Love or Hate Reborn

Trollheart · 10-27-2019, 03:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Batlord

I didn't think my comic book references were that subtle.

No I got them, I just didn't think they were funny.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oriphiel

Probably ****ing Secret Wars.

Sssh! It's a secret!

Oriphiel · 10-27-2019, 06:21 PM

Trollheart · 10-27-2019, 06:25 PM

Trollheart · 10-27-2019, 07:42 PM

Ok, here we go. For comparison here are the two previous reviews I made of this album. This will be the last.

https://www.musicbanter.com/members-...ml#post1333904

https://www.musicbanter.com/members-...ml#post1773637

Title: Trout Mask Replica
Artist: Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band
Genre: Experimental Rock/Art Rock/Avant-Garde/Blues/Free Jazz
Artist Reaction: Ah crap! I really don’t like Beefheart!

Genre Reaction: Anything with “experimental” or “avant-garde” in it is bad enough for me. Add in “jazz” and then prefix that with “free” and you have a recipe for disaster!
Familiarity: I’ve listened to this album twice, and heard one or two more of the Captain’s releases
Suggested by: Who else but Frownland? Actually, it was Neapolitan. No Christmas card for you, son!
A Little Background: Captain Beefheart is credited with revolutionising music as an art form, particularly prominent in the areas of jazz, avant-garde music, experimental rock and even progressive rock. Real name Don Van Vliet, all indications are that he was a mercurial character, perhaps sometimes as genius is allowed to be. He was a big influence on one of my heroes, Tom Waits, but that doesn’t mean I have to like him.
Expectations: I’ve heard this album twice already. The first time I hated it, the second I hated it less. This third time, I doubt I’ll love it but maybe it’ll click slightly better with me. Frownland believes you need to listen to this about forty times before you’ll “get it”. Sorry man, ain’t gonna happen!
Overview: A double album with some very weird titles, and some even weirder tracks themselves, it runs the gamut of everything from straight-ahead blues and jazz to freak-out fests, spoken word pieces and some things that just aren’t categorisable. Nearly every musician cites the album and its influence on them. That still doesn’t mean I have to like it.

God-damn it but that’s annoying! I forgot that of all the Beefheart albums, it’s the only one NOT on Spotify! So now I have to listen to a YouTube of it, and hope I can track where one song changes to the next. Well, I’ll do my best I guess!

