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Ya, kinda lost track of this thread. Skipping me is fine.
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Can we move this to the avant garde/experimental section?
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^ Ditto what F/land says, please.
I can give short appraisal of The Spotlight Kid if that's OK; no-one seems to have adopted it yet. |
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And yeah, fair play t'ye Lisna, that just leaves one album with one more day to go before we begin. I've already done two of three of my reviews. |
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Beefheart Week has begun!
Strictly Personal http://cps-static.rovicorp.com/3/JPG...er=allrovi.com 1. "Ah Feel Like Ahcid" - Kicking off with an homage to Son House (so basically, a love letter to the "Death Letter" :laughing:), I can already tell that i'm going to like this album. The guitars come in with a nice blues-y sound, but all in all everything is kept pretty sparse and raw. The song comes to a close with the ominous sound of a beating heart. 2. "Safe as Milk" - Wasn't this the name of the Magic Band's previous album, and it's title track? Anyway, it's a nice and heavy foot stomper, carrying on a bit of the first song's blues-y energy. The vocalist has got a pretty cool raspy voice that reminds me of Howlin' Wolf. The last third of the song changes things up, and becomes kind of a psychedelic scramble. 3. "Trust Us" - A sort of tangled psychedelic jazz track. It's less blues-y than the previous tracks, although the vocals are still pretty raspy, and it's the longest song so far (at eight minutes). The tone and pace are changed as the song goes on, keeping things from getting too stale. At roughly the five minute mark, it takes a pretty cool shift in sound that continues for a good amount of time, before turning into a fun blues song similar to the first track for the final minute of it's run time. http://assets.rollingstone.com/asset.../rectangle.jpg Innerspaceboy? Is that you? 4. "Son of Mirror Man-Mere Man" - Cool slide guitars and solid drumming introduce us to the next track, while some effect-laden psychedelic vocals moan in the background. The singer wails about "mirror man", and i'm guessing that the lyrics have some deeper meaning that Frown would love to tell me about. At about the three minute mark, the song shifts and scrambles around, before what sounds like someone playing a harmonica underwater kicks in (:laughing:), and the vocalist returns. All in all, a pretty fun track. 5. "On Tomorrow" - This one starts off pretty well, with a somewhat toned down but still present psychedelic sound. The guitars kind of have a '60s folk feeling to them, and the vocalist is a bit more clean than in the previous songs. Also, this isn't a very long song, at only three and a half minutes of length. It's interesting, hitting hard and then fading away before it overstays it's welcome. The final notes of this song lead into the intro of the next track... 6. "Beatle Bones 'N Smokin' Stones" - Nice title. I wonder who this song could be about? This song starts off pretty weird, with the vocalist singing on his own, in an odd and pleading voice. The instruments kick in and provide a blues-y backdrop, though they stop every now and then so the singer can say "the dark, the light, the dark, the light" to the audience. Cool yet subtle psychedelic guitar work near the end, before the vocalist says "strawberry fields forever!" as an obvious jab to... the Rolling Stones. :finger: http://www.freewebs.com/teejo/crew/band25.jpg The Magic Band, hard at work. 7. "Gimme Dat Harp Boy" - As the title hints, this song features some fun harmonica playing (i'm sure Little Walter would be proud). Another blues song with raw vocals and a nice heavy feeling to it, this track fits in well with the others. 8. "Kandy Korn" - The final song of the album, this one kicks off with some wailing. It quickly becomes a kind of... actually, i'm not entirely sure what genre to describe it as. It's got a kind of beat/r&b/jazz feeling to it. Two minutes and ten seconds in, it picks up some psychedelic distortions that continue to the end of the song. I'm actually surprised with how much I liked this album! Beefheart is pretty awesome. The mash-up of stylings is pretty interesting, and i'm sure it blew more than a few minds in it's time. If you like blues music, the psychedelic sound, or garage rock, you really owe it to yourself to give this one a listen sometime. |
