Jump to content

Why do they call him Beefheart?

Music Calgary

By Music Calgary
in Sound, Stage, and Studio

Recommended Posts

  • Members
blue2blue Newbie

blue2blue

Posted
  • Members
Posted

Heh. Fun little interviews. Those few little snips of his paintings hardly do justice to his work. I saw a very large one-man show by him at a trendy Westside gallery in LA in the mid or mid-late 80s and much of it was quite striking. He was doing a lot of black and white at the time, distinctly different from the bright, Fauvist colors of his earlier work.

 

But by the time the gallery show rolled around, I'm afraid the once large and vital DVV was thin and remained seated in a wheel chair as a small cluster of friends wheeled him through a huge opening day crowd.

 

 

Before that, I'd seen the Captain and the original Magic Band (around '71, with Little Feat early on the bill) and then I saw him four times between '78 and '82 when he returned with a reconstituted Magic Band.

 

 

While I was on YouTube, I checked out another Captain Beefheart clip that started with a couple apparently Brit fans reminiscing about him and then played a clip by what was certainly the so-called "not so Magic Band" that was formed after Don and the original MB had a big falling out and they split off as Mallard. I'd heard the Moonbeams and Bluejeans album that they were on in the 70s but it was good to see them, since it really hammered home why so many Beefheart fans had big problems with that period. They were just a bunch of studio guys and the music was slick and boring, giving almost no support to Don, who was kind of stuck out in front of them doing his boho thing like the Webcor duck out of water...

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • Members
blue2blue Newbie

blue2blue

Posted
  • Members
Posted

Could be. I never try to push people into listening to Captain Beefheart because, really, listen to the boring, formulaic pabulum that most people really like... what's the point of confusing them? They're never going to get it. Now, if the media convinced them it was hip, they'd all be studying it and trying to cop it, and saying they liked it... but... you know... most people are just lumps of nescience, moving sheeplike through the popular culture chutes to the great marketing slaughterhouse.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • Members
Zipperhead Mentor

Zipperhead

Posted
  • Members
Posted

Hot Rats is brilliant.

 

I've also just picked up The Lost Episodes, another Zappa CD with a few Beefheart tracks. Highly recommended!

 

Yes, I agree that Beefheart (and even Zappa) is not for everyone. My wife can't stand the stuff. I love it.

 

I know one of the guys from the Magic Band and he's told me some funny stories about Don. Apparently Don has never been the easiest person in the world to work with. But he is the real thing.

 

Zip

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • Members
Geoff Grace Newbie

Geoff Grace

Posted
  • Members
Posted

One of a kind, like Harry Partch-level one of a kind.


Not that there are degrees of unqiue. It either is or isn't. My dad would have chastised me for that grammatical/logical mistake...

 

Ah, the life of a professor's son -- I know it well! My Ph.D. graduate parents still correct me from time to time! :D

 

Another Captain Beefheart fan here. I go back and forth as to whether I prefer Don Van Vliet's music or his high school pal's, with Beefheart usually getting the nod.

 

My two favorite releases are Trout Mask Replica and Clear Spot. :thu:

 

Best,

 

Geoff

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • Moderators
Lee Knight Rookie

Lee Knight

Posted
  • Moderators
Posted

Trout Mask Replica

 

Back in 1980 I joined a band with older more seasoned guys than I. I put on XTC's Drum and Wires and the guitarist says to me... Trout Mask Replica, Beefheart. It sounded like he'd lost his mind throwing what seemed like non-sequesters around like that.

 

I was hired because I was young and could bring some new blood to a couple of older rockers. These guys were good but out of touch. But who was learning here? Beefheart?

 

He slaps the LP on and I... WTF?!?! I hated it. "Just listen, dude", I was instructed. "You think those XTC guys you just played made that {censored} up out of thin air?"

 

I listened again... he had a point. Hmmm. XTC sort of threw Beefheart, Lennon and McCartney into a locked room with chainsaws and let them work it out. Beefheart is responsible for a lot of guys twisting pop into sharp edged, angular art. Watch yer fingers.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • Members
indigo_dave Newbie

indigo_dave

Posted
  • Members
Posted

For some reason "Lick My Decals Off Baby" has been out of print for many years. I expect that Rhino will release it as one of those limited edition box sets with some art work included for something like 300-400 bucks. To my ears, some of his most interesting music merges Mississippi Delta blues with Stravinsky.

