@@JokersAce0 Funny yah, but I never saw the Vox video. This is a comment I originally made on my music blog in 2010 lol. But no matter, nobody owns the information, it's free for the taking. I got it from a couple of books myself :D
Disappointed that he didn't bring up the fact that Beefheart put the band members through hell with sleep deprivation and other things to make them mentally break down. That's a huge part of why it sounds the way it does.....I mean other than because it's a Beefheart album.
@@thinginground5179 As with writer/director Rainer Werner Fassbinder, they couldn't find the same thrill and brilliance with other directors (or composers) as they could with the twisted genius, despite the toll it took. That's just one example of an artist I've been revisiting lately. Kubrick is another...
Just So Ya Know:: Beefheart didn't record his vocals after the band laid down tracks, it was all live. But he was in a separate room with headphones causing a slight delay making the whole endeavor even more disorienting. It was very purposeful.
according to Frank Zappa's autobiography, he refused to wear headphones so he was singing along to the instrumentals he heard from the other side of the wall. That's why everything's barely in sync.
There's nothing random about this record. The band rehearsed for 8 months in cult-like conditions and recorded the album in somewhere between 4 and 8 hours, depending on who's story one accepts. Every note and beat is exactly where he wanted it and this is verified by the myriad live performances posted online. His goal was to "shake people out of the catatonic state", which he seems to have accomplished.
Baby Alfred: True that. And if you watch composer Samuel Andreyev's technical analysis of the first composition on this record (Frownland) on his website you will fully understand it's musical structure and the difficulty of playing it repeatedly and faithfully, not to mention all the other pieces on the record. I didn't grasp it when I first heard this record - but then I didn't grasp Ornette Coleman at first either. It does take repeated listening to understand something challenging, which is why most people don't bother. Too bad. The rewards are mind expanding.
@@mbtisocialclub 3 years late, but no, it wasn't bullshit. At least, he believed it. Don Van Vliet was a paranoid schizophrenic according to his bandmates. It was all a Charles Manson-esque cult kinda thing. They used to record every day for 14 hours for 6 months straight. Captain would emotionally abuse them until they broke down for hours and days at a time. They had pretty much no money other than the small amount of welfare some of them collected and Van Vlient would force them to shoplift balogna and other food to survive (Zappa bailed them out of jail for it once). Apparently they looked like ghouls, all emaciated and clothing in tatters.
One of my favorite quotes of all time in regards to talking to his band... Captain Beefheart "Well if you think your jobs difficult I gotta sing to this shit." What a wonderful man.
@@TheParadox1010 its the true rating, though. I can't stand this album, but holy fuck is it impressive. Every note is intentional and meticulously rehearsed.
"I giggle at the thought of there being a producer and engineer during these recording sessions." What if that producer happens to be Frank Zappa himself?
Ivan Hozjan that’s not at all true. Zappa did stand out of the way for a lot of it but that was because he recognized this was a unique, well rehearsed product and needed to be documented more than produced. At first he tried recording them in the house they’d been rehearsing in, in fact, a few cuts on the album are recorded like that, but Beefheart complained he was trying to go cheap on him, so even though Zappa preferred recording at their house, he brought them into the studio.
Bing Sinatra beef Hart is the most polished recording in the history of music next to only “Illiteracy will prevail” by fecal matter (Cobain making punk when he was 17)
@@bingsinatra5283 lick my decals is the wine to TMRs Moonshine. I think ice cream for crow is better than lick my decals honestly, some tracks off Decals is great but a couple tracks lose my interest
Close. Best way to hear it was to be in the same state as the Captain. Not making fun of blues though Don was a serious and seriously good blues musician. More a case of having fun with the blues. Waste of effort analysing it like this. You get it, or you don't. Best thing he every did if you do get it.
I think the real reason people love Trout Mask Replica is the purity of intent behind it. The instrumentation is clunky and shambling, the Captain's vocals are poorly timed and awful, but they went ahead and did it. Beefheart refused to let anything compromise his artistic vision, even the fact that some of the things he composed were downright impossible to do (he once requested a drummer "play a strawberry"). He and his band found a way (it helped that he mentally, emotionally, and occasionally physically abused his band until they performed to his liking).
I don't think it's a mild reaction to love some of it and hate other parts. Just equally extreme emotions. Sometimes a Beefheart song feels like a flaming trash can, sometimes it's the most beautiful unique thing you've heard
The easiest way I can describe this album is the sound of 5 radios playing all at once on completely different channels but each channel is similar enough to where is doesn't sound random but intentional.
it sounds like a drunk man rolling up barbed wire on a steel table in a seedy part of LA while singing along with a CD player with a scratched disk it's one of the best things Ive ever heard
No but seriously, you have to review at least one of these The Pixies - Doolittle/Surfer Rosa The Beatles - Revolver The Zombies - Odessey & Oracle Kanye West - College Dropout/Late Registration Led Zeppelin - IV Jimi Hendrix - Are you Experienced? Black Sabbath - Paranoid Portishead - Dummy Deltron 3030 - Self Titled Massive attack - Mezzanine/Blue Lines Organized Konfusion - Stress Big L - Lifestylez Ov Da Poor & Dangerous Mos Def and Talib Kweli are Blackstar - Self-Titled Rage against the Machine - Self-Titled/Battle of Los Angeles SkyRip - check out my soundcloud melon I left out some big rock and rap albums like Pink Floyd, Rolling Stones, Biggie, Rakim, but this list is the albums I would love to see.
@@gabrielegagliardi3956 Producer funds the project. Engineer is the one who actually mixes it. Granted, Zappa was in the studio with Dick Kunc, and may have had a part in the mixing, but Kunc is the one who's credited and did most of the actual audio engineering.
If you gave it a genuine chance as a beautiful collection of possibly the most challenging music a rock band has ever had to play, with some of the greatest lyrics of all time you would enjoy it.
