The Smiley Smile Message Board

That way I can fill it with my own ramblins, as I assume not a lot of BB/BW fans much care for the good Cap'n's howling, screeching, screaming and bellowing.

As for me, I LOVE him. Every single album (less the two that shall go unnamed) is somewhere between good and brilliant. What wordplay. What blues. What...Beefheartedness.

One word. Suicide.


I respect the living hell out of Beefheart. An experimentalist on par with Zappa (and that's saying something). Excellent performer.

The two??
Do you mean BLUEJEANS AND MOONBEAMS and UNCONDITIONALLY GUARANTEED???!!!

Yeah, they're his worst, but not nearly as bad as their reputation.

Strictly Personal is a really underrated one, and Doc At The Radar Station is too. The Spotlight Kid, Trout Mask and Safe As Milk are probably my favorites. This guy was streets ahead of Zappa. Streets.
Even though he sounds just like Howlin' Wolf.

Where's the Howlin' Wolf thread? We need one.

Mm-hmmm. Hubert Sumlin is God. f*** Clapton.

You're thinking of the From the Cradle album? Yeah, what a piece of sh*t album. Give me Clapton with the Yardbirds, Cream or the Dominos. His solo career just don't cut it for me.

When Eric stopped the heroin, he died. Layla was the last greatness from him. He sucked even before Rod sucked, and that's saying something.

His Howlin' Wolf voice is one of the things that makes him great!

Strictly Personal might be my favorite, although I love Safe as Milk, too. It's hard not to say troutmaskreplica, too--"Moonlight on Vermont," "The blimp" "When Big Joan Sets Up" and many other great tracks. The early 70s stuff is cool. I really like Bat Chain Puller, too -- too bad it hasn't been commercially released in its intended version. Speaking of great unreleased albums (which we aren't, but hey, we're on the board of the mother of all what-ifs, the Beach Boys, and we referenced the unreleased VU album earlier, too), that is certainly one of the best. That title track is probably my favorite Beefheart song ever.

BAAAAAAAAAAAT CHAAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIINNNNN!

Yeah, but didn't Rod suck for most of his career?

 
Absolutely.


Couldn't agree more.



Since he quit The Faces. But the first four solos, the Jeff Beck Group albums, and all the Faces stuff rules.

Not to knock anyone, but I thought Beck was the genius in the JBG. Rod was just the frontman. Man, talking about Rod Stewart just makes me sick. Talk about a guy who went for that sickening AC sound.

Best album? IMO, "Mirror Man Sessions," aka the bits that woulda made up "Comes in a Plain Brown Wrapper." The ballsy grit of the first album plus SOME, but not all, of the obliqueness of the Trout Mask stuff. Still palatable, but not accessible, if that makes sense. I love the hell out of Beefheart in general -- Trout Mask kills me, Lick My Decals is mind-blowing, and I also really like Ice Cream for Crow believe it or don't.

Ian's right, of course. There's no reason his modern career should make a difference -- he still has some fantastic stuff and at his prime had my third-favorite voice in rock music.

The entire Beck band was genius. Rod makes me ill as well, but listen to the Every Picture Tells A Story album. He was one of the greatest interpreters of song of all time. He goes from Elvis to Dylan to Tim Hardin to the Temptaions and aces them all, then throws in three originals that stand just as tall.

I'll take my barbs off of Rod's ass for a minute and say that yes, I love Every Picture Tells A Story. Have it on vinyl. Why he didn't stick in that direction, I'll probably never know.

Because the disco and punk eras and new wave came along and artists felt at the time that they had to "keep current."

For Rod, the selling out was deeper and more profound than most. He betrayed his whole schtick for money.

Maybe, but there was punk and new wave with considerable artistic sensibilities. I'm thinking of Suicide and Talking Heads.

Guess I'll edit the original post and turn it into the Rod Stewart thread.  :(

One of the best things about the boards is when a thread turns into another thread.

