Conference mr1pst::music

    "They" are a "he", namely one Don Van Vliet, now retired from music and
    making a living as a painter.  Any good? Yes, if you're adventurous and
    like music out of the mainstream.
    
    The best place to start is the two-LPs-on-one-CD package of "Spotlight
    Kid" and "Clear Spot" as these are his most accesssible recordings.  He
    basically is based in the blues with some free jazz influences (which
    are very much in view in albums like "Trout Mask Replica" and "Lick My
    Decals Off, Baby").  Vocally, he is almost a clone of blues great
    Howling Wolf.  The typical lineup of his Magic Band was twin slide
    guitars, electric bass and drums with Beefheart occasionally blowing
    harmonica and saxophones.  Some albums feature marimba (!!), trombone
    and keyboards. 
    
    He was definitely way ahead of his time.  Stuff he recorded over 20
    years ago still sounds weird, but many of his ideas have been absorbed
    into "alternative" rock, especially bands that like alternate tunings
    and atonality, like Sonic Youth.
    
    							Brian

Definately not for the faint of heart.  

Freind of mine was playing 'Trout Mask Replica' real loud in his bedroom some 
years back, and his father came in and asked him why he was playing two records
at once.

I kinda like the Bat-Chain Puller/Doc at the Radar Station double-header myself.


There's real genius to what he does, it's just a matter of whether it's 
your cup o' mud.

Would've been great to see Don + Ornette Coleman do some duo-honking.

    
    Beefheart is to rock what Charles Ives was to symphonic and chamber
    music. Takes a strong ear to listen, but there's so much to hear.
    
    

As a HUGE Beefheart fan over the years I was gratified to
hear what my 20-year-old daughter is listening to these days. 
Modern heavy metal/thrash is *finally* coming to grips what the
Magic Band did in the early 70's.

If we could only entice the Captain to record, he might even
sell a few records now. 

FWIW, he made one classic rock'n'roll album called SAFE AS MILK.
It was his first - 1964. It stands up today with anybody's work.
If you ever see it, grab it. 

josh

    
    	Can you compare the band to some of the bands of today?
    
    	I'm a huge metal fan, so it might be interesting to know who he
    	[or they] sound[s] like.
    
    							GTI

    Re: .5
    
    Beefheart is very far removed from metal, his music is based in country
    blues and free jazz.  I think what .4 meant was that Beefheart made
    liberal use of odd rhythms, strange chord progressions and other stuff
    that just sounded odd at the time.  I do hear a lot of his influence in
    some of the more abrasive alternative bands.
    
    							Brian

 >   Beefheart is very far removed from metal, his music is based in country
 >   blues and free jazz.  I think what .4 meant was that Beefheart made
 >   liberal use of odd rhythms, strange chord progressions and other stuff
 >   that just sounded odd at the time.  I do hear a lot of his influence in
 >   some of the more abrasive alternative bands.

Exactomundo. However, some of "free jazz" found on records like "Lick My
Decals Off, Baby" sounds perilously close to today's metal. And in the
Captains case "free jazz" was often totally orchestrated - themes that 
sounded almost random were simply too complex for mortal ears to follow.
The fact that a metal band can "hear" this stuff and aspire to it is a 
step in the right direction IMO. Or wait - what's an "abrasive aternative
band"? Maybe I'm using the wrong garbage can ;).....

josh

    "Today's metal" covers a wide swath, but what I think of as metal (and
    hear on local college radio metal shows) is more like a Deep Purple
    record being played at 78 rpm.   
    
    There are a number of alternative bands displaying metal tendencies
    (due to their members growing up with the Sabs and such instead of the
    Beatles and Stones) but they usually don't like to be called metal and
    aim at a totally different audience.  
    
    I'm thinking here of outfits like Primus, Helmet, Rollins Band, etc. 
    All of these bands are into some pretty whacked out stuff; in one
    interview I read Helmet members frothed over their love of Coltrane, no
    mention of Tommy Iommi  8^), yet they sound more like outtakes from
    "Master of Reality" than "A Love Supreme" 8^)  8^)
    
    							Brian

I had to check with my daughter to find out who I was
listening to....she says:

- the 'hard alternative' bands that she likes right now are 
  Rampage Against the Machine and Tool. That's who I was
  listening to when I heard echos of the Beef. "Moonlight
  in Vermont", off Trout Mask Replica, came to mind. So
  yes Brian, you're right, it's not the 'metal' bands.

- the 'metal' bands are like Slayer and Anthrax, and are
  not considered 'in' by this particular audience.

josh

ps - btw, the original Magic Band spun off into Mallard,
who made a couple of semi-interesting albums, and I've
now lost track of them. Any idea where they are? There
was a 6'6" slide guitarist named Harkleroad who was 
awesome....

    
    	That's "Rage Against the Machine", BTW.
    
    	8^)
    
    							GTI
    

    I hear that Beefheart (aka Don van Vliet) is now pretty destitute and
    living in a trailer up in Humboldt County (California) somewhere.
    There was a (relatively) recent gallery show of his paintings in San
    Francisco.
    
    Drumbo (aka John French) can be heard on the recent records by French,
    Frith, Kaiser, and Thompson (aka John, Fred, Henry, and Richard) called
    "Live, Love, Larf, and Loaf" (very good) and "Invisible Means" (I
    haven't heard it, but reviews weren't very good).
    
    Parenthetically,
    
    - Dave

    
    A recent article in "Mojo" suggests he is making a lot of money from
    selling his paintings. More than he did as a musician in fact.
    
    Derek.

 >   Drumbo (aka John French) can be heard on the recent records by French,
 >   Frith, Kaiser, and Thompson (aka John, Fred, Henry, and Richard) called

Hey, great, glad to hear hear it. The last I saw Drumbo he had a pair of
Jockey shorts on his head with clumps of hair bursting thru the leg-holes,
I roared. The guy can play. No word on Harkleroad?

  >  A recent article in "Mojo" suggests he is making a lot of money from
  >  selling his paintings. More than he did as a musician in fact.

I really hope this is true. He never made much as a musician. He was too
intense to make the necessary compromises. What an artist - some of his
record cover paintings were wonderful.

His music is still ahead of its time. Would you play "Sometimes a Woman
Got to Hit a Man" for your girlfriend?? ;) 

josh

I scored at a CD store in Pheasant Lane last week. I found a CD of
SAFE AS MILK, with 8 bonus tracks from his second album which was
called STRICTLY PERSONAL, another of my all-time favorites. Included
are Trust Us and the famous Gimme That Harp Boy (ain't no fat man's
toy). Not included is Ah Feel Like Ahcid, unfortunately. 

This is a truly wonderful piece of music - buy it and save it for your 
grandchildren.

josh