Kolya on 23/9/2010 at 00:02
I bought that album a long time ago after reading an article about Cpt. Beefheart. I was thoroughly disappointed, it didn't even sound like music. But there was something to it, like listening to some starved tripped out priest's ramblings for entertainment and suddenly noticing he's telling the truth, probably had been the whole time. Either that or you're going crazy with him. One of these things.
Aja on 23/9/2010 at 00:31
Beefheart is definitely an acquired taste. The more you listen, the more the logic of the songs becomes apparent.
Or, you could always start with Safe As Milk, which has a similar outlook but is way more approachable.
Aja on 23/9/2010 at 02:35
Sonic Youth were a little before my time, but I intend to catch up with them someday. I'm still absorbing Daydream Nation.
Stitch on 23/9/2010 at 03:26
Quote Posted by Aja
Sonic Youth were a little before my time, but I intend to catch up with them someday. I'm still absorbing Daydream Nation.
, however, was something you tackled as a young man?
Stitch on 23/9/2010 at 03:56
So yeah, album covers that made quite the impression during my formative years:
Inline Image:
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_9t5fTp9GmGo/Ss9d_FO1KmI/AAAAAAAAAFU/v76n_omZg3Q/s320/Oingo.jpgOne of the first real albums I ever really connected with as a kid, middleschool was spent dissecting every detail of this cover while listening to the cassette on repeat (both of which--the music and the art--were rather nervy and subversive to a boy not yet a teen). Years later this cover still stirs up something mysterious and primal from deep within me.
Inline Image:
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41MW0K9E94L.jpgActually, I guess
Some Great Reward rocked my shit when I was in fifth grade, which predates my Oingo Boingo obsession by a good two years. Still, the cover image of a freshly married couple standing in front of an industrial warehouse where inspiration goes to die made an impression, even if it wasn't until years later that I realized just how perfectly it fit the bleak, mechanical music (the lyrics are packed with depressed, blue collar imagery, e.g. "your pretty dress is oil stained/ from working too hard for too little," "so lie to me/ like they do it in the factory"). Bonus points for actually being a perfect record.
Great thread, Kolya.
Aja on 23/9/2010 at 05:41
Quote Posted by Stitch
Trout Mask Replica, however, was something you tackled as a young man?
Without the guidance of a musically-hip older-brother, a boy's tastes can lead him to weird territory.
Vernon on 23/9/2010 at 07:17
Trout Mask Replica. What an album. From what I remember hearing in a Beefheart doco, he had the Magic Band locked up in a house for eight months (and allowed them to venture out once a in a while for a sack of soy beans), by the end of which they were able to execute the performance at the recording studio in a matter of hours.
His (
http://www.beefheart.com/runpaint/index.html) painting is like his music, too. He just lays it on thick, whether it is paint or words.
Inline Image:
http://i677.photobucket.com/albums/vv137/theeggonlegs/when.jpgWhile there are obvious connotations to some of the tracks, like Dachau Blues or The Dust Blows Forward 'N The Dust Blows Back, I like to take most of it as beautiful and/or disconcerting collections of words.
Quote:
Pena
Her little head clinking
Like a barrel of red velvet balls
Full past noise
Treats filled her eyes
Turning them yellow like enamel coated tacks
Soft like butter hard not to pour
Out enjoying the sun while sitting on a turned on waffle iron
Smoke billowing up from between her legs
Made me vomit beautifully
And crush a chandelier
Fall on my stomach 'n view her
From a thousand happened facets
Liquid red salt ran over crystals
I later band-aided the area
Sighed
Oh well it was worth it
Pena pleased but sore from sitting
Choose to stub her toe
'n view the white pulps horribly large in their red pockets
"I'm tired of playing baby," she explained
'n out of uh blue felt box let escape
One yellow butterfly the same size
Its dropping were tiny green phosphorous worms
That moved in tuck 'n rolls that clacked
'n whispered in their confinement
Three little burnt scotch taped windows
Several yards away
Mouths open to tongues that vibrated
'n lost saliva
Pena exclaimed, "That's the raspberries.
Take Pena as a metaphor for anything you like, a clitoris or some kind of mescaline nightmare - the arrangement of words is exquisite. There's a Beefheart documentary out there ((
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4M5YE_a4B1U) found it, narrated by John Peel, no less), which is a good fucking laugh.
Also I love how A&M Records tried to squeeze him into a Rolling Stones-shaped box (or fisheye lens in this case), considering he's absolutely unhinged
Inline Image:
http://i677.photobucket.com/albums/vv137/theeggonlegs/rolling_stones_big_hits_high_tide.jpgInline Image:
http://i677.photobucket.com/albums/vv137/theeggonlegs/Captain-Beefheart--Magic-Safe-As-Mi.jpgI dunno, I guess I'm just saying that whether Beefheart's music is outsider music, random bullshit or real genius, it is a lot of fun and in my opinion, a real work of art. It makes some people rush to turn it off and other people gobsmacked. Or both.