Well I could always form the Rod Stewart hate thread, since some of us have some axes to grind.

Generally, I agree. When it's Mr. Van Vliet, though!?

'Nowdays A Woman Got To Hit A Man' is the greatest title ever. 'Clear Spot' is always refreshing and a shockingly tame recording, by Beefheart's standards.

I love "Lick My Decals Off, Baby". There are some real catchy tracks on there.

"I love you, you big dummy!"

Saw him (Captain Beefheart, as readers with long attention spans may remember) live twice, during the Clear Spot tour. Unbelievably tight, loud, and a lot of fun. With a couple of exceptions (the usual suspects), everything he did is worth hearing. When Trout Mask clicks for you the first time, you'll stay in it for ages - for a while, everything else sounds flat and dead.

The first album, Safe As Milk, is a genuine lost 60's classic. Listenable, great tunes, great playing ... and the CD remaster on Buddha is just astonishing; clear and punchy, and in itself an argument for the value of CDs!

Diddy Wah Diddy has simply the most amazing, thick, GIGANTIC, ENORMOUS, bass sound that's ever been put to tape. I don't know how the tape was able to hold those frequencies. The bass must have been 30 feet long with rope for strings. Amazing!

Rhythmically and harmonically tame, perhaps, but stuff like "Circumstances" and "Big Eyed Beans From Venus" kicks major ass.

[Couldn't resist resurrecting this ancient topic about one of my heroes...]

Yes!! Thank you! I love the wolf. Back Door Man, Spoonful, Killing Floor, Moanin' At Midnight, Smokestack Lightning...I could go on for days.  ;D Now, if we could only get the Son House thread, and the Leadbelly thread...

I remember when my dad got Trout Mask Replica on cd and played some of it for me. It terrified the living sh*t out of me.  :o http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0vQN2DxSQU

Testify

I found somebody on YouTube who has what looks like the entire Trout Mask Replica album uploaded. I'm hearing most of this for the first time. I'm up to Moonlight In Vermont now. Should I continue, or turn back now?

The first Beefheart album I got was Shiny Beast & I still love that albums fat fruitiness, great songs and great arrangements. DOC at the Radar Station too just blew me away, the use of Mellotron and gongs is amazing, his voice isn't quite what it was but his quote about not writing songs but spells so applies to that album. Trout Mask was a breakthrough and i have been totally captivated by it, but now I don't listen to it too much. Decals has lasted a bit better, love the Marimba. Clear Spot & Safe as Milk are a Joy. Actually i find Unconditionally Guaranteed really enjoyable, he sort of made a bouncy joyous pop album, who would have thought? Ice Cream for Crow is powerful but it has got a really sad vibe over it.

An incredible, original artist, very different but in the same league as Brian Wilson.

Listening to Trout Mask Replica was one of the big WTF moments of my life. Once you get it  you'll never be the same person again. My favourite though is Doc At The Radar Station, the last track on it, Making Love To A Vampire with a Monkey On My Knee, is probably the most gigantic mindf*ck recorded by anyone ever.
I really don't understand the hatred towards his mid 70s albums, they're not his finest works but not that bad either. Observatory Crest is classic.

Continue, is my advice. There are loads more goodies to come! :=)

"Making Love..." is certainly heavy sh*t. It's also the only track on which Beefheart uses the F-word. "Flash Gordon's Ape" has its moments too. ;=)

I shall keep those two "tragic" albums in mind, lol. I never realized that the cover of Moonbeams was painted by Don's cousin Victor Hayden (the "Mascara Snake" of Trout Mask)...

It's one of the 50 or so greatest albums of all time, in my opinion, and one of Captain's best. Continue, by all means, even if you don't like it. I think it's something to be experienced, at least, even if it turns out not to be your taste.

True story:

I was in a band in Omaha NE in the early 70's called "Captain Hogfat and His Tolerance Band" and we covered several tunes off of Trout Mask Replica, including "Veteran's Day Poppy".

