^ Some great reviews so far; very varied albums, and some very varied approaches to reviewing. Anyway, here's my wall-of-text contribution:-
The line up and the circumstances:
In 1971 Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band had a cult following, loyal but small. Earnings were so low that John French (Drumbo) was only half in the band, tired of scrounging for food from CB’ s mum or from welfare. A bigger loss to the line up, though, was Antenae Jimmy Semens, aka Jeff Cotton, who had left “under ugly circumstances”. Along with Zoot Horn Rollo (Bill Harkelroad), it was Jeff Cotton’s “steel-appendage guitar” that had been responsible for the razor sharp guitar playing on
TMR.
So these were the guys who assembled in the recording studio:
The Captain, Rockette Morton, Zoot Horn Rollo, Ed Marimba, Drumbo or stand-in drummer, and newcomer Winged Eel Fingerling (of whom more later).
Also, the 30-year-old CB had recently married student Jan Jenkins, and though she was 12 years his junior, they seemed to be true soulmates from the very beginning. So the scene was set; a more mellow, contented CB was under pressure from his in-laws and long-suffering bandmates to produce something that would put some food on the table. How to do this and still retain his artistic integrity? Well,
The Spotlight Kid was his answer.
The album:
Although the unmistakable vocals are a constant, the style of CB’s studio albums have varied a lot, giving hardcore fans some (un)welcome surprises along the way.
The Spotlight Kid was one such radical departure, from the intense and challenging albums that preceded it (
TMR and
Decals).
I’m Gonna Booglarize You Baby: A sinister rumbling bass and a simple touch of slide guitar ushers in the Captain himself, who starts the album at his declamatory best, intoning,
“The moon was a drip on a dark hood.” Halfway through, the track livens up with some more intricate slide playing, while CB hands out advice in metaphorical form;
“You lose your push when you beat around the bush.” The big surprise at the time was the slow portentious pace of this opener.
White Jam: Starting with some tinny-sounding guitar, things lighten up on this track when CB plays some gently rocking harmonica similar to Zoot Allures’
Find Her Finer. Some great higher-register wailing from the Captain, but at only two and a half minutes it all feels a little inconsequential.
Blabber ‘n Smoke: Six guys in the recording studio, but in terms of instruments, this song sounds simple; a duet for guitar and marimba, with some light drumming and CB warning us to
“clean up the air ‘n treat the an-i-mals fair”. A nice gentle song that shows how much Jan was in sync with her new husband; she wrote the words, but they could’ve come from CB himself.
When It Blows Its Stacks: Now’ s the time to crank up the volume on that stereo to get the full force of the heavy driving bass and solid drumming.(Rockette Morton is actually playing a bass riff from
Hair Pie, at half its previous speed.) At last CB is in full voice too, singing about a man-eater who is
“cold as a snake sleeping in the shade”. There is another marimba/ guitar interlude and some interesting slide from Winged Eel Fingerling, a little taster for the next track;
Alice In Blunderland: something that CB didn’t often record, a full-band instrumental, this track finally shakes off the sluggishness that haunts side one. This is chiefly down to Winged Eel Fingerling’s fast and biting guitar runs; Elliot Ingber had recently defected from the Mothers of Invention and CB, uncharacteristically, gave him free range to solo. Zoot Horn Rollo on the other hand, was unfairly sidelined and given strict instructions about what to play, which is perhaps why he retains a low opinion of this album. A neat little guitar/marimba theme brings this track to a very satisfying conclusion.
The Spotlight Kid, we learn, is a girl and not the dandy on the album cover as some might’ve thought. Guitar and marimba in unison plonk out a lurching tune which comes from
“Shortin’ Bread.” This old traditional song, played fast and furious, forms the long instrumental coda to
Pachuco Cadaver, but here it is slowed down so much as to be barely recognisable. The comparison with
TMR rather highlights the fact that this track is a lot weaker.
The pace picks up with
Click Clack, a great train song with piano(?) and harmonica laying down the rhythm of the wheels. Halfway through something clever happens with the rhythm and a slide guitar riff is added to the mix. CB sings about a girl leaving him;
“I could see you waving your handkerchief down
My ears stand up when I hear that sound"
Grow Fins: starts with a slow chugging rhythm and a strong, swirling harmonica, which slowly fades out to another guitar/marimba duet, over which CB sings about more girl problems (including a line of unusual vulnerability,
”You won’t even gimme a hug"). There’s also some cool slide guitar, but as the song fades, I for one am left wondering - I bet the old band could’ve made more of this interesting track...
There Ain’t No Santa Clause On the Evenin’ Stage: bass riff - bells – slide guitar – vocals; the different elements of this song come in so simply that even I can work out how they contribute to the whole. This is a wonderfully lugubrious workout with CB wailing away in full voice, delivering his inexplicable lyrics with 110% commitment.
Glider: when TH opens a “Songs about vehicles” thread, I’ll be posting this one, but don’t expect anything light and soaring here. Like the previous track, this song is driven along with a solid implacable beat more appropriate to the engine room of the Titanic than to a glider. Still, according to CB he was
“up and down through the blues, clouds give me my silent cues.” Surprisingly straight-forward lyrics after those earlier surreal albums and another song that could've been developed a bit more.
The tl;dr:
This slow-paced record lacks the intensity of earlier albums, but it should not be overlooked. CB has deconstructed the blues and reconstructed them in a completely original way. (In fact, I had to be told that it was blues-based; couldn’t hear it myself.) CB’s approach, coupled with the unusually prominent marimba give
The Spotlight Kid a unique sound. The ten short, controlled tracks are of consistently high standard and unusual clarity; you can alway hear exactly what each instrument is doing. Together they indicate what could’ve been possible for CB, or for anyone else approaching the blues with a fresh imagination and a bit of daring. Like other unique-sounding albums, following neither fashion nor clichés, the music has a timeless quality which would make it difficult to date from listening alone.
Although I’ve felt more passionately about other CB albums in the past, across the years this is the one that I’ve come back to and enjoyed most often. CB has amply achieved his objective; something more accessible that doesn't compromise his artistic principles.