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Unconditionally Guaranteed (1974) This is apparently the straw that broke the camel's back. Frown can tell you more of course, but Wiki tells me that when the Magic Band heard this album they all quit. This cannot be seen as a good start, and when one of the band says “Every song was worst than the last”, well... 1. Upon the my-oh-my Didn't find that terrible. More commercial certainly; I would get the impression that he wasn't trying too hard on the lyrical side but not bad. 2. Sugar bowl Bit of a blues uptempo track, slightly annoying I must say. Some good guitar but again the song seems pretty throwaway if catchy. Meh. 3. New Electric ride Yeah this is pretty neat. Like the slide guitar. 4. Magic Bee Reminds me of the tune to “Hang down your head”, though I know this is a decade before Waits cut that album. Sort of an acoustic ballad. Not bad. Goes on a bit, gets a little wearing. 5. Happy love song Like the sax on this one a lot. Pretty decent song, kind of hear Springsteen in there. 6. Full moon, Hot sun This one's ok before the harmonica kicks in then it goes Green. 7. I Got love on my mind Yeah I really like this one. There's something about the melody. I think someone ripped it off later. 8. This is the day This is just lovely. Very Knopfleresque guitar, lovely organ work. 9. Lazy music Another nice simple tune. 10. Peaches Cool rocker, a lot of fun. Brass is great End result: I suppose if you're a diehard Beefheart fan like Frown you probably hate this, but I must say it was very pleasant and I see no reason to justify the above comments from his band, nor his own advice that people who bought the album should seek a refund. Not that anyone would give a refund for such a reason of course. But if I had this album I wouldn't be upset. If more of Beefheart's material was like this I could see myself maybe getting more into his music. So, Love or Hate? This is surely a Love. |
Writing the review for Trout Mask Replica is in one way the most important assignment concerning Beefheart week. TMR is very rightfully where most potential fans first turn for exposure to one of the great geniuses of the 20th Century. For many, TMR will always remain the only Beefheart they know. It's Beefheart's masterpiece. One of the most important records ever recorded. So who am I to say it should be me to be chosen to hunt down this woolly mammoth to provide the meat for the whole tribe? Well, there's a reason why it could be any of us. There's nothing any of us can say that hasn't been said a thousand times a thousand times better. All I can share with you is my personal relationship with this record. In other words, what it means to me. Yes, it sits alongside A Love Supreme, Rocket to Russia, Astral Weeks - greatness that can't be overstated, flawless, deservingly deified. It's a litmus test record. Those that haven't heard it need to get back to class. It's not a hipster thing; it's an understanding thing.
Here's how my relationship with this record developed. It was the late '80's and I was off to college. My future best friend had a booth set up asking students what band they would most like see play on campus. I was a southern boy who headed out west for college. I stood by the booth and insisted in my southern drawl that everyone who walked by stop and vote for Sonic Youth. The next day my new bestie called and said my name was picked by a random draw and my prize was a free album. He said he would pick me up from the dorms and I could choose my record at the local shop. I was surprised when he took me to an all classical record store. I told him I wanted some music from the early Renaissance but he had other plans for me. He bought me a double album version of Stockhausen's Hymnen. I still have it, mint condition vinyl- one of the most overlooked recordings I know of. And it turned out I didn't really win the contest. He said he just chose me because I struck him as so funny, some weird hillbilly obsessed with Sonic Youth. This was pre-Internet. I grew up listening to college radio and reading Creem magazine. I knew my punk from Black Flag to the Butthole Surfers. I had all kinds of cassettes of college radio playing stuff that sounded like Borbetomagus and Kaoru Abe. But there were huge holes in my knowledge. Bands that have been part of my life for so long I couldn't imagine not knowing. But back then, at 19, I didn't know. He made a mix tape for me. Imagine this: It included Suicide, Ornette Coleman, MC5, The Stooges, and Captain Beefheart- and I had never heard of any of them before hand! Life-****ing-changing! Hello Big Leagues! Of course, I own all those records now. But I bought the Beefheart records and the Ornette- tied for first- on the same day. The Beefheart songs he included were Big Eyed Beans from Venus (a track from Clear Spot, the other album I'm reviewing) and the astonishing Frownland from Trout Mask Replica. Frownland is one of the universally greatest songs I've ever heard. It's the perfect song to bug out to dancing spastically drunk as a monkey. It's the perfect song to put on repeat and space out on its brilliance wigged out on mushrooms. It's the perfect song to