Clear Spot is the seventh studio album by Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band . It was originally released on LP in 1972 in a clear plastic sleeve.
144-503: Beefheart's third album Trout Mask Replica established him as a critically acclaimed artist, but it sold poorly. For this album Beefheart wanted more commercial success—hence his decision to work with the respected team of producer Ted Templeman and engineer Donn Landee , who created hits for the Doobie Brothers and Van Morrison . Clear Spot gathers together much of the lyrical material that Beefheart had created or formulated at
288-532: A Pepsi . His parents tolerated such behavior under the belief that their child was truly gifted. Vliet's "Pepsi-moods" were ever a source of amusement to band members, leading Zappa to later write the wry tune "Why Doesn't Someone Give Him a Pepsi?", that featured on the Bongo Fury tour. After Zappa began regular occupation at Paul Buff's PAL Studio in Cucamonga he and Van Vliet began collaborating, tentatively as
432-677: A child prodigy . Van Vliet said that he was a lecturer at the Barnsdall Art Institute in Los Angeles at the age of eleven, although it is likely he simply gave a form of artistic dissertation. Accounts of Van Vliet's precocious achievement in art often include his statement that he sculpted on a weekly television show. He said that his parents discouraged his interest in sculpture, based upon their perception of artists as "queer". According to one of Van Vliet's versions of this story, they declined several scholarship offers, including one from
576-573: A 28-track double album in June 1969 on Frank Zappa 's newly formed Straight Records label. First issues, in the US, were auto-coupled and housed in the black "Straight" liners along with a 6-page lyric sheet illustrated by the Mascara Snake . A school-age portrait of Van Vliet appears on the front of this sheet, while the cover of the gatefold shows Beefheart in a modified Pilgrim hat , obscuring his face with
720-481: A 4xCD compilation titled Sun Zoom Spark , rendering these albums available after being out of print for many years. In 2022, a double LP 50th anniversary edition of the album was released by Rhino Entertainment , for Record Store Day 2022. The second LP contains studio outtakes, alternative versions and previously unreleased instrumental rough mixes from the Clear Spot sessions. Clear Spot reached No. 191 on
864-431: A Pepsi. —Frank Zappa Van Vliet said that he never attended public school, alleging "half a day of kindergarten" to be the extent of his formal education and saying that "if you want to be a different fish, you've got to jump out of the school". His associates said that he only dropped out during his senior year of high school to help support the family after his father's heart attack. His graduation picture appears in
1008-469: A Plain Brown Wrapper (which has two tracks that are missing from the former release). Both Blue Thumb and the stamps on the cover of Strictly Personal have LSD connotations, as does the track "Ah Feel Like Ahcid", although Beefheart himself refuted this (claiming that this is a rendering of "I feel like I said"). Critically acclaimed as Van Vliet's magnum opus , Trout Mask Replica was released as
1152-458: A brilliant, stunning enlargement and clarification of [Captain Beefheart's] art", and said that, on "a purely verbal level", it is "an explosion of maniacal free-association incantations". Years later, he wrote that "it was not even 'ahead' of its time in 1969. Then and now, it stands outside time, trends, fads, hypes, the rise and fall of whole genres eclectic as walking Christmas trees, constituting
1296-404: A claim that band members strongly disputed in later years. According to Van Vliet, all of the songs on the album were written in a single eight-hour session. Band members have stated that two of the songs (" Moonlight on Vermont " and "Sugar 'n Spikes") were written around December 1967, while "Veteran's Day Poppy" was written around late May or early June 1968. Most of the rest were composed over
1440-531: A completely different, almost soft rock sound from any other Beefheart record. Neither was well received; drummer Art Tripp recalled that when he and the original Magic Band listened to Unconditionally Guaranteed , they "... were horrified. As we listened, it was as though each song was worse than the one which preceded it". Beefheart later disowned both albums, calling them "horrible and vulgar", asking that they not be considered part of his musical output and urging fans who bought them to "take copies back for
1584-419: A consistent beat despite being from different sources. When Van Vliet heard the tape, he said excitedly, " That's what I want!" Van Vliet used a piano, an instrument he had never played before, as his main compositional tool. Since he had no experience with the piano and no conventional musical knowledge at all, he was able to experiment with few preconceived ideas of musical form or structure. Van Vliet sat at
SECTION 10
#17328444978201728-404: A cover of Bo Diddley 's " Diddy Wah Diddy ", but dropped the contract after their first two singles failed to produce hits. Buddah Records released the band's (and the label's) first album, Safe as Milk , in 1967. However, the label began specializing in bubblegum pop , a style in which Captain Beefheart had no place, and the band again found themselves without a record label. In late 1967 and
1872-567: A day. Van Vliet once told drummer John French that he had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia , and he would see nonexistent conspiracies that explained this behavior. "Moonlight on Vermont" and "Veteran's Day Poppy" were recorded at Sunset Sound Recorders in August 1968, about seven months before the rest of the songs. These songs featured a lineup of Van Vliet, Bill Harkleroad and Jeff Cotton on guitar, John French on drums, and Van Vliet's friend Gary Marker serving temporarily on bass as
2016-509: A faithful cover of "My Head Is My Only House Unless It Rains" on their 3rd LP Now in 1977. Everything but the Girl also recorded the same song. It was voted number 126 in Colin Larkin 's All Time Top 1000 Albums 3rd Edition (2000). All tracks are written by Don Van Vliet and arranged by Bill Harkleroad The Magic Band (2003–2017) Trout Mask Replica Trout Mask Replica
2160-523: A few cases, part of the song was composed at the piano while others were whistled. Three of the pieces were unaccompanied vocal solos ("Well", "The Dust Blows Forward and the Dust Blows Back", and "Orange Claw Hammer") while one was a spontaneous improvisation ("China Pig"). "Bills Corpse" was titled for the emaciated condition that Bill Harkleroad suffered before leaving an LSD cult to join the band, and possibly to similar conditions Van Vliet created within
2304-509: A few days, press coverage and public outcry resulted in the band being permitted to re-enter the UK, where they recorded material for John Peel 's radio show and on Friday January 19 appeared at the Middle Earth venue, introduced by Peel, where they played tracks from Safe as Milk and some of the experimental blues tracks from Mirror Man . The band was met by an enthusiastic audience; French recalled
2448-612: A few weeks later. After their Euro tour and the Cannes beach performance the band returned to the US. Moves were already in the air for them to leave Buddah and sign to MGM and, prior to their May tour – mainly in the UK – they re-recorded some Buddah material of the partial Mirror Man sessions at Sunset Sound with Bruce Botnick . Beefheart had also been conceptualizing new band names, including 25th Century Quaker and Blue Thumb , while making suggestions to other musicians that they might get involved. The thought-process of 25th Century Quaker
2592-452: A genre unto itself: truly, a musical Monolith if ever there was one." Steve Huey of AllMusic lauded the album as "stunningly imaginative", and wrote that its influence "was felt more in spirit than in direct copycatting, as a catalyst rather than a literal musical starting point. However, its inspiring reimagining of what was possible in a rock context laid the groundwork for countless experiments in rock surrealism to follow, especially during
2736-407: A girl in the audience turn into a fish, with bubbles coming from her mouth. This aborted any opportunity of breakthrough success at Monterey, as Cooder immediately decided he could no longer work with Van Vliet, effectively quitting both the event and the band on the spot. With such complex guitar parts there was no means for the band to find a competent replacement in time for Monterey. Cooder's spot
