I'm really diving into Captain Beefheart's discography lately (especially Trout Mask Replica). I'm pretty happy about this, considering I have always wanted to like his music. Strangely enough, however, I was too afraid to touch any of his stuff for about four months after I listened to a few of his tracks. In the end, I finally worked up enough courage to give him another shot.

The only downside (?) to his music is that his lyrics are really weird and almost uninterpretable. But... he's known for his abstract/cryptic songs, so eh...

His album, Lick My Decals Off, Baby, is the next album on my list.

Good choice! Also make sure you get his last two albums, Doc At The Radar Station and Ice Cream For Crow... both are fantastic. They're not all as weird as Trout Mask!

As for his lyrics, I wouldn't try to over-analyse them - but there are some brilliant turns of phrase and some brilliant wordplay to be found in his lyrics. Abstract, but lots of fun too.

Yea, I heard that Ice Cream for Crow was good. I really like the title track, but that's all I've heard from that album.

I'll definitely look into Doc at the Radar Station as well.

if you're a Beefheart newbie, I'd recommend Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller) or Mirror Man first, those are accessible yet has bits of his acclaimed weirdness so you get the best of both worlds - i definitely wouldn't want to start with TMR, which is off-putting to new listeners or Safe As Milk, which is completely unrepresentative of what he does

and his lyrics are written for the way the words sound, not to "make sense"

I absolutely adore this album! "John the Determinist" is definitely a great track. I'm also really big on "Violet!", "A Girl, A Boy, And A Graveyard", "Organ Donor", and "Tomorrow", although there's not a song on the album I dislike.

Really good stuff.

What's he like? I've been meaning to check out Messersmith for a while...

I've already listened to Trout Mask Replica three or four times through. I thought it was hilarious the first go around and then after the second I began to like more and more of his songs. I'm already an avant-garde music listener so accessibility wasn't that big of an issue for me. I've also already listened to Safe as Milk which was a decent psychedelic/blues rock album, but it's like you said, it doesn't really represent too much about what Beefheart was about. I do, however, plan on listening to the Shiny Beast album in the future.

I guess he's kind of got a really cool acoustic indie vibe, with a really polished sound. He's got a nice voice, and writes great but often kind of quirky lyrics. Quite the storyteller, really.

A few examples from The Reluctant Graveyard:

Organ Donor


A Girl, A Boy, And A Graveyard

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i feel i don't give this album the attention it deserves. it has some really wonderful tracks on it...

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Elysian Fields-Queen Of The Meadow
Some very sexy dream pop.
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Braid-Frame And Canvas
Emo stuff. Quite underrated.