Captain Beefheart

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I'm playing "Doc at the Radar Station" this morning and it occurs to me why I don't listen to it more often: I don't really like it that much. I think this goes into my "Music it's good to have met" category. I find that bits and pieces of Capt. Beefheart's words will suddenly appear in my head even when I have not been listening to him for a while ("Send your mother home your navel!"), but I don't really have any need to actually listen to these songs any more. I don't find what's going on musically to be as interesting as Beefheart's words and delivery. (I especially don't like the way the rhythm drags along, almost like the band would rather not be playing at all.) I remember someone saying "Capt. Beefheart? Is that anything like Dr. Demento?" and in a way I think they are actually not so different (though I don't remember what Dr. Demento sounds like that this point). This music has a novelty feel to it. I still think "Tropical Hotdog Night" is actually a pretty good song. (I know TMR is generallly considered his masterpiece, but I've never liked anything I've heard from it.)

― DeRayMi, Thursday, 6 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

ha ha! tropical hotdog night is the only beefheart song i actually like!

― gareth, Thursday, 6 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I don't listen to Doc as much as I used to, but that may just be because it's become more familiar, and I'm always finding new things to listen to. When I do listen to it, I still find it quite enjoyable. I don't think I'd ever tire of "Sue Egypt" or "Dirty Blue Gene". The Dr. Demento comparison is unjustified. Just because something sounds "weird" doesn't mean that it's a novelty. The thing about Beefheart is that you never get the feeling that he's just trying to be "weird".

― o. nate, Thursday, 6 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I listen to "Lick My Decals Off, Baby" all the time. I don't listen to "Doc" that much.

And . . . uh . . . Dr. Demento is a DJ. He doesn't really make any music, he just plays records.

― J, Thursday, 6 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

doc at the radar station is great production, not such great songs lick my decals off baby, clear spot, safe as milk, these records are worth it

go listen to the last few seconds of 'petrified forest' from ..decals.., those are my favourite few seconds of any music ever does that count for anything I wonder

― sam, Thursday, 6 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I just find it totally impossible not to enjoy 'Ella Guru' every time I hear it. What a pop song!

― Keith McD, Friday, 7 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

I knew I shouldn't mention Dr. Demento, since I can't remember what he even does or sounds like, but I thought that he actually had put out some records. Sorry about that.

I'd like to hear more Beefheart, but based on my ambivalence about what I have already heard, I'm not interested enough to actually go out and buy the stuff (and I'm not into downloading mp3s).

― DeRayMi, Saturday, 8 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

i think "ice cream for crow" is a beautifully produced refinement of TMreplica -- no boring straight songs like the ones that weigh down "doc.." and "bat .." so bad -- his last album and for me it's "this is what i wanted it to sound like, now i'll retire on high .. landscape yonder .."

maybe 'the real' bat chain puller ?? -- it's nice to know beefheart isn't completely over

that box set is fun career overview as is that book by zoot horn rollo what'sis name -- box and ice cream and kandy korn and decals 'n' stuff and "hey garland i dig your tweed coat" better than aggrivated penalty material like "moonbeams" and "necessarily retarded conversation with unfunny sunny dummy mojo bono on badumb human totum pole manure come home day"

― George Gosset, Sunday, 9 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

I always think of myself as a big beefheart fan but i never listen to him any more. i guess i've just absorbed it all. having said that - some of the live numbers offa the box set where the band sounds like the stretchheads are absolutely mindblowing. once you've run out of the captain's tunes to memorize and reminisce nostalgically over - if you can take the george duke era mothers - then get yourself "Trends & other diseases" by mats/morgan swedish nonsense which far exceeds its zappa tribute roots - pleasantly daffy, immensely motorik caveman drumming and him out of meshuggah guesting on chug & widdle guitar on a couple of tracks. dachau blues ? subtlety hardly the captains forté lyrically

― bob snoom, Thursday, 13 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

ten months pass...

