Frownland

One of the reasons that those two albums are disliked is because of Virgin records and the creation process. Both were released without Beefheart's permission, the executives pressured Beefheart to come out with a product quickly, and in turn Beefheart had a lot of help from studio musicians and producers writing the music. They're not particularly bad records, but to picture the disillusionment of Beefheart fans that those two records brought, imagine if Tom Waits started making inoffensive smooth jazz. It's not atrocious, but it's not all that great either and Waits could easily be spending his energy doing something else. The way I see it, Unconditionally Guaranteed and Bluejeans and Moonbeams have a couple of good songs here and there, but there are no good Beefheart songs on it.

I'll get a review up today.

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Studies show that when a given norm is changed in the face of the unchanging, the remaining contradictions will parallel the truth.

Trollheart

That's actually a really great analogy. I can see where you're coming from. Mind you, I can also see how I liked it, as in, if I hated Waits's music and then he brought out a more accessible album, like say my first introduction to him was maybe The Black Rider and then I heard Closing Time. Makes sense.

I wonder will Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller) take me totally under in comparison?

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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

Frownland

Glad you're taking it on. I could easily see you liking it, it blends the weirdness with more accessible styles.

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Studies show that when a given norm is changed in the face of the unchanging, the remaining contradictions will parallel the truth.

Lisnaholic

^ Some great reviews so far; very varied albums, and some very varied approaches to reviewing. Anyway, here's my wall-of-text contribution:-

The line up and the circumstances:

In 1971 Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band had a cult following, loyal but small. Earnings were so low that John French (Drumbo) was only half in the band, tired of scrounging for food from CB’ s mum or from welfare. A bigger loss to the line up, though, was Antenae Jimmy Semens, aka Jeff Cotton, who had left “under ugly circumstances”. Along with Zoot Horn Rollo (Bill Harkelroad), it was Jeff Cotton’s “steel-appendage guitar” that had been responsible for the razor sharp guitar playing on TMR.
So these were the guys who assembled in the recording studio:
The Captain, Rockette Morton, Zoot Horn Rollo, Ed Marimba, Drumbo or stand-in drummer, and newcomer Winged Eel Fingerling (of whom more later).

Also, the 30-year-old CB had recently married student Jan Jenkins, and though she was 12 years his junior, they seemed to be true soulmates from the very beginning. So the scene was set; a more mellow, contented CB was under pressure from his in-laws and long-suffering bandmates to produce something that would put some food on the table. How to do this and still retain his artistic integrity? Well, The Spotlight Kid was his answer.

The album:



Although the unmistakable vocals are a constant, the style of CB’s studio albums have varied a lot, giving hardcore fans some (un)welcome surprises along the way. The Spotlight Kid was one such radical departure, from the intense and challenging albums that preceded it (TMR and Decals).