And, um, we covered some Frank Zappa ("Brain Police") and Wild Man Fischer.  "Merry go, merry go, merry-go-round, boop boop boop"
as well as country western and polkas.

I am not making this up.

I don't care what anybody says, Merry Go Round is a good song.  ;D It kind of reminds me of a slightly less "musical" Smiley Smile song. Does that make sense?

Clearly a tough one to answer.

Still, onward and upward----we can't keep the Captain's fans waiting, can we? This is "Owed T' Alex" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQEmdAiEnQc).

Very late reply but yes I love Merry Go Round. Checked out the rest of Fischer's debut album through and it was crap.

Kandy Korn from Mirror Man Sessions kicks ass.

I know it's virtually a crime to say, but I never thought Trout Mask Replica was particularly good. On the other hand there's Lick My Decals Off Baby. Now that's a great CB album.

It's certainly the album I grab first when I feel like a Beefheart fix! It's the marimba, I think.

Woeeeeeee is uh me bop!

Soooo, I have all the Captain's albums now bar the two 1974 Virgin records. Do I get them or not? I've read much bad things about them, the most positive remarks I've read about them is that 'they're not that bad really', which is rather faint praise.

Trout Mask was pretty eye-opening to me -- most of his music was.  Rhythmically askew.  It don't matter what you play -- just play it when it counts.  Everything else is up to you.

Safe As Milk, one of the greatest debuts of all time, I listen to fairly often.  All the songs are so unbelievably good.  I wish there was more stuff like this.

The Budda compilation The Mirror Man Sessions is a great place for people to start.  It might be better than what eventually ended up as the second album -- Strictly Personal.  It would have made an incredible album in 1968.

Doc At The Radar Station never really clicked with me.  While I can see the full-fury of the band and the Captain, the album is so negative, nasty and bitter.

I prefer Bat Chain Puller (and it's released version Shiny Beast) more.  Delightfully askew.

(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/de/Captain_Beefheart_-_Shiny_Beast_(Bat_Chain_Puller).jpg)

Apes-Ma?

This is the first Beefheart track I ever heard, as played at the close of 1967 by the late John Peel on his celebrated Sunday show:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WifCzN8BNF4


 

To hopefully resolve an issue raised in the PSF Shoutbox (assuming the link works):

https://books.google.nl/books?id=KSyUmDS4GicC&lpg=PT28&ots=k0tzJiTmqg&dq=%22Whizzer%22%20%22beef%20heart%22&pg=PT28#v=onepage&q=%22Whizzer%22%20%22beef%20heart%22&f=false

"Come on down t’ the big dig
Singin’ the Smithsonian Institute blues"

https://youtu.be/BuJErWbzP1Y

Hey John,  You sure like bumpin' this cat.  I've tried over the years to get into his bands, but it just never worked.  I even saw them live in July 1970 at the Atlanta Pop Festival.  At that time I didn't know who they were, and had not heard any of the albums.  It was in the afternoon.  I was about three-hundred yards from the stage, still moving about, eating and stuff ;).  I didn't get to my fixed area for the night 'til about 5pm, always as close to the stage as possible.  So I wasn't paying that much attention.  I thought it sounded fairly noisy to be honest.  In a nicer way, you might call it wailing.  Lots of harp and gruff singing.

After I became an xtc fan, I tried again.  Andy said that he had been very influential, but I couldn't hear that.  So many people talk highly of his music, I tried one last time a few years ago.  Bought Safe As Milk.  I think it's good for what it is.  I only listened to it a few times.  It's just not going to grow on me.  I do like Tom Waits very very much (who can get pretty noisy himself).  That's about as close to what he sounds like as I can get.  So it's not the gruff vocals.  It's the songs.

You and the captain are probably going to jump all over me to listen again.  Maybe.  I did play your youtube links.  They work in America!