Frownland: Always felt this was very disjointed, guitars seem to be working independently of each other. Probably wrong of course. First time I heard this I moaned that he was copying Waits. Oh, foolish me! To be fair, it’s not the worst but it’s a real jolt for a first track. Not exactly easing you into it then!
The Dust Blows Forward ‘n the Dust Blows Back: Seems to be sung acapella, a kind of folk song idea to it. Without the music, chaotic as it seems to me, this isn’t half bad at all.
Dachau Blues: Music’s back, but again this is not too bad. The vocal is relatively restrained for the Captain, and I guess in ways I just always think of him as Waits singing. Could do without the mad horns though. Can always do without mad horns. I really hate (what I’ve heard of) free jazz.
Ella Guru: Music sounds a little more cohesive to me here. Singing is ok. Again with the mad horns!
Hair Pie Bake 1: Now this I really hated first time I heard it, and the second time, but damn me if the third time isn’t the charm. It isn’t. I still hate it. A lot of silly sounds made on saxophones, flutes, harmonicas or who the hell knows what? Free jazz my ass. Too damn long for what it is. Guitar comes in later and makes it less bad, but I still hate it. Oh, and some talking at the end. Wonderful.
Moonlight on Vermont: At least this is catchy with the Captain in full flight. Quite rocky for what it is, can hear where Waits would get the likes of “Gun Street Girl” and “Sixteen Shells from a Thirty-Ought Six” from.
Pachuco Cadaver: spoken introduction then the guitar takes it in a kind of boogie blues run, again pretty catchy really. One of the guitars in the background seems to be keeping up a sort of heavy metal/hard rock riff that sort of reminds me of… Rush maybe? And there are the mad horns. Sigh.
Bill’s Corpse: Pretty off-the-wall (you don’t say!) with a choppy guitar line and a sort of sarcastic vocal from the Captain.
Sweet Sweet Bulbs: Kind of slid on into this track without me noticing. Same kind of thing I guess. This is why I hate listening on YouTube, especially to something like this where tracks tend to segue together sometimes.
Neon Meate Dream of a Octafish: Totally weird title, but what else is new? The Captain seems to talk the lyric rather than sing it - another thing Waits would rip off from him - and it sounds like there’s someone going mad on an organ in the music somewhere. The lyric is almost declaimed, as if he’s reading it off a cue card. Intentional, no doubt. Very weird. With an extra slice of weird on the side, and weird for dessert.
China Pig: Sounds like a blues run here, sort of acoustic like Delta Blues maybe? Decent vocal, not too harsh. Not bad, this.
My Human Gets Me Blues: This is more uptempo, with the vocal a little harsher.
Dali’s Car: A decent instrumental that echoes later “Dave the Butcher”. Harsh, metallic guitar kind of fighting with another, more strummed guitar. Instrumental, by the way. And short. Think some band ended up taking this as their name.
Hair Pie 2: And another instrumental. Any better than “Hair Pie 1”? Not really. It’s all right I guess, nothing terrible.
Pena: This is just talking, so far as I can see. Mostly the same words said over and over. Oh now there’s some jangly guitar coming in. Is that a female voice? Very annoying, with a capital A.
Well: Another acapella folk song. Sort of gospel overtones. This isn’t bad.
When Big Joan Sets Up: More free jazz horns. Man, I hate free jazz horns.
Fallin’ Ditch: Has another spoken intro, then it’s a growled, scratchy vocal and a - **** it, I don’t know what. I just know I don’t like it.
Sugar’n’Spikes: This one has a decent rhythm about it, like the guitar.
Ant Man Bee: This one is okay, bouncy and jumpy. Not mad about it but I don’t hate it. Much.
Orange Claw Hammer: Hey, at least they’re all short from here to the end! Another acapella folk-style tune. Not bad to be fair.
Wild Life: Crazy guitars in this. Why do I keep saying these things? Cos it’s hard to describe this music really and I want to prove I am actually listening to the damn thing. I am. Honest! No me gusta. Ay yi yi! Los hornes del diablo! Madre de dios! Etc.
She’s Too Much for My Mirror: More talking. Sigh. This gets real old real quick. Song’s pretty decent though.
Hobo Chang Ba: Say what? It’s all right I guess, but that’s about all I’ve been able to say about any track here. Nothing has resonated with me and I guess I’m trying to be polite and as positive as I can be. Whether I’m succeeding is another thing.
The Blimp (mousetrapreplica): mechanised voice on this always annoyed me. It’s like listening to Mister Magoo or something. Shut the hell up, I know it’s the goddamn blimp! You’ve said it enough times. **** off, and take your damn horns with ya!
Steal Softly thru Snow: I seem to remember the album ended well. Am I wrong? Probably. I had the idea that this was some sort of slower song. It ain’t. I don’t know where I got that idea. It’s not too bad though and I kind of like the jazzy guitar in it.
Old Fart at Play: Another spoken vocal line, decent jangly guitar. Meh.
Veteran’s Day Poppy: Good bluesy-ish guitar then it’s more kind of sixties jangle pop or some damn thing.

Conclusion: Third time lucky? Not quite. It’s probably a slightly better result than the last time, but while I can recognise the accepted importance of this album and its place in music history, its influence and all that, it’s never going to be for me. The only time I’m ever going to be listening to this is for scientific reasons, ie research or requested review. I’m never going to listen to it for pleasure, cos it don’t give me none. That’s just me, of course. Many of you love it, and fair play to you, but it ain’t in my wheelhouse, and never will be. If we meet on the street I may tip my hat and grunt politely as we pass each other, but we ain’t never gonna be friends.

So, Love or Hate? With all the magenta I suppose it has to be a Like a Little, but I can’t imagine there’s enough there for me to ever want to listen to this again.

**Frownland** · 10-27-2019, 08:05 PM

Vile hate to largely annoyed to liking it a little. I'm not one to say I toda so, but didn't I tell you it was a grower? You're about 5 listens from it being your numero uno.

Trollheart · 10-27-2019, 08:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Frownland

Vile hate to largely annoyed to liking it a little. I'm not one to say I toda so, but didn't I tell you it was a grower? You're about 5 listens from it being your numero uno.

Five listens that will never happen in this lifetime. I've had enough Beef(heart) as I can stomach at this point. Think I might go vegetarian...

**Frownland** · 10-27-2019, 08:38 PM

If my calculations are correct, you'll be a beefhead after two redacted exodi.

Trollheart · 10-27-2019, 08:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Frownland

If my calculations are correct, you'll be a beefhead after two redacted exodi.

