08-04-2010, 09:34 AM
matty7 Wrote:Hair Pie Bake from Trout Mask Replica = got to say Marsh that even makes Primus who i like sound like a top 40 act, i'll be honest..i didnt make it till the end of the song - how would you describe their sound please, ive only read about how origonal they were but never heard them till nowCaptain Beefheart and His Magic Band's third album (if you discount later live releases recorded before this date), released in 1970 (I think) was a double, "Trout Mask Replica". I would say that Hair: Pie Bake 1 is pretty representative of the sound of the album which contains 28 tracks. The commonly held mythology is that Beefheart pretty much incarcerated the musicians in a house for months and made them learn his music which he pounded out on a piano that he couldn't play. The lyrics often sound like a stream of consciousness and rely a lot on metaphor and wordplay; sometimes clever, sometimes touching, sometimes hilarious, one or two couplets make me cringe. A studio conversation before the track Pena contains the following infamous exchange:
Captain Beefheart (Don Van Vliet) ... the mascara snake. fast and bulbous. also a tinned teardrop.
Victor Hayden: bulbous also tapered.
I like that, but don't feel I need to know that "... I took off my pants and felt free, the breeze blowing up me and up the canyon ..." I can't make up my mind about "Me and my girl named Bimbo Limbo Spam." from The Dust Blows Forward N The Dust Blows Back.
Hair: Pie Bake 1 begins with a saxophone solo. Beefheart often professed a huge love of Ornette Coleman and the free flurries of notes are possibly referential in that regard. It seems the sax solo was actually recorded accidentally when either CB or his cousin, VH, were warming up outside the house. The engineer who was attempting to record the sessions had a very rudimentary mixer with no control over EQ. The drums were covered with cardboard for some reason and people came in before he was ready, but he recorded it anyway. I've never heard a rhythm section like that of The Magic Band. The angular rhythms and what started out as accidental textures were captured on tape and the most remarkable thing was that the band learned to play those parts so they could recreate most of the tracks live, if necessary. I have no idea how to classify it. Beefheart was steeped in blues, he recorded for Frank Zappa, he had a dilettantish attitude to jazz. There is nothing else like it. It is Captain Beefheart :redface:
Before the band embarked on a tour of the UK later on (when they were promoting the album, Clear Spot) Beefheart claimed that his wife, Jan, hid his saxophones so he couldn't bring them. Clearly, not everyone was a fan of his free jazz improvisations. He had a great voice and, boy, could he blow harp!