Monday 20 August 2012

CAPTAIN BEEFHEART REVIEW

http://www.the-rocker.co.uk/


Hands up, I never really got the fuss about Captain Beefheart. For sure, I quite liked his album with Frank Zappa, "Bongo Fury", but I was doing a lot of highly illegal things at the time. But in the cold light of day, it was just so much noodling and a walrus barking. But some folks still rate him, so I'll do my best to tell you all about this release.

Back in 1972 Captain Beefheart pumped out two albums - "The Spotlight Kid" and "Clear Spot" - as well as touring the UK and Europe with the Magic Band. He did two concerts at the Royal Albert Hall, and on April 12th, during the European leg of the tour, they stopped off at the Beat Club studios in Bremen, Germany to film a session. They filmed five numbers, but only one of them has been officially broadcast prior to this release. The band at the time included Captain Beefheart, natch, on vocals and harp, Rockette Morton on guitar and bass, Zoot Horn Rollo on guitar, Orejon on bass, Ed Marimba on drums and my favourite, Winged Eel Fingerling on guitar.

You can tell it's the seventies because the set starts off with a bass solo. Yes, a bass solo. "Mascara Snake", it's called. And it's a bass solo. Then it's off into two takes of 'Click Clack' from "The Spotlight Kid", the then unreleased 'Golden Birdies', a few versions of 'I'm Gonna Booglarize You Baby' and 'Steal Softly Thru the Snow' from "Trout Mask Replica", with Beefheart adding some clarinet to the madness that is on offer. It sounds good enough, as it should, but the camera work is very much of its time. I don't know whether they were deliberately trying to match the music, or whether they'd handed over the cameras to a bunch of drunken ADHD sufferers, but it's certainly not easy on the eye.

Fans of Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band will lap this up, despite its short running order, as there isn't that much decent audio and video from their glory days, but for anyone looking to start on his music, I wouldn't start here.

Track Listing

1) Mascara Snake (bass solo)
2) Click Clack 1
3) Click Clack 2
4) Golden Birdies
5) Band Intros
6) I'm Gonna Booglarize You Baby 1
7) I'm Gonna Booglarize You Baby 2
8) Steal Softly Thru the Snow
9) I'm Gonna Booglarize You Baby 3

Buy DVD From Amazon

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2 comments:

  1. So it's not listed on Amazon nor on your Gonzo site. What's the problem with it?

    ReplyDelete
  2. AMAZON:
    http://www.amazon.co.uk/Captain-Beefheart-Magic-Broadcasts-Region/dp/B007VMSG4W/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1345854367&sr=8-1

    GONZO:
    http://www.gonzomultimedia.co.uk/images/frontpage/products/hst112dvd-banner.jpg

    We aim to please :)

    ReplyDelete

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