly straight blues, but meanders off into stoner-country, while Parchment Farm goes like an amped up version from the start.
An interesting album as well as a good one.