Matthew Gibbs I wouldn't laugh if I wasn't enjoying it, now would I? The thing is, I don't put it on a pedestal as the highest art only minds as brilliant as mine could hope to comprehend. It's a fun experiment, and I enjoy it as such. I personally believe that media's best measurement isn't in how good something is, but how enjoyable it is. For example, Drake is consistently proficient, but not really enjoyable. Meanwhile, hearing Cal Cuchesta's terrible rapping is thoroughly enjoyable to me. If something bad is enjoyable, it has more value to me than something "good" that is boring.
Riverrun, past Eve and Adam's, from swerve of shore to bend of bay, brings us by a commodius vicus of recirculation back to Howth castle and Environs...
I fucking love this record, and it's nothing to do with how "deep" or "complex" it is. I enjoy this stuff the same way I enjoy all modern experimental music: as a pure sensory experience, as sensations that are beyond any intelligibility. It's an amazing mountain of intricate noise, sprinkled with these odd nuggets of a capella poetry and blues that sound even weirder in context. It's a blast of freshness. Also, if you're looking for parallels to the sound Beefheart was doing, you'll have to look more into free jazz and avantgarde jazz from the likes of Coleman, Coltrane, Brötzman, Zorn and so on. Of course, Beefheart's sound is also entangled with traditional blues and rock 'n' roll, which makes it fresh and unique even within those circles. I can understand why this record sounds hostile and obnoxious to some people. It's definitely not a pleasant listen; it's more of a thrill ride than a "fun" experience.
everything about TMR was actually very intentional. Beefheart was in charge of every note played. Apparently it was a nightmare to record, even though it sounds like the most fun time ever just fucking around. Anyway, I don't really like it... I'm all ears when it is on, but I'd much rather listen to Sure Nuff and Yes I Do.
You're correct. It's like Beefheart deliberately made it a difficult and nightmarish experience for the band to rehearse these songs, and all that tension is present in the album. Also, I think there was a bit of a research failure in this review, as he mentions Frank Zappa and scoffs at the idea that this album even had a producer. *Zappa himself produced this record*.
It is worth pointing out though that Zappa absolutely HATED this record. As far as I'm aware, he was driven absolutely mental by how Beefheart refused to do anything in a way that makes the smallest bit of sense (like putting on the headphones while overdubbing vocals which is why all vocals are very very very slightly off-time from their original intent on TMR) so I wouldn't be surprised if at some points in the album he didn't do a damn thing out of frustration, told Beefheart he was finished, and Beefheart thought it was great.
For me TMR is a headache waiting to happen. I like a few of the songs for the abstract poetry, neon meat dreams of an octafish for example. I'd rather listen to Safe as Milk, or the under rated album Clear Spot any day.
The more you know about jazz and 20th Century atonal classical music, the easier it is to appreciate this album. Beefheart is basically doing all the things those composers were doing, but with rock instruments and no formal training. This album has been dissected by music scholars, who have confirmed that nothing on this album is random (except Beefheart's voice). This album is often taught in music conservatories. Not even joking.
The first time you listen to album you say to your self what is awful noise. The 2nd time you listen you say it’s still awful. The 3rd time you say I Heard something I did not hear before.the 4th time you say I hear even more.after 10 times you are convinced what a absolute masterpiece
It's also important to note that Zappa pretty much just pressed a couple buttons producing it, since he had agreed to give complete creative control to CB. It's also important to note that Zappa regretted that agreement, though he did abide by it.
@@danielabrenchak9379 Know what you mean. I bought it when it was released, recoiled in shock, put it up on the top shelf for six months, got it back down and never stopped playing it thereafter.
Exactly! You just have to play the album over a good few times and then you realise how many great little catchy lines are in there. I have to confess: I've played this when I had dinner guests. They didn't leave early. They enjoyed their trifle.
Friend and rival Frank Zappa believed in Captain Beefheart and, using his superior business skills, served as patron on his next release, Trout Mask Replica. Beefheart lived with the Magic Band in a dilapidated house and survived with the help his parents. The group, strengthened by the young guitarist Bill Harkleroad (aka "Zoot Horn Rollo"), by bassist Mark Boston (alias "Rockette Morton") and by Victor Hayden ("The Mascara Snake") at the bass clarinet, lived in isolation. Van Vliet composed the pieces that French, a fundamental collaborator at the time, transcribed to music for rock band. Each musician had complete freedom of interpretation. Van Vliet was also taken by the clarinet, which he used as a harmonica with an extended range. The gestation of the album was long and laborious, but was resolved by an eight-hour session from which Zappa and Van Vliet extracted a double album entitled Trout Mask Replica (Straight, 1969). That record has an aura of "art-rock" that the previous albums don't have. The savage spontaneity of the warped blues in Mirror Man is transformed into an artistically conscious program, albeit just as spastic. The humor of Safe As Milk is abandoned in favor of an eccentric but serious humor reminiscent of Erik Satie. The infernal fumes of Strictly Personal evolve into complex and angular harmonies. What comes out is one of the most creative, courageous albums of all time, decades ahead on the rest of rock music. In many ways this record is the equivalent of the Fantasia in Schumann's career. Adorno wrote that the Fantasia only seems the product of a madman, while in reality it is the expression of the madman one second before folly takes over. The most notable difference from the earlier albums is the duration of the cuts, for the most part very short. Another superficial difference is in the instrumentation, augmented by horns. The work is so innovative and complex as to be nearly indecipherable. The rhythm section sounds so polyrhythmic that all rhythm is lost. The singing , vaguely interested in music, travels within alien universes. The guitar acts