Mondo Bungle · 10-27-2019, 09:31 PM

Plankton · 10-28-2019, 07:21 AM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzgDHkuBCIc

10-27-2019, 06:21 PM	#32 (permalink)
Oriphiel Ask me how! Join Date: Oct 2014 Location: The States Posts: 5,357	__________________ ---------------------- \|---Mic's Albums---\| ---------------------- ----------------------------- \|---Deafbox Industries---\| -----------------------------

10-27-2019, 06:25 PM	#33 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,971	__________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

10-27-2019, 07:42 PM	#34 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,971	Ok, here we go. For comparison here are the two previous reviews I made of this album. This will be the last. https://www.musicbanter.com/members-...ml#post1333904 https://www.musicbanter.com/members-...ml#post1773637 Title: Trout Mask Replica Artist: Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band Genre: Experimental Rock/Art Rock/Avant-Garde/Blues/Free Jazz Artist Reaction: Ah crap! I really don’t like Beefheart! Genre Reaction: Anything with “experimental” or “avant-garde” in it is bad enough for me. Add in “jazz” and then prefix that with “free” and you have a recipe for disaster! Familiarity: I’ve listened to this album twice, and heard one or two more of the Captain’s releases Suggested by: Who else but Frownland? Actually, it was Neapolitan. No Christmas card for you, son! A Little Background: Captain Beefheart is credited with revolutionising music as an art form, particularly prominent in the areas of jazz, avant-garde music, experimental rock and even progressive rock. Real name Don Van Vliet, all indications are that he was a mercurial character, perhaps sometimes as genius is allowed to be. He was a big influence on one of my heroes, Tom Waits, but that doesn’t mean I have to like him. Expectations: I’ve heard this album twice already. The first time I hated it, the second I hated it less. This third time, I doubt I’ll love it but maybe it’ll click slightly better with me. Frownland believes you need to listen to this about forty times before you’ll “get it”. Sorry man, ain’t gonna happen! Overview: A double album with some very weird titles, and some even weirder tracks themselves, it runs the gamut of everything from straight-ahead blues and jazz to freak-out fests, spoken word pieces and some things that just aren’t categorisable. Nearly every musician cites the album and its influence on them. That still doesn’t mean I have to like it. God-damn it but that’s annoying! I forgot that of all the Beefheart albums, it’s the only one NOT on Spotify! So now I have to listen to a YouTube of it, and hope I can track where one song changes to the next. Well, I’ll do my best I guess! Frownland: Always felt this was very disjointed, guitars seem to be working independently of each other. Probably wrong of course. First time I heard this I moaned that he was copying Waits. Oh, foolish me! To be fair, it’s not the worst but it’s a real jolt for a first track. Not exactly easing you into it then! The Dust Blows Forward ‘n the Dust Blows Back: Seems to be sung acapella, a kind of folk song idea to it. Without the music, chaotic as it seems to me, this isn’t half bad at all. Dachau Blues: Music’s back, but again this is not too bad. The vocal is relatively restrained for the Captain, and I guess in ways I just always think of him as Waits singing. Could do without the mad horns though. Can always do without mad horns. I really hate (what I’ve heard of) free jazz. Ella Guru: Music sounds a little more cohesive to me here. Singing is ok. Again with the mad horns! Hair Pie Bake 1: Now this I really hated first time I heard it, and the second time, but damn me if the third time isn’t the charm. It isn’t. I still hate it. A lot of silly sounds made on saxophones, flutes, harmonicas or who the hell knows what? Free jazz my ass. Too damn long for what it is. Guitar comes in later and makes it less bad, but I still hate it. Oh, and some talking at the end. Wonderful. Moonlight on Vermont: At least this is catchy with the Captain in full flight. Quite rocky for what it is, can hear where Waits would get the likes of “Gun Street Girl” and “Sixteen Shells from a Thirty-Ought Six” from. Pachuco Cadaver: spoken introduction then the guitar takes it in a kind of boogie blues run, again pretty catchy really. One of the guitars in the background seems to be keeping up a sort of heavy metal/hard rock riff that sort of reminds me of… Rush maybe? And there are the mad horns. Sigh. Bill’s Corpse: Pretty off-the-wall (you don’t say!) with a choppy guitar line and a sort of sarcastic vocal from the Captain. Sweet Sweet Bulbs: Kind of slid on into this track without me noticing. Same kind of thing I guess. This is why I hate listening on YouTube, especially to something like this where tracks tend to segue together sometimes. Neon Meate Dream of a Octafish: Totally weird title, but what else is new? The Captain seems to talk