The Beast is Back is the seventh album by a newly reformed Blue Cheer

Blue Cheer

Blue Cheer was an American psychedelic blues-rock band that initially performed and recorded in the late 1960s and early 1970s and was sporadically active until 2009...

, 13 years after their previous album, Oh! Pleasant Hope

Oh! Pleasant Hope

Oh! Pleasant Hope is the sixth, and last, album by Blue Cheer until 1983's The Beast Is Back. This album features less psychedelia and includes more blues-rock, hard rock, with some country rock leanings on some songs. This is an unusual Blue Cheer album in that Dickie Peterson only sings lead on...

(1971). It contains re-recorded versions of some of the band's most popular songs from their late-60s heyday as well as new material. The album features founding members Dickie Peterson and Paul Whaley

Paul Whaley

Paul Whaley is an American drummer best known as the drummer for rock band Blue Cheer. He and Dickie Peterson were the only two founding members still in the band when it broke up in late 2009, following Peterson's death at age 63....

. Original guitarist Leigh Stephens

Leigh Stephens

Leigh Stephens is an American guitarist and songwriter.Stephens became famous as the former lead guitarist of the San Francisco psychedelic rock group Blue Cheer. He was ranked number 98 on Rolling Stone Magazine's list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time. He has claimed to have been the...

 did not participate in the reunion.

The Beast is Back has been released with three different album covers.

Track listing

1. "Nightmares" (Dickie Peterson) – 5:03
2. "Summertime Blues
   Summertime Blues
   "Summertime Blues" is the title of a song co-written and recorded by American rockabilly artist Eddie Cochran. It was written in the late 1950s by Cochran and his manager Jerry Capehart. Originally a single B-side, it was released in August 1958 and peaked at number 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 on...
   
   " (Jerry Capehart
   Jerry Capehart
   Jerry Capehart was a songwriter and music manager. Capehart co-wrote the famous rock 'n' roll songs "Summertime Blues" and "C'mon Everybody" with Eddie Cochran, whom he also managed. He died in Nashville, Tennessee....
   
   , Eddie Cochran
   Eddie Cochran
   Eddie Cochran , was an American rock and roll pioneer who in his brief career had a small but lasting influence on rock music through his guitar playing. Cochran's rockabilly songs, such as "C'mon Everybody", "Somethin' Else", and "Summertime Blues", captured teenage frustration and desire in the...
   
   ) – 3:57
3. "Ride with Me" (Tony Rainier) – 5:25
4. "Girl Next Door" (Tony Rainier) – 3:39
5. "Babylon" (Dickie Peterson) – 4:12
6. "Heart of the City" (Dr. Richard Peddicord) – 4:19
7. "Out of Focus" (Dickie Peterson) – 3:43
8. "Parchment Farm
   Parchman Farm (song)
   "Parchman Farm" is the title of a number of songs about Mississippi State Penitentiary, known as Parchman Farm, a hard time prison because of the Trusty system which was later outlawed....
   
   " (Mose Allison
   Mose Allison
   Mose John Allison, Jr. is an American jazz blues pianist and singer.-Biography:...
   
   ) – 6:55

Personnel

• Dickie Peterson – bass, lead vocals
• Tony Rainier – lead guitars, backing vocals
• Paul Whaley
  Paul Whaley
  Paul Whaley is an American drummer best known as the drummer for rock band Blue Cheer. He and Dickie Peterson were the only two founding members still in the band when it broke up in late 2009, following Peterson's death at age 63....
  
  – drums