Nah, these days I don't try to change people's minds very often. I'm happy to give recommendations or explain what I like about things, but I'm not too bothered by people disagreeing.

Hi cap'n. I was under the impression that you were a fan (hence your username). No problem of course----as you say in your other post, to each their own.   
 
I looked for your Atlanta date for a possible set list and according to all reports Beefheart's performance was cancelled. Is that possible?

I saw him twice, first in the Albert Hall (London) in '72 with the Spotlight Kid lineup----definitely my all-time favourite concert. The next one was in Amsterdam in '75 or '76 when he was regrouping after that Di Martino business, and he was just feeling his way forward again. And he was pissed, I regret to say. But that London concert----goodness gracious...

Oh I'm a big fan and that is the reason for my name. I just don't try to convince others anymore.

It's possible to me since I was there.  I've read that they weren't before.  I've read first hand reports that they were there.  I can't produce a set list for any of the acts.  Wish I could.  Nobody was walking around taking notes.  I only started doing that in the late 70's, and only for certain shows.  I mostly just tried to have fun listening to the music.  Some of my favorite bands were there.  I remember many of the songs that Poco, Spirit, Procol Harum, Terry Reid and others played - ones whose music I owned.  Most of them played new material.  These festivals were huge events.  Like Woodstock, there was over 300,000 people.  Very stoned people.  I was just out of High School the month before, and from a very straight place.  Northern Louisiana is very quite.  The town I grew up in was about 25,000.  Drugs were something you heard about on Tv or in the newspaper.  I had a fairly clear head that week-end.  It was eye-opening, tho.  I was seeing a lot for the first time.

Researchers use other peoples memories in cases like these.  They use signed contracts, hotel receipts and pay stubs.  But much of it was cash exchanges with no records.  I bet you've seen the Isle of Wight film.  That shows what a mess these big festival were.  I own a few DVDs of some of the acts - Jethro Tull, Who, ELP, Hendrix and the Moody Blues.  I have loads more from that week-end than I've even heard about from Atlanta.  I've studied Atlanta Pop myself over the years.  Most of the people who had cameras took pictures of the crowd of people, I haven't seen too many of the acts on stage.  Using the posters of the order in which acts played, and the day they performed differ from account to account.  I believe Beefheart played on Friday afternoon.  One of the first few acts.  As I said, I was pretty far away, but folks around me knew who he was.  I know a lot of it was recorded, and some film was made.  Have you heard the tapes or seen more than the Hendrix footage?  Why don't they release them?  I've never even heard boots.  They released an album, but there wasn't much on it.  A few songs got to the public.  Most of Hendrix's set came out last year.  Gives people something new to study.  Some of that was on an old 90's laserdisc released only in Japan.  I saw it, but I balked at the $80 price tag and passed on buying it.

Okay.  Enough for the night.  Let me go see what's happening at other spots in the cyber-world.

It only goes to show that even official looking lists can get it wrong. My apologies to you both. Sounds like it was quite an event!!

I wonder if Don and Band did any Trout Mask material? That harp the captain mentions makes me think he might have played this from the previous album, Strictly Personal:

https://youtu.be/bQdLhFe-G-4

I'd assume at a 1970 show they would have been doing plenty of Trout Mask material. It was still more or less that same band, plus Art Tripp, if I'm not mistaken. So those guys would be the ones who knew and played Trout Mask and Decals.

Interestingly, there's talk at Hoffman of a documentary about the Atlanta show. But even there they're saying that Beefheart never made it. You'd think they'd check up rather than repeat online information parrot-fashion...   

http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/1970-atlanta-pop-festival-new-documentary-coming.371050/

Anyway, here's our man with a blistering live performance of "Grow Fins":

https://youtu.be/zMSf6jDsJSE


(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/81q8vzR2LvL._SL1001_.jpg)

The Cap doing Pop music! ;) https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=OFG0GYY0E3w

I like it! He also did some great, (reasonably) straight pop music on Clear Spot featuring Stax-style horns and a girl group singing backup.