as atonal contracanto. The counterpoint of the ensemble is something halfway between the orchestral chaos of Charles Ives and the audacity of John Cage. The chaotic but rational improvisation is reminiscent of the frenetic geometry of Ornette Coleman, who in turn was influenced by Van Vliet. The heterogeneous meter that Van Vliet produces are to melody what the free poetry of the 1900's are to rhyme. But free-jazz and avant garde music are only alibis, pretexts to freely vent the leader's anarchical compulsions. The album is by all accounts an anthology of chaos in all its musical forms. For as deeply varied as they are from one another, these twenty-eight cuts are many versions of the same scene of devastation. Trout Mask Replica is above all a collage of abstract paintings, each different from the other in color, intensity and contrast, yet they're all homogeneous in their "abstraction". Most of the songs are miniatures of dense, dark and crackling sounds that present themselves as a white man's rhythm and blues, but are in effect delirious episodes of psychosis. They preserve a shadow of bloodcurdling melody in the unbalanced bacchanal of the instruments, but is like the gasping of the moribund trying to articulate a phrase but only succeeding in putting together a blabbering mess: Ant Man Bee, Frownland, My Human Gets Me Blues, Sweet Sweet Bulbs. Here Beefheart's Dadaism is at its apex. The lyrics are pure nonsense, abstract sketches that serve only to set the listener on the wrong track. Very little remains of the grotesque blues of Safe As Milk,except perhaps the rhythmic self-confidence of Sugar' n' Spikes. Zappa's influence is noticeable in the humorous spoken comments between tracks and in the "music for telephone call" in the The Blimp. Despite the quantity of surrealistic asides, most of the humor is quite tragic: Beefheart is no longer a clowning freak, but an anguished wild animal. Towering above legitimate blues cuts are blues without accompaniment: the spectral delirium of The Dust Blows and Well's solemn solo. Dali`s Car pushes this format to the edge of chamber music, blues, and gospel. The Delta blues inspires three of the great masterpieces of the album: the convulsed riot between rabid dogs in Pena, one of Van Vliet's vocal masterpieces (the second howling voice), the grotesque Dachau Blues, dedicated in Van Vliet's style to the Nazi concentration camps, with a revolting clarinet counterpoint that would make Eric Dolphy's skin crawl, and the slow China Pig, rhythmic breathing accompanied by a single guitar, one of the greatest blues of all time. In the cuts most obviously influenced by free-jazz, that is to say those that favor instrumental improvisation, Dolphy's characteristic realm of tender desperation is recognizable, taken to a depressing level of amateurism and sloppiness, in the rambling argument between clarinets in Hair Pie, the swirling mix of Neon Meate Dream Of Two Octafish, colored by jazz-style drumming, distorted clarinets and Indian hallucinations, and that boiling magma entitled When Big Joan Sets Up. The most demented and deafening jam however, is found in Veterans Day Poppy. Often Beefheart's singing, in its bizarre cosmography, has the function of declarative verse, while guitar improvisations and cocksure rhythms act as primitive background, as is the case in Pachuco Cadaver, a piece that comes in thick and fast and spirited, and in the voodoo exorcism Hobo Chang Ba, performed with bells and moronic singing. Under the column "horror" style ought to be listed two more barbaric assaults on rhythm, two more tributes to caustic irrationality: Ella Guru, with its loud background voices, incoherent syncopations, guttural anthems, tribal beat, steel slide short circuits and hesitant bass riff, and the lycanthropic attack Moonlight On Vermont, a dark and obsessive midnight incubus within a storm of devastating syncopations and voodoo drums This is Van Vliet personal version of hard-rock, his zombie blues, devoted to human sacrifice and occult rituals. Trout Mask Replica is a monumental experiment in irregularity and an impressive catalog of vocal acrobatics. Raucousness, gargling, heavy breathing, whispering, falsetto, etc. are needed in order to dismantle the art of singing and transform it in a degraded emission of beastly verses. The dominant instrument is the clarinet that pops up everywhere in a "hit and run" guerrilla mode. The overall meaning of the pandemonium in Trout Mask Replica is not only playfulness, or the negation of a meaning. The allegorical messages of Van Vliet's masterpiece are multiple, hidden by layers of abstractions that allow a cosmic-metaphysical interpretation, despite the author's pretense of illiteracy. These interpretations redirect the listener toward a form of apology for madness, to the primordial stages, and to chaos, counterposed against the monolithic order of technocratic society. Beefheart uses the Delta blues as a pretext, but dismembers its structure, rhythm, harmony, tonality and melody, and then reassembles the pieces randomly, injecting it with free-jazz and casual improvisation. Beefheart is the first musician to perform an avant garde operation of such capacity without the least intellectual pomposity.
Have you ever seen interview with members of The Magic Band on this album? Captain Beefheart basically came up with everything himself on the piano (which he doesn't even play) which he just gave to his band and said "make it". Every member was left to interpret these insane poly-rhythms and incoherent harmonies into separate instruments, and several elements were literally impossible for them to re-create. I highly recommend looking at music theorists analyze this. I don't really go out of my way to listen to it as it's very weird and I don't like the sound, but the inherent art involved in this album is incredibly admirable.
I once played "Big Joan" for a few friends. One guy stared at the speakers in horror, one lady started dancing before going into the ladies' room and another guy just balled his eyes out in laughter. This record gets attention. One of my all time top 10 faves, easily. 👏
That albums was actually a lot more musical than I was expecting. I thought it would be more like the first James Chance and the Contortions album, but it was way more melodic and coherent.
Tons of poetry - words that just sound good coming out of his mouth - knowing he likely spent as much time as any poet putting these things together - and then reciting then in a very very hard environment of sound and rhythm. Dare I say: as important as any poetry, imho.
