At First Take

Aleksander Cepus – At First Take
Reviewed by Sadie O., 1/1/9/09
Slovenian Blues-Rock (and why the hell not, I ask you?) Best to approach this as if it was one of the rock bands who fell hard for the blues while on acid in the 60’s and are notable for appearing in illegible Fillmore West posters, except the lyrics are all in Slovenian, but you can understand all of them because you’re on acid, too. (OK, so I’m getting autobiographical here, so sue me…) According to Wikipedia, Aleksander Cepus is known for atonal music and black metal. This explains either everything or nothing.
Warning: This WILL put hair on your chest. It has already put hair on mine, and I’m only halfway through. What a pain in the ass…
FCCs: Probably! All in Slovenian, who knows?
1. 3:25 **slow, chugging 12-bar blues, rather pretty slide solo.
2. 2:29 ***midtempo rockin’ boogie with growly guitar slide.
3. 3:09 **”ustiglus”, then very slow acoustic country blues.
4. 2:55 **midtempo rockin’ blues – probably a tad naughty. Betcha. (10 Years After come to mind here.)
5. 2:43 ***fast rock blues, vocalist appears to be channeling Lemmy Kilmister, and what better way to spend 2:43 of your life? Meanwhile, the guitar solo is trying to channel Albert King. Hooray!
6. 3:07 ****more fast rock blues, this with deep, manly vocals.
7. 4:08 ***chugging rhythm and big lead chords, 4/4 boogie blues with growled vocals.
8. 3:36 ****super slow, super fuzzed out, drunken vocals.
9. 4:25 ***just as slow, less fuzzy, more hi-hat. Also drunken. I’m DEEPLY impressed that the guitar solo found its way home.
10. 3:02 **jaunty, midtempo, swingy buttswinger. Sophisticated?
11. 2:45 ***a bit Chuck Berry, a bit swampy surf punk.
12. 3:00 **a lot Chuck Berry, a little bit Muswell Hillbilly. Wow, a tamborine! That’s a new instrument!
13. 3:30 **big stadium garage-rock (don’t ask me how that works), growled vocals.
14. 3:21 ***a HAPPY Bo Diddley beat, let’s call ‘em hip hop vocals.
15. 2:08 **jaunty little bopper, prominent bass.
16. 4:01 ***slow ballad with cheesy farfisa and big bass. I think it’s a love song to his tractor, but that’s just a guess. Extra star for the bass solo in the last half minute.
17. 2:28 **lo-fi rockin’ boogie. Hasel Adkins would probably do justice to this song.