REvIVe

Just heared TMR again, whats with all the hate fr it? yeah i agree that Decales is the better one and my personal fav, but i have much respect fr TMR. I got introduced to Don Vliet via Decales, maybe thats the reason why TMR makes perfect sense to me? though i'll admit to a few weak track here. first time i heared "frownland" i played it on endless repeats, also "fallin` ditch", "ella guru","hair pie: bake 2" deserve a special mention if i'm not leaving anything out. its one fantastic(Ugly) record.

― rex jr., Sunday, 20 April 2003 15:06 (twenty-two years ago)

Decals is fantastic (how many times have i said that this year?). there's tons of ohter good stuff you missed out off tmr rex. but that's OK. its a flawed but really good rec. one of the few albs in the canon that are worth listening to bcz it leads to all sorts of things (though I'll prob only listen to this once a year).

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Sunday, 20 April 2003 15:14 (twenty-two years ago)

As far as post-Trout Mask stuff goes, I like to go a little later than that. Trout Mask cannot be topped in the bizarreness department, and Decals is but a pale shadow.

But Clear Spot is not to be missed. If you can find the CD with both Clear Spot and The Spotlight Kid, all the better. "Her Eyes are a Blue Million Miles" is one of my favorite love songs.

― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Sunday, 20 April 2003 15:15 (twenty-two years ago)

clear spot is a good rec. but my decals is where the experiments on trout mask are fully realised. the production is better too.

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Sunday, 20 April 2003 15:24 (twenty-two years ago)

"Tropical Hotdog Night" isn't on "Doc At the Radar Station", has anyone mentioned this yet?

"Doc" is a great album - much better than "Ice Cream For Crow" where the Captain sounds old and exhausted and the band sound like some indie band. "Shiny Beast" is probably TOO polished, "Doc" combines the polish of "Shiny Beast" with the spikiness of "Ice Cream For Crow". Novelty music? Pah!

I confess to being amazed that anyone could possibly prefer "Lick My Decals Off" to "Trout Mask Replica" - "Trout Mask" just has so much more POWER, it's a ROCK album definitely. I like "Decals" but it has an air of charming and charmed eccentricity which makes it easier for Beefheart-detractors to dismiss it as mere obscurantist noodling and goonery. Plus the production stinks. It seems to easy to ignore "Decals" whereas "Trout Mask" is simply impossible to ignore.

― Dadaismus, Sunday, 20 April 2003 15:29 (twenty-two years ago)

Excuse me - the production is better on "Decals"? Maybe if you want Beefheart to be some Derek Bailey like figure, sitting nobly on the margins of the music business. Beefheart needs to sound like a rock band not like Henry Cow or someone!

― Dadaismus, Sunday, 20 April 2003 15:32 (twenty-two years ago)

really? my sense of good porduction must be completely fucked by listening to doggy recordings of 60s free jazz duuude!

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Sunday, 20 April 2003 15:33 (twenty-two years ago)

how the fuck does he sound like 'some derek bailey like figure'?!

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Sunday, 20 April 2003 15:34 (twenty-two years ago)

I actually Love Ice cream for crow, thats when he returned to his great 'bizzarness', i'v heared a couple of songs from Clear Spot, loved "Big Eyed Beans from Venus" but its not as interesting to me.

there's tons of ohter good stuff you missed out off tmr rex
yeah i know: "moonlight on vermont","veteran's day poppy","pachuco cadaver" and tons of others.

― rex jr., Sunday, 20 April 2003 15:37 (twenty-two years ago)

Julio, listen to music with a bit of bottom for a change! On "Decals" where's the bass and why are the drums so pitter-pattery?

This reminds me of Ben Watson's (who I normally can't stand) dismissal of Henry Cow and "Rock In Opposition" (in opppsition to what? Selling records?) in his silly Zappa book.

― Dadaismus, Sunday, 20 April 2003 15:38 (twenty-two years ago)

Dadaismis, yes I know that. I wasn't limiting myself to talking about Doc at the Radar Station.

― Rockist Scientist, Sunday, 20 April 2003 15:38 (twenty-two years ago)

how the fuck does he sound like 'some derek bailey like figure'?!