I have that wonderful box set myself. Chock full of goodies it is. 8)   

I read that thread a while back.  2014 and someone is wondering what songs were in the Allman Brothers set...  One of the few recordings that got an official release.  That was in 2003.  So why is anybody wondering in 2014?

This is all part of the confusion about Atlanta Pop 1970.  Another cat is claiming Grand Funk Railroad was the main headliner.  That just wasn't so.  They played on the last night, but were not the last to play.  Another poster said that GFR released a live album from the festival.  They did release a live album from some concerts taped in Florida in June 1970, the only thing from the Atlanta Festival about that record is a picture inside the gate-fold sleeve.  The OP talks about seeing the documentary with few full songs, and most of the acts with short clips - and not the acts I would like to see.  I want Poco, Spirit, Procol Harum, Terry Reid...the list goes on....  I don't think the film will ever come out, but I also hope I'm wrong.  If they have full sets, then release them.  The clearances couldn't be that hard to get.   There is other stuff by Poco and Spirit from the same time/era around.  Check youtube.  It's just not the Atlanta festival.   It's more likely they didn't get the full sets, and that the tapes are in rough shape.  Those limited showings were years ago now.  What's taking so long?

I don't know what else to say about Captain Beefheart being there.  I got to the festival on Thursday morning.  There was music going at the free stage in the woods late into the night.  I set up camp in that area.  The music got started about noon on Friday on the main stage.  I didn't get settled into a spot near the stage until the late afternoon.  It was very hot, and most people wandered in and out of the shadier areas 'til towards sundown.  Standing in the full sun would get you tired, quick.  As I said, I didn't know Beefheart's music at all.  I believed the people around me who said it was the Captain's band.  There was over half a dozen acts that I was not familiar with, including Mott the Hoople - I had never heard of them before.  I thought they were pretty good.  It might be a good idea for me to write about some of my better memories, maybe put them on that SHF thread to give the community a thrill.  I'm working on a Johnny Winter And post.  Johnny's teaming up with Rick from the McCoys was a big highlight.  I think that record by And was Johnny's best album.  They put out a live album that gave you a taste of how great they were.

Of the few places I've found where there are some decent tales of both Atlanta festivals (1969 and 1970), is a facebook page.  https://www.facebook.com/groups/96824579391/      It's a closed group, but if you sign up, they will let you see what's on offer with-in a day.  Lots of links to interesting stuff.  It's much better than that SHF thread.

Johnny Winter was another act that never hit big in the UK. I think brother Edgar's "Frankenstein" did (#18 in '73, just looked it up). The combination of Winter and Derringer sounds interesting!   

I love that remark of Charles Shaar Murray that JW "may not be the best white guitar player in the world, but he sure as hell is the whitest". ;D


Not on FB, I'm afraid. On this one occasion it may be a disadvantage!

Here's the Captain again (plus Magic Band) with a real spine-tingler:

https://youtu.be/XF177Aj59C8

I'm afraid I must dig up Don again as an illustration of some wonderful spoken parts (a hot issue across the road right now).

"Apes-Ma" is an a capella monologue and other stuff like "Neon Meate Dream Of A Octafish" and "Golden Birdies" is spoken throughout. Things get a little blurred with the likes of "Wild Life" though:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGtB0hNN8EU   

I love "Apes-Ma."

(also it's getting increasingly weird with cross-pollination resulting in the same topics and sometimes exact same threads going. not bad, necessarily, just weird. but better than bickering.)

Exactly! It's building bridges, in a way----and that has to be a good thing.

More low yo yo stuff now (plenty of that where your namesake's coming from, lol): 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiJVac8bCH8

One double album not yet mentioned in the PSF topic on that subject is this masterpiece from 1969:

(http://cps-static.rovicorp.com/3/JPG_1080/MI0002/539/MI0002539298.jpg?partner=allrovi.com)