study in complete sobriety. It's fantastically chaotic, and grooves. Beautiful lyrics. "My spirit’s made up of the ocean And the sky ‘n’ the sun ‘n’ the moon ‘n’ all my eyes can see...It’s not too late for me To find my homeland Where a man can stand by another man Without an ego flying With no man lying ‘n’ no one dying by an earthly hand" Another friend of mine loved the a capella The Dust Blows Forward 'n the Dust Blows Back. He could sing it straight through. He committed suicide at 23. I miss him and always think of him when I hear this song. Another close friend especially loved The Blimp (mousetrapreplica). Read about it; listen to it. He saved his money for years working for right around minimum wage and bought a nice tenor sax that he could play well, a bass and a big two piece bass amp, a drum kit, and he had well over 500 records back when you had to pay for them. All of it was stolen in one fell swoop. It was shortly after our mutual friend mentioned above killed himself. We lost touch. I don't do Facebook but I heard he's not on it. I'm not doing some kind of song for song thing but Dachau Blues freaks me out more than any other song on the album. Dachau blues those poor Jews Dachau blues those poor Jews Dachau blues, Dachau blues those poor Jews Still cryin’ ’bout the burnin’ back in World War Two’s One mad man six million lose Down in Dachau blues, down in Dachau blues The world can’t forget that misery ‘n the young ones now beggin’ the old ones please t’ stop bein’ madmen ‘fore they have t’ tell their children ’bout the burnin’s back in World War Three’s War One was balls ‘n powder ‘n blood ‘n snow War Two rained death ‘n showers ‘n skeletons Dancin’ ‘n screamin’ ‘n dyin’ in the ovens Cough ‘n smoke ‘n dyin’ by the dozens Down in Dachau blues Down in Dachau blues Sweet little children with doves on their shoulders Their eyes rolled back in ecstasy cryin’ Please old man stop this misery They’re countin’ out the devil With two fingers on their hands Beggin’ the Lord don’t let the third one land On World War Three On World War Three |
Frank Zappa, Captain Beefheart & The Mothers - Bongo Fury
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Debra Kadabra: A cool energetic opening track, a great mix of Beefheart’s usual angularity and Zappa’s playful complexity. One can hear how Beefheart was such an influence on the No Wave scene, during some of the more chaotic moments the guitar sounds almost like Arto Lindsay. Carolina Hardcore Ecstasy: Zappa is singing on this one. Sounds like a more or less typical Zappa track from that period. Poppish vocal melodies and a rockish foundation with a heavy dose of jazz. There’s also a typical Zappa solo towards the end, which is always a good thing in my book. Sam With The Showing Scalp Flat Top: This is one of Beefheart‘s spoken word pieces. Some guitar licks, percussion and weird synth sounds back up his vocals. Towards the end a pretty cool groove emerges but it’s all over soon. I’m sorry to admit I always have trouble understanding or even noticing lyrics, because I pay more ttention to the overall sound. Poofter's Froth Wyoming Plans Ahead : After a spoken intro by Zappa some relatively generic country music starts with Beefheart singing. It’s nothing special, but relatively enjoyable. Nice bass sound, some cool harmonica playing and a slide guitar. 200 Years Old: This one is very bluesy, once again some nice harmonica playing. At first Zappa is doing some spoken word, then singing sets in, with Beefheart leading the way. Another cool solo from Zappa on this one. There’s also some honky-tonk piano in the background. Nothing special musically speaking, more or less standard electric blues, but another fun, energetic track. Cucamonga: And once again it starts of with some harmonica playing. Zappa is singing here. The music is more zappaesque and complex here. I really wish the track was longer, it’s a good one. Advance Romance: This ist the longest track on the album. I’m not quite sure who’s singing here, I think it’s George Duke. The track has an overall bluesy feel, intersped with some Zappa weirdness here and there, as it progresses it becomes a straight forward, mostly instrumental, blues jam. Some weirdness emerges towards the end again. A big part of the track is Zappa soloing and while it’s none of his best solos, he’s always fun to listen to and it doesn’t get boring. The energy levels are high on this track as well. Towards the end the singing starts again, Fowler, Beefheart, Zappa (?) and the other guys each throw in some vocal lines. Man With The Woman Head: The shortest track. Another spoken word number over a jazz-fusion background. Is this Beefheart doing the speaking with a non raspy voice? I’m not sure, I’m terrible at recognizing voices. I like the wailing sax and the e-piano here, but everything is over too fast to really get