Re: Captain Beefheart

From: Leslie N. Shill (icehouse@redshift.com)
Date: Fri Dec 15 2000 - 07:19:40 CET

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    I sure am glad to see another Beefheart fan around, i usually feel like a dinosaur when i talk about him and people look at me with that "yeah, right!" look. I know that he has been a very difficult man to work with for his bandmembers but he apparently has, as you point out, some very exacting standards which is not all bad. As Don Van Vliet he has also done some interesting paintings, hot rats, hot cats, gimme tha Captain!

    leslie/The Power of Sound

      ----- Original Message -----
      From: Stimp
      To: Leslie N. Shill ; robert@vaneglory.com
      Cc: acid
      Sent: Thursday, December 14, 2000 4:32 PM
      Subject: Re: Captain Beefheart

      Cool, another Beefheart fan!! I got to know Beefheart thru Zappa, and loved what I heard. My buddy then lent me "Trout Mask Replica", and I was hooked! This is one of the most challenging, unorthodox, heavy records I've ever heard, and it kept me wanting more. I eventually picked up his latest 2 cd comp "The Dust Blows Forward", and it features a pretty good cross section of his material with The Magic Band. However, it should be noted that not all of Beefheart's music is as free and unstructured as "Trout Mask Replica". Actually, I would categorize most of his work as being alternative blues, acid blues, or free blues. Basically, blues with an interesting twist.

          For those who prefer the weird stuff found on "Trout Mask Replica", Rhino records released a 4 cd boxset of the Trout Mask outtakes, and although I haven't heard it myself, a few knowledgable Beefheart fans that I know have said that it's nothing short of brilliant, essential listening.

          Lastly, for those who are still interested to keep reading, Beefhearts drummer circa the Trout Mask years, Drumbo, recently wrote a book on the time that he spent in the Magic Band, and let me tell you, it was interesting to say the least. According to him, Beefheart used to force his musicians to stay indoors for days at a time, rehearsing until they got the material right. Also, Drumbo claims that Beefheart used pretty extreme psychological cruelty to get his band to do his bidding. In any case, even those who are casual fans will have a blast reading this book. Check it out.

      Stimp
        ----- Original Message -----
        From: Leslie N. Shill
        To: robert@vaneglory.com
        Cc: acid
        Sent: Thursday, December 14, 2000 1:40 PM
        Subject: Re: Re:Buena Vista

        Robert,

        i played one of your tracks last night, did you see the playlist i posted?

        as far as Ry is concerned, if you think about Captain Beefheart and Cooder's contribution to his music, say on "Safe As Milk", and you extrapolate that out through Ry's film scores, it is a really huge body of work but for the first time on Buena Vista, he was more obvious to me as the tourist, even as amazing a tourist as Ry is, he is definitely not Cuban! i comment on this in all respect for Ry Cooder, who i first met with the Captain.

        Does anyone else on the list know the work of Captain Beefheart? some of his work with Zappa is astonishing and i daresay that some of those songs, perhaps "Hot Rats" could be the basis for pretty sick remix tricks.

        leslie/The Power of Sound

        leslie
          ----- Original Message -----
          From: robert@vaneglory.com
          To: Leslie N. Shill
          Cc: acid-jazz@ucsd.edu
          Sent: Thursday, December 14, 2000 10:17 AM
          Subject: Re:Buena Vista

          Leslie,
          And I've been watching Ry since 'Into the Purple Valley' and respected his contributions
          to the commercial music biz over the years.
          It was just comforting to have my guilty criticism validated aloud by others.

          Cheers!
          Robert
            

          "Leslie N. Shill" wrote:

            Robert, I have to agree with you about Ry Cooder on Buena Vista. Although I hold him very high regard as a musician, a writer and as a producer. the Cuban musicians are so connected to each other and intuitive about the playing of their fellow band members that Ry is pretty much superfluous. i understand why he went for the slide guitar but the result is a bit of a mish-mash for me. With Ali Farka Toure the production and seamless playing gave Ry a textural fit that was not at all obtrusive. To me the Cubans are just so damn goooood and they seem steeped in the foundation and layers of Cuban music! leslie/The Power of Sound



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