 

Another of his best, to me, is "Dock At the Radar Station".

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • Members
Music Calgary Newbie

Music Calgary

Posted
  • Author
  • Members
Posted

Nobody has a seven-octave range...seriously.

Not even Don Van Vliet.

 

Maybe... I've heard Zappa confirm it in an interview. I have also heard him use it extensively... Who knows? Don't fixate on semantics, he probably said it for effect. That's what he does. His range is far superior to anything you can execute so that should be enough to earn him a polite nod from your camp. :)

 

Heh. Fun little interviews. Those few little snips of his paintings hardly do justice to his work. I saw a very large one-man show by him at a trendy Westside gallery in LA in the mid or mid-late 80s and much of it was quite striking. He was doing a lot of black and white at the time, distinctly different from the bright, Fauvist colors of his earlier work.


But by the time the gallery show rolled around, I'm afraid the once large and vital DVV was thin and remained seated in a wheel chair as a small cluster of friends wheeled him through a huge opening day crowd.



Before that, I'd seen the Captain and the original Magic Band (around '71, with Little Feat early on the bill) and then I saw him four times between '78 and '82 when he returned with a reconstituted Magic Band.



While I was on YouTube, I checked out another Captain Beefheart clip that started with a couple apparently Brit fans reminiscing about him and then played a clip by what was certainly the so-called "not so Magic Band" that was formed after Don and the original MB had a big falling out and they split off as Mallard. I'd heard the Moonbeams and Bluejeans album that they were on in the 70s but it was good to see them, since it really hammered home why so many Beefheart fans had big problems with that period. They were just a bunch of studio guys and the music was slick and boring, giving almost no support to Don, who was kind of stuck out in front of them doing his boho thing like the Webcor duck out of water...

 

Awesome post. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • Members
kurfu Newbie

kurfu

Posted
  • Members
Posted

Maybe... I've heard Zappa confirm it in an interview. I have also heard him use it extensively... Who knows? Don't fixate on semantics, he probably said it for effect. That's what he does. His range is far superior to anything you can execute so that should be enough to earn him a polite nod from your camp.
:)
)

 

 

Please humor my uninitiated, and skeptical self... are there any clips on YouTube that would be a decent representation of his wide vocal range?

:wave:

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • Members
kurfu Newbie

kurfu

Posted
  • Members
Posted

What's not to get?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFMjztFBSzM



How dare you make a circus of Beefheart's music?

 

Umm... yeah... I guess we're just gonna have to disagree on this one... I do like a lot of Zappa's work though, but it's probably all the stuff that FZ made for people that couldn't connect to his "real" music (Apostrophe, etc...).

:cop:

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • Members
Alex_SF Newbie

Alex_SF

Posted
  • Members
Posted

 

Could be. I never try to push people into listening to Captain Beefheart because, really, listen to the boring, formulaic pabulum that most people
really like
... what's the point of confusing them? They're
never
going to get it. Now, if the media
convinced them
it was hip, they'd all be studying it and trying to
cop it
, and
saying
they liked it... but... you know... most people are just lumps of nescience, moving sheeplike through the popular culture chutes to the great marketing slaughterhouse.

 

 

But the media do try to convince people that Captain Beefheart is hip ... Trout Mask consistently shows up in magazines' and critics' all-time great albums lists, and all kinds of artists cite him as influential, groundbreaking, a genius, whatever.

 

I just made this observation about another band on another thread on another board, but there is a set of artists that includes Captain Beefheart, the Small Faces, Television, and the New York Dolls, which critics and hipsters constantly cite as "hugely influential," but which nobody seems to actually listen to or know anything by.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • Members
Music Calgary Newbie

Music Calgary

Posted
  • Author
  • Members
Posted

artists that includes Captain Beefheart, the Small Faces, Television, and the New York Dolls, which critics and hipsters constantly cite as "hugely influential," but which nobody seems to actually listen to or know anything by.

 

HAW! :)

 

"What is Hip?"

- Doc Kupka, 1973

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing
×
×
  • Create New...