into. Muffin Man: There’s a spoken word intro by Zappa who tells us some weird-ass stuff about the Muffin Man, accompanied by some cool sounding piano. It all becomes a groovy, rocking track and once again a long Zappa solo is the icing on the muffin. Sorry for that one. The whole second half of the song is basically him soloing. The vocals set in during the last minute again for some short time and after Zappa introduces the band member it’s over. Too bad it fades out, it seems there was some more soloing going on. Well, this was a fun Zappa album. Oh right, it’s Beefheart week. Apart from the first track, where the music sounds pretty beefy at times (which is weird because apparently Zappa wrote it) and the short spoken word tracks there isn’t much Beefheart here. It is still a very cool album, Beefheart‘s vocals are a great addition whenever he’s singing and fans of both artists should have fun listening to it. I know I did. I wish there were more tracks like the first one, some genuine mixing of both musicians styles, but one has to take the album as it comes. |
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Bluejeans and Moonbeams (1974) Now this is weird! Beefheart had no musical experience or instrumental know-how? You don't say! :laughing: Seriously: someone had to “translate his ideas into music” and with the mass exit after the previous album there was, well, nobody. Which makes it seem like this should be one very crappy album. And yet, Kate Bush can't rate it highly enough. Intriguing... 1. Party of special things to do Hard guitar is good, sort of Chicago Delta blues or something 2. Same old blues Love this. Great piano work and the guitar is excellent. Strings style keyboard is beautiful. 3. Observatory crest Again I hear Springsteen here, also Cohen. And Cave. Lyric is quite repetitive though. Great guitar and keys. Oddly, this reminds me of a slowed-down version of “Motorway City” by Hawkwind, in places anyway. 4. Pompadour Swamp Not mad about this one at all. Sort of a bit chaotic and disorganised. 5. Captain's holiday Very Steely Dan-like instrumental (mostly) with splashes of reggae and blues, maybe even funk thrown in. Like it. Great harmonica. 6. Rock'n'Roll's evil doll Great fun. Uptempo, upbeat, cool track. 7. Further than we've gone Oh this is just one beautiful ballad, great piano. This is probably the best track of his I've ever listened to up to this point. 8. Twist ah luck Decent blues track, but a big disappointment after the last one. 9. Bluejeans and moonbeams Somehow he now sounds like Bob Seger or Kenny Rogers! Really nice closer, unexpected sort of Country song. End result: Again a really good album, and given all the bad press I'm kind of mystifed, unless Beefheart fans just hate anything musical. So, Love or Hate? This is surely a Love. |
One of the reasons that those two albums are disliked is because of Virgin records and the creation process. Both were released without Beefheart's permission, the executives pressured Beefheart to come out with a product quickly, and in turn Beefheart had a lot of help from studio musicians and producers writing the music. They're not particularly bad records, but to picture the disillusionment of Beefheart fans that those two records brought, imagine if Tom Waits started making inoffensive smooth jazz. It's not atrocious, but it's not all that great either and Waits could easily be spending his energy doing something else. The way I see it, Unconditionally Guaranteed and Bluejeans and Moonbeams have a couple of good songs here and there, but there are no good Beefheart songs on it.
I'll get a review up today. |
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I wonder will Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller) take me totally under in comparison? :yikes: |
Glad you're taking it on. I could easily see you liking it, it blends the weirdness with more accessible styles.
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^ 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: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...tlight_Kid.jpg 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. |
Clear Spot
It makes me sad, considering this, about how the free jazz elements were driven by time out of Beefheart's music. One of the members of Tragic Mulatto told me he liked Beefheart's late material best. I guess I admired him so much I bought into it for a long time. Sometimes an album can hang its out on just one or two songs. These are not the songs of white bread blues. This album has one of Beefheart's greatest songs, Big Eyed Beans from Venus, and his absolute best song and the best love song ever written, My Head Is My Only House Unless It Rains. Those two plus Her Eyes Are A Blue Million Miles make this my overall favorite Beefheart record. Odd, isn't it? |
