The Cave Comes Alive! Explained

The Cave Comes Alive!
Type:Studio Album
Artist:The Lime Spiders
Cover:Cave_comes_alive.jpg
Released:June 1987
Recorded:Paradise Studios, Sydney, 1987
Genre:Alternative rock, garage rock, punk rock
Length:37:38
Label:Virgin
Producer:David Price
Next Title:Volatile
Next Year:1988

The Cave Comes Alive! is the first album by The Lime Spiders, released on vinyl in 1987 through Virgin Records.

There were three singles released from the album; "My Favourite Room" b/w "Blood From A Stone", "Just One Solution" b/w "Drip Out", and "Jessica" (New Version) b/w "Sparks" (Live).

"Jessica" (New Version) b/w "Sparks" (Live), and "Long Way to Go" (Live) was released on 12" single.

The 'New Version' of Jessica for the single is shorter (2:55 from 3:40), and the mix and structure has been changed, in particular, piano replaces the fuzz guitar at the start, the guitar solo is shorter, the kick drum is absent, and the song ending has been changed.

"Sparks" by Pete Townshend, is a cover of the instrumental song from The Who's "Tommy" album, and "Long Way to Go" by Michael Bruce, is a cover of the Alice Cooper song from their album "Love It To Death".

A live promotional EP; "Lime Spiders" was also released that contained three songs from the album: "Space Cadet", "Just One Solution", and "Action Woman", along with a cover of "Stone Free" by Jimi Hendrix.

Background

Lime Spiders had split in mid-1985 with founding lead vocalist, Michael Blood, travelling to Europe. They reconvened in September 1986 with the line-up of Blood, Tony Bambach on bass guitar, Gerard Corben on rhythm guitar and Richard Lawson on drums.[1] [2] The group signed with Virgin Records, which issued their non-album single, "Weirdo Libido", in January 1987.[1] [2]

The group's debut album, The Cave Comes Alive!, was recorded with David Price producing and was issued in June 1987.[1] [2] It provided three singles, "My Favourite Room" (May), "Just One Solution" (August) and "Jessica" (October).[1]

Reception

In November 2012 FasterLouder listed The Cave Comes Alive! at No. 45 of "The Most Underrated Albums of All Time". Their reviewer Max Easton opined, "a collection of forgotten gems from one of the richest veins of Australia’s garage history... a chronically underrated and forgotten record lost in time."[3] David Szatmary of AllMusic rated it at four-and-a-half-out-of-five stars and briefly stated, "This is the snarling debut from the punk quartet who owe a debt to the '60s."[4]

Track listing

  1. "My Favourite Room" (Mick Blood) - 3:38
  2. "Are You Loving Me More" (Tucker, Mantz) - 2:45
  3. "Ignormy" (Blood) - 2:24
  4. "NSU" (Jack Bruce) - 2:57
  5. "Just One Solution" (Blood) - 2:55
  6. "Blood from a Stone" (Blood, Richard Jakimyszyn) - 3:46
  7. "Just One Solution (Reprise)" (Blood) - 1:35
  8. "Action Woman" (Warren Kendrick) - 2:39
  9. "Rock Star" (Anthony Bambach, Blood) - 3:26
  10. "Jessica" (Blood) - 3:41
  11. "Space Cadet" (Bambach, Blood, Gerard Corben) - 3:30
  12. "Theory of Thira" (Blood) - 4:05

Personnel

The Lime Spiders

Additional musicians

Notes and References

  1. Book: McFarlane . Ian . Ian McFarlane . . Encyclopedia entry for 'Lime Spiders' . https://web.archive.org/web/20040823042909/http://www.whammo.com.au/encyclopedia.asp?articleid=1016 . http://www.whammo.com.au/encyclopedia.asp?articleid=1016 . 23 October 2017 . 1999 . . . 23 August 2004 . 1-86508-072-1 .
  2. Web site: https://web.archive.org/web/20110805141354/http://hem.passagen.se/honga/database/l/limespiders.html . Lime Spiders . passagen.se . Australian Rock Database. Passagen.se (Magnus Holmgren) . Holmgren . Magnus . Peer . Meyer . Gary . Bouchard . 5 August 2011 . 23 October 2017 .
  3. Web site: https://webarchive.nla.gov.au/awa/20161205130500/http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/151586/20161206-0005/fasterlouder.junkee.com/the-most-underrated-albums-of-all-time/830627.html . The Most Underrated Albums of All Time . Easton . Max . 12 November 2012 . FasterLouder . 5 December 2016 . 23 October 2017 .
  4. Web site: The Cave Comes Alive! – Lime Spiders. Szatmary . David . AllMusic. 23 October 2017 .
  5. Book: Kent, David. David Kent (historian). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. illustrated. Australian Chart Book. St Ives, N.S.W.. 1993. 0-646-11917-6. 178.