| Author | Message | ||
     skulldisco Member Username: Skulldisco Post Number: 1005 Registered: 10-2008 |
damn, another genius gone | ||
| skulldisco Member Username: Skulldisco Post Number: 1006 Registered: 10-2008 |
strange how many artists die round about xmas safe as milk will get big licks tomorrow, i'm working nightshift tonight http://pitchfork.com/news/41062-rip-capt ain-beefheart/ | ||
| Allen Belz Member Username: Abpositive Post Number: 1979 Registered: 09-2006 |
I have very fond memories of pulling a scratchy copy of Trout Mask Replica out of a dollar bin at exactly the right point in my young life when I needed some musical stretching. Took a number of listens before the stretching began to take, at which point I quickly sought out as much of his catalog as I could find. Much gratitude, Don, and RIP. | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 2537 Registered: 03-2005 |
Wow. Don Van Vliet is one of the very few pop music persons I see as a bona fide genius. In fact he may be the only one I'd give that title to. His music straddled blues, pop and highbrow jazz. I think the best of it will remain relevant to listen to for a very long time. He seemed to be able to take his poetic sensibility and translate it into painting as well. I regret bypassing a chance to buy a signed copy from a limited edition of illustrations he did about 10 years ago. | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 1539 Registered: 08-2006 |
Wow, this is a biggie. Because I loved his last few records so much, I always hoped a late-life CD might sneak out at some point. No such luck, I guess. So it's Doc at the Radar Station for breakfast. | ||
| andreas Member Username: Andreas Post Number: 835 Registered: 04-2006 |
randy put it in the right words (as always) and there is not much more to add. Don van vliet was a kind of genius as a (non) musician, poet and painter. but also a dictator and a person who have problems to handle with people (according to what i have read in that big -900 pages with small letters- book of drumbo (john french). nevertheless, he was/is one of my alltime favourite artists. rip | ||
| spence Member Username: Spence Post Number: 3506 Registered: 05-2005 |
don't check in much nowadays, but thought i'd see the beefheart obit, very very sad. all i can say is that i agree with andreas, randy (as always) delievers it how it should be said. rip dvv | ||
| Michael Bachman Member Username: Michael_bachman Post Number: 2039 Registered: 01-2005 |
Sad to say, but I would hazzard to guess that it will have taken his recent passing last week to finally get some record company to remaster and release Decals. | ||
| andreas Member Username: Andreas Post Number: 848 Registered: 04-2006 |
special greets to spence! not only decals (and trout mask replica) should be remastered, there waits also the original bat chain puller album from 1975 for an official release. as far as i known gail zappa has there fingers on it. | ||
| skulldisco Member Username: Skulldisco Post Number: 1034 Registered: 10-2008 |
http://pitchfork.com/features/articles/7 910-appreciation-captain-beefheart/ i always thought lick my decals off baby had been deleted. i just have a cd-r bootleg. but its actually widely (and cheaply)available in the usa and europe(but not uk) as a bone fide 180g vinyl gatefold sleeve on the warners label. i've ordered it from germany for just under £10. its available in the states for 8 or 9 dollars!! | ||
| skulldisco Member Username: Skulldisco Post Number: 1063 Registered: 10-2008 |
my copy of "lick my decals off baby" that i mentioned above finally came today, 16 days after ordering - who knew germany was so far away!!. i've had records arrive from australia quicker. anyway, its a nice pressing even if it is pressed on a sickly pale orange coloured vinyl. one of beefhearts more "off kilter" releases -eg its not "clear spot" or "safe as milk", in fact there's next to no blues based songs. mojo are retrospectively rating all the beefheart albums in their tribute this month, "decals" rates as 5 stars. its good but its not in the same league as "safe as milk","clear spot","shiny beast..." or "doc at the radar station" is it? | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 2572 Registered: 03-2005 |
Kevin, I think it depends on whether you're in the camp who regards "Trout Mask Replica" as his greatest record or whether you prefer the somewhat more accessible ones such as those you've mentioned (plus the great "Spotlight Kid.") "Decals" leans more toward the "Trout Mask" side of his work. Personally, I prefer the records that balance his edgy abstractions with just enough pop accessibility so "Decals" will not be in my top 3 favorite Beefheart albums. On the other hand, I always regarded that awful thing he did for Mercury Records--is it called "Fully Guaranteed"?--as pure $#!+. There was no balance there, just total capitulation. | ||
| skulldisco Member Username: Skulldisco Post Number: 1064 Registered: 10-2008 |
randy, my favourites are the ones i mentioned, eg "safe as milk","clear spot","shiny beast..." and "doc at the radar station". i actually have "spotlight kid" and "clear spot" as a twofer, but have always preferred "clear spot" on that one. "trout mask.." is an album with a genre all of its very own!! i've never heard anything like it really(although i'm sure there are imitations out there), i have to be in the mood to listen to it, and have played it a lot lately. | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 2133 Registered: 10-2004 |
