Cracker "Kerosene Hat": a sorely underappreciated classic?

Spin magazine just did a very good piece on "Low." I've always liked the song fine, but never would have picked it to be their breakout single. It's not even close to being my favorite song on the album.

http://www.spin.com/articles/cracker-low-david-lowery-oral-history

 

That was a great piece. I learned a lot about the song I didn't know. It's interesting that they were gonna go with "Get Off This" as the single. I absolutely love that song, but there's also something very distinctive about "Low" that obviously captured the public's imagination. Not sure "Get Off This" would've had the same effect.

 

I echo the sentiment that KH is grossly under appreciated. My wife and I saw Cracker open for The Gin Blossoms and Spin Doctors. Without a doubt, Cracker blew them away, with an amazing show. I really didn't want to stick around after they played, as I knew GB and SD wouldn't be able to top Cracker's performance. Even my wife agreed, and she is/was a huge GB fan.

 

It's one of my favorite albums of the '90s. Love it.

 

The title reminds me of the 1978 Rockford Files episode, Dwarf in a Helium Hat.

 

+1 for "Sweet Thistle Pie"

 

I've seen Cracker about four times, but the first time was the best and one of the best shows I've ever seen. It was at the Jayhawk Music Festival in Lawrence, KS in the 90s. The headliner was The Violent Femmes. It was a typical nine hundred degree summer day in the Midwest. Apparently, there was some kind of tiff between Cracker and the promoter (well, I guess with The Femmes), because for some strange reason, the Femmes came on BEFORE Cracker, instead of closing the festival. When Cracker got on stage, they went right to their positions, plugged in without warming up and Lowery snarled into the mic "This'll be the last f-ing festival we'll ever play, we hate these f-ing things" and then the band just ... well, exploded, opening with "I Hate My Generation." Every song that they played that evening sounded harder, faster and more punk that any other time that I've seen them. By far. My friend and I just stared at each other after each song, flabergasted at their energy and venom. At the end of the show, Lowery started kicking over mic stands and other equipment and some balding, fat guy started chasing him around the stage, pointing and cursing. Hi. Larious. Fantastic.

 

Love "Movie Star" ; that tune cracks me up everytime

 

Love this lp and Lowery/Hickman. Just saw them Thursday at a small club in Louisville and it was, as always, a great show.
Our band has played "Get Off This", "Eurotrash Girl", "Low", and "Movie Star" off of this lp for years.
I wish we would get a vinyl all analog remaster of this. (Supposedly, it was recorded to tape...don't know about the 'chain' after that.) One of the 'lost' classics.
Not gonna pay the big bucks for the Greek vinyl, though.

 

They're pretty much the same band nowadays, though...

 

I am new to Cracker...but I like Berkeley To Bakersfield, especially the country cd.

 

As long as everybody does not have to agree with it. I happen to like everything Lowery has done with both bands.

 

I bought Berkeley to Bakersfield earlier this year but finally gave it a real good listen on a road trip this past week. It doesn’t quite measure up to peak ‘90s Cracker (like Kerosene Hat!) but it’s pretty darn great. I just wish they’d released in on vinyl!

 

I never thought that warmth was one of David Lowery's attributes. In both Cracker and Camper Van Beethoven, he always seemed kind of detached to me.

He's not the friendliest guy in the world in person either.

 

I like when he says "this ain't Nashville" to the pedal-steel guitar player.

 

He’s got one of rock’s great haughty sneer-drawls, but where you might hear detachment I hear non-cold intelligence and anti-pretentious irony, and Johnny Hickman’s guitar is a perfect match.

Important rule: you must never superimpose David Lowery’s scowly wonk activism and argumentation about streaming ripoffs and the evil music biz onto Cracker’s music. One is work, the other is loud party time.

 

Funny, but immediately before seeing this thread I posted lyrics from "Teen Angst" in another thread. The first three Cracker albums are all excellent, then they started to lose the plot a bit. My favorite has always been the debut record.

 

Need this on vinyl, BAD!

 

that was a great article. Cracker is a band I will defend to my death as being a solid as hell band, maybe even better once the spotlight moved off them. But they still play killer live shows to nice crowds and Lowery is always popping up in the news for fighting record companies and stuff. Currently working on a $150m suit against Spotify.
David Lowery, Cracker Frontman and Artist Advocate, Explains His $150 Million Lawsuit Against Spotify: Q&A »

 

also ...funny story about this album that some of you may have too. Before the days of sticking a cd in a computer and having iTunes pull it up, you could have hidden tracks at the end, or "zero tracks" on cds. I had listened to this album seriously 50 times, before I forgot to pull it out of the cd player after the last regular album track. A couple minutes later imagine my surprise when a new song starts playing! Eurotrash Girl on track 69, right? This blew my mind that not only did this cd magically have that many tracks but a GEM like Eurotrash Girl was hidden that deep. I Ride My Bike at track 88 was solid too. My teenage mind was blown.

 

YES love this album. We played covers from KH in my first high school rock band! SO MANY memories tied to that album.

 

Great album. I'm very surprised they've never reissued it on vinyl in the US.

 

Great album I've had it for probably 10 years or so always gets played.

 

I saw them live at the Memphis BBQ fest this past May. There was only about 60 people in the audience. It's a odd scene at the festival (each contending ogranization has an individual space and few come out of their cubicles). The show rocked hard! These guys can play live.