the lyric rather than sing it - another thing Waits would rip off from him - and it sounds like there’s someone going mad on an organ in the music somewhere. The lyric is almost declaimed, as if he’s reading it off a cue card. Intentional, no doubt. Very weird. With an extra slice of weird on the side, and weird for dessert. China Pig: Sounds like a blues run here, sort of acoustic like Delta Blues maybe? Decent vocal, not too harsh. Not bad, this. My Human Gets Me Blues: This is more uptempo, with the vocal a little harsher. Dali’s Car: A decent instrumental that echoes later “Dave the Butcher”. Harsh, metallic guitar kind of fighting with another, more strummed guitar. Instrumental, by the way. And short. Think some band ended up taking this as their name. Hair Pie 2: And another instrumental. Any better than “Hair Pie 1”? Not really. It’s all right I guess, nothing terrible. Pena: This is just talking, so far as I can see. Mostly the same words said over and over. Oh now there’s some jangly guitar coming in. Is that a female voice? Very annoying, with a capital A. Well: Another acapella folk song. Sort of gospel overtones. This isn’t bad. When Big Joan Sets Up: More free jazz horns. Man, I hate free jazz horns. Fallin’ Ditch: Has another spoken intro, then it’s a growled, scratchy vocal and a - ** it, I don’t know what. I just know I don’t like it. Sugar’n’Spikes: This one has a decent rhythm about it, like the guitar. Ant Man Bee: This one is okay, bouncy and jumpy. Not mad about it but I don’t hate it. Much. Orange Claw Hammer: Hey, at least they’re all short from here to the end! Another acapella folk-style tune. Not bad to be fair. Wild Life: Crazy guitars in this. Why do I keep saying these things? Cos it’s hard to describe this music really and I want to prove I am actually listening to the damn thing. I am. Honest! No me gusta. Ay yi yi! Los hornes del diablo! Madre de dios! Etc. She’s Too Much for My Mirror: More talking. Sigh. This gets real old real quick. Song’s pretty decent though. Hobo Chang Ba: Say what? It’s all right I guess, but that’s about all I’ve been able to say about any track here. Nothing has resonated with me and I guess I’m trying to be polite and as positive as I can be. Whether I’m succeeding is another thing. The Blimp (mousetrapreplica): mechanised voice on this always annoyed me. It’s like listening to Mister Magoo or something. Shut the hell up, I know it’s the goddamn blimp! You’ve said it enough times. off, and take your damn horns with ya! Steal Softly thru Snow: I seem to remember the album ended well. Am I wrong? Probably. I had the idea that this was some sort of slower song. It ain’t. I don’t know where I got that idea. It’s not too bad though and I kind of like the jazzy guitar in it. Old Fart at Play: Another spoken vocal line, decent jangly guitar. Meh. Veteran’s Day Poppy: Good bluesy-ish guitar then it’s more kind of sixties jangle pop or some damn thing. Conclusion: Third time lucky? Not quite. It’s probably a slightly better result than the last time, but while I can recognise the accepted importance of this album and its place in music history, its influence and all that, it’s never going to be for me. The only time I’m ever going to be listening to this is for scientific reasons, ie research or requested review. I’m never going to listen to it for pleasure, cos it don’t give me none. That’s just me, of course. Many of you love it, and fair play to you, but it ain’t in my wheelhouse, and never will be. If we meet on the street I may tip my hat and grunt politely as we pass each other, but we ain’t never gonna be friends. So, Love or Hate?** With all the magenta I suppose it has to be a Like a Little, but I can’t imagine there’s enough there for me to ever want to listen to this again. __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

10-27-2019, 08:05 PM	#35 (permalink)
Frownland SOPHIE FOREVER Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: East of the Southern North American West Posts: 35,548	Vile hate to largely annoyed to liking it a little. I'm not one to say I toda so, but didn't I tell you it was a grower? You're about 5 listens from it being your numero uno. __________________ Studies show that when a given norm is changed in the face of the unchanging, the remaining contradictions will parallel the truth. d e a f b o x

10-27-2019, 08:38 PM	#37 (permalink)
Frownland SOPHIE FOREVER Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: East of the Southern North American West Posts: 35,548	If my calculations are correct, you'll be a beefhead after two redacted exodi. __________________ Studies show that when a given norm is changed in the face of the unchanging, the remaining contradictions will parallel the truth. d e a f b o x

10-28-2019, 07:21 AM	#40 (permalink)
Plankton Just Keep Swimming... Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: See signature... Posts: 7,766	https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzgDHkuBCIc __________________ See location...