POLL 1971: Scaruffi's top 20 albums of that year

Waht? Album or song?

The album. It just sounds like half-assed jamming to me. Give me the well-rehearsed, cleanly-recorded Magic Band of "Trout Mask" over this any day.

tried this?
The Mirror Man Sessions

In 1999, Buddha Records (which had renamed itself to correct the earlier misspelling, 'Buddah') reissued the album under the title The Mirror Man Sessions, which was released with a newly expanded track list and a 12-page booklet explaining the history of the recordings. The additional tracks included on this release are also taken from the abandoned Brown Wrapper sessions, and thus yield a track listing which is somewhat closer to the original concept. Other tracks from these sessions are included as bonus material on Buddha's 1999 issue of Safe as Milk.
No. Title Length
1. "Tarotplane" 19:08
2. "25th Century Quaker" 9:50
3. "Mirror Man" 15:46
4. "Kandy Korn" 8:06
5. "Trust Us" (Take 6) 7:14
6. "Safe as Milk" (Take 12) 5:00
7. "Beatle Bones n' Smokin' Stones" 3:11
8. "Moody Liz" (Take 8) 4:32
9. "Gimme Dat Harp Boy" 3:32

^that and Shiny Beast were my gateways into Beefheart. I still think of those sessions as basically the 2nd Beefheart album (ie the missing link between Safe as Milk and TMR)

"Kandy Korn" is probably in my top 3 songs from Van Vliet