I’m Gonna Booglarize You Baby: A sinister rumbling bass and a simple touch of slide guitar ushers in the Captain himself, who starts the album at his declamatory best, intoning, “The moon was a drip on a dark hood.” Halfway through, the track livens up with some more intricate slide playing, while CB hands out advice in metaphorical form; “You lose your push when you beat around the bush.” The big surprise at the time was the slow portentious pace of this opener.
White Jam: Starting with some tinny-sounding guitar, things lighten up on this track when CB plays some gently rocking harmonica similar to Zoot Allures’ Find Her Finer. Some great higher-register wailing from the Captain, but at only two and a half minutes it all feels a little inconsequential.
Blabber ‘n Smoke: Six guys in the recording studio, but in terms of instruments, this song sounds simple; a duet for guitar and marimba, with some light drumming and CB warning us to “clean up the air ‘n treat the an-i-mals fair”. A nice gentle song that shows how much Jan was in sync with her new husband; she wrote the words, but they could’ve come from CB himself.
When It Blows Its Stacks: Now’ s the time to crank up the volume on that stereo to get the full force of the heavy driving bass and solid drumming.(Rockette Morton is actually playing a bass riff from Hair Pie, at half its previous speed.) At last CB is in full voice too, singing about a man-eater who is “cold as a snake sleeping in the shade”. There is another marimba/ guitar interlude and some interesting slide from Winged Eel Fingerling, a little taster for the next track;
Alice In Blunderland: something that CB didn’t often record, a full-band instrumental, this track finally shakes off the sluggishness that haunts side one. This is chiefly down to Winged Eel Fingerling’s fast and biting guitar runs; Elliot Ingber had recently defected from the Mothers of Invention and CB, uncharacteristically, gave him free range to solo. Zoot Horn Rollo on the other hand, was unfairly sidelined and given strict instructions about what to play, which is perhaps why he retains a low opinion of this album. A neat little guitar/marimba theme brings this track to a very satisfying conclusion.
The Spotlight Kid, we learn, is a girl and not the dandy on the album cover as some might’ve thought. Guitar and marimba in unison plonk out a lurching tune which comes from “Shortin’ Bread.” This old traditional song, played fast and furious, forms the long instrumental coda to Pachuco Cadaver, but here it is slowed down so much as to be barely recognisable. The comparison with TMR rather highlights the fact that this track is a lot weaker.
The pace picks up with Click Clack, a great train song with piano(?) and harmonica laying down the rhythm of the wheels. Halfway through something clever happens with the rhythm and a slide guitar riff is added to the mix. CB sings about a girl leaving him;
“I could see you waving your handkerchief down
My ears stand up when I hear that sound"
Grow Fins: starts with a slow chugging rhythm and a strong, swirling harmonica, which slowly fades out to another guitar/marimba duet, over which CB sings about more girl problems (including a line of unusual vulnerability,”You won’t even gimme a hug"). There’s also some cool slide guitar, but as the song fades, I for one am left wondering - I bet the old band could’ve made more of this interesting track...
There Ain’t No Santa Clause On the Evenin’ Stage: bass riff - bells – slide guitar – vocals; the different elements of this song come in so simply that even I can work out how they contribute to the whole. This is a wonderfully lugubrious workout with CB wailing away in full voice, delivering his inexplicable lyrics with 110% commitment.
Glider: when TH opens a “Songs about vehicles” thread, I’ll be posting this one, but don’t expect anything light and soaring here. Like the previous track, this song is driven along with a solid implacable beat more appropriate to the engine room of the Titanic than to a glider. Still, according to CB he was “up and down through the blues, clouds give me my silent cues.” Surprisingly straight-forward lyrics after those earlier surreal albums and another song that could've been developed a bit more.

The tl;dr:

This slow-paced record lacks the intensity of earlier albums, but it should not be overlooked. CB has deconstructed the blues and reconstructed them in a completely original way. (In fact, I had to be told that it was blues-based; couldn’t hear it myself.) CB’s approach, coupled with the unusually prominent marimba give The Spotlight Kid a unique sound. The ten short, controlled tracks are of consistently high standard and unusual clarity; you can alway hear exactly what each instrument is doing. Together they indicate what could’ve been possible for CB, or for anyone else approaching the blues with a fresh imagination and a bit of daring. Like other unique-sounding albums, following neither fashion nor clichés, the music has a timeless quality which would make it difficult to date from listening alone.
Although I’ve felt more passionately about other CB albums in the past, across the years this is the one that I’ve come back to and enjoyed most often. CB has amply achieved his objective; something more accessible that doesn't compromise his artistic principles.

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"Am I enjoying this moment? I know of it and perhaps that is enough." - Sybille Bedford, 1953

OccultHawk

Clear Spot

It makes me sad, considering this, about how the free jazz elements were driven by time out of Beefheart's music. One of the members of Tragic Mulatto told me he liked Beefheart's late material best. I guess I admired him so much I bought into it for a long time.