2880-441: A lack of commercial success, he pursued a more conventional rock sound, but the ensuing albums were critically panned; this move, combined with not having been paid for a European tour, and years of enduring Beefheart's abusive behavior, led the entire band to quit. Beefheart eventually formed a new Magic Band with a group of younger musicians and regained critical approval through three final albums: Shiny Beast (1978), Doc at
3024-558: A mask by Schenkel. Trout Mask Replica incorporated a wide variety of musical styles, including blues, avant garde/experimental, and rock. The relentless practice prior to recording blended the music into an iconoclastic whole of contrapuntal tempos , featuring slide guitar , polyrhythmic drumming (with French's drums and cymbals covered in cardboard), honking saxophone and bass clarinet . Van Vliet's vocals range from his signature Howlin' Wolf -inspired growl to frenzied falsetto to laconic, casual ramblings. The instrumental backing
SECTION 20
#17328444978203168-505: A number of myths which were subsequently quoted as fact. Winner's article stated, for instance, that neither Van Vliet nor the members of the Magic Band ever took drugs, but Harkleroad and French later discredited this. Van Vliet also claimed to have taught both Harkleroad and Mark Boston from scratch; in fact, the pair were already accomplished musicians before joining the band. Van Vliet also took complete credit for composition and arranging,
3312-401: A period of several months in the summer and fall of 1968 in an unprecedented process of experimentation. One influence on the compositional process was a tape that Van Vliet's friend Gary Marker had played for him. Marker, an aspiring recording engineer , was learning how to splice audio tape. He practiced by combining sections of various recordings so that they would join smoothly and maintain
3456-743: A phonograph record". On April 6, 2011, the album was added to the United States National Recording Registry for the year 2010 by the Library of Congress . On January 13, 2012, as part of its "Inside the National Recording Registry" series, the public radio program Studio 360 broadcast a tribute to the album featuring drummer John French , biographer Mike Barnes, and Beefheart devotee Waits. Filmmaker David Lynch has called Trout Mask Replica his favorite album of all time, and John Lydon has also listed it as one of
3600-453: A playful undertone, repulsive and engrossing and slapstick funny." Due to licensing disputes, Lick My Decals Off, Baby was unavailable on CD for many years, though it remained in print on vinyl . It was ranked second in Uncut magazine's May 2010 list of The 50 Greatest Lost Albums . In 2011, the album became available for download on the iTunes Store . He toured in 1970 with Ry Cooder on
3744-445: A profound effect on the quality of the Safe as Milk work, as the former studio was 8-track and the subsequent studio a 4-track. To support the album's release the group had been scheduled to play at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival . During this period, Vliet had severe anxiety attacks that made him convinced that he was having a heart attack, possibly exacerbated by his heavy LSD use and
3888-471: A refund". By the fall of 1975 the band had completed their European tour, with further US dates in the New Year of 1976, supporting Zappa along with Dr. John . Van Vliet now found himself stuck in a web of contractual hang-ups. At this point Zappa had begun to extend a helping hand, with Vliet already having performed incognito as "Rollin' Red" on Zappa's One Size Fits All (1975) and then joining with him on
4032-468: A replacement for the recently departed Jerry Handley. About a month later, Mark Boston joined the band as full-time bassist. The lineup of Van Vliet, Harkleroad, Cotton, French, and Boston recorded the rest of the tracks, with Van Vliet's cousin Victor Hayden occasionally guesting on bass clarinet and vocals. Zappa originally proposed to record the album as an "ethnic field recording" in the house where
4176-411: A sharp broomstick . Eventually Beefheart, French says, threatened to throw him out an upper floor window. He admits complicity in similarly attacking his bandmates during "talks" aimed at them. In the end, after the album's recording, Beefheart ejected French from the band by throwing him down a set of stairs, telling him to "Take a walk, man" after not responding in a desired manner to a request to "play
4320-406: A single 8 + 1 ⁄ 2 -hour session at the piano, an instrument he had no skill in playing, an approach Mike Barnes compared to John Cage 's "maverick irreverence toward classical tradition", though band members have stated that the songs were written over the course of about a year, beginning around December 1967. (The band did watch Federico Fellini 's 1963 film 8½ during the creation of
4464-473: A strawberry" on the drums. Beefheart replaced French with drummer Jeff Bruschel, an acquaintance of Hayden. Referred to as "Fake Drumbo" (playing on French's drumset) this final act resulted in French's name not appearing on the album credits, either as a player or arranger. Bruschel toured with the band to Europe but was replaced by the next recording. According to Van Vliet, the 28 songs on the album were written in
Clear Spot - Misplaced Pages Continue
4608-438: A strong influence on young Vliet, as it was a short distance from his home on Waverly Drive. The track "Observatory Crest" on Bluejeans & Moonbeams reflects this continued interest. A portrait photo of school-age Vliet can be seen on the front of the lyric sheet within the first issue of the US release of Trout Mask Replica . For some time during the 1950s, Van Vliet worked as an apprentice with Rodrigues, who considered him
4752-424: A truncated version of the original Beefheart vision of a double album. Thus "25th Century Quaker" became a track and a potential band-name became a label . In overview, the works for the double album in this period were intended to be packaged in a plain brown wrapper, with a "strictly personal" over-stamp and addressed in a manner that could have connotations of drug content, pornographic or illicit material; as per
4896-459: A white card insert, with the band name and credits. For the UK this was a single weight card, but in the US issues this was back-to-back card with rounded corners at the bottom. The printed insert shows a photo of Beefheart and band members in the control center of the Planetarium of Griffith Park Observatory , Los Angeles, California. Griffith Park and the neighboring Los Angeles Zoo had inspired
5040-486: Is likely to have "passed through" the studio with a weapon.) Moon was present during the early demo sessions at Original Sound studio , above the Kama Sutra /Buddah offices. The works Moon laid down did not see the light of day, as he was replaced by Cooder when they continued on material at Sunset Sound with Marker. Marker then fell by the wayside when recording was moved by Krasnow and Perry to RCA Studio. This would have
5184-665: Is probably that work." It was inducted into the United States National Recording Registry in 2011. Lick My Decals Off, Baby (1970) continued in a similarly experimental vein. An album with "a very coherent structure" in the Magic Band's "most experimental and visionary stage", it was Van Vliet's most commercially successful in the United Kingdom, spending twenty weeks on the UK Albums Chart and peaking at number 20. An early promotional music video
5328-509: Is simpler and slower than on the group's two previous releases, the uncompromisingly original Trout Mask Replica and the frenetic Lick My Decals Off, Baby . This was in part an attempt by Van Vliet to become a more appealing commercial proposition as the band had made virtually no money during the previous two years—at the time of recording, the band members were subsisting on welfare food handouts and remittances from their parents. Van Vliet offered that he "got tired of scaring people with what I
5472-611: Is the third studio album by the American band Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band , released as a double album on June 16, 1969, by Straight Records . The music was composed by Captain Beefheart ( Don Van Vliet ) and arranged by drummer John "Drumbo" French . Combining elements of R&B , garage rock , and blues with free jazz and avant-garde composition, the album is regarded as an important work of experimental rock . Its unconventional musical style, which includes polyrhythm , multi-octave vocals, and polytonality , has given