I love/hate Trout Mask. It's a funny album, but I never, ever find myself in the mood to actually pull it out and listen to it. I actually think Decals does this sort of thing *better*, and I've always preferred it to Trout Mask. IMO, Decals is up there with the best of his work. Favorite Beefheart albums of mine are Clear Spot, Shiny Beast, Decals, and Ice Cream for Crow. I suppose this means I lean more towards his edgier work, or something, despite my ambivalence towards Trout Mask. I don't listen to any of his albums very often, but occasionally there are times when they suit the mood. I've always admired his retiring from music. He basically just stopped, and as far as I'm aware, left it for good, focusing instead on his art. I wish more musicians took that approach instead of getting back together and tainting their legacies. | ||
| Stuart Wilson Member Username: Stuart Post Number: 412 Registered: 10-2006 |
Yeah, the two MOR records that Beefheart released were an amazing cop-out by his standards, but on the other hand it was a track from one of them on whistle test that actually got me listening to him for the first time - if he'd been playing something from Trout Mask I'd probably just have been baffled and frightened. And on the other other hand, even the softer stuff is pretty good: the song Further than we've gone is a beautiful ballad (by most other standards other than etc etc) | ||
| skulldisco Member Username: Skulldisco Post Number: 1065 Registered: 10-2008 |
Jeff, clear spot edgy? i've always thought it was far and away his most accessible album. i have been absolutely immersing myself in his albums since he passed away, and something which has struck me(and oddly hadnt before -dunno why not!) is how much of a debt tom waits (from swordfishtrombones onwards)is in to the good captain's music. its almost parody at times. it might just be coincidence, but tom's taking over the captains mantle occured at roughly the same time he retired from music wasnt it? | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 2134 Registered: 10-2004 |
Kevin - I should have said, excepting Clear Spot. The other three albums I list are undeniably edgy. Clear Spot is the most tame album of his that I like, and even that is edgier than some of his other work. True Kevin, seems like Tom Waits' music started being interesting (to me, at least) around that time, starting with Swordfishtrombones, or thereabouts. Waits was never quite as discordant as the Captain, but I can see what you mean about there being some similarities. I always admired Waits for shifted gears like that midway through his career. | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 2574 Registered: 03-2005 |
Don't forget "Safe As Milk." That has to be Beefheart's most accessible non-$#!+ (non-Mercury) album. People have sent me selections from Tom Waits' Beefheart era. "Swordfishtrombones?" No hint of "Trout Mask Replica" in that title? I haven't been won over. Maybe my attitude about Waits is similar to Spence's attitude about the Servants/David Westlake. Spence considered Westlake a Go Betweens plagiarist. | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 2136 Registered: 10-2004 |
I don't know - I can definitely see some similarities, but in a lot of ways, Waits' music is *very* different from Beefheart. (For the record, I think Waits' peak was Rain Dogs). | ||
| skulldisco Member Username: Skulldisco Post Number: 1068 Registered: 10-2008 |
blues based songs, gravelly voice, jagged rhythms, off kilter tempo, xylophone/vibes/marimba,strange characters inhabiting the songs. who am i talking about? lots of people would probably think of tom waits. however beefheart did all this 66-82, then tom waits went seamlessly from a fairly straightforward singer songwriter into his swordfishtrombones persona at roughly the same time beefheart retired. thats it in a nutshell for me, although possibly not as simplistic as that! | ||
| skulldisco Member Username: Skulldisco Post Number: 1069 Registered: 10-2008 |
woe is a me bop from lick my decals off baby is playing now, and it sounds more like tom waits than tom waits does! | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 2575 Registered: 03-2005 |
Woe is uh-me bop, woe bop uh-ree bop | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 2137 Registered: 10-2004 |
Nowhere near as simplistic as that. Beefheart was always more scabrous, more discordant, more obtuse, more off-kilter, and just more difficult in general. Nothing in Waits' catalog, not even Waits at his edgiest, sounds like Trout Mask or Decals. Besides, Waits had the gravely voice from the get-go, at the start of the 70s, which I always took to be more Louis Armstrong than Beefheart. I could be wrong, but I just don't see enough parallels to brand Waits a flat-out Beefhreat copyist. Waits does more of the circus-y funhouse schtick, and is lyrically preoccupied with various sorts of losers inhabiting the american landscape. I wouldn't quite know where to begin when summing up Beefheart's thematic concerns - it's too surreal! And even when Waits is banging on trash cans and recording direct to boom box, his music always seems more conventional than Beefheart. For example - Keith Richards has guested on some of Waits' songs, yet I can't imagine anyone as trad and establishment as Richards appearing on a Beefheart album. I think Pussy Galore might owe more of a debt to Beefheart than Waits. | ||
| Michael Bachman Member Username: Michael_bachman Post Number: 2073 Registered: 01-2005 |
Woe Is Uh-Me Bop indeed. What a number by the Captain. | ||
| skulldisco Member Username: Skulldisco Post Number: 1072 Registered: 10-2008 |
i was speaking to a friend the other day who reckoned "doc at the radar station" was basically a post-punk album. he might have a point. |