So amend my list to add "Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller)" at #9.
― J (Jay), Tuesday, 22 April 2003 17:10 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Andrew L (Andrew L), Tuesday, 22 April 2003 17:13 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Tuesday, 22 April 2003 17:16 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Colin not logged in, Tuesday, 22 April 2003 17:30 (twenty-one years ago) link
'shiny beast' are the half-hearted attempts to re-record everything and I'll agree it's a bit tame, but the original 'bat chain puller' has moments that rival anything. 'brickbats' alone.
― milton, Tuesday, 22 April 2003 18:40 (twenty-one years ago) link
'Doc at the Radar Station', with its leaner more polished sound, still has a very angular feel but seems more informed by Zappa's take on XX century atonal music than Coleman style free-jazz (just listen to those instrumentals on Doc)
― Fabrice (Fabfunk), Wednesday, 23 April 2003 07:27 (twenty-one years ago) link
Yeah, like Zappa informed Beefheart's music one iota.
― Dadaismus, Wednesday, 23 April 2003 12:28 (twenty-one years ago) link
hey colin not logged in: fair enuff so why did you say that ''It's all blues'' (I mean from what you're saying it is blues + x something).
― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Wednesday, 23 April 2003 14:59 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Colin Meeder (Mert), Wednesday, 23 April 2003 15:03 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Wednesday, 23 April 2003 15:08 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Colin Meeder (Mert), Wednesday, 23 April 2003 15:42 (twenty-one years ago) link
I rank them:1-Decals2-Doc3-TMR4-Clear Spot5-Safe as Milk6-Ice Cream7-Spotlight Kid8-Shiny Beast9-Strictly Personal10-Mirror Man11-Bluejeans & Moonbeams12-Unconditionally
I've listened to him a lot and I couldn't tell you what it is or what it isn't. There is something incomplete about a lot of it, which isn't a bad thing; the production is almost always bad, except on the last 3 and "Clear Spot." "Decals" really suffers from the shitty bass and drum sound, since the bass and drum playing on that one is amazing. I regard "Decals" as the best because it's the most concise and focused. "Doc" sounds flat (esp. on the Caroline CD I have) but "Dirty Blue Gene" pretty sums up what I like about Beefheart, and overall I think the words on that one are his best by far. Only thing that makes it less than perfect is his voice--he's still funny but the old power and range just ain't there any more.Zappa once said that CB had a bad sense of rhythm. FZ generally makes me urp but he's right in this case. The weird thing about Beef is the way the music works against itself; there's something horribly thwarted in a lot of it and you sense he's just impatient. The thing that saves it, usually, is the sense as well that he's aware of it but can do nothing about it except to mock his own impulses, constantly, and only occasionally does something really unifed and fairly un-neurotic emerge, like "Click Clack" or the "Clear Spot" album or the great "Best Batch Yet." But Beef's bad rhythm is not really bad in the sense that ordinary folks have bad rhythm--it's more like Howlin' Wolf's slightly off sense of what's happening, metrically, and I've always thought that Beef internalized some of this, and actually did a very strange and cool thing by internalizing all the wrong and oblique aspects of "blues" and came out with what he came out with.
― Jess Hill (jesshill), Wednesday, 23 April 2003 16:41 (twenty-one years ago) link
― J (Jay), Wednesday, 23 April 2003 16:54 (twenty-one years ago) link
-- J
No--I like it a lot too and it's cool as a response to various things happening at the same time (Beatles, blues revival shit, etc.). In many ways it's his most rockin' album before "Clear Spot."
― Jess Hill (jesshill), Thursday, 24 April 2003 13:26 (twenty-one years ago) link
sounds OK to me.
― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Thursday, 24 April 2003 13:29 (twenty-one years ago) link
-- Dadaismus (kcoyne3...), April 23rd, 2003. (later)
anyone care to discuss this?
― Fabrice (Fabfunk), Thursday, 24 April 2003 13:40 (twenty-one years ago) link
-- Julio Desouza
Sounds OK but not good. Barely acceptable. Sorta works to reinforce the weird vaudeville vibe of the record, I guess. The pitter-pat of little tap-dancing feet or something.