5616-866: The Bongo Fury album and its later support tour. Two Vliet-penned numbers on the Bongo Fury album are "Sam with the Showing Scalp Flat Top" and "Man with the Woman Head". The form, texture and imagery of this album's first track, "Debra Kadabra", sung by Vliet, has 'angular similarities' to the work he would later produce in his next three albums. On the Bongo Fury album Vliet also sings "Poofter's Froth Wyoming Plans Ahead", harmonizes on "200 Years Old" and "Muffin Man", and plays harmonica and soprano saxophone. In early 1976 Zappa put on his producer hat and, once again, opened up his studio facilities and finance to Vliet. This
5760-709: The Delta blues of Son House and Robert Johnson , jazz artists such as Ornette Coleman , John Coltrane , Thelonious Monk and Cecil Taylor , and the Chicago blues of Howlin' Wolf and Muddy Waters . During his early teenage years, Vliet would sometimes socialize with members of local bands such as the Omens and the Blackouts, although his interests were still focused upon an art career. The Omens' guitarists Alexis Snouffer and Jerry Handley would later become founders of "the Magic Band" and
5904-687: The Safe as Milk material was honed and arranged by the arrival of 20-year–old guitar prodigy Ry Cooder, who had been brought into the group after much pressure from Vliet. The band began recording in spring 1967, with Richard Perry cutting his teeth in his first job as producer. The album was released in September 1967. Richie Unterberger of Allmusic called the album "blues–rock gone slightly askew, with jagged, fractured rhythms, soulful, twisting vocals from Van Vliet, and more doo wop, soul, straight blues, and folk–rock influences than he would employ on his more avant garde outings". John Lennon displayed two of
Clear Spot - Misplaced Pages Continue
6048-532: The Woodland Hills suburb of Los Angeles. With only two bedrooms in the house, band members would find sleep in various corners of one, while Vliet occupied the other, and rehearsals were accomplished in the main living area. Van Vliet implemented his vision by completely dominating his musicians, artistically and emotionally. At various times, one or another of the group members was "put in the barrel", with Van Vliet berating him continually, sometimes for days, until
6192-418: The punk / new wave era." The Guardian called the album "the standard by which almost all experimental rock music is judged, its reputation as a fearsomely difficult listen undimmed by the passing of time or its influence." The album's unconventional nature often alienates new listeners. Cartoonist and writer Matt Groening tells of listening to Trout Mask Replica at the age of fifteen: "I thought it
6336-403: The "best of" lists of many other publications. In 2010, the album was selected for preservation in the United States National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress for being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band had a history of difficult relationships with record labels. A&M Records released the band's first single,
6480-695: The Blackouts was considered, the role was filled by Bill Harkleroad . Bassist Jerry Handley had also departed, with Gary Marker stepping in. Thus the long rehearsals for the album began in the house on Ensenada Drive in Woodland Hills, L.A. that would become the Magic Band House. The Magic Band began recordings for Trout Mask Replica with bassist Gary "Magic" Marker at T.T.G. (on "Moonlight on Vermont" and "Veteran's Day Poppy"), but later enlisted bassist Mark Boston after his departure. The remainder of
6624-493: The Blackouts' drummer, Frank Zappa, would later capture Vliet's vocal capabilities on record for the first time. This first known recording, when he was simply "Don Vliet", is "Lost in a Whirlpool" – one of Zappa's early "field recordings" made in his college classroom with brother Bobby on guitar. It is featured on Zappa's posthumously released The Lost Episodes (1996). He had dropped out of school by that time, and spent most of his time staying at home. His girlfriend lived in
6768-605: The Buddah label, it was released later in pieces in 1971 and 1995. After rejection from Buddah, Bob Krasnow encouraged the band to re-record four of the shorter numbers, add two more, and make shorter versions of "Mirror Man" and "Kandy Korn". Krasnow created a strange mix full of "phasing" that, by most accounts (including Beefheart's), diminished the music's strength. This was released in October 1968 as Strictly Personal on Krasnow's Blue Thumb label. Stewart Mason in his Allmusic review of
6912-453: The Eyes of Magic describes some of the "talks", which were initiated by his doing such things as playing a Frank Zappa drum part ("The Blimp (mousetrapreplica)") in his drumming shed and not having finished drum parts as quickly as Beefheart wanted. French writes of being punched by band members, thrown into walls, kicked, punched in the face by Beefheart hard enough to draw blood, being attacked with
7056-561: The Grunt People , the first appearances of the Beefheart name. It has been suggested this name came from a term used by Vliet's uncle Alan, who had a habit of exposing himself to Don's girlfriend, Laurie Stone. He would urinate with the bathroom door open and, if she was walking by, would mumble about his penis, saying "Ahh, what a beauty! It looks just like a big, fine beef heart ". In a 1970 interview with Rolling Stone , Van Vliet requests "don't ask me why or how" he and Zappa came up with
7200-589: The Life " to be ridiculous and conceited. Tiring of their "lullabies", he lampooned them with the Strictly Personal song "Beatle Bones 'n' Smokin' Stones", that featured the sardonic refrain of "strawberry fields, all the winged eels slither on the heels of today's children, strawberry fields forever ". Vliet spoke badly of Lennon after getting no response when he sent a telegram of support to him and wife Yoko Ono during their 1969 " Bed-in for peace". Doug Moon left
7344-433: The Magic Band as the "Tragic Band", a term that has stuck over the years. Mike Barnes said that the description of the new band "grooving along pleasantly", was "... an appropriately banal description of the music of a man who only a few years ago had composed with the express intent of shaking listeners out of their torpor." The one album they recorded, Bluejeans & Moonbeams (1974) has, like its predecessor,
SECTION 50
#17328444978207488-401: The Magic Band simply letting go and cutting loose." The album's "miss-credit errors" also state band members as "Alex St. Clare Snouffer" (Alex St. Clare/Alexis Snouffer), "Antennae Jimmy Simmons" (Semens/Jeff Cotton) and "Jerry Handsley" (Handley). First vinyl was issued in both a die-cut gatefold (revealing a "cracked" mirror) and a single sleeve with same image. The UK Buddah issue was part of
7632-485: The Mascara Snake , performed as a bass clarinetist later in the proceedings. Vliet's girlfriend Laurie Stone, who can be heard laughing at the beginning of "Fallin' Ditch", became an audio typist at the Magic Band house. Van Vliet wanted the whole band to "live" the Trout Mask Replica album. The group rehearsed Van Vliet's difficult compositions for eight months, living communally in their small rented house in
7776-592: The Mothers of Invention , played drums and marimba, along with a returning John French. Lick My Decals Off, Baby was the first record on which the band was credited as " The " Magic Band, rather than " His " Magic Band. Journalist Irwin Chusid interprets this change as "a grudging concession of its members' at least semiautonomous humanity". Robert Christgau gave the album an A−, commenting, "Beefheart's famous five-octave range and covert totalitarian structures have taken on
7920-580: The Polydor-manufactured "Select" series. During his first trip to England in January 1968, Captain Beefheart was briefly represented in the UK by mod icon Peter Meaden , an early manager of the Who . The Captain and his band members were initially denied entry to the United Kingdom, because Meaden had illegally booked them for gigs without applying for appropriate work permits . After returning to Germany for
8064-486: The Radar Station (1980) and Ice Cream for Crow (1982). Van Vliet made few public appearances after his retirement from music in 1982. He pursued a career in art, an interest that originated in his childhood talent for sculpture, and a venture that proved to be his most financially secure. His abstract expressionist paintings and drawings command high prices, and have been exhibited in art galleries and museums across
8208-520: The Soots (pronounced "suits"). By the time Zappa had turned the venue into Studio Z the duo had completed some songs. These were "Cheryl's Canon", "Metal Man Has Won His Wings" and a Howlin' Wolf -styled rendition of Little Richard 's " Slippin' and Slidin' ". Further songs on Zappa's Mystery Disc (1996), "I Was a Teen-Age Malt Shop" and "The Birth of Captain Beefheart", also provide an insight to Zappa's "teenage movie" script titled Captain Beefheart vs.