I mean that "Decals" sounds less like a rock album (because all teh bottom's been taken out) and more like just more cerebral, sexless, "difficult" music for dwellers of musical ghettoes to consume. Actually I still love the album, esp. "Bellerin' Plain"

― Dadaismus, Sunday, 20 April 2003 15:41 (twenty-two years ago)

so what if they are pitter-pattery? what does that fucking mean (though i think i know)? decals is better because the guitars/sax interplay is also much better.

I have never read that zappa book BTW and I like henry cow.

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Sunday, 20 April 2003 15:42 (twenty-two years ago)

difficult= sexless

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Sunday, 20 April 2003 15:44 (twenty-two years ago)

the alb rocks and it has some good tunes actually. he is delivering as far as the vocals go as well.

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Sunday, 20 April 2003 15:46 (twenty-two years ago)

I like Henry Cow... a bit. But Henry Cow are disposable, Beefheart is the real deal. Beefheart is a rock musician, with blood and snot and semen etc etc, he don't inhabit no ghettoes.

― Dadaismus, Sunday, 20 April 2003 15:47 (twenty-two years ago)

I hear and agree with Dadaismus's point re Decals, but still like Decals better. Perhaps the faulty statement is "Beefheart needs to sound like a rock band". Rocking out may be one of man's noblest ambitions, but why does Beefheart *need* to sound like a rock band? Really, despite it's rock context and roots, Beefheart really is a bit arty and difficult. Also, I'm guessing, but I don't think Zappa was going for a populist, "let's bring this to the CHARTS!" approach with Trout Mask, so the above point is further muddied.

― Sean (Sean), Sunday, 20 April 2003 15:48 (twenty-two years ago)

the great thing abt trout mask is the fact that he does mess with rock forms. that's why I said he was the one that led me to other things.

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Sunday, 20 April 2003 15:50 (twenty-two years ago)

KCoyne's obsessive need to slag Derek Bailey off in every thread is getting yawnsome - we get the picture, already

"Beefheart needs to sound like a rock band" - great, just what the wrld needs, another fuckin' rock band. I like the sound of 'Decals' prob. because it's marginal and scratchy and 'bottomless' or whatever - v. 'punk', not rock. 'Clear Spot' sounds like a Van Morrison alb.

― Andrew L (Andrew L), Sunday, 20 April 2003 15:50 (twenty-two years ago)

When I say he "needs to sound like a rock band". What I mean is that, to my mind, Beefheart's music sounds much better when it is "professionally" produced, particularly when the bass and drums are powerful as opposed to a (to borrow from Julio) a "dodgy mid-60s free jazz" production. If not, then his music can sound as whimsical and cerebral as Henry Cow (tho his compositions are of a far higher magnitude than anything Henry Cow were ever capable of). Another Beefheart album which strikes me as being badly produced is "The Spotlight Kid". Of course, the COMPOSITIONS are what counts and "Decals" has great compostions on it.

― Dadasimus, Sunday, 20 April 2003 15:55 (twenty-two years ago)

Ha ha, I have no great need to "slag off Derek Bailey in very thread". I quite like the old boy as it happens, his name just came to mind.

"Trout Mask Replica" still SOUNDS like a wrong album, it's produced to SOUND like a rock album not something esoteric and avant-garde.

Andrew, if you think "Clear Spot" sounds like a Van Morrison album can you point me to which Van Morrison album and I will order forthwith.

― Dadaismus, Sunday, 20 April 2003 15:59 (twenty-two years ago)

Best produced Beefheart album="Unconditionally Guaranteed" obv.

― Sean (Sean), Sunday, 20 April 2003 16:00 (twenty-two years ago)

"Trout Mask Replica" still SOUNDS like a wrong album, it's produced to SOUND like a rock album not something esoteric and avant-garde.

Should read: "Trout Mask Replica" still SOUNDS like a ROCK album, it's produced to SOUND like a rock album not something esoteric and avant-garde.

(Freudian Slip)

Anyway, I even quite like "Unconditionally Guaranteed" and "Bluejeans and Moonbeams" - so what do I know?

― Dadaismus, Sunday, 20 April 2003 16:01 (twenty-two years ago)

first time i'v heared "Peon" and "doctor dark" my mind was literary BLOWN to bits. i can't name a weak track on it, its an electric alb.

