release date: Jun. 16, 1969
format: digital (28 x File, FLAC) (2021 remaster)
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,66]
producer: Frank Zappa
label: Zappa Records / Bizarre Industries - nationality: USA
Track highlights: 1. "Frownland" - 2. "The Dust Blows Forward 'n the Dust Blows Back" - 4. "Ella Guru" - 6. "Moonlight on Vermont" - 7. "Pachuco Cadaver" - 12. "My Human Gets Me Blues" - 14. "Hair Pie: Bake 2" (instr.) - 16. "Well" - 17. "When Big Joan Sets Up" - 18. "Fallin' Ditch" - 21. "Orange Claw Hammer" - 22. "She's Too Much for My Mirror" - 25. "The Blimp (Mousetrapreplica)" - 28. "Veteran's Day Poppy"
3rd studio album by Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band (here: a sextet) follows 8 months after the album Strictly Personal (Oct. 1968). At the point of the release, I guess people thought of it as a band effort and generally thinking of Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band as a unit of sorts - like that of The Jimi Hendrix Experience, and / or Frank Zappa and the Mothers - without comparison but with the idea of a band with a leader, and in this case with Don Van Vliet fronting His Magic Band. And to some extent that perception makes sense; however, when comparing The Magic Band over the years, it appears much more of a one-man project with shifting collaborators - of sorts. Yes, a few of these reappear over many albums but already here, only drummer & percussionist John French plays on all three albums up until this point. Guitarist John Cotton (here credited as 'Antennae Jimmy Semens') was included in the band on the predecessor but this is the first with guitarist Bill Harkleroad (credited as 'Zoot Horn Rollo'), bassist Mark Boston (credited as 'Rockette Morton'), and bass clarinet player Victor Hayden (credited as 'The Mascara Snake'). The album was released as a double vinyl album on Straight Records and with Frank Zappa as sound engineer and producer. Much has been said about this specific album. There are testimonies indicating that much of the recordings were taped live in the studio, or with the band playing instruments in one room and with Don Van Vliet contributing with vocals in another room. And then there's the story of how an untrained Van Vliet composed and played the songs on a piano after which John French transcribed Vliet's instrumental pieces into musical notations for individual instrumentalists to play as they appeared. Other ideas were used as creative ideas such as having the individual band members sit in isolated rooms playing their part while they couldn't hear the others - same approach was used for recording Vliet's vocal, which resulted in out-of-sync passages that were used as they were recorded.
I first came across this album in the early 80s at the local library. I was immediately attracted by the front cover, which I somehow found appealing. I took the album home and understood absolutely nothing of it and thought of it as unappealing chaotic noise. Over the years, I have come across this album at various stages of my life, and each time, I have discovered something new about it, found out that little bit more - and found it increasingly more fascinating. Needless say, the album is longtime a musical treasure and the good old Captain Beefheart has become an icon.
The album wasn't a big contemporary success - hardly any of Captain Beefheart albums experienced major commercial success, although, this one did reach number #21 in the UK. In retrospect however, none of his albums have been rejected as musical failures, which I guess has to do with Van Vliet's mission as an artists: to create music free of conventions [this is not a statement by Van Vliet but my assessment]. There's no doubt that Van Vliet was inspired by early American music and he is nonetheless regarded as one the most genuine original blues rock vocalists. As a composer, he was quite unconventional and an untamed figure. He was always motivated by ideas of creativeness and has always found is music labelled as avant-garde.
Trout Mask Replica is a... wonderous one-of-a-kind release. It's an extensive listen with around 80 mins. playing time. Some regard it as a stunning masterpiece, others see it as more of a non-sensical piece of formative artistic matter. The latter group of people, I find, often reject the album instantly, or quite early. Regardless, how people experience the album, there's no doubt that artists have and will continue to be inspired by its ideas and its output, which in essence comes from an unrestricted form. The album consists of 28 fragments of music - some tracks may sound alike and yet they all give you a taste of patternless music, paradoxically, with obvious traits of patterns. An overwhelming thing about it is that it was produced in 1969 and still sounds as something quite new. And did I mention, it's experimental? Actually, it's quite experimental and could be a bit of overwhelming to listen to in one long take. I'm still in doubt about how to regard it entirely - I guess, I might never will - it's not entirely a pleasant listen, but it surely has its moments. Pieces and fragments are both funny and absolutely strong. I'm thinking 4 out 5 and understand critics who see it as 5 / 5, and then I land on 3,5 / 5 because of its musical 'qualities'... though, what is quality when speaking of music? And this is the kind of questions you may have to ask yourself when listening to this, which basically proves its worth. I really enjoy it but for various reasons and at various times.
Definitely recommended.