Thanks for reviewing! But I really disagree with what you said at 9:22. Did you know this album was composed to the note? It's almost entirely patterns, the drums switch between following the drums and following the guitars. The ensemble is similar to a trio sonata - three instruments with equal melodic importance. They play in different time signatures and different tempos. Everything was written down. Any improvisation was either at the fringes of written parts, or found in the drums. Going on for minutes about the production is kind of missing the point (though it would have made it a lot better). This album does have a high level of depth, and in my opinion is a musical masterpiece. If you have the ability to transcribe music, I highly suggest running through "Frownland" with a pen and paper. Anthony I know you are a great bass player. Try some of these out
I was not a fan of Trout Mask Replica until I'd heard it over 100 times. It took me a long time to acclimatise to it but once I did it all made sense. Now I give it a spin and it doesn't sound anything out of the ordinary. The secret to it is to not try and make sense of it or analyse it. Instead just put it on in the background and let it slowly enter your blood stream.
It's interesting to know that this chaotic music on Trout Mask Replica was extremely and meticulously planned out and performed, over six months of rehearsals, in the house where the Captain (Ahab) Beefheart and his Magic Band all lived. Captain was an unholy tyrant, using shaming and chew out sessions lasting hours, in order to ensure intensity and adherence to to the noisy sounds that the captain invented, for the band to learn, note for note. It's quite an impressive feat for a rock band to memorize 80 minutes of sequential atonal nonsense noise, perhaps. Now that is dedication to the Avantgarde of music. They recorded the album in four hours because they were so well rehearsed. I sometimes wonder if the Captain was afraid of spending expensive recording time, and that was perhaps a prime motivation to perfect the performance and record it as efficiently as possible. It was, after all, a two disc album from a band that had not achieved any profit in sales to speak of. Basically, his childhood friend, Frank Zappa, was doing a favor By having Captain Beefheart on his independent record label.
you know you have some serious talent when you can pull 100,000+ views for a review of Trout Mask Replica ... Anthony you are living my dream life :-) I always wanted to be a music review writer ... this is beyond awesome to see
Trout Mask Replica is one of my favourite albums of all time. I love how broken it is, yet it all kind of falls into place for me too. It's unbridled chaos, and I love every moment of it.
Reminds me of my high school days when me and my decidedly nonmusical friends decided to perform an improv cover of “frownland” for music class presentation. I was expelled shortly after. Love this album.
TMR is easily the best rock album ever made. I've played it hundreds of times and 80 minutes goes by very quickly. Yesterday, I played it 3 times in succession. Also, it's full of great riffs from Bill "Zoot Horn Rollo" Harkleroad and fabulous drumming from John French. I saw Beefheart & the Magic Band live three times, in Leeds, London and Brighton. The tightest band I ever heard. Two bass players: Roy Estrada playing a straight bass and Rockette Morton playing a Fender Jazz bass but fingering chords and strumming frenetically it as if it were a guitar. With Beefheart's roaring vocals and soprano sax, the effect was incredibly powerful, unlike anything I've ever heard since.
I totally disagree with the idea that the instruments sound like they are all playing different songs. The music is sometimes polytonal and sometimes atonal, and the rhythms and grooves are wonky and off kilter, but they are absolutely still locked in with each other. Tense and unconventional yes (that's what makes it fascinating in my opinion) but not out of sync or poorly performed. I personally enjoy listening to this record, I find it to be a cathartic and unpredictable roller coaster of wacky grooves and insane lyricism. I also disagree that the production is bad. It could be better produced and mixed yes, but I think the punchy tone on the bass guitar and the bright treble heavy guitars add to the albums sound perfectly. I'm not one of those people who thinks that because somebody else dislikes this record it's because they don't "get it" or that it reflects on their taste poorly, because the album is very much a take it or leave it proposition, but I absolutely love it and find it an amazingly satisfying listen. I will point out though, that you didn't give enough credit to the musical talent on display om this record, one example can be heard in the drum solo at the end of Sugar and Spikes.
One of my favorite recordings is an out-take from these sessions. Beefheart directed the sax player to run around the outside of the house, skronking as he ran. The result is amazing as he passes by on every circle of the house; the skronking gets louder and louder as the saxophonist approaches, hits maximum skronk as he passes, then fades away as he runs away from the mike. It seems like that sax player must have made twenty laps around the house, never once ceasing to blow. "Here he comes...and there he goes." Simply astounding.
So, I'm sitting in my office at work one day listening to Trout Mask Replica's 'The Dust Blows Forward n' the Dust Blows Back' when a co-worker walked into my office. He recited every word of the song. Seriously blew my mind, thinking that another human being appreciated what I did!
Weird that you say you don't even really like the album or think it can be liked. Because I certainly enjoy it! It has an absolutely unique atmosphere. The music is awesome and I looove Beefheart's singing. It's not an album you can listen to on the regular, but when I'm in the mood, sit down and listen to it it's always an experience. Safe As Milk is an album you can listen to on the regular, and I personally probably find it even more brilliant than TMR You say that the song compositions seem random to you, yet Beefheart let his band practice those songs for MONTHS so that they play exactly like he envisioned it. They were locked in a house and Vliet was almost like a dictator to them, in a very borderline way. This album didn't come from anywhere, it was intentionally and carefully crafted to sound as perplexing as it does. I can highly recommend the little 33 1/3 book on the album, it's very informative.
Never heard of Milo? The popular right-wing, christian, gay dude who goes to colleges and pisses off SJWs and Hardcore 3rd wave feminist? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milo_Yiannopoulos
Beefheart’s discography outside of this album is, from my observations, very underrated, and I think that’s mainly because Trout Mask is the one that people hop onto first. Not to say that albums like Doc at the Radar Station, or Ice Cream for Crow don’t have that same kooky energy, but I’d say if you bounced off of Trout Mask, I’d highly recommend jumping into any of his final 3 albums, you’ll probably have a pretty fun time.
11:15 did Fantano really just say it's not worth seeking out the enjoyable moments in this album because you're going to have to deal with music you don't like initially???