"Bellerin' Plain" is another electricfying track.

― rex jr., Sunday, 20 April 2003 16:02 (twenty-two years ago)

''Best produced Beefheart album="Unconditionally Guaranteed" obv.''

hahaha!

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Sunday, 20 April 2003 16:03 (twenty-two years ago)

Actually, I'd like to hear Van Morrison cover "Nowadays a Woman's Got to Hit a Man".

― Sean (Sean), Sunday, 20 April 2003 16:04 (twenty-two years ago)

well 'clear spot' is OK (prob just thinking of the good tracks here, there are some duds) but its nowhere near trout, decals and safe as milk.

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Sunday, 20 April 2003 16:05 (twenty-two years ago)

"Clear Spot" is fan-fucking-tastic. It's my No. 2 fave Beefheart album.

― Dadaismus, Sunday, 20 April 2003 16:07 (twenty-two years ago)

literary
DOH DOH DOH DOH DOH!! that should read literally dammit.

― rex jr, Sunday, 20 April 2003 16:08 (twenty-two years ago)

again, why does no-one like "ice cream for crow" ?

― george gosset (gegoss), Monday, 21 April 2003 03:45 (twenty-two years ago)

Its the only song I like!

― SplendidMullet (iamamonkey), Monday, 21 April 2003 04:17 (twenty-two years ago)

again, why does no-one like "ice cream for crow" ?
Its a great album, i got it recently. its got pretty addictive tracks, i'v been listening to it a lot last week.

― rex jr., Monday, 21 April 2003 07:57 (twenty-two years ago)

'ice cream' is a good rec (the title track is worth it on its own). a fine last album.

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Monday, 21 April 2003 08:34 (twenty-two years ago)

"Ice Cream For Crow" is great by anyone else's standards - I think it's only "good" by Beefheart's standards.

― Dadaismus, Monday, 21 April 2003 12:03 (twenty-two years ago)

Man, i need to get Doc at the Radar Station! i don't think i heared a single song of it.

― rex jr., Monday, 21 April 2003 12:16 (twenty-two years ago)

''I think it's only "good" by Beefheart's standards''

yup.

must get doc as well. its criminal that i haven't heard this yet.

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Monday, 21 April 2003 17:07 (twenty-two years ago)

"Doc" and "Crow" are both great.

I rank the Beefheart albums thusly:

1) Decals
2) Trout Mask
3) Strictly Personal
3) Clear Spot
4) Doc
5) Crow
6) Safe as Milk
7) Spotlight Kid
8) Mirror Man

I haven't heard "Unconditionally Guaranteed" or "Bluejeans and Moonbeams." I suspect they're not nearly as bad as everyone says, but I won't mind being wrong on that score.

Whoever said that "Decals" doesn't rock is insane. "Doctor Dark" is one of the rockinist songs EVAH. Plus the title track? Come ON! I do love TMR, but it's hard for me to swallow in one go. Plus, some of the instrumental 'house' versions of the TMR songs available on the "Grow Fins" boxset are more groovin' than the Zappa studio versions, particularly "Hobo Chang Ba."

― J (Jay), Monday, 21 April 2003 17:45 (twenty-two years ago)

Doc is great - Hothead, Ashtray Heart, Best Batch Yet .. But I still like Ice Cream for Crow better overall... I think Doc probably sounds better & I can see why people would like it more .. but Crow .. I love everything on it.

Trout Mask .. genious, masterpice, etc.. but I think it sounds like a late 60's psychedelic album (which it is...) .But I mean, it sounds dated & sounds like he was trying to be weird.. Decals seems more *?sincere?* (not sure if that's the word I want...)

― dave225 (Dave225), Monday, 21 April 2003 17:54 (twenty-two years ago)

What, no Shiny Beast?

― Chris P (Chris P), Monday, 21 April 2003 19:48 (twenty-two years ago)

"do you still have the french import vinyl of beefheart's safe as milk?"

-- Customer Who Sucks (High Fidelity)

― j.a.e., Tuesday, 22 April 2003 01:28 (twenty-two years ago)

as played by (wait for it)...

