Trout Mask Replica C/D

Simply to call it "classic" wouldn't even get close; probably the greatest album ever made.

"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"

.... errr.... discuss!

Much prefer Clear Spot and those later albums with Tropical Hot Dog Nights, Bat Chain Puller and the one about Salt Lake City. I forget.

I've had about three Beefheart 'phases' and I reckon TMR is the worst.

Then again, I don't get Pet Sounds either and that me feels heretic.

It was absolutely baffling on first listen, but is now a favourite.

I liken the album to those Magic-Eye 3D pictures: those who can "see" it are the ones who giggle in amazement (at discovering a new way of seeing, ... or hearing), and wonder how on earth it works.
And then there is everyone else, who wonder what the big deal is ...

i always kinda respected this album more than i ever wanted to listen to it...

but right now, i fucking LOVE it! i think i finally fell in love with trout mask replica.

on the grow fins box set (I think) there's one cd of beefheart and band practicing for tmr, and most of the tracks are instrumentals of tmr tracks. They're all great, but I mean the instrumental of sugar 'n spikes is kind of super revelatory. Kind of a must-hear imo.

I had a similar kind of epiphany when I saw The Magic Band at ATP a few years back because they were just absurdly good, and to hear stuff off TMR and the other albums played live, by gnarly old dudes, was really blissfully entertaining.

xpost

This is seriously one of the worst albums I've ever heard in my life. I cannot listen to it.

TMR is a truly inspired and beautiful piece of classic american art, imo.
The house sessions are revelatory. It just rocks like nothing else.
Not for everyone, I guesss.

Beyond personal definitions of good and bad, it's an important record. It's not a fun record. (Not sure CB ever made one of those.)

cmon Safe as Milk is soo much fun. It can get the right crowds motivated to move.

It's not a fun record.
it totally is! whaa? and capt. beefheart made plenty of fun records. maybe we have a different definition of fun.

one of the records that can make me nostalgic for the pre-internet age because wondering what it was like & hearing people talk about it/reading Langdon Winner about it was such a buildup & the curiosity got really intense over a sustained period of time before I actually found somebody who owned it to loan it to me. I remember getting it home: fuck yes, I'm going to hear it! and realizing I had no idea what I actually expected & being kind of floored by "moonlight on vermont."

OTM. Read about it for years before I heard it, mostly b/c it showed up on every Rolling Stone list. I could hear something in my head but it was very different from how it turned out. Took me many years to grow to love it

maybe we have a different definition of fun.

Could be. I love Beefheart and love TMR, don't get me wrong.

The first weekend I moved into the dorms at college, I got Trout Mask Replica, Rain Dogs and that single CD of about everything Ryko did of Mission of Burma back in the late 80s. That was one ear opening CD haul. Hearing something like Songs About Fxxking or Damaged or Frankenchrist was a WTF is this stuff crazy. I think Trout Mask Replica far out weirded them all. You can get with anger and it is understadible but what kind of emotions was the Captain playing out? Hard to say. Rain Dogs also had plenty of wow that is just different, but then hearing the Dust Blows Forward, the Dust Blows Back or Dachau Blues was like something coming from another dimension.

I dunno, I have to think this kind of experience is very different in an age where so much information is easily aquired. The thing about something like Trout Mask Replica back then was you couldn't jump on a PC and get the back story to try and explain such weirdness. I ended up listening to much music that went further than the Captain, but it was a jumping off point of sorts.

goddamn side 4 stands so well by itself... that side is the side that encapsulates the whole thing for me. at one point it was all I listened to off of this with occasional time outs for "Moonlight On Vermont".

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y161/MarkGrout/elegaroo.jpg

John French has his book out

http://www.propermusic.com/epk/teaser/drumbobookteaser.jpg

http://www.propermusic.com/epk/teaser/vol1.html