8352-479: The U.S. Billboard 200 chart. It did not chart in the U.K. In March 2005, Q placed "Big Eyed Beans from Venus" at number 53 in its list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Tracks. "Her Eyes Are a Blue Million Miles" was featured on the soundtrack of the 1998 film The Big Lebowski , and was later covered by the Black Keys . The title track has been covered by Painted Willie and by Mark Lanegan . The Tubes released
8496-634: The age of nine, he won a children's sculpting competition organized for the Los Angeles Zoo in Griffith Park by a local tutor, Agostinho Rodrigues. Local newspaper cuttings of his junior sculpting achievements can be found reproduced in the Splinters book, included in the Riding Some Kind of Unusual Skull Sleigh boxed CD work, released in 2004. The sprawling park, with its zoo and observatory , had
8640-486: The album a B+, saying, "I find it impossible to give this record an A because it is just too weird. But I'd like to. Very great played at high volume when you're feeling shitty, because you'll never feel as shitty as this record." BBC disc jockey John Peel said of the album: "If there has been anything in the history of popular music which could be described as a work of art in a way that people who are involved in other areas of art would understand, then Trout Mask Replica
8784-895: The album a reputation as one of the most challenging recordings in the 20th century musical canon. The album was produced by Frank Zappa and recorded in March 1969 at Whitney Studios in Glendale, California , following eight months of intense rehearsals at a small rented communal house in Los Angeles . The lineup of the Magic Band at this time consisted of Bill "Zoot Horn Rollo" Harkleroad and Jeff "Antennae Jimmy Semens" Cotton on guitar, Mark "Rockette Morton" Boston on bass guitar, Victor "The Mascara Snake" Hayden on bass clarinet , and John "Drumbo" French on drums and percussion. Beefheart played several brass and woodwind instruments, including saxophone, musette , and natural horn , and contributed most of
SECTION 60
#17328444978208928-517: The album described it as a "terrific album" and a "fascinating, underrated release ... every bit the equal of Safe as Milk and Trout Mask Replica ". Langdon Winner of Rolling Stone called Strictly Personal "an excellent album. The guitars of the Magic Band mercilessly bend and stretch notes in a way that suggests that the world of music has wobbled clear off its axis", with the lyrics demonstrating "Beefheart's ability to juxtapose delightful humor with frightening insights". In 1971 some of
9072-441: The album was and by Van Vliet's vocals, but after meeting him, he gave the album another chance and compared it to "a liberation". In an October 1991 interview with Guitar Player magazine, when asked about his influences, guitarist John Frusciante of Red Hot Chili Peppers said, "the most important inspiration is undoubtedly Zoot Horn Rollo 's playing on Captain Beefheart's Trout Mask Replica . If I listen to it first thing in
9216-486: The album was in a specially-produced clear plastic sleeve. The title Clear Spot was embossed on the front, with the record clearly visible inside without a liner. This reflected the title: a clear cover with the black vinyl disc as a visible spot. The original concept was for the disc to be of clear vinyl, but this was abandoned due to financial constraints. The album did eventually see a clear vinyl release for its 50th anniversary reissue in 2022. The package also included
9360-489: The album was recorded at Whitney Studios, with some field recordings made at the house. Boston was acquainted with French and Harkleroad via past bands. Van Vliet had also begun assigning nicknames to his band members, so Harkleroad became Zoot Horn Rollo , and Boston became Rockette Morton , while John French assumed the name Drumbo , and Jeff Cotton became Antennae Jimmy Semens . Van Vliet's cousin Victor Hayden,
9504-402: The album were recorded on a cassette recorder at the house, the a cappella poems "The Dust Blows Forward 'n The Dust Blows Back" and "Orange Claw Hammer", and the improvised blues "China Pig" with former Magic Band member Doug Moon accompanying Van Vliet on guitar. "The Blimp" was recorded by Zappa in his studio while on the phone with Van Vliet prior to the album's sessions; Jeff Cotton was put on
9648-477: The album's mostly blues rock sound, songs such as "Electricity" illustrated the band's unconventional instrumentation and Van Vliet's unusual vocals. When guitarist Doug Moon complained that the band was "losing its soul", he was fired. In a 1995 interview Moon said that the songs on the album "had evolved to become a little bit more avant-garde and a little bit more hinting at things to come in Don's later albums". Much of
9792-406: The album's promotional "baby bumper stickers" in the sunroom at his home. The Beatles planned to sign Beefheart to their experimental Zapple label (plans that were scrapped after Allen Klein took over the group's management). Vliet claimed to have met Paul McCartney in a Cannes hotel nightclub during their tour of Europe on January 27, 1968, urinated together on a statue outside the hotel at
9936-436: The album). It took the band about eight months to mold the songs into shape, with French bearing primary responsibility for transposing and shaping Vliet's piano fragments into guitar and bass lines, which were mostly notated on paper. Harkleroad in 1998 said in retrospect: "We're dealing with a strange person, coming from a place of being a sculptor/painter, using music as his idiom . He was getting more into that part of who he
10080-412: The album, "If there has been anything in the history of popular music which could be described as a work of art in a way that people who are involved in other areas of art would understand, then Trout Mask Replica is probably that work." Peel later ranked the record as the best pop album ever made. Lester Bangs , in his original review for Rolling Stone in 1969, hailed the album as "a total success,
10224-418: The albums that shaped him, arguing: "It was anti-music in the most interesting and insane way ... all the bum notes I was being told off for by the teachers were finally being released by well-known artists. That was my confirmation. From then on, there was room for everything." Guitar virtuoso Steve Vai also praised the album and admitted that the first time he heard it, he was appalled by how out of tune
10368-438: The band because of his dislike of the band's increasing experimentation outside his preferred blues genre. Ry Cooder told of Moon's becoming so angered by Van Vliet's unrelenting criticism that he walked into the room pointing a loaded crossbow at him, only to have Van Vliet tell him, "Get that fucking thing out of here, get out of here and get back in your room", which he did. (Other band members dispute this account, though Moon
10512-467: The band lived. Working with Zappa and engineer Dick Kunc, the band recorded some provisional backing tracks at the Woodland Hills house, with sound separation obtained simply by having different instruments in different rooms. Zappa thought these provisional recordings turned out well, but Van Vliet became suspicious that Zappa was trying to record the album on the cheap and insisted on using a professional studio. Zappa would say of Van Vliet's approach that it
10656-425: The band survived on a bare subsistence diet. French recounted living on no more than a small cup of soybeans a day for a month, and at one point, band members were arrested for shoplifting food (whereupon Zappa bailed them out). A visitor described their appearance as "cadaverous" and said that "they all looked in poor health". Band members were restricted from leaving the house and practiced for fourteen or more hours