...Al Johnson of U.S. Maple.

― hstencil, Tuesday, 22 April 2003 01:29 (twenty-two years ago)

Skipping 275 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

Fast typing, sorry. "Kandyyyy Korn, Beeee reborn..."

― dow, Tuesday, 1 September 2020 00:50 (four years ago)

That Decals is legit--it, Clear Spot, and Spotlight Kid were broken off from the now OOP Rhino "Sun Zoom Spark" box.

― "...And the Gods Socially Distanced" (C. Grisso/McCain), Tuesday, 1 September 2020 00:53 (four years ago)

It seems like most of the MIA Bizzare/Straight titles have been reissued physically and digitally now, although several of the former may not be in-print as of late.

― "...And the Gods Socially Distanced" (C. Grisso/McCain), Tuesday, 1 September 2020 01:11 (four years ago)

four months pass...

Are there any good Beefheart live DVDs at all?

― Bidh boladh a' mhairbh de 'n láimh fhalaimh (dowd), Friday, 1 January 2021 12:41 (four years ago)

Beyond the BBC 'Tragic band' OGWT? Not as far as I know

― Mark G, Friday, 1 January 2021 14:48 (four years ago)

there's four killer tracks on the Grow Fins box that iirc are live videos

― howls of non-specificity (sleeve), Friday, 1 January 2021 16:55 (four years ago)

Probably the stuff they shot for the Beat Club? 1971 two drumkit/ two guitar/ bass line-up.

― Eggbreak Hotel (Tom D.), Friday, 1 January 2021 18:46 (four years ago)

The Beat Club Booglarize is way better than the Spotlight Kid version.

― Halfway there but for you, Friday, 1 January 2021 18:50 (four years ago)

The Beat Club video I thought was amazing as you could actually see how some of that stuff was played.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0d0rsW9p3I

― earlnash, Friday, 1 January 2021 19:33 (four years ago)

I was just thinking after watching this SNL the other night https://vimeo.com/385867940

― Bidh boladh a' mhairbh de 'n láimh fhalaimh (dowd), Friday, 1 January 2021 20:45 (four years ago)

I think there was a gig filmed for French TV, 1980? Not sure how much of the gig.

― Eggbreak Hotel (Tom D.), Friday, 1 January 2021 20:58 (four years ago)

seven months pass...

I had no choice but to to stan (it’s actually kinda beautiful) pic.twitter.com/uGp9iWXnr4
— Sasha Frere-Jones (@zombiesfj) August 9, 2021

This was the last straw that finally got me off my ass to order this.

― o. nate, Monday, 9 August 2021 19:18 (three years ago)

By the way, this week Trout Mask Replica appeared on streaming services for the first time ever (the 2013 Bob Ludwig remaster).

― ˈʌglɪɪst preɪ, Monday, 9 August 2021 20:47 (three years ago)

The Legendary A&M Sessions is just an awesome record.

― Sassy Boutonnière (ledriver), Tuesday, 10 August 2021 05:10 (three years ago)

one year passes...

^^Speaking of, The Captain gets a phone interview and a needle drop on American Bandstand in '66:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFfKWfJ8Tc8

― an icon of a worried-looking, long-haired, bespectacled man (C. Grisso/McCain), Friday, 6 January 2023 22:29 (two years ago)

one year passes...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKWVLOIEO-Q

^ never heard this before - from the blue collar OST
the clanging/industrial percussion is cool!

― fpsa, Wednesday, 10 January 2024 16:16 (one year ago)

yeah the only place that's been compiled is on The Dust Blows Forward 2xCD, I think

― out-of-print LaserDisc edition (sleeve), Wednesday, 10 January 2024 16:18 (one year ago)

that's a cool one. i heard it on a Jack Nitzsche comp ... called Hard Workin Man, actually! https://www.discogs.com/release/4561165-Jack-Nitzsche-Hard-Workin-Man-The-Jack-Nitzsche-Story-Volume-2

Guess it's a little reunion with the captain and ry cooder, too.

― tylerw, Wednesday, 10 January 2024 16:22 (one year ago)

Which was absolute torture to record according to Cooder - hilarious torture though.

