Captain Beefheart

[stonemonkts]

Well, may as well devote a thread to him/them.

I included a poll of all the albums listed at AMG under "main albums". I hope I haven't left any off the list. Pick as many as you like.

[likewise]

OK, time for Beefheart lists. Here's mine:


1. Doc at The Radar Station

2. Trout Mask Replica
Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller)

4. Safe As Milk
Lick My Decals Off

6. Ice Cream For Crow
Clear Spot
Mirror Man
Dust Sucker

10. Spotlight Kid

11. Unconditionally Guaranteed

12. Bluejeans and Moonbeams

[J.A.W.]

My current Top-3:
1. Trout Mask Replica
2. Lick My Decals Off
3. Safe as Milk

[AntManBee]

Stonemonkts, thanks for making it a multiple choice poll!

[Dr Dave]

Shiny Beast equal with the annointed "Trout Mask Replica." Reynolds alert!

[stonemonkts]

I can't even vote on my own poll!

[walto]

I bulleted the one and only

Trout Mask Replica

[Uli]

Originally Posted by walto

I bulleted the one and only

Trout Mask Replica

Were you young and impressionable when you heard it the first time, Walto?

[Jon Abbey]

wow, Mirror Man getting no love. maybe you have to be a big Blind Willie Johnson fan for that one; he pretty much channels him at times, amazing croaking.

Walt said on the other thread:

"As you'll see I don't care as much for the predominantly bluesy ones. I'd rather hear the original delta blues guys for that."

I usually agree with that general idea, but Mirror Man transcends that. if I have a chance, I'll give it another listen and write up a mini-review. it's also been mastered about three or four different ways on CD, so we may not really even be talking about the same record. the one I have now is called "The Mirror Man Sessions" on Buddha.

You're Gonna Need Somebody on Your Bond, baby.

[Captain Hate]

Originally Posted by likewise

11. Unconditionally Guaranteed

12. Bluejeans and Moonbeams

I've never heard Bluejeans and Moonbeams but Unconditionally Guaranteed was one of the most disappointing pieces of shit I've ever heard. A friend of mine that had listened to me rave about the Captain picked it up and I listened to it with him in stunned amazement at how lame it was. All I could say was "He's not usually this bad."

[GoodSpeak]

zappa

[LeMo]

Captain, oh my captain: my ten favorite Beefheart in order of preference.

1 - Trout Mask Replica
2 - Shiny Beast (Bad Chain Puller)
3 - Clear Spot
4 - Mirror Man
5 - Safe As A Milk
6 - Doc At The Radar Station
7 - Lick My Decals Off, Baby
8 - Strictly Personnal
9 - Ice Cream For A Crow
10 - The Spotlight Kid

[GoodSpeak]

zappa

[walto]

Originally Posted by Uli

Were you young and impressionable when you heard it the first time, Walto?

I suppose so, yeah. But I still think Van Vliet, at least on that record, did for/to rock what "Pierrot Lunaire" did for/to classical. There was nothing else like it before, but there've been plenty of imitations since. I'm still kicking myself for missing him (and Ry Cooder) when he was in Ithaca while I was in college.

I did catch him in London a couple years later but he was in his incredibly bad period. (BTW, Captain, I understand he's "renounced" those 2 or 3 totally shit records--whatever that means.)

[stonemonkts]

Originally Posted by Jon Abbey

wow, Mirror Man getting no love. maybe you have to be a big Blind Willie Johnson fan for that one; he pretty much channels him at times, amazing croaking.

I hope to give it plenty of love after I hear it. I took what you said to heart regarding my current immersion in classic blues.

I ordered these today, along with an armful of blues from alldirect.com:

Safe As Milk
Trout Mask Replica
Spotlight Kid & Clear Spot
Mirror Man Sessions
Shiny Beast Bat Chain Puller
Doc At The Radar Station

Thanks everyone!

carry on

[Nick]

Why's Zappa's ugly ass littering this otherwise interesting thread. Clear Spot is my favorite of the five I've heard. I'll probably have to pick up Doc at the Radar Station and Mirror Man soon after seeing how enthusiastic some of you are about them.

[Jon Abbey]

Walt, for me, comparing TMR and Shiny Beast is apples and oranges, they're trying for very different things. as a piece of art, I'd take Trout Mask Replica. but as an album, I'd go with Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller). I only ranked TMR third because I don't think it's the ideal place to start, I think it might be better appreciated after a couple of the more accessible ones.

do you think your rankings are affected by your friendship with Gary Lucas? what's the chronology there for curiosity's sake, were you into Beefheart before you guys were buds?

[AntManBee]

Originally Posted by Captain Hate

I've never heard Bluejeans and Moonbeams but Unconditionally Guaranteed was one of the most disappointing pieces of shit I've ever heard.

FWIW, I think B&M is even worse than UG.