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Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller) 1978/2012 I know Frownland said find the 2012 version, but Spotify only has the 1978 one so that's the one I'm doing. 1. The floppy boot stomp: Starts off really abruptly, then kicks into a sort of guitar-led Waits-style (I know!) boogie, like something that would surface on Bone Machine. Good rhythm. The more I listen to Beefheart though, the more disappointed I am in Waits: he really totally ripped his vocal style off, didn't he? I mean, if Waits and Beefheart were singing I'd be hard-pressed to know who was who. I always thought Waits was so original. :( 2. Tropical hot dog night: Like the trumpet, sounds quite islands-ish, kind of Caribbean. Good fun. Very catchy if a little repetitive. 3: Ice Rose Is this an instrumental? Nice use of marimba maybe, plus trumpets again and some screechy guitar. Changes its rhythm totally in the middle and becomes almost another piece. Actually, for a relatively short track it goes through quite a lot of changes. 4: Harry Irene Like the sort of French idea here with the accordion, the bouncy piano carrying the beat. Sort of a twenties or thirties feel to it, also see some Beatles influences. Nice whistling. 5: You know you're a man He cuts loose on this one for sure! Great slide guitar and it's got quite a seventies hard rock feel, like something maybe Free or Blue Cheer might have put out. 6: Bat chain puller A strange song, another Bone Machine-esque one. Pretty damn good I must say. 7: When I see mommy I feel like a mummy Sort of what I could only describe as drunken trumpets on this, rolling kicking percussion, odd little sounds, snarly guitar. I've liked everything here so far. How odd. The chorus of “Mommy, mommy, mommy” is hilarious. 8: Owed t'Alex Kind of like some sort of twisted hobo song. Play when leaving a city you hate, preferably while stowing aboard a freight train in the time-honoured style, with only a few cans of cold beans as food. Love the harmonica and whatever is making the main melody. Drumming is excellent, slide guitar fantastic, just everything about this seriously rocks. In fact, **** it... there! Royal Blue bitches! 9: Candle mambo Great song. Love the organ. Another sort of Caribbean rhythm; are those congas? 10: Love lies A real sleazy shuffle, staggering on, trumpet is cool. Might be soprano sax actually, not too sure. 11: Suction prints More super slide, then a real funk-out with added trumpet. Neat. Seems to be another instrumental. 12: Apes-ma Ok, this last one was the only sour note. Completely pointless. Just him talking to his parrot or something. So, Love or Hate? It's three for three. I really Love this one. |
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I pretty much gave up on Captain Beefheart after being so disappointed with Bluejeans and Moonbeams and Bongo Fury.(Sorry, grindy, but I never took to that album). In fact my area of interest shifted completely and I started listening to John Fahey and other such stuff instead. Which is all to say that I know nothing about Bat Chain Puller, so many thanks for the tip off, TH; you're quite right - Owed T'Alex is actually a really good song! I feel a personal Beefheart revival coming on....
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^ Having come so far, perhaps you should. At least listen to Moonlight on Vermont, nice and loud- it's the stand-out track and a masterpiece of aggressive music.
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And as I said there, it can hardly be called a Beefheart album. It's a Zappa album, a relatively good one, but one that would be almost completely overshadowed by his better albums. |
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OK guys it's the weekend and we've two days left. Still waiting for Pet_Sounds, Grindy, Plainview and, er, Frownland? to drop yer reviews in. Also one album left to be claimed; I won't be taking it as I've already done three.
Extract the digit, as they say... ;) |
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It's the last day of Beefheart Week, folks! Let's go....
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Hi guys,
I'm really sorry, but I should drop out. As you might have noticed, I haven't been posting much here lately, and that's because my real life has been going off the tracks a bit. I was looking forward to this, but I don't really have time to commit to it. I might still be able to post something for Supertramp Week, especially because it's one of my all time favourite albums. Apologies for letting you down, but I've got to keep my priorities straight. |
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Well it looks like I've dropped the ball on this. I'll still try to get my reviews up even though the deadline's passed. If you don't like that TH, then tough ****. Your thread nazism is not for me.
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As promised (luckily I broke TH's rules before he can find an excuse to not listen to more Beefheart), here's my first review:
http://www.beefheart.com/wp-content/...2/07/docat.jpg Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band - Doc at the Radar Station (1980) After getting the bad taste of his stint with Mercury out of his mouth with Bongo Fury and Shiny Beast, Beefheart went on to make Doc at the Radar Station and effectively rediscovered his edge. The musicians in The Magic Band on this record are the same as on Shiny Beast, but with one very important addition/return: John "Drumbo" French. Personally, I think that French is just as important to the music as the big man himself. Interestingly enough though, we're only treated to his namesake instrument on Ashtray Heart and Sheriff of Hong Kong. On the rest of the tracks we have him on slide guitar, guitar, marimba, and bass as Robert Arthur Williams manned the drums. Additionally, Gary Lucas was added to the group and later became a permanent member on Ice Cream for Crow. I think adding Lucas was a great move for the Captain since Lucas is an incredibly talented guitarist (demonstrated the most clearly on "Evening Bell") who could play the intricate melodies that Beefheart would throw at his personnel. Bruce Lambourne Fowler, most famous for being a member of Frank Zappa's backing band The Mothers of Invention, plays the trombone, Jeff Morris Tepper dominates the slide, nerve, and standard guitar, and lastly we have Eric Drew Feldman on synthesizer, bass, mellotron, grand piano, and electric piano. I had the pleasure of meeting Feldman when I saw The Magic Band perform. He was in the audience and told me and my mate that he liked our hats. Not realizing who he was we just chatted for a while until the show started. Later on in the show, John French pointed him out to the crowd and everyone was excited, people buying him drinks and such. I got him first so they can suck it. Pretty cool guy. The album artwork is, unsurprisingly, an original from Don van Vliet (the Beef's real name for those unaware). 1. Hot Head Kind of a conventionally based track for Beefheart. Starts off with a hard rollicking beat with brass, guitar, and mellotron (I think). The lyrics on this track are not as quirky as Beefheart's usual self, with them focusing on a crazy chick who's great in the sack. This track is a great introduction to the album, where Beefheart reworks his earlier style that we hear on TMR, Lick My Decals Off, Baby, and such and boils it down into a heavier beast. 2. Ashtray Heart This track carries on in the heavy style of the Hot Head while edging closer to the experimental territory both musically and lyrically. Lot of punniness going on here, it’s also incredibly sexual. Beefheart is no stranger to dirty lyrics, but this album really takes it off the charts. It makes me wonder if he was getting it on quite a bit with his wife at the time or if they were having problems and he was extraordinarily sexually frustrated. The world may never know. 3. A Carrot is as Close as a Rabbit Gets to a Diamond Total change of pace here with what I believe is 3 guitars and a bass doing an instrumental. It’s pretty similar to Dali’s Car off of TMR with its orchestrated chords that quite clearly sound like it’s been transcribed from a piano piece, but a lot tighter. Dali’s Car is by no means sloppy since they were intending to play it like that, but this track is less cluttery. 4. Run Paint Run Run A little more conventional again but very Beefy with the rolling brass and slide guitar interplay. This track could easily be from (Shiny Beast) Bat Chain Puller, mostly because the backup vocals are similar to those that are on The Floppy Boot Stomp. Sick track, but compared to the rest of the record it’s a little lackluster. 5. Sue Egypt Now with this track we have something unheard of in Beefheart’s discography: a non-a capella or instrumental track without drums. We have guitar, bass, and mmmmellotron I think? joining in as the Captain recites a poem depicting more sexual imagery, this time focusing quite a bit on the enticing subject of semen. The vocals on this one are closer to the somewhat spoken word style of singing that Beefheart really embraced with Ice Cream for Crow. 6. Brickbats The drums are back and they brought a brought a bass clarinet with them. In the middle of the song we have a pulsing series of orchestral blasts underneath a wailing clarinet and Beefheart’s amazing and again, incredibly sexual, vocals, and it’s honestly one of my favourite Beefheart moments. Even though I think it would be somewhat out of place, this was originally intended for (Shiny Beast) Bat Chain Puller along with A Carrot is as Close as a Rabbit Gets to a Diamond and Flavor Bud Living. 7. Dirty Blue Gene We start off with a faster rhythm guitar than we’re used to with Beefheart standing alone before the bass and other instruments join in in a seemingly unfocused manner even though they’re still harmonized to a degree. I’ve always kind of seen this as a less commercial (well, in Beefheartian terms) sister song to Sun Zoom Spark off of Clear Spot with both the vocal melodies and Vliet’s rhyme scheme. It takes it’s title from an earlier track that Beefheart did off on the b-side album I May Be Hungry But I Sure Ain’t Weird that showed up on reissues of Safe As Milk, but as far as I’m aware, the song’s don’t really have any relation. Interestingly enough, the original Dirty Blue Gene was an early version of the track Ice Rose from (Shiny Beast) Bat Chain Puller. The song was also redone on Ice Cream for Crow in the song Witch Doctor Life, which is closer to the original version of the track but with vocals added. I like to think that I understand more about Beefheart’s music than most people, but this is something I haven’t been able to figure out the reasoning behind. 