This album is not amazing because it makes some artistic statement about breaking the rules. It's amazing because it's FUN. It's goofy and hilarious. That's it. There's no big secret. Sorry.
***** Yeah, but you implied they are objectively bad. Im not a Pink Floyd fanboy, i've heard two songs of theirs but I dont really see how you can say they lean to shit unless you're a super hipster experimental music fan. You dont have to like them but I dont really see how they lean to shit.
The True Joey They do tend to change their sound with every record they put out, so if you listened to something they made before DSOTM you might enjoy that instead. My favourite is Piper At The Gates Of Dawn, have you ever tried it? Syd Barrett era = Best Era IMO
"I was shanghaied by a high hat beaver mustache man. And his pirate friend. I woke up in vomit and beer in a banana bin. And a soft lass with brown skin.." Sir, you are right.. many albums lose their potency. "Trout Mask Replica" will never be boring. But you can't say Captain Beefheart was "added after the mayhem." He wrote every note of those tracks on piano. The story of how that album was made is a great one. Rolling Stone listed "Trout.." as the 60th best album of all-time in its 500 Greatest issue. I would easily place it in the top ten.. INCREDIBLE WORK!! My first time watching your station.. good stuff. Please review ℃-ute's last album "°Cmaj9." They are a talented Japanese girl group. The album contains four triple-A side singles.. fun!
@@vollsticks Yeah he arranged, he'd say this is guitar or bass part, sometimes the drummer John French was left to his own a bit, after a while he maybe gave them a little more freedom, it wasn't exact. Well he kinda left things to French so maybe French arranged some things but musically it's all Beefheart. On another note I have a similar plastic trout mask that I like to wear when I listen to the album, I don't know why it's just kinda my thing. : )
Hal Saunders Both fantastic, as is Lodger, but I think he's already done one or both during classics week. Maybe, I'm not remembering correctly, I'd have to check. It's almost impossible for me to rank everything Bowie did from 76-80, but I'm not shy saying I think Station To Station is probably my preference on most days.. Tough, though. Also, I might rank Lodger above Heroes as a whole album. They're the only children I'll ever have, I.should stop talking about favorites.. lol
I'd say that Trout Mask Replica and Velvet Underground And Nico tie for greatest rock album ever. The transition at 1:42 of "Veterans Day Poppy" is probably the most beautiful thing a band has ever played on record.
After Frank Zappa asked the Magic Band to play a second take in case he needed it for splicing/dubbing, he was absolutely floored when he discovered that the two recordings were exactly the same. These guys were fucking talented dude.
Review gives the impression it's just a lot of freakish random noise - the album wouldn't be being reviewed here as a classic if this was the case! It was painstakingly crafted and rehearsed by the band (guitarist Bill Harkleroad's book Lunar Notes gives a good account of this), and stylistically makes sense if listened to within Beefheart's whole discography - particularly the albums before and after it. It is basically just blues rock put through a blender, and not so different to what Sonic Youth did with alternative rock on Daydream Nation a couple of decades later. Repeat listens do reveal yunno...actual songs with catchy refrains and riffs n stuff.
Fantano hating Trout Mask Replica just goes to show how little he actually knows. It's not meant to be audio genius but it is musical genius. Beefheart created the basis of post punk and math rock, and using free form jazz and some of the most intricate guitar and drum work you'll ever hear. Saying you hate an album which is probably one of the most influential of all time is just a scream that you can't appreciate insanity in music, and limiting musical taste by a lot. However, to be fair, you have to have a very high IQ to understand Trout Mask Replica. The musical genius is extremely subtle, and without a solid grasp of theoretical physics most of the music will go over a typical viewer’s head. There’s also Beefheart’s nihilistic outlook, which is deftly woven into his characterization- his personal philosophy draws heavily from trouts, for instance. The fans understand this stuff; they have the intellectual capacity to truly appreciate the depths of this music, to realize that it's not just weird- it says something deep about LIFE. As a consequence people who dislike Trout Mask replica truly ARE idiots- of course they wouldn’t appreciate, for instance, the genius in Beefheart’s existential catchphrase “Hobo Chang Ba,” which itself is a cryptic reference to Luo Guanzhong’s Chinese epic Romance of the Three Kingdoms. I’m smirking right now just imagining one of those addlepated simpletons scratching their heads in confusion as Don Van Vliet’s genius wit unfolds itself through their headphones. What fools.. how I pity them. And yes by the way, I DO have a Trout Mask Replica tattoo. And no, you cannot see it. It's for the ladies' eyes only- And even they have to demonstrate that they're within 5 IQ points of my own (preferably lower) beforehand.
So when I first heard about this album, I heard it was good and that's it. I sat down hit play and then just sat as the cacophony of the first track hit, and I just couldn't stop laughing for a couple minutes because if was so jarring. Going into this expecting a normal album and then getting the furthest possible from a normal album.
This is the only album I’m scared my wife will catch me listening to! I’d have to explain myself and how can I explain myself? Just repeating the word genius won’t do it for her!
