Cast Thy Burden upon the Stillroven

CAST THY BURDEN UPON THE STILLROVEN

The Stillroven came from a Minneapolis suburb called Robbinsdale and reappeared seemingly out of nowhere when the 1960’s reissue label Sundazed Records released a retrospective album from the band, Cast Thy Burden upon the Stillroven in 1996.

(September 2010)

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The Stillroven were an unknown garage rock band from Minneapolis, even to most record collectors, when Sundazed Records put together a compilation CD in 1996 called Cast Thy Burden upon the Stillroven. I missed the fact that Sundazed had put out a second Stillroven CD in 2003, Too Many Spaces, though Allmusic disputes that it is actually an unreleased album. For better or worse, I have gotten better (or a lot more wordy at least) in developing the theme for my monthly posts than I was for this UARB.

Sundazed is definitely amped about this band: In the liner notes for Cast Thy Burden upon the Stillroven, they rave that the Stillroven’s version of “(I’m Not Your) Steppin’ Stone” buries the Monkees’ hit recording of “(I’m Not Your) Steppin’ Stone”. Now, on their website, Sundazed insists that “their pedal-to-the-metal, frenetic version of ‘Hey Joe’ [is] still THE definitive version as far as we’re concerned”. That’s a pretty strong statement considering that “Hey Joe” was one of the most recorded songs of the 1960’s. Better-known covers include those by the Jimi Hendrix Experience, Deep Purple (on their debut album, Shades of Deep Purple, they even claimed to be the songwriter!), Johnny Rivers, the Byrds, the Music Machine, and the Leaves.

(September 2012)

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This is the retrospective CD on the Stillroven that I have, Cast Thy Burden upon the Stillroven:

(September 2013)