Sometimes an album can hang its out on just one or two songs. These are not the songs of white bread blues. This album has one of Beefheart's greatest songs, Big Eyed Beans from Venus, and his absolute best song and the best love song ever written, My Head Is My Only House Unless It Rains. Those two plus Her Eyes Are A Blue Million Miles make this my overall favorite Beefheart record.

Odd, isn't it?

Trollheart

Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller) 1978/2012

I know Frownland said find the 2012 version, but Spotify only has the 1978 one so that's the one I'm doing.

1. The floppy boot stomp: Starts off really abruptly, then kicks into a sort of guitar-led Waits-style (I know!) boogie, like something that would surface on Bone Machine. Good rhythm. The more I listen to Beefheart though, the more disappointed I am in Waits: he really totally ripped his vocal style off, didn't he? I mean, if Waits and Beefheart were singing I'd be hard-pressed to know who was who. I always thought Waits was so original.
2. Tropical hot dog night: Like the trumpet, sounds quite islands-ish, kind of Caribbean. Good fun. Very catchy if a little repetitive.
3: Ice Rose Is this an instrumental? Nice use of marimba maybe, plus trumpets again and some screechy guitar. Changes its rhythm totally in the middle and becomes almost another piece. Actually, for a relatively short track it goes through quite a lot of changes.
4: Harry Irene Like the sort of French idea here with the accordion, the bouncy piano carrying the beat. Sort of a twenties or thirties feel to it, also see some Beatles influences. Nice whistling.
5: You know you're a man He cuts loose on this one for sure! Great slide guitar and it's got quite a seventies hard rock feel, like something maybe Free or Blue Cheer might have put out.
6: Bat chain puller A strange song, another Bone Machine-esque one. Pretty damn good I must say.
7: When I see mommy I feel like a mummy Sort of what I could only describe as drunken trumpets on this, rolling kicking percussion, odd little sounds, snarly guitar. I've liked everything here so far. How odd. The chorus of “Mommy, mommy, mommy” is hilarious.
8: Owed t'Alex Kind of like some sort of twisted hobo song. Play when leaving a city you hate, preferably while stowing aboard a freight train in the time-honoured style, with only a few cans of cold beans as food. Love the harmonica and whatever is making the main melody. Drumming is excellent, slide guitar fantastic, just everything about this seriously rocks. In fact, **** it... there! Royal Blue bitches!
9: Candle mambo Great song. Love the organ. Another sort of Caribbean rhythm; are those congas?
10: Love lies A real sleazy shuffle, staggering on, trumpet is cool. Might be soprano sax actually, not too sure.
11: Suction prints More super slide, then a real funk-out with added trumpet. Neat. Seems to be another instrumental.
12: Apes-ma Ok, this last one was the only sour note. Completely pointless. Just him talking to his parrot or something.

So, Love or Hate? It's three for three. I really Love this one.

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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

Trollheart

Read my thread
http://www.musicbanter.com/general-m...love-hate.html

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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

Lisnaholic

I pretty much gave up on Captain Beefheart after being so disappointed with Bluejeans and Moonbeams and Bongo Fury.(Sorry, grindy, but I never took to that album). In fact my area of interest shifted completely and I started listening to John Fahey and other such stuff instead. Which is all to say that I know nothing about Bat Chain Puller, so many thanks for the tip off, TH; you're quite right - Owed T'Alex is actually a really good song! I feel a personal Beefheart revival coming on....

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"Am I enjoying this moment? I know of it and perhaps that is enough." - Sybille Bedford, 1953

Trollheart

I'm actually surprised how much I haven't hated this. The albums I've listened to have all been pretty great. Hell, I might even give TMR another chance! Maybe.

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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

Lisnaholic

^ Having come so far, perhaps you should. At least listen to Moonlight on Vermont, nice and loud- it's the stand-out track and a masterpiece of aggressive music.

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"Am I enjoying this moment? I know of it and perhaps that is enough." - Sybille Bedford, 1953