First thing I do when I wake up is listen to TMR. Then I have breakfast, soybeans of course. After I eat I have my shower where I listen to Trout Mask Replica again. As a cleanser, I like to go for a run where I typically listen to a lighter album like Safe As Milk or even Bongo Fury. When I get back it's lunch time and I'll listen to Trout Mask Replica while I mash my soybeans. While I eat I like to enjoy a nice documentary, specifically one about Captain Beefheart. Following that extended screen time I like to keep my mind sharp with some reading. So I'll read and interpret the lyrics to Trout Mask Replica, of course I have the album playing in the background so I'm 100% focused. By now my day is going pretty good and I usually want to share it with somebody else. So I'll call up some friends to hang out. We like to play basketball, play tabletop RPGS and watch movies together but mostly we listen to Trout Mask Replica. After we all listen to the album together in our listening circle we head back to my place for dinner where I serve up a mean soybean. Just for the sake of ambiance, I'll play Trout Mask Replica in the background. Dinner conversation tends to be lively as we each share our favorite moments from Trout Mask Replica. My friends go home after this and while it was fun, it's time to prepare for another big day tomorrow. I'm only human so pardon me if this is graphic but I do enjoy a bit of masturbation before I sleep. I'm not really adventurous, I masturbate to vanilla, lesbian sex and oral but mostly just the cover art of Trout Mask Replica. Following that I clean myself up and unwind with a bit of music; Trout Mask Replica being my favorite. That's when I hop into the shower for a brief and relaxing warmth, I'm pretty clean by now I just want to ease up my muscles. Then it's time for bed. Being something of an audiophile I like to listen to music while I sleep. After I hit play to start up the song "Frownland" I drift to sleep.
I listened to this album for 8 hours straight, never heard the same song twice, looked down at my phone and realized I was 17 minutes in.
Longest 1 hour album I've ever heard
Cock And Ball Torture that’s strange because whenever I listen to this album time flies by. Then again this is one of my favorite albums of all time.
I guess i'm alone cuz I enjoyed the first half, but the second half had me migraine so I threw the record away.
Beautiful experience!
I feel that as a compliment.
Trout Mask Replica is my go-to first date background music.
So soothing
Fast and bulbous
@@LeVezz Perfectly describes my love life.
Gotta weed out the weak
MOOD
Apparently Beefheart wrote a lot of the music on piano, an instrument which he couldn't play
Wow 250 people saw that Vox video
@@JokersAce0 wHat
@@fackumon292 He directly quoted a Vox video on this album and got 500 likes from people - many who presumably saw the video
He would also write the music for instruments on the piano so that the notes he required of the instruments are out of those instruments' range.
@@JokersAce0 Funny yah, but I never saw the Vox video. This is a comment I originally made on my music blog in 2010 lol. But no matter, nobody owns the information, it's free for the taking. I got it from a couple of books myself :D
Disappointed that he didn't bring up the fact that Beefheart put the band members through hell with sleep deprivation and other things to make them mentally break down. That's a huge part of why it sounds the way it does.....I mean other than because it's a Beefheart album.
I was disappointed about that too. The whole backstory to this record's production is a must-know for any reviewer.
He didn't do it for the album, he just did it cause he was an asshole
The story of the album is more fucked up than the album itself.
@Ivory_ Lagiacrus_YT Yeah. I expected more of his "weirdness" in his other albums but i'm disappointed. lol
@@thinginground5179 As with writer/director Rainer Werner Fassbinder, they couldn't find the same thrill and brilliance with other directors (or composers) as they could with the twisted genius, despite the toll it took. That's just one example of an artist I've been revisiting lately. Kubrick is another...
Just So Ya Know:: Beefheart didn't record his vocals after the band laid down tracks, it was all live. But he was in a separate room with headphones causing a slight delay making the whole endeavor even more disorienting. It was very purposeful.
No, while the music was all recorded live, he did, in fact, add his vocals after the music was already laid down.
VAGUE LEAKAGE VAGUE LEAKAGE
it was recorded separately WITHOUT headphones
according to Frank Zappa's autobiography, he refused to wear headphones so he was singing along to the instrumentals he heard from the other side of the wall. That's why everything's barely in sync.
this is wrong, the band recorded the instrumental tracks in a single day and then later beefheart tracked his vocals without headphones
The ORIGINAL musical shitpost.
goofy
PleaseStandBuy C H E C K O U T M Y C H A N N E L C U H
TheLastSliceOfPie EGGS
Not really.
I thought that was lick my ass by mozart
OMFG HE DID IT THE ABSOLUTE MADMAN
replying to a comment a year old! You sir, are an absolute madlad
ABSOLUT MAD LAD
spirit theyve gone! spirit theyve vanished!
shoutout anco
Charlie Lane-Field
*Spirit profile pic*
MY MAN
There's nothing random about this record. The band rehearsed for 8 months in cult-like conditions and recorded the album in somewhere between 4 and 8 hours, depending on who's story one accepts. Every note and beat is exactly where he wanted it and this is verified by the myriad live performances posted online. His goal was to "shake people out of the catatonic state", which he seems to have accomplished.
Baby Alfred I feel like that’s bullshit ...”shake them out of their catatonic state” he probably said this after it blew up ...maybe?
Baby Alfred: True that. And if you watch composer Samuel Andreyev's technical analysis of the first composition on this record (Frownland) on his website you will fully understand it's musical structure and the difficulty of playing it repeatedly and faithfully, not to mention all the other pieces on the record. I didn't grasp it when I first heard this record - but then I didn't grasp Ornette Coleman at first either. It does take repeated listening to understand something challenging, which is why most people don't bother. Too bad. The rewards are mind expanding.
@@johnriehle623 Absolutely right. I saw them live three times in '72. Tight, powerful, stunning.
@@mbtisocialclub 3 years late, but no, it wasn't bullshit. At least, he believed it. Don Van Vliet was a paranoid schizophrenic according to his bandmates. It was all a Charles Manson-esque cult kinda thing. They used to record every day for 14 hours for 6 months straight. Captain would emotionally abuse them until they broke down for hours and days at a time. They had pretty much no money other than the small amount of welfare some of them collected and Van Vlient would force them to shoplift balogna and other food to survive (Zappa bailed them out of jail for it once). Apparently they looked like ghouls, all emaciated and clothing in tatters.
They did all that and it still sucks
One of my favorite quotes of all time in regards to talking to his band... Captain Beefheart "Well if you think your jobs difficult I gotta sing to this shit." What a wonderful man.
> What a wonderful man.