― Jess Hill (jesshill), Thursday, 24 April 2003 13:47 (twenty-one years ago) link
― rexJr., Thursday, 24 April 2003 14:24 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Dadaismus, Thursday, 24 April 2003 14:27 (twenty-one years ago) link
Beefheart uses undistorted guitar sound. I can def hear the bass on this. It may not be as 'full on' but it doesn't need to be here.
― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Thursday, 24 April 2003 14:36 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Wednesday, 23 August 2006 02:11 (seventeen years ago) link
― Scourage (Haberdager), Wednesday, 23 August 2006 02:14 (seventeen years ago) link
― Rockist_Scientist (RSLaRue), Wednesday, 23 August 2006 02:18 (seventeen years ago) link
― Lord Custos Omicron (Lord Custos Omicron), Tuesday, 26 September 2006 01:03 (seventeen years ago) link
― sleeve version 2.0 (sleeve testing), Tuesday, 26 September 2006 02:25 (seventeen years ago) link
― Am I Re-elected Yet? (Dada), Tuesday, 26 September 2006 07:32 (seventeen years ago) link
― Zeno, Sunday, 22 April 2007 04:37 (seventeen years ago) link
― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Sunday, 22 April 2007 04:38 (seventeen years ago) link
― Zeno, Sunday, 22 April 2007 04:39 (seventeen years ago) link
― filthy dylan, Sunday, 22 April 2007 04:47 (seventeen years ago) link
― baaderonixx, Sunday, 22 April 2007 09:13 (seventeen years ago) link
― Jack Burton, Sunday, 22 April 2007 11:40 (seventeen years ago) link
― sonderangerbot, Sunday, 22 April 2007 18:54 (seventeen years ago) link
― Jack Burton, Sunday, 22 April 2007 19:06 (seventeen years ago) link
http://www.scarygoround.com/strips/20070730.png
― Telephone thing, Monday, 30 July 2007 04:24 (sixteen years ago) link
http://www.scarygoround.com/strips/20070731.png
― Telephone thing, Tuesday, 31 July 2007 04:09 (sixteen years ago) link
I've listened to the The Spotlight Kid/Clear Spot two-on one disc more than anything else by Beefheart. It is all good, but this one is the one I listen to the most. The song by Beefheart that seems to pop up in my head the most is "Gimme Dat Harp Boy".
― earlnash, Tuesday, 31 July 2007 04:23 (sixteen years ago) link
I will stop posting these when they stop being so awesome.
http://www.scarygoround.com/strips/20070801.png
― Telephone thing, Wednesday, 1 August 2007 05:38 (sixteen years ago) link
hang on. "Ryan Adams" is "writing" this?
― Mark G, Wednesday, 1 August 2007 06:47 (sixteen years ago) link
Nah, not Ryan Adams, just a character who happens to be named Ryan. The author of the comic is John Allison, the rest of it is on http://www.scarygoround.com/.
― Telephone thing, Wednesday, 1 August 2007 18:19 (sixteen years ago) link
Also responsible for this classic Achewood guest spot.
― Telephone thing, Wednesday, 1 August 2007 18:23 (sixteen years ago) link
http://www.scarygoround.com/strips/20070802.png
― Telephone thing, Thursday, 2 August 2007 04:01 (sixteen years ago) link
Are you John Allison?
― Drooone, Thursday, 2 August 2007 04:03 (sixteen years ago) link
Nah, just someone who finds these amusing and has nothing better to do with himself at 11 PM on a weeknight.
― Telephone thing, Thursday, 2 August 2007 04:09 (sixteen years ago) link
Keep 'em coming, yeah!
― Mark G, Thursday, 2 August 2007 06:58 (sixteen years ago) link
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.
― o. nate, Thursday, 2 August 2007 15:39 (sixteen years ago) link
Nice comparison, that, considering they shared a label and producer and Roy Estrada.
― Myonga Vön Bontee, Thursday, 2 August 2007 16:35 (sixteen years ago) link
http://www.scarygoround.com/strips/20070803.png
fin
― Telephone thing, Friday, 3 August 2007 05:01 (sixteen years ago) link
heart.gif
― Mark G, Friday, 3 August 2007 08:28 (sixteen years ago) link