8. Best Batch Yet This track carries on with the theme of the rest of the album, with a weird approach to the music but also with an oddly catchy sense about it in the instrumentation. I mean, you all know how much I love this shit so maybe it might not be catchy in the general way people use that term. Still, I think that this is one of the prime examples of how I view Doc at the Radar Station: a (Shiny Beast) Bat Chain Puller sequel since it has that commercial blend mixed with that ole weirdness we’ve all (well, all of us who matter) come to know and love, but with a heavier and harder hitting vibe to it and maybe inching a little closer to the weirder side of the room. 9. Telephone We have a guitar intro with effects (somewhat rare for Beefheart if you ignore distortion) until the band jumps into this badass melodic tradeoff that has a strange type of disorienting vibe even for the experienced Beefheart aficionado. On this track, the vocals are blown. Out. As. Hell. And it fits the song perfectly. While Brickbats has one of my favourite Beefheart moments, this most definitely earns a spot in my top ten Beefheart tracks. Lyrically it stands out from the album and a lot of Beefheart’s other works by exploring paranoia centering around a telephone and the protagonist’s attempts to make sure that it’s safe or else “they’re going to get [him] too.” One of the best outros in Beefheart’s discography, with him still carrying on with the lines “It’s like a grey otter at the end of the hall/it’s like a plastic horned devil,” as the instruments fade out just before he utters “devil”. Beefheart really knows how to amplify his lyrical content by using stops, and I always love the hell out of it. 10. Flavor Bud Living An instrumental track with just guitar, presumably manned by the brilliant Gary Lucas. As Dirty Blue Gene was a sister track to Sun Zoom Spark, I think that this one has a lot of parallels to a track that I had mentioned earlier, Evening Bell. Lucas (I assume, I haven’t really looked up track by track band members on this album) shows off his talents while wowing the audience with his complex stylings. As a guitarist, I can attest to how hard it is to learn how to play as if there are two or three instruments playing at the same time (not like I’ve actually been able to do this, but I’ve tried so I know it’s a hard style to learn), and this track pulls it off so cleanly and smoothly it’s mind-blowing. I get the feeling that Beefheart composed this one by whistling instead of piano (his go-to for communicating to his band members/transcribers what crazy idea he had next) since it sounds like it’s more closely related to whistling than piano or Beefheart’s vocals. Just a guess, though, I could easily be wrong. There are two or three melodies going on at times, which you can’t really whistle in a case like this (multiphonic whistling exists, btw), but it sounds dissimilar to the way he plays piano to me. 11. Sheriff of Hong Kong Popping things off with a thumping and consistent (I know, holy shit!) bass drum, this track jumps off into another Beefy piece (sorry for repeatedly describing the music like this, as it’s very difficult to specifically describe Beefheart’s sound) with the inclusion of a cool sounding Chinese gong played by the notorious CB. Jumping back to the woman related lyricism I don’t really have the time to delve into, this track really hits the spot for those who have made it this far into the record and loved the new approach that the Captain tried out. 12. Making Love to a Vampire with a Monkey on My Knee This is it. The most phenomenal track on the album and one of the best (talking top five here) tracks in his discography. Starts off with another intro that we’ve grown used to on the other tracks of the record but with a mellotron or keyboard, who knows, before the whole band joins in. Beefheart describes, you guessed it, that one time he banged a pale chick on menopause while he gave her ugly kid a horsey ride on his knee to distract it. This is also the most melotron centred tracks on the record, and it plays a huge role in the track. After Beefheart utters “Death be damned, life.”, the band closes with a great closer that reintroduces the scuttling intro. This piece has a painting of the same name that was placed on the back cover of the record and is honestly one of my favourite Beefheart paintings. http://www.freewebs.com/teejo/disco/14docdraw.jpg Everything in this song makes me want to masturbate because of the rock hard erection that I’ve gotten from it: brilliant instrumentation, initially confusing but brilliant lyrics, just that overall strange manner about it, and great vocal delivery. The best part of the vocals? Beefheart says fuck a bunch of times, and he never really swears in his music. I’ll post those lines as a closer to this wondrous album. Before I close, I’d like to add that if you haven’t heard it yet and I haven’t convinced you to start listening to it with this review, 1) what the fuck is wrong with you? and 2) why are you still reading this? Go put this album on now. “Gnats fucked my ears ‘n nostrils” “God, please fuck my mind for good” “Oh fuck that thing.. .fuck that poem…eyes crawl out with maggots” He also says cocks a lot in that song, too. |
Good review. You should do this more. :thumb:
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