10800-547: The band's house. Van Vliet called the song "Dali's Car" a "study in dissonance". "Hobo Chang Ba" was based on Van Vliet's stories "as a young teenager in Mojave of going down and hanging with the hobos. He said they were really nice people and he got to know the regulars." French states that "Old Fart at Play" "was never intended to have these lyrics. This is the only other time I saw Zappa aggressively put on his 'producer's hat' and assert his will on Don. The original title to this song
10944-504: The barrel", with Van Vliet berating him continually, sometimes for days, until the musician collapsed in tears or in total submission to Van Vliet. According to John French and Bill Harkleroad, these sessions often included physical violence. French described the situation as "cultlike", and a visiting friend said that "the environment in that house was positively Manson -esque". Their material circumstances also were dire. With no income other than welfare and contributions from relatives,
11088-537: The beginning of The Spotlight Kid recordings. Bassist Roy Estrada , formerly with the Mothers of Invention and Little Feat , joined the band on this album and is credited as "Oréjon" (big ears) on the album's sleeve while noted session percussionist Milt Holland also contributed percussion. This is also the first studio album without longtime drummer John “Drumbo” French , with another former Mothers of Invention member Art Tripp (alias Ed Marimba) now serving as sole drummer. The original United States release of
11232-499: The bill to promote the album. The next two records, The Spotlight Kid (simply credited to "Captain Beefheart") and Clear Spot (credited to "Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band"), were both released in 1972. The atmosphere of The Spotlight Kid is, according to one critic, "definitely relaxed and fun, maybe one step up from a jam". And though "things do sound maybe just a little too blasé", "Beefheart at his worst still has something more than most groups at their best." The music
11376-511: The book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die . Writer Al Spicer called it "in many ways the ultimate blues album, conveying intense experiences under intense pressure". The A.V. Club called it an " avant-garde masterpiece." Entertainment Weekly called it "an astonishing, influential onslaught of avant-garde blues that still reveals fresh lunatic nuances on the umpteenth listen." Academic Langdon Winner referred to it as "the most astounding and important work of art ever to appear on
11520-643: The core of Art Tripp III , Harkleroad and Boston, with the formation of Mallard , helped by finance and UK recording facilities from Jethro Tull's Ian Anderson . Some of French's compositions were used in the band's work, but the group's singer was Sam Galpin and the role of keyboardist was eventually taken by John Thomas, who had shared a house with French in Eureka at the time. At this time Vliet attempted to recruit both French and Harkleroad as producers for his next album, but his pleas fell on deaf ears. Andy Di Martino produced both of these Virgin label albums. Vliet
11664-402: The demo by Doug Moon are therefore taken up by Ry Cooder 's work in the release, as Moon had departed over "musical differences" at this juncture. Drummer John French had now joined the group and it would later (notably on Trout Mask Replica ) be his patience that was required to transcribe Van Vliet's creative ideas (often expressed by whistling or banging on the piano) into musical form for
11808-508: The demo recording was accomplished at Art Laboe 's Original Sound Studio, then with Gary Marker on the controls at Sunset Sound on 8-track. By the end of 1966 they were signed to Buddah Records and much of the demo work was transferred to 4-track, at the behest of Krasnow and Perry , in the RCA Studio in Hollywood, where the recording was finalized. Tracks that were originally laid down in
11952-642: The door in the room where he sculpted. When he was thirteen the family moved from the Los Angeles area to the more remote farming town of Lancaster , in the Mojave Desert , where there was a growing aerospace industry supported by nearby Edwards Air Force Base . It was an environment that would greatly influence him creatively from then on. Van Vliet remained interested in art; several of his paintings, often reminiscent of Franz Kline were later used as front covers for his music albums. Meanwhile, he developed his taste and interest in music, listening "intensively" to
12096-534: The end result not fully up to snuff as a result, but those less concerned with pushing back all borders all the time will enjoy his unexpected blend of everything tempered with a new accessibility". The review called the song "Big Eyed Beans from Venus" "a fantastically strange piece of aggression". A Clear Spot song, "Her Eyes Are A Blue Million Miles", appeared on the soundtrack of the Coen brothers ' cult comedy film The Big Lebowski (1998). In 1974, immediately after
12240-448: The event as a rare high moment for the band: "After the show, we were taken to the dressing room where we sat for hours as a line of what seemed like hundreds of people walked in one by one to shake our hand or get an autograph. Many brought imports of Safe as Milk with them for us to autograph ... It seemed like we had finally gained some reward ... Suddenly all the criticizing and intimidation and eccentricities seemed very unimportant. It
12384-541: The fact that his father had died of heart failure a few years earlier. At a vital "warm-up" performance at the Fantasy Fair and Magic Mountain Music Festival (June 10–11) shortly before the scheduled Monterey Festival (June 16–18), the band began to play "Electricity" and Van Vliet froze, straightened his tie, then walked off the 10 ft (3.0 m) stage and landed on manager Bob Krasnow . He later claimed he had seen
12528-478: The final say over the ultimate shape of the product. Band member Bill Harkleroad has remarked on "how haphazardly the individual parts were done, worked on very surgically, stuck together, and then sculpted afterwards". Once completed, each song was played in exactly the same way every time, eschewing improvisation . French has stated that about three-quarters of the songs were composed at the piano. The rest mostly consisted of parts that were whistled by Van Vliet. In
12672-406: The first Magic Band and changed his name to Don Van Vliet, while Snouffer became Alex St. Clair (sometimes spelled Claire ). Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band signed to A&M and released two singles in 1966. The first was a version of Bo Diddley 's " Diddy Wah Diddy " that became a regional hit in Los Angeles. The followup, "Moonchild" (written by David Gates , later of the band Bread )
12816-460: The following year. He once worked as a door-to-door vacuum cleaner salesman, and sold a vacuum cleaner to the writer Aldous Huxley at his home in Llano , pointing to it and declaring, "Well, I assure you sir, this thing sucks." After managing a Kinney's shoe store, Van Vliet relocated to Rancho Cucamonga, California , to reconnect with Zappa, who inspired his entry into musical performance. Van Vliet
12960-473: The gear worn by the band on the Strictly Personal cover stamps. In August 1967, guitarist Jeff Cotton filled the guitar spot vacated, in turn, by Cooder and McGee. In October and November 1967 the Snouffer/Cotton/Handley/French line–up recorded material for what was planned to be the second album. Originally intended to be a double album called It Comes to You in a Plain Brown Wrapper for
13104-409: The group barely survived and were even arrested for shoplifting food (Zappa bailed them out). French has recalled living on no more than a small cup of beans a day for a month. A visitor described their appearance as "cadaverous" and said that "they all looked in poor health". Band members were restricted from leaving the house and practiced for 14 or more hours a day. John French's 2010 book Through
13248-411: The group. In the period leading up to the recording the band lived communally, first at a compound near Ben Lomond, California and then in northern California near Trinidad . The situation saw a return to the physical violence and psychological manipulation that had taken place during the band's previous communal residence while composing and rehearsing Trout Mask Replica . According to John French,