― Little Billy Love (Tom D.), Wednesday, 10 January 2024 16:33 (one year ago)

Only found out the other day that there's an exhibition of Don's paintings currently on in London:

https://www.michaelwerner.com/exhibitions/don-van-vliet7

― Ward Fowler, Wednesday, 10 January 2024 16:49 (one year ago)

Thanks for reminding me, I'd forgotten that was on.

― Little Billy Love (Tom D.), Wednesday, 10 January 2024 16:58 (one year ago)

Ry Cooder:

We wrote the tune and I don't remember a whole lot about it except that [I wondered] who can sing this? Well, only Beefheart's got that kind of crazy low voice to put this across. I got him to come down out of the desert - it was the last time I saw him. Locked him in a room and went through all kinds of hell to get him to sing the whole song once. He's the most incorrigible, difficult guy in the world. "I hate Hollywood... those lights - I hate those lights... who's that guy?" That's just the producer, leave him alone... "I hate producers." Just sing the song. "I have to go to the bathroom." Just sing... the song. Jesus Christ! We locked the door. Actually did. "Get me outta here," he was yelling - banging the door with his fists. I said, "You sing - then you can come out." He put me through a lot of hell during the Safe As Milk days and I got off on that. I got him now! We got Beefheart now. But it was good.

― Little Billy Love (Tom D.), Wednesday, 10 January 2024 18:19 (one year ago)

it's too bad the much more profane film version doesn't seem to have been released anywhere officially...

― Kate (rushomancy), Wednesday, 10 January 2024 21:55 (one year ago)

Only found out the other day that there's an exhibition of Don's paintings currently on in London:

https://www.michaelwerner.com/exhibitions/don-van-vliet7

― Ward Fowler, Wednesday, 10 January 2024 bookmarkflaglink

Nice. I am definitely going

― xyzzzz__, Saturday, 13 January 2024 15:32 (one year ago)

four weeks pass...

I went. Found the paintings to have a similar energy to his music. They are not fully abstract, nor fully figurative.

I've never been to the desert but I got a feeling this is what it could be like. They transported me there.

One week to go, it's just three rooms. Go.

― xyzzzz__, Saturday, 10 February 2024 16:32 (one year ago)

eleven months pass...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucA3q5VCQW0

RIP to elliot ingber aka winged eel fingerling on gibson les paul junior wearing sunglasses and aloha shirt on stage right.

― Mrs. Ippei (Steve Shasta), Wednesday, 22 January 2025 19:05 (four months ago)

RIP. This was his moment in the sun...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3i0wU9HsCE0

― Please play Lou Reed's irritating guitar sounds (Tom D.), Wednesday, 22 January 2025 19:16 (four months ago)

Samuel Andreyev's YouTube channel has some great Magic Band interview videos. Also recommended is his analysis and transcription of 'Frownland'.

― EvR, Thursday, 23 January 2025 08:53 (four months ago)

RIP Elliot - total legend. The Fraternity of Man album is a banger. Worked alot with Lowell George.

― kurt schwitterz, Thursday, 23 January 2025 09:19 (four months ago)

RIP

― curmudgeon, Thursday, 23 January 2025 17:32 (four months ago)

RIP

― LightUserSyndrome, Friday, 24 January 2025 02:22 (four months ago)

three months pass...

I actually didn't realize he was in such poor physical health by the time I knew his music (i.e. around the turn of the century). I knew he had health issues, but I finally saw this film from 1993, apparently his last public appearance of sorts, and it's clear he wasn't going to return to performing.

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

― birdistheword, Saturday, 10 May 2025 22:32 (three weeks ago)

iirc he quit performing (and music) specifically to devote his time to painting, irregardless of his health. the gallery that sold his work told him that if he wanted to be taken seriously as an artist he would need to do it exclusively.

― Kim Kimberly, Saturday, 10 May 2025 22:43 (three weeks ago)

I think it had a lot to do with his health. Wasn't his condition why he lived out in the desert, as he would be more comfortable in that kind of heat?

I think Richard Strange had a similar thing, I recall him saying the only time he felt comfortable was in a phone box in the middle of a heatwave.

