Captain, My Captain

A RANT & REVIEW of Beefheart

The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame will release its latest inductees in a few days, and sadly, Don Van Vliet, aka Captain Beefheart, will once again not be voted in. One suspects that if he were still alive, he would have made fun of the honor. I asked my friend and master guitarist, Gary Lucas, who once managed and played guitar for him, what he thinks Don would have said about the “Hall of Shame.” Gary replied, “I know that he would have accepted the award if his health had permitted it, but would have probably added his own wrinkle to the proceedings.” Gary then pointed out that he’d once booked Don on the David Letterman Show (clip) and that Don took his time walking out of the green room onto the set, clutching a brown paper sack containing a bottle of Perrier water; most assumed it was a bottle of booze. Regardless, it got big laughs.

If you do not know him or his lasting influence, let me elucidate. His music was a major influence on the avant-garde and alternative rock music scene. Along with contemporary and equally inventive Frank Zappa, their relationship began when they were just teenagers in Lancaster, California, in the Mojave Desert. Later, Frank would fund, produce, and release some of his music on his Warner imprint, Straight Records, most notably Beefheart’s masterpiece, Trout Mask Replica, released on June 16, 1969. Five years later, they would collaborate on Bongo Fury, which has just been re-released in various configurations and is worthy of aural exploration.

I recently found an old review of Beefheart’s work pre-Trout Mask. It certainly laid the foundation for that album and his subsequent albums with the Magic Band.

“The past sure is tense.” - Don Van Vliet

CAPTAIN BEEFHEART: The Mirror Man Sessions (Buddha Records)

Don Van Vliet, aka Captain Beefheart, reinterpreted the blues for an ever-increasing neurotic middle class. He was their Robert Johnson, even weirding out the devil himself with his own brilliant musical agenda.

In 1967, following the excitement of his Safe As Milk effort, the good Captain planned to release a double-disc set of aggro blues. He and his Magic Band entered TTG Studios in LA in November of 1967, planning to record one live disc and one studio disc, titled It Comes To You In A Plain Brown Wrapper. It is from those sessions that this 9-song disc, including some unfinished numbers that appeared on Safe As Milk, was reissued.

The first three tracks were recorded live in the studio and capture the Magic Band really stretching out. “Tarotplane” clocks in at 19:04. Captain’s free-form horn and harmonica push the guitar prowess of Alex St. Claire Snouffer and the slide guitar magic of Jeff Cotton (later dubbed Antennae Jimmy Semens on Trout and Ry Cooder’s replacement after Safe As Milk) into a psychedelic-blues frenzy. John French (Drumbo) on drums and Jerry Handley on bass, keeping Captain time and propelling this musical miasma forward. Quite noticeable on these remastered tunes are the astounding guitar intricacies. And on “Kandy Korn,” the tinkling of piano keys can be heard at about the 5:46 mark for several measures.

In 1968, Strictly Personal was recorded, including 5 re-recorded tracks from this disc. But producer Bob Krasnow re-edited the material, adding wacky effects like distortion, echo, and phasing. Some say Beefheart dug the final product, but when it was greeted rather modestly, he turned sour on it. By 1971, a single disc of Mirror Man, featuring only four cuts, was released.

Don would take tighter control of his musical output after Mirror Man and really push his sound even further “out” from these original sessions, as Trout Mask Replica and Lick My Decals Off, Baby both prove.

Beefheart moved to the Mojave Desert after Ice Cream For Crow (1982), which failed to chart. It turned out to be his final album. He promised his wife he’d never record again so he could focus on his painting, which he did until his passing in December 2010. Regardless, his music lives on as a constant and engaging vision. And The Mirror Sessions is somewhat of a blueprint album of what the good Captain would morph into, albeit with shorter songs and even more engaging titles and dissonant music.

And the fact that he, and other innovators, are still not in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame exposes what a sham that museum represents.