13392-503: The guitar lines in "Veteran's Day Poppy" was adapted, or the " Shortnin' Bread " melody used in "Pachuco Cadaver". Others were more contemporary, such as the quote "come out to show dem [them]" from Steve Reich 's " Come Out " used in "Moonlight on Vermont", or a melodic fragment from the Miles Davis recording of Concierto de Aranjuez used as the basis for the bridge of "Sugar 'n Spikes". The ending of "Moonlight on Vermont" also includes
13536-408: The head of a fish. The fish is a carp – arguably a "replica" for a trout, photographed by Cal Schenkel . The inner spread " infra-red " photography is by Ed Caraeff , whose Beefheart vacuum cleaner images from this session also appear on Zappa's Hot Rats release (a month earlier) to accompany "Willie The Pimp" lyrics sung by Vliet. Alex St. Clair had now left the band and, after Junior Madeo from
13680-404: The house, and his grandmother lived in the house, and his aunt and his uncle lived across the street. And his father had had a heart attack; his father drove a Helms bread truck, part of the time Don was helping out by taking over the bread truck route [and] driving up to Mojave. The rest of the time he would just sit at home and listen to rhythm and blues records, and scream at his mother to get him
13824-602: The idea that the album requires several listens to "get it", concluding it still sounded "awful" after six listens. Critic Robert Christgau , in his 1969 "Consumer Guide" for The Village Voice , said that its "weirdness" prevented him from granting it a higher grade, but called it "very great played at high volume when you're feeling shitty, because you'll never feel as shitty as this record". In 2003, Rolling Stone stated that "On first listen, Trout Mask Replica sounds like raw Delta blues ", with Beefheart "singing and ranting and reciting poetry over fractured guitar licks. But
13968-425: The instrumental tracks over headphones, he heard only the slight sound leakage through the studio window. As a result, the vocals are only vaguely in sync with the instrumental backing; when asked later about synchronization, he remarked, "That's what they do before a commando raid, isn't it?" Van Vliet used the ensuing publicity, particularly with a 1970 Rolling Stone interview with Langdon Winner , to promulgate
14112-470: The local Knudsen Creamery to travel to Europe with six years' paid tuition to study marble sculpture . Van Vliet was deeply disappointed by their denial of this opportunity for him to realize his potential as an artist. He later claimed that the experience made him so bitter that he never listened to music and abandoned his art until he was twenty-three. Van Vliet's artistic enthusiasm became so fervent, he said that his parents were forced to feed him through
14256-437: The morning, I'm assured of a day of unbridled creativity." All tracks are written by Don Van Vliet and arranged by John French Musicians Additional personnel The Magic Band (2003–2017) Don Van Vliet Don Van Vliet ( / v æ n ˈ v l iː t / ; born Don Glen Vliet ; January 15, 1941 – December 17, 2010) was an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and visual artist best known by
14400-454: The musician collapsed in tears or in total submission. Guitarist Bill Harkleroad complained that his fingers were a "bloody mess" as a result of Beefheart's orders that he use heavy strings. Drummer John French described the situation as "cultlike" and a visiting friend said "the environment in that house was positively Mansonesque ". Their material circumstances were dire. With no income other than welfare and contributions from relatives,
14544-549: The name referred to "a beef in my heart against this society". In the "Grunt People" draft script Beefheart and his mother play themselves, with his father played by Howlin' Wolf. Moreover, the young Van Vliet used to go out with wet hair to catch a cold so that he could get a lower tone of voice as Howlin' Wolf. Grace Slick is penned in as a "celestial seductress" and there are also roles for future Magic Band members Bill Harkleroad and Mark Boston. Van Vliet enrolled at Antelope Valley College as an art major, but decided to leave
14688-433: The name. Johnny Carson also asked him the same question to which Van Vliet replied that one day he was standing on the pier and saw fishermen cutting the bills off pelicans . He said it made him sad and put "a beef in his heart". Carson appeared nervous and uncomfortable interviewing Van Vliet and after the next commercial break Van Vliet was gone. He would later say in an appearance on Late Night with David Letterman that
14832-407: The opportunity to record an album with complete artistic freedom. In preparation, the band rehearsed Van Vliet's difficult compositions for eight months, living communally in a small rented house in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles . Van Vliet implemented his vision by asserting complete artistic and emotional domination of his musicians. At various times, one or another of the band members were put "in
14976-503: The original Magic Band line-up, initiated by Alexis Snouffer , the same year. The group released their debut album Safe as Milk in 1967 on Buddah Records . After being dropped by two consecutive record labels they signed to Zappa's Straight Records , where they released 1969's Trout Mask Replica ; the album would later rank 58th in Rolling Stone magazine's 2003 list of the 500 greatest albums of all time . In 1974, frustrated by
15120-503: The other group members. On French's departure this role was taken over by Bill Harkleroad for Lick My Decals Off, Baby . Many of the lyrics on the Safe as Milk album were written by Van Vliet in collaboration with the writer Herb Bermann , who befriended Van Vliet after seeing him perform at a bar-gig in Lancaster in 1966. The song " Electricity " was a poem written by Bermann, who gave Van Vliet permission to adapt it to music. Unlike
15264-481: The pair bonding through their interest in Chicago blues and R&B . Van Vliet is portrayed in both The Real Frank Zappa Book and Barry Miles ' biography Zappa as fairly spoiled at this stage of his life, the center of attention as an only child. He spent most of his time locked in his room listening to records, often with Zappa, into the early hours in the morning, eating leftover food from his father's Helms bread truck and demanding that his mother bring him
15408-445: The pair were already accomplished young musicians before joining the band. Lastly, Van Vliet claimed to have gone a year and half without sleeping. When asked how this was possible, he claimed to have only eaten fruit. Critic Steve Huey of AllMusic writes that the album's influence "was felt more in spirit than in direct copycatting, as a catalyst rather than a literal musical starting point. However, its inspiring reimagining of what
15552-435: The phone to recite Van Vliet's latest poem, which Zappa recorded and put over a Mothers of Invention backing track (which had been known to the Mothers, uncredited on Trout Mask ' s credits, as " Charles Ives "). When they entered the studio, the band completed twenty instrumental tracks in a single six-hour recording session. Van Vliet spent the next few days overdubbing the vocals. Instead of singing while monitoring
15696-468: The piano until he found a rhythmic or melodic pattern that he liked. John French then transcribed this pattern, typically only a measure or two long, into musical notation. After Van Vliet was finished, French would piece these fragments together into compositions, reminiscent of the splicing together of disparate source material on Marker's tape. French decided which part would be played on which instrument and taught each player his part, although Van Vliet had
