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Trollheart · 01-22-2017, 09:08 AM

Album title: Mirror Man
Artiste: Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band
Genre: Psych/Blues Rock
Year: 1971
Label: Buddah Records
Producer: Bob Krasnow
Chronological position: Fifth album
Notes:
Album chart position: n/a
Singles: n/a
Lineup: Captain Beefheart –vocals,harmonica,oboe
Alex St. Clair Snouffer–guitar
Jerry Handley –bass
John French–drums
Jeff Cotton– guitar

Well, once again Spotify lets me down. I don't understand how some of an artiste's catalogue can be released there and others not. Maybe it's to do with separate labels? Anyway, the closest I could come there was The Mirror Man Sessions which is, apparently, a whole different album, so I had to turn once more to YouTube. It seems this album only has four tracks, though two of them are in the high double digits in terms of playing time. So I expect it depends on how good (or bad) those two major tracks turn out to be.

Review begins

“Tarotplane”, one of those super-long tracks, clocking in at just over nineteen minutes, opens as a blues jam with some nice harmonica and a relatively “normal” vocal. It's kind of the same most of the way through, but it's really tolerable and probably one of the best Beefheart tracks I've heard yet, or at least, one of the most accessible to me. It apparently references some blues standards, but I'm not that well versed in Blind Willie Dixon (sorry that should be Johnson; Dixon wasn't blind to my knowledge) or Son House that I could recognise them. A clean version of “Kandy korn”, which we heard on the previous album, minus all the production messing around Krasnow insisted on, is next, and it's pretty okay really. Some very nice guitar on it in parts. Very impressive vocal harmonies too. I actually like this, whereas on the previous (shorter) version I did not, which possibly proves that the Captain was right to be angry about the overproduction. This sounds much more natural and less forced and artificial.

None of these songs are short, the least of them being eight minutes long, and “25th Century Quakers” is just short of ten, another kind of psych/blues tune; some annoying horn (what the fuck is overblowing, anyway?) but it doesn't ruin it. That leaves one more long blues jam to close the album, with fifteen minutes plus of the title track, which thankfully involves a lot of that bluesy harmonica that I feel is such a good fit for him. The lyric seems to involve adding the word “mirror” before things like worms, girls and snakes. Hmm.

Track listing and ratings

Tarotplane
Kandy korn
25th Century Quakers
Mirror man

Afterword: This is more the kind of thing that I personally am interested in hearing from Beefheart. He obviously had a great band behind him, and could certainly craft songs, but too often his material is too experimental and freeform for me. Like the later albums I mentioned before, this is more the kind of thing I can get into.

Rating:

01-22-2017, 09:08 AM	#3222 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,970	Album title: Mirror Man Artiste: Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band Genre: Psych/Blues Rock Year: 1971 Label: Buddah Records Producer: Bob Krasnow Chronological position: Fifth album Notes: Album chart position: n/a Singles: n/a Lineup: Captain Beefheart –vocals,harmonica,oboe Alex St. Clair Snouffer–guitar Jerry Handley –bass John French–drums Jeff Cotton– guitar Well, once again Spotify lets me down. I don't understand how some of an artiste's catalogue can be released there and others not. Maybe it's to do with separate labels? Anyway, the closest I could come there was The Mirror Man Sessions which is, apparently, a whole different album, so I had to turn once more to YouTube. It seems this album only has four tracks, though two of them are in the high double digits in terms of playing time. So I expect it depends on how good (or bad) those two major tracks turn out to be. Review begins “Tarotplane”, one of those super-long tracks, clocking in at just over nineteen minutes, opens as a blues jam with some nice harmonica and a relatively “normal” vocal. It's kind of the same most of the way through, but it's really tolerable and probably one of the best Beefheart tracks I've heard yet, or at least, one of the most accessible to me. It apparently references some blues standards, but I'm not that well versed in Blind Willie Dixon (sorry that should be Johnson; Dixon wasn't blind to my knowledge) or Son House that I could recognise them. A clean version of “Kandy korn”, which we heard on the previous album, minus all the production messing around Krasnow insisted on, is next, and it's pretty okay really. Some very nice guitar on it in parts. Very impressive vocal harmonies too. I actually like this, whereas on the previous (shorter) version I did not, which possibly proves that the Captain was right to be angry about the overproduction. This sounds much more natural and less forced and artificial. None of these songs are short, the least of them being eight minutes long, and “25th Century Quakers” is just short of ten, another kind of psych/blues tune; some annoying horn (what the fuck is overblowing, anyway?) but it doesn't ruin it. That leaves one more long blues jam to close the album, with fifteen minutes plus of the title track, which thankfully involves a lot of that bluesy harmonica that I feel is such a good fit for him. The lyric seems to involve adding the word “mirror” before things like worms, girls and snakes. Hmm. Track listing and ratings Tarotplane Kandy korn 25th Century Quakers Mirror man Afterword: This is more the kind of thing that I personally am interested in hearing from Beefheart. He obviously had a great band behind him, and could certainly craft songs, but too often his material is too experimental and freeform for me. Like the later albums I mentioned before, this is more the kind of thing I can get into. Rating: __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018