Captain Beefheart

I've listened to the The Spotlight Kid/Clear Spot two-on one disc more than anything else by Beefheart

I still haven't really gotten into this one. I never seem to be in the mood for it. If I want to hear an album like this, I'd be more likely to put on Little Feat.

Nice comparison, that, considering they shared a label and producer and Roy Estrada.

http://www.scarygoround.com/strips/20070803.png

fin

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As a five-year ILX lurker I am very proud to have my comics linked on I Love Music!!

Oh wow! Sorry to steal your bandwidth, just figured that the folks 'round here would be appreciative :)

This is an unbelievable performance:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghg13ZObXJk

Never heard the song before, I'm guessing it's from one of the less well regarded Beefheart albums.

You should see the concert footage from around that time in which he's wearing a sweater with a picture of himself on it.

Wait. "Gimmee Dat Harp Boy" is about Bob "The Bear" Hite??

Apparently, yes, the story behind it's pretty amusing

Do tell

He was at a club in LA with, I think it was Gary Marker, and Canned Heat were playing and Beefheart was getting increasingly annoyed because, according to Marker, he hated anyone working in vaguely similar areas to himself - you know, white guy singing blues based material and running to fat. He was saying stuff like, "What's that fat guy doing up there singing all those songs by dead black men?" (the rage of Caliban!) and eventually "Hey, gimme that harp, boy, ain't no fat man's toy". Story goes gomething like that anyway.

That's awesome. I love me some Bear Hite though.

mandatory
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fST51cC9PzQ

sweeeeeet

I'm on the third version of "Booglerize" and loved the whole thing. So good. Thanks for the tip Tyler.

but I can't spell "Booglaraize", despite staring at it for 30 minutes.

his voice on booglarize is insane!

Maybe my favorite era.
Winged Eel Fingerling rules.

videos of the magic band from this period are so cool in the way they show just how physical the music was, like it really was this new sort of alien dance music.

I like it when the Captain is wearing his Wind Cape
http://tela.sugarmegs.org/_asxtela/asxcards/asxpicts/CaptainBeefheart1972-03-27e.jpg

this is a hell of a thing

Booglarize is AWESOME

There are other copies of the broadcast video online where is it easier to hear that Don is doing some insane multiphonic singing. But this extra footage is amazing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBxt9jbNjS0

Yeah this is the one I'm familiar with. Opening with the most adorable German VJ you will ever see.

that is a cute VJ.
just watched this thing again. amazing.

Wow. Would take her to Tau Ceti.

Also great performance, goddamn.

That is a cool Beefheart clip.

I've finally got around to some of the side bands around that scene and Mallard and Geronimo Black were both a couple of cool bands too.

It's the way she says "baby". I think I'm in love...

She says:

"Whatever. Maybe that will happen to Captain Beefheart too sometime, because in America he's already one of the greats. His music is a little reminiscent of Frank Zappa, but you can't tell him that or he'll get pissed off. So for the next five minutes we have Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band, performing [a song with] the fairly burlesque-sounding name "I'm Gonna Booglerize You . . . Baby."

the children are the future

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

uh, tough crowd? first of all, that kid's the best frontman I know. second, hell of a lot of "grown up" bands couldn't play this song

This is the year that the Captain finally clicked for me - picked up "The Dust Blows Forwards" anthology and really dig it!

those kids are pretty good, i sure couldn't play that song.
beefheart is weird to get into because his most famous album (Trout Mask) is probably the worst one to start with? Maybe not the worst, but not the best.

Decals is prob a mite less accessible than Trout.

yeah and i guess the latter albums are probably not great to start with either -- i'd say just start at the beginning.

See I'd tend to recommend Clear Spot as a starter.

It was kinda inevitable - XTC does a spot-on cover of "Ella Guru", the Blue Aeroplanes cover "Owed T Alex", and Robyn Hitchcock did a whole gig covering "Clear Spot". I'll circle back and check out the albums proper though looks like "Lick My Decals Off" is hard to find.

I can hook you up with Decals as a single long mp3 file if all else fails you. It's p much impossible to get the CD last time I checked and unlike Starsailor it's not offered through legit download services.

Trout Mask is, despite the flaws, i.e. Zappa's production and what not his best, even if Lick My Decals is his actual best record.

You could easily start w/Safe as Milk, but dive in to Trout.... If you can't see what's good about it by just looking at the cover he's not for you. Its that simple.

Kids were p good.

hey Gerald I have Decals on CD, hit me up via ILXmail if you want a flac copy. And yes, I would say start with Safe As Milk or Clear Spot, although Doc is pretty damn good too.

Scorpio did a 180gm edition of Decals that might still be kicking around.

Decals is prob a mite less accessible than Trout.

― my other pug is a stillsuit (Jon Lewis), Thursday, December 6, 2012 2:13 PM (2 hours ago)

see I think the opposite, if I'd heard decals first I prolly would've gotten beefheart earlier

mainly cause the production job on trout mask is so raw

lick my decals is on itunes btw

and youtube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muiYV4avZfY

Scorpio did a 180gm edition of Decals that might still be kicking around.

Bought that from a rec shop a long time ago, when they existed.

last three albums are killer btw, if your first album is Clear Spot, those would not be horrible next steps...

Decals has been one of my fave records for years, but Trout Mask's rep had always sorta scared me off from listening to it--Decals is purportedly *less* accessible than Trout Mask? I've been avoiding it for nothing?

Decals is NOT less accessible than TMR, but TMR shouldn't present any great difficulty for anyone who likes Decals