15840-493: The prodding of journalists and photographers,and participated in a jam session together with McCartney and Penny Nichols . Producer attempts to convince McCartney to switch labels to Kama Sutra obstructed the possibility of a pleasant evening. McCartney later said he had no recollection of this meeting. Van Vliet was often critical of the Beatles, however. He considered the lyric "I'd love to turn you on" from their song " A Day in
15984-472: The recording of Unconditionally Guaranteed , which markedly continued the trend towards a more commercial sound heard on some of the Clear Spot tracks, the Magic Band's original members departed. The disgruntled former members worked together for a period, gigging at Blue Lake and putting together their own ideas and demos, with John French earmarked as the vocalist. These concepts eventually coalesced around
16128-608: The recordings done for Buddah were released as Mirror Man , bearing a liner note stating that the material had been recorded in "one night in Los Angeles in 1965". This was a ruse to circumvent possible copyright issues. The material was recorded in November and December 1967. Essentially a " jam " album, described as pushing "the boundaries of conventional blues–rock, with a Beefheart vocal tossed in here and there. Some may miss Beefheart's surreal poetry, gruff vocals, and/or free jazz influence, while others may find it fascinating to hear
16272-403: The refrain from the spiritual " Old-Time Religion ". A nonmusical influence was the art of Salvador Dalí ; the instrumental "Dali's Car" was inspired by the band's viewing of an installation of Dalí's Rainy Taxi . Trout Mask Replica is considered to be Captain Beefheart's magnum opus , and has appeared on lists of the greatest albums of all time. BBC disc jockey John Peel said of
16416-503: The school's yearbook. His statements that he never attended school – and his general disavowals of education – may have been related to his experience of dyslexia which, although never officially diagnosed, was obvious to sidemen such as John French and Denny Walley , who observed his difficulty reading cue-cards on stage, and his frequent need to be read aloud to. While attending Antelope Valley High School in Lancaster, Van Vliet became close friends with fellow teenager Frank Zappa ,
16560-469: The seeming sonic chaos is an illusion ... Tracks such as 'Ella Guru' and 'My Human Gets Me Blues' are the direct predecessors of modern musical primitives such as Tom Waits and PJ Harvey ". In 2000, it was voted number 50 in Colin Larkin 's All Time Top 1000 Albums . He stated "This record is living proof of his bizarre genius." In 2003, the album was ranked at number 59 by Rolling Stone in their list of 500 Greatest Albums of All Time , and it
16704-588: The seeming sonic chaos is an illusion—to construct the songs, the Magic Band rehearsed twelve hours a day for months on end in a house with the windows blacked out. (Producer Frank Zappa was then able to record most of the album in less than five hours.) Tracks such as 'Ella Guru' and 'My Human Gets Me Blues' are the direct predecessors of modern musical primitives such as Tom Waits and PJ Harvey ." Guitarist Fred Frith noted that during this process "forces that usually emerge in improvisation are harnessed and made constant, repeatable". Critic Robert Christgau gave
16848-468: The small ads of the time: "It comes to you in a plain brown wrapper." Given that Krasnow had effectively poached the band from Buddah there were limitations on what material could be released. Strictly Personal was the result, contained in its enigmatically addressed parcel sleeve. The raft of material left behind eventually emerged, firstly on CD as I May Be Hungry, But I Sure Ain't Weird and later on vinyl, implemented by John French, as It Comes To You in
16992-414: The spring of 1968, they had several sets of re-recording sessions for what became the albums Strictly Personal and Mirror Man . However, due to contractual uncertainties, they were unsure if the material would ever be released. Around this time, Van Vliet's high school friend Frank Zappa started his own record labels Bizarre and Straight , and offered Captain Beefheart, a name Zappa had given him,
17136-424: The stage name Captain Beefheart . Conducting a rotating ensemble known as the Magic Band , he recorded 13 studio albums between 1967 and 1982. His music blended elements of blues , free jazz , rock , and avant-garde composition with idiosyncratic rhythms, absurdist wordplay, a gravelly voice, and a wide vocal range . Renowned as an enigmatic persona, Beefheart frequently constructed myths about his life and
17280-467: The vocal parts, while Zappa and members of the band provided occasional vocals and narration. The well-rehearsed Magic Band recorded all instrumental tracks for the album in a single six-hour recording session; Beefheart's vocal and horn tracks were laid down over the next few days. Trout Mask Replica sold poorly upon its initial release in the United States, where it failed to appear in any charts. It
17424-435: The world. Van Vliet died in 2010, having had multiple sclerosis for many years. Van Vliet was born Don Glen Vliet in Glendale, California , on January 15, 1941, to Glen Alonzo Vliet, a service station owner of Dutch ancestry from Kansas , and Willie Sue Vliet (née Warfield), who was from Arkansas . He said that he was descended from Peter van Vliet, a Dutch painter who knew Rembrandt . Van Vliet also said that he
17568-417: The worst of this was directed toward Harkleroad. In his autobiography Harkleroad recalls being thrown into a dumpster, an act he interpreted as having metaphorical intent. Clear Spot 's production credit of Ted Templeman made AllMusic 's Ned Raggett consider "why in the world [it] wasn't more of a commercial success than it was", and that while fans "of the fully all-out side of Beefheart might find
17712-712: The young Beefheart (born Don Glen Vliet). For vinyl LP reissues a more traditional black-on-white printed sleeve was employed. On CD , the album is now available only as a "two for one" with its predecessor The Spotlight Kid , giving an overview of the work created when the band resided in Felton (near Santa Cruz, California ) and Trinidad in Humboldt County . Separately, the two albums are only available as vinyl LP reissues. In 2015, Rhino Records remastered and re-released this album, along with The Spotlight Kid , The Spotlight Kid Outtakes, and Lick My Decals Off, Baby in
17856-431: Was "impossible to tell him why things should be such and such a way. It seemed to me that if he was going to create a unique object, that the best thing for me to do was to keep my mouth shut as much as possible and just let him do whatever he wanted to do whether I thought it was wrong or not." "Hair Pie: Bake 1", one of the tracks recorded by Zappa and Kunc at the house, appeared on the finished album. Three other tracks on
18000-532: Was 'My Business Is the Truth, Your Business Is a Lie'." The album's title was adapted from some lines in "Old Fart at Play": ". . . the nose of the wooden mask / Where the holes had just been uh moment ago / Was now smooth amazingly blended camouflaged in / With the very intricate rainbow trout replica." Several of the compositions include brief passages from other songs. Some were childhood reminiscences, such as Gene Autry 's recording "El Rancho Grande", from which one of
18144-461: Was a glorious moment, one of the very few I ever experienced". By this time, they had terminated their association with Meaden. On January 27, 1968, Beefheart performed in the MIDEM Music Festival on the beach at Cannes , France. Alex St. Claire left the band in June 1968 after their return from a second European tour and was replaced by teenager Bill Harkleroad; bassist Jerry Handley left
18288-432: Was doing ... I realized that I had to give them something to hang their hat on, so I started working more of a beat into the music. It's more human that way". Magic Band members have also said that the slower performances were due in part to Van Vliet's inability to fit his lyrics with the instrumental backing of the faster material on the earlier albums, a problem that was exacerbated in that he almost never rehearsed with
18432-510: Was effectively recorded live in the studio, while Van Vliet overdubbed most of the vocals in only partial sync with the music by hearing the slight sound leakage through the studio window. Zappa said of Van Vliet's approach, "[it was] impossible to tell him why things should be such and such a way. It seemed to me that if he was going to create a unique object, that the best thing for me to do was to keep my mouth shut as much as possible and just let him do whatever he wanted to do whether I thought it
18576-511: Was eventually filled for a short spell by Gerry McGee, who had played with the Monkees . According to French the band did two gigs with McGee, one of which was at The Peppermint Twist near Long Beach. The other was at Santa Monica Civic Auditorium , August 7, 1967, as opening act for the Yardbirds . McGee was in the group long enough to have an outfit made by a Santa Monica boutique that also created
18720-893: Was for the production of an album provisionally titled Bat Chain Puller . The band were John French (drums), John Thomas (keyboards) and Jeff Moris Tepper and Denny Walley (guitars). Much of the work on this album had been finalized and some demos had been circulated when fate once again struck the Beefheart camp. In May 1976 the long association between Zappa and his manager/business partner Herb Cohen ceased. This resulted in Zappa's finances and ongoing works becoming part of protracted legal negotiations. The Bat Chain Puller project went "on ice" and did not see an official release until 2012. After this recording John Thomas joined ex-Magic Band members in Mallard . Prior to his next album Beefheart appeared in 1977 on
18864-423: Was forced to quickly form a new Magic Band to complete support-tour dates, with studio musicians who had no experience with his music and in fact had never heard it. Having no knowledge of the previous Magic Band style, they simply improvised what they thought would go with each song, playing much slicker versions that have been described as "bar band" versions of Beefheart songs. A review described this incarnation of
19008-432: Was instead of this blues singer. The band had rehearsed the songs so thoroughly that the instrumental tracks for 21 of the songs were recorded in a single four-and-a-half-hour recording session. Van Vliet spent the next few days overdubbing the vocals. The album's cover artwork was photographed and designed by Cal Schenkel and shows Van Vliet wearing the raw head of a carp, bought from a local fish market and fashioned into
19152-659: Was known to exercise an almost dictatorial control over his supporting musicians. Although he achieved little commercial success, he sustained a cult following as an influence on an array of experimental rock and punk -era artists. A sculpting prodigy in his childhood, Van Vliet developed an interest in blues, R&B , and jazz during his teen years in Lancaster, California , and formed "a mutually useful but volatile" friendship with musician Frank Zappa , with whom he sporadically competed and collaborated. He began performing in his Captain Beefheart persona in 1964 and joined
19296-595: Was less well received. That year the band began to play some larger west coast venues, such as the Avalon Ballroom in San Francisco. After fulfilling their deal for two singles the band presented demos to A&M during 1966 for what would become the Safe as Milk album. A&M's Jerry Moss reportedly described this new direction as "too negative" and dropped the band from the label, although still under contract. Much of
19440-562: Was made of its title song, and a bizarre television commercial was also filmed that included excerpts from "Woe-Is-uh-Me-Bop", silent footage of masked Magic Band members using kitchen utensils as musical instruments, and Beefheart kicking over a bowl of what appears to be porridge onto a dividing stripe in the middle of a road. The video was rarely played but was accepted into the Museum of Modern Art , where it has been used in several programs related to music. On this LP Art Tripp III , formerly of
19584-422: Was more successful in the United Kingdom, where it spent a week at number 21 on the UK Albums Chart . In recent years, however, Trout Mask Replica has been widely regarded as the masterpiece of Beefheart's musical career, as well as an important influence on many subsequent artists. It was ranked number 60 on Rolling Stone ' s 2012 edition of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list, and has appeared on
19728-431: Was possible in a rock context laid the groundwork for countless experiments in rock surrealism to follow, especially during the punk and new wave era." In 2003, the album was ranked sixtieth by Rolling Stone in their list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time : "On first listen, Trout Mask Replica sounds like raw Delta blues ", with Beefheart "singing and ranting and reciting poetry over fractured guitar licks. But
19872-481: Was quite shy but was eventually able to imitate the deep voice of Howlin' Wolf with his wide vocal range. He eventually grew comfortable with public performance and, after learning to play the harmonica, began playing at dances and small clubs in Southern California. In early 1965 Alex Snouffer , a Lancaster rhythm and blues guitarist, invited Vliet to sing with a group that he was assembling. Vliet joined
20016-448: Was ranked number 60 on the 2012 revision of the list: In his 1995 book The Alternative Music Almanac , Alan Cross placed the album at number two on his list of "10 Classic Alternative Albums". In 1995, Mojo put the album at number 28 on their "The 100 Greatest Albums Ever Made" list and at number 51 on their list of "The 100 Records That Changed the World". The album was also included in
20160-438: Was related to adventurer and author Richard Halliburton and cowboy actor Slim Pickens , and he said that he remembered being born. Van Vliet began painting and sculpting at age three. His subjects reflected his "obsession" with animals, particularly dinosaurs , fish, African mammals and lemurs . Considered a child prodigy, at age four he was featured with his animal sculptures on a weekly Los Angeles television program. At
20304-583: Was that it would be a "blues band" alias for the more avant-garde work of the Magic Band. Photographer Guy Webster photographed the band in Quaker-style outfits, and the picture appears in The Mirror Man Sessions CD insert. It would later transpire that much of this situation was transient and that Buddah's Bob Krasnow was to set up his own label. The label that was unsurprisingly named Blue Thumb launched with its first release Strictly Personal ,
20448-465: Was the greatest album I'd ever heard". The Signal 's John Henry wrote in 1969 that the listeners will either love or hate it, "with no middle ground", while journalist Will Smith, writing in the Omaha World-Herald in the same year, found that the album "becomes quite listenable after the initial shock" but was "not for the weak listener". John Harris of The Guardian later discussed
20592-432: Was the worst thing I'd ever heard. I said to myself, they're not even trying! It was just a sloppy cacophony. Then I listened to it a couple more times, because I couldn't believe Frank Zappa could do this to me – and because a double album cost a lot of money. About the third time, I realised they were doing it on purpose; they meant it to sound exactly this way. About the sixth or seventh time, it clicked in, and I thought it
20736-466: Was wrong or not." Van Vliet used the ensuing publicity, particularly with a 1970 Rolling Stone interview with Langdon Winner , to promulgate a number of myths that were subsequently quoted as fact. Winner's article stated, for instance, that neither Van Vliet nor the members of the Magic Band ever took drugs, but Harkleroad later contradicted this. Van Vliet claimed to have taught both Harkleroad and Boston to play their instruments from scratch; in fact,
#819180