While Beefheart temporarily lost his idea of musical quality for these albums, a couple of his old band members formed Mallard. Their first album is rather pleasant (I don't remember what their second sounded like to be honest).

Speaking of old Magic Band members, I won't let this chance pass to praise Mu, featuring Jeff Cotton. The first Mu album is brilliant!!!

[AntManBee]

And there must be other fans of "The Legendary A&M Sessions" out there?

[walto]

Originally Posted by Jon Abbey

Walt, for me, comparing TMR and Shiny Beast is apples and oranges, they're trying for very different things. as a piece of art, I'd take Trout Mask Replica. but as an album, I'd go with Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller). I only ranked TMR third because I don't think it's the ideal place to start, I think it might be better appreciated after a couple of the more accessible ones.

do you think your rankings are affected by your friendship with Gary Lucas? what's the chronology there for curiosity's sake, were you into Beefheart before you guys were buds?

The two things I'm most grateful to Gary about are introducing me (while we were in highschool) to Beefheart and Incredible String Band. Gary began playing with Don in about 1980, I think. I like Trout Mask best because I enjoy all the complicated, shifting rhythms and harmonic backgrounds to the vocals. For me, that's what makes his stuff so great. Plus it's the funniest by far and the lyrics are most out there (hynogogic?). None of the other recordings are even close, IMO.

However, I don't want to dispute anything you've said about what people should start with, or what's the most accessible. I don't know. One other thing, though. There doesn't seem to me to be as much variety of material on any of the others--particularly, "Strictly Personal," "Mirror Man" and "Safe as Milk" which are all pretty blues based. That should count for something too, I think.

I should say, also, that I didn't know about the several versions of "Mirror Man" and don't really know which release is the one I'm familiar with.

Finally, I'd warn everybody off getting the recently released "Grow Fins" set. It's expensive and mostly contains throw-away stuff.

[Brian Olewnick]

For my bucks, TMR and Lick stand tall. Some great things on the earlier records and on the two after Lick (Spotlight Kid and Clear Spot) and some fine enough pieces on the last two (Doc and Ice Cream), but those two, imho, are masterworks from start to finish.

I do keep my LP copy of Unconditionally Guaranteed just as a reminder of how even musicians I hugely admire are capable of producing something worse than the worst schlock on VH1.

[Jon Abbey]

I really cherish my Beefheart collection, to the point where I've tried to never play them too much because I know that that's all there is, and I want them to keep sounding at least somewhat fresh to me for years and years to come. but even with this mindset, I've never heard Unconditionally Guaranteed/Bluejeans and Moonbeams, because of all the bad things I've read about them.

there is some good stuff on the box that Walt mentions, as I recall, but it's for completists only. I've also been disappointed by the recent wave of concert recordings, none of which I've been too into.

[Ennis Snavely]

There's a GREAT live CD of the Shiny Beast band live at My Father's Place. The Rhino Handmade release of this is the one to get. I have a bootleg release of it that's mastered at the wronf speed. The Rhino, however, sounds wonderful.

[Ennis Snavely]

I'm not sure what Good Speak's point is in posting the two pictures of Frank.
While a lot of people got to know abot Beefheart through Zappa, their musical approaches could not be more different. I like them both, but Zappa is almost too polished for his own good sometimes. And while I enjoy his junior-high humor, it gets a lttle old afer a while. The Capt. was amazing. A musical naif compared to Zappa, his stuff shows as much if not more genius.

Maybe Walto knows more about this, but Lucas descibes some very shabby behavour on Frank's part when Van Vliet tried to get rights to the original "Bat Chain Puller" recordings. To my knowledge, these sessions have never been available.

[AntManBee]

Originally Posted by Jon Abbey

doesn't this overlap somehow with Safe as Milk or Mirror Man or both?

AFAIK, the "A&M Sessions" EP remains a separate entity, never being added as bonus tracks to any other release.

1. Diddy Wah Diddy
2. Who Do You Think You're Fooling
3. Moonchild
4. Frying Pan
5. Here I Am I Always Am

[Root Doctor]

My top 3:

Trout Mask Replica
Lick My Decals Off, Baby
Doc at the Radar Station

[AntManBee]

Originally Posted by Ennis Snavely

the original "Bat Chain Puller" recordings. To my knowledge, these sessions have never been available.

Unless you count the dubious "Dust Sucker" CD from a few years back.

[Steve Reynolds]

1) Trout Mask Replica

2) Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller)

3) Doc at The Radar Station

4) Lick My Decals Off Baby

5) Ice Cream For Crow

[chuckyd4]

Lick My Decals

Recently found this one, and have been playing it pretty close to non-stop. My answer could change in a couple weeks, though.

[lazarus]

1. Trout Mask Replica
2. Lick My Decals Off Baby
3. Spotlight Kid
4. Shiny Beast
5. Doc At The Radar Station


I think this great album seems to be very underrated among the posters here on JC: