Telephone Free Landslide Victory is a 1985 album by music

Music

Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...

al group Camper Van Beethoven

Camper Van Beethoven

Camper Van Beethoven is an American alternative rock group formed in Redlands, California in 1983.An eclectic band, Camper Van Beethoven mixes elements of pop, ska, punk rock, folk and alternative country, as well as various types of world music. Their aggressive musical pluralism created a...

, released on Independent Projects. It featured the band's best known song, "Take the Skinheads Bowling".

About

The band's lineup at the time of recording was David Lowery

David Lowery

David Lowery is an American guitarist, vocalist and songwriter; he is the founder of alternative rock band, Camper Van Beethoven, and co-founder of the more traditional rock band, Cracker...

 (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), Jonathan Segel

Jonathan Segel

Jonathan Segel is an American composer and multi-instrumentalist. He has played with Camper Van Beethoven, Sparklehorse, Eugene Chadbourne, and Dieselhed.-Biography:...

 (violin, keyboards, guitar, backing vocals), Chris Molla (guitar, backing vocals), Victor Krummenacher

Victor Krummenacher

Victor Krummenacher is an American musician and bass guitarist who is a founding member of alternative rock band Camper Van Beethoven. He also helped form CVB offshoots Monks of Doom and Camper Van Chadbourne and has pursued a solo career as a singer-songwriter...

 (bass, backing vocals), and Anthony Guess

Kevtone

Kevtone is an American musician, percussionist, and songwriter from Seattle, Washington. Performing live and in studio, his rhythm style may best be described as improvisational, melodic, progressive, and bluesy, over a wide variety of styles; reflecting influences from many genres of music.He is...

 (drums). The album is the only Camper Van Beethoven record not to feature guitarist Greg Lisher

Greg Lisher

Greg Lisher is the lead guitar player for Camper Van Beethoven, from 1986 until 1990, and again from 2000 to present.He was the lead guitarist for the Monks of Doom, from 1986 until 1993, and again from 2003 to present....

. Lisher is actually listed in the album credits as a band member, but he did not join the band until after the album was recorded.

Musically, the album is a combination of songs and instrumentals. The former are simple garage tunes, with a folk-punk sound and absurdist lyrics, often simultaneously mocking and affectionately celebrating aspects of '80s underground counterculture, with references to punks, skinheads, surfers, skaters and hippies. These songs are comparable to other humorous '80s underground bands like The Violent Femmes, The Dead Milkmen and The Young Fresh Fellows. The instrumentals, however, are completely different: they combine ethnic melodies (often Eastern Europe, Mexican or spaghetti-Western) played on Segel's violin and Molla's guitar, with ska

Ska

Ska |Jamaican]] ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s, and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. Ska combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues...

 beats supplied by Guess, Lowery and Krummenacher. The alternation between the instrumentals and songs creates an almost schizophrenic feeling that is one of the most unusual aspects of the record. Later versions of the band would integrate the ethnic influences with the actual songs, but here they are quite separate. The one thing that the two song-types have in common is that they are both quite droll, leading to the band being inaccurately typecast as a novelty group.

Despite the considerable musical growth that the band would show in its later work, Telephone Free Landslide Victory has remained one of its most enduring albums. The reunited Camper Van Beethoven frequently features several of the album's songs in their set lists to this day, including "Take the Skinheads Bowling", the countrified Black Flag

Black Flag (band)

Black Flag was an American punk rock band formed in 1976 in Hermosa Beach, California. The band was established by Greg Ginn, the guitarist, primary songwriter and sole continuous member through multiple personnel changes in the band...

 cover "Wasted", the hardcore send-up "Club Med Sucks", "The Day That Lassie Went to the Moon", "Ambiguity Song", and several of the instrumentals.

Reception

Side one

1. "Border Ska" - 2:50
2. "The Day That Lassie Went to the Moon" - 3:14
3. "Wasted" - 1:59 (Greg Ginn
   Greg Ginn
   Gregory Regis Ginn is a guitarist, songwriter, and singer. He is best known for being the leader of and primary songwriter for the hardcore punk band Black Flag, which he founded and led from 1976 to 1986....
   
   , Keith Morris
   Keith Morris
   Keith Morris is an American singer and songwriter known for his role as frontman of the hardcore punk bands Black Flag, the Circle Jerks, and Off! Born and raised in Hermosa Beach, California, he formed Black Flag at the age of 21 with guitarist Greg Ginn and performed on the band's 1978 debut EP...
   
   )
4. "Yanqui Go Home" - 2:41
5. "Oh No!" - 1:54
6. "9 of Disks" - 2:36
7. "Payed Vacation: Greece" - 1:52
8. "Where The Hell is Bill?" - 2:06

Side two

1. "Vladivostock" - 2:22
2. "Skinhead Stomp" - 1:48
3. "Tina" - 1:37
4. "Take The Skinheads Bowling" - 2:32
5. "Mao Reminisces About His Days in Southern China" - 1:59
6. "I Don't See You" - 2:23
7. "Balalaika Gap" - 2:13
8. "Opi Rides Again - Club Med Sucks" - 3:55
9. "Ambiguity Song" - 2:29

2004 CD reissue

1. "The Day That Lassie Went to the Moon" - 3:14
2. "Border Ska" - 2:56
3. "Wasted" - 1:55
4. "Yanqui Go Home" - 2:41
5. "Oh No!" - 1:54
6. "9 of Disks" - 2:36
7. "Payed Vacation: Greece" - 1:52
8. "Where The Hell is Bill?" - 2:05
9. "Wasting All Your Time" - 2:59
10. "Epigram #5" - 0:09
11. "At Kuda" - 2:14
12. "Epigram #2" - 0:21
13. "Cowboys From Hollywood (Original Version)" - 1:41
14. "Colonel Enrique Adolfo Bermudez" - 2:09
15. "Vladivostock" - 2:22
16. "Skinhead Stomp" - 1:47
17. "Tina" - 1:37
18. "Take The Skinheads Bowling" - 2:32
19. "Mao Reminisces About His Days in Southern China" - 1:59
20. "I Don't See You" - 2:23
21. "Balalaika Gap" - 2:13
22. "Opi Rides Again" - 0:50
23. "Club Med Sucks" - 3:05
24. "Ambiguity Song" - 2:30
25. "Heart (Remix)" - 3:07 (Hidden Track)

• Track 9 is a previously unreleased studio outtake.
• Tracks 10-14 originally released on the Take the Skinheads Bowling EP.