― Mark G, Saturday, 10 May 2025 22:59 (three weeks ago)

He lived in coastal northern California in his later years, not the desert.

― Kim Kimberly, Saturday, 10 May 2025 23:14 (three weeks ago)

wiki:

He exhibited only few of his paintings because he immediately destroyed any that did not satisfy him.

― sleeve, Saturday, 10 May 2025 23:22 (three weeks ago)

and yeah he died in Arcata! as wet as it gets.

― sleeve, Saturday, 10 May 2025 23:22 (three weeks ago)

Well, when he quit music after "Ice cream for crow" that's when I meant

― Mark G, Sunday, 11 May 2025 07:52 (three weeks ago)

Once the money from the art started coming in he moved to the coast basically.

― Blake the Messenger (Tom D.), Sunday, 11 May 2025 08:04 (three weeks ago)

https://www.reddit.com/r/Music/comments/c16htc/50_years_ago_today_captain_beefheart_and_his/ercoua6/?context=3

― imperial frfr (Steve Shasta), Sunday, 11 May 2025 12:05 (three weeks ago)

"I cared for Don Van Vliet during my clinical rotation as a nursing student in the hospital the week before he passed away at Mad River Hospital. It was a surreal experience to wash his junk. I was the only person who knew who he was while he was a patient."

― imperial frfr (Steve Shasta), Sunday, 11 May 2025 12:06 (three weeks ago)

three weeks pass...

holy shit

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1bqBXfrxio

― sleeve, Tuesday, 3 June 2025 02:18 (three days ago)

Newly discovered footage from a 72 Beefheart show in Paris. Looks like Elliot Ingbar, Bill Harkelroad, and Mark Boston on guitars, Roy Estrada on bass, and Art Tripp on drums.

― sleeve, Tuesday, 3 June 2025 02:18 (three days ago)

Nice angles!

The Magic Band are wearing the same outfits as from the German TV appearance:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpHgG4jILa0

― imperial frfr (Steve Shasta), Tuesday, 3 June 2025 02:36 (three days ago)

How many other drummers have worn a monocle?

― visiting, Tuesday, 3 June 2025 03:46 (three days ago)

...or panties as a doo-rag?

― imperial frfr (Steve Shasta), Tuesday, 3 June 2025 03:49 (three days ago)

...or panties as a doo-rag?
― imperial frfr (Steve Shasta)

it's actually pretty common in japanese media

anyway glad to see some footage of this gig show up

the audio from their '72 "pop deux" appearance has circulated for a while... i had a tape of it back in the '90s. "click clack" from the broadcast has also circulated on video for a long-ass time.

the tracklist on my audio copy:

"don speaks" (0:11)
hair pie: bake iii (mark boston solo) (0:51)
alice in blunderland (3:36)
abba zaba (3:00)
interview (part 1) (1:56)
click clack (2:54)
my human gets me blues (1:22, only end section - not cut, this is just all they played for whatever reason)
interview (part 2) (1:47)
i'm gonna booglarize you baby (3:14)
interview (part 3) (2:38)
spitball scalped a baby (drum-sax duet) (1:14)
golden birdies (2:08)

the interviews are overdubbed in french and weren't on the copy i originally had on tape

would be nice to see the whole video show up some day... whenever INA gets around to posting it i guess. INA does a really good job of taking care of their archive, so i'm sure the whole thing is around.

― Kate (rushomancy), Tuesday, 3 June 2025 15:55 (three days ago)

that "Click Clack" video was on the Grow Fins box (and it totally rules ofc)

― sleeve, Tuesday, 3 June 2025 15:57 (three days ago)

in other exciting Beefheart news, thanks to tyler for hipping me to this stunning new remaster/"demix" of Safe As Milk, plus tons of bonus tracks including some I had never heard before.

https://www.profstoned.com/2025/04/captain-beefheart-his-magic-band-safe.html

― sleeve, Wednesday, 4 June 2025 19:04 (two days ago)

oh nice, i don't often keep track of prof stoned's stuff but they do good work

― Kate (rushomancy), Wednesday, 4 June 2025 20:46 (two days ago)

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