Bruh, he literally emotionally and mentally abused them
Ffs, he threw French down a flight of stairs. He's the definition of an asshole
Sarcasm beyond lost...
@@robbrobb7587 my bad. Tone over text is hard :(
This album is like a "it came from bandcamp..." album before bandcamp.
That's a great way to put it. Could be the best way that people could explain this masterpiece to those who don't understand.
Fast and Bulbous!
Thats right the mascara snake fast and bulbous!
Mr. Joey bulbous also tapered*
ALSO, a tin teardrop.
Sam Harradence that's right
Also, a tin teardrop
Trout Mask Replica will always be a 10/10 and 01/01.
I want to thumbs up bit it's at 69
@@harrylane4 you can do it now, it's at 81
The infamous duel rating.
@@TheParadox1010 its the true rating, though. I can't stand this album, but holy fuck is it impressive. Every note is intentional and meticulously rehearsed.
Thats the same thing
corey feldman's angelic 2 the core will be recognized in the same light in 50 years
Daniel Cho truly a misunderstood piece
Mr. MysteriousFezGuy indeed, it's a very fresh and innovative record
Daniel Cho I think it definitely is a challenging piece of music to listen to. No denying that.
Daniel Cho Maybe by some kind of cult
Cory Feldman is the Andy Kaufman of music
"I giggle at the thought of there being a producer and engineer during these recording sessions." What if that producer happens to be Frank Zappa himself?
Yeah, he left them his studio to record it themselves while he was on tour, and later released it on his own label.
Ivan Hozjan that’s not at all true. Zappa did stand out of the way for a lot of it but that was because he recognized this was a unique, well rehearsed product and needed to be documented more than produced. At first he tried recording them in the house they’d been rehearsing in, in fact, a few cuts on the album are recorded like that, but Beefheart complained he was trying to go cheap on him, so even though Zappa preferred recording at their house, he brought them into the studio.
Yep you can hear Zappa in the recording
@MrBrenman21 imagine thinking this
@@jt-mx4on did you know modern "art" could sell for millions
I just listened to it. This album scared the shit out of me.
DC Sorry to hear that, try 'Lick My Decals Off Baby', it's more sophisticated and better produced/recorded.
Bing Sinatra beef Hart is the most polished recording in the history of music next to only “Illiteracy will prevail” by fecal matter (Cobain making punk when he was 17)
@@bingsinatra5283 lick my decals is the wine to TMRs Moonshine. I think ice cream for crow is better than lick my decals honestly, some tracks off Decals is great but a couple tracks lose my interest
@@tcaw8813 I suggested Decals because it's musically similar to Trout and is from the same era.
Bing Sinatra do you live in Colorado by any chance?
momma always said, never trust a man who's favorite Captain Beefheart record is safe as milk
ya9thelatinogringo your momma is a weirdo
When I see Mommy, I feel like a Mummy.
YA9 how would you say safe as milk is different from trout mask? Thinking about trying it out but I only have so much listening time in a day.
Safe as milk is a fine album but is definitely not a good introduction to beefheart
Mirror Man and Trout Mask are way more Beefheart than Safe as Milk. But I gotta say that I prefer Safe as Milk to Mirror Man (which is also great).
I don't get the hype. I don't get the hate. It just sounds like a guy on acid making fun of blues music. It's amusing.
Close. Best way to hear it was to be in the same state as the Captain. Not making fun of blues though Don was a serious and seriously good blues musician. More a case of having fun with the blues. Waste of effort analysing it like this. You get it, or you don't. Best thing he every did if you do get it.
Marc Bell
Since you mentioned Nirvana, Kurt Cobain actually cited Beefheart as a big influence
Marc Bell Kurt plays with dissonance and more abbraisive noise quite a bit on In Utero. Its not a strong influence but maybe more of an inspiration.
But that's the hype.
I think the real reason people love Trout Mask Replica is the purity of intent behind it. The instrumentation is clunky and shambling, the Captain's vocals are poorly timed and awful, but they went ahead and did it. Beefheart refused to let anything compromise his artistic vision, even the fact that some of the things he composed were downright impossible to do (he once requested a drummer "play a strawberry"). He and his band found a way (it helped that he mentally, emotionally, and occasionally physically abused his band until they performed to his liking).
Melon: “It doesn’t elicit a mild reaction”
Also Melon: “I’m somewhere in the middle with this record”
Always the contrarian -.-
Middle Melon
I don't think it's a mild reaction to love some of it and hate other parts. Just equally extreme emotions. Sometimes a Beefheart song feels like a flaming trash can, sometimes it's the most beautiful unique thing you've heard
They're not really avoiding patterns so much as stacking several different conflicting patterns on top of one another.
A method of a avoiding patterns
I think you’re giving chaos an intentionality that isn’t there
@@raginbakin1430 this album was composed to-the-note. nothing is improvised
@@raginbakin1430 i think you're writing it off cause you don't get it lol
@@dirtysploof5890 who really does get it
The easiest way I can describe this album is the sound of 5 radios playing all at once on completely different channels but each channel is similar enough to where is doesn't sound random but intentional.
it sounds like a drunk man rolling up barbed wire on a steel table in a seedy part of LA while singing along with a CD player with a scratched disk
it's one of the best things Ive ever heard
And every once in a while all 5 radios sync up harmoniously for 1 second… before descending back into indistinguishable chaos
Shitposting: The Album
Whoa there, Fantano. You can easily avoid this green-screen problem by drawing a cheeky little holdout matte around the frame.
Best comment ever!
I'd prefer if Anthony Fantony took off his shirt instead
I hope you review Speeding Bullet 2 Heaven this classic week, Greenthony Screentano.
No but seriously, you have to review at least one of these
The Pixies - Doolittle/Surfer Rosa
The Beatles - Revolver
The Zombies - Odessey & Oracle
Kanye West - College Dropout/Late Registration
Led Zeppelin - IV
Jimi Hendrix - Are you Experienced?
Black Sabbath - Paranoid
Portishead - Dummy
Deltron 3030 - Self Titled
Massive attack - Mezzanine/Blue Lines
Organized Konfusion - Stress
Big L - Lifestylez Ov Da Poor & Dangerous
Mos Def and Talib Kweli are Blackstar - Self-Titled
Rage against the Machine - Self-Titled/Battle of Los Angeles
SkyRip - check out my soundcloud melon
I left out some big rock and rap albums like Pink Floyd, Rolling Stones, Biggie, Rakim, but this list is the albums I would love to see.
SkyRip he already reviewed it
Kudi's best album fuck fantano's opinion
hwaner1 no wrong bro the album is bad for multiple reasons. His best album is obviosly indicud or man on the moon 1
The Real Alister
by saying Indicud I thought you were also trolling, but putting MotM there made me confused.
The sound engineer for this album: trust me,I’m an engineer
Franz Zappa produced the album, not your random guy.
@@gabrielegagliardi3956 PRODUCER is not the same as ENGINEER. Dick Kunc was the engineer.
@@nl3064 what's the difference?
@@gabrielegagliardi3956 Producer funds the project. Engineer is the one who actually mixes it. Granted, Zappa was in the studio with Dick Kunc, and may have had a part in the mixing, but Kunc is the one who's credited and did most of the actual audio engineering.
@@nl3064 yep, producer is also largely used to define a sound engineering work, somebody doesn't like the term (steve albini for example)
The final track 'Veteran's Day Poppy' is the best tune on this album. The 2nd half of the song is a strong precursor to Slint.
I just thought the same thing the first time I listened to it!!! Also a Fugazi kind of vibe...those drums and rythm changes...
Bill's Corpse sounds like Johnny Rotten singing. Moonlight on Vermont sounds like Television.
I find the album to be fucking hilarious, like a musical version of Finnegans Wake.
same, I couldn't stop laughing the first 15 mins in and just started to accept it as comedy from that point on
If you gave it a genuine chance as a beautiful collection of possibly the most challenging music a rock band has ever had to play, with some of the greatest lyrics of all time you would enjoy it.
+Matthew Gibbs doesn't necessarily mean that he didn't enjoy it, does it?
Matthew Gibbs I wouldn't laugh if I wasn't enjoying it, now would I?
The thing is, I don't put it on a pedestal as the highest art only minds as brilliant as mine could hope to comprehend. It's a fun experiment, and I enjoy it as such.
I personally believe that media's best measurement isn't in how good something is, but how enjoyable it is.
For example, Drake is consistently proficient, but not really enjoyable. Meanwhile, hearing Cal Cuchesta's terrible rapping is thoroughly enjoyable to me. If something bad is enjoyable, it has more value to me than something "good" that is boring.
Riverrun, past Eve and Adam's, from swerve of shore to bend of bay, brings us by a commodius vicus of recirculation back to Howth castle and Environs...
your shirt has been hacked
The Russians did it, Trump merely wants 'the truth' before he jumps to conclusions (unlike his campaign).
by mexican waifu sombra
I knew Anthony wasn't real
What if Anthony died years ago and cal just impersonates. In fact, Cal probably killed Anthony getting revenge for all the abuse Anthony gives him
my favorite line of that entire album is "Me and my girl named bimbo"
Mario Garcia ...limbo, spam.
@@darling_danke_schoen For some reason that's one of the most satisfying musical moments I've ever heard, personally.
@@darling_danke_schoen 😂
one of the only legitimate DADA albums in music history.
I fucking love this record, and it's nothing to do with how "deep" or "complex" it is. I enjoy this stuff the same way I enjoy all modern experimental music: as a pure sensory experience, as sensations that are beyond any intelligibility. It's an amazing mountain of intricate noise, sprinkled with these odd nuggets of a capella poetry and blues that sound even weirder in context. It's a blast of freshness.
Also, if you're looking for parallels to the sound Beefheart was doing, you'll have to look more into free jazz and avantgarde jazz from the likes of Coleman, Coltrane, Brötzman, Zorn and so on. Of course, Beefheart's sound is also entangled with traditional blues and rock 'n' roll, which makes it fresh and unique even within those circles. I can understand why this record sounds hostile and obnoxious to some people. It's definitely not a pleasant listen; it's more of a thrill ride than a "fun" experience.
everything about TMR was actually very intentional. Beefheart was in charge of every note played. Apparently it was a nightmare to record, even though it sounds like the most fun time ever just fucking around. Anyway, I don't really like it... I'm all ears when it is on, but I'd much rather listen to Sure Nuff and Yes I Do.
yeah Safe As Milk is underrated as fuck. I love TMR tho
You're correct. It's like Beefheart deliberately made it a difficult and nightmarish experience for the band to rehearse these songs, and all that tension is present in the album. Also, I think there was a bit of a research failure in this review, as he mentions Frank Zappa and scoffs at the idea that this album even had a producer. *Zappa himself produced this record*.
It is worth pointing out though that Zappa absolutely HATED this record. As far as I'm aware, he was driven absolutely mental by how Beefheart refused to do anything in a way that makes the smallest bit of sense (like putting on the headphones while overdubbing vocals which is why all vocals are very very very slightly off-time from their original intent on TMR) so I wouldn't be surprised if at some points in the album he didn't do a damn thing out of frustration, told Beefheart he was finished, and Beefheart thought it was great.
For me TMR is a headache waiting to happen. I like a few of the songs for the abstract poetry, neon meat dreams of an octafish for example. I'd rather listen to Safe as Milk, or the under rated album Clear Spot any day.
+Gene “Macho Man” Smith-James Where do you get that Zappa hated it? I know the Captain hated Zappa's production choices on TMR...
I get why some people