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1. Prelude
2. Sons Of The New Golden West
3. 51 7
4. White Fluffy Clouds
5. That Gum You Like Is Back In Style
6. Might Makes Right
7. Militia Song
8. R ’n’ R Uzbekistan
9. Sons Of The New Golden West (reprise)
10. New Roman Times
11. The Poppies Of Balmorhea
12. The Long Plastic Hallway
13. I Am Talking To This Flower
14. Come Out
15. Los Tigres Traficantes
16. I Hate This Part Of Texas
17. Hippy Chix
18. Civil Disobedience
19. Discotheque CVB
20. Hey Brother 

Total time: 1.1 hours

New Roman Times
Camper Van Beethoven
Vanguard

Well folks, here it is. They’ve been hinting at it with reunion shows and archival releases for some time now. It took two years, but there really was no hurry, since the original intention was to regroup on stage and not in the studio.

Kudos to Camper Van Beethoven, for taking it one step further than where they left off 15 years ago and logically arriving at a prog rock opera about a young soldier from the Fundamentalist Christian Republic of Texas who lives in a fictional North America in which there’s many different countries that fight each other every once in a while, and Texas has gone neo-fascist and California has had a civil war.

There will be no spoilers here about what happens to the protagonist of “New Roman Times,” but the cat will be let out of the bag concerning CVB’s acquisition of superhuman abilities when it comes to playing their instruments. These guys are amazing when it comes to ska, norteño, garage rock, country, klezmer and Middle Eastern music.

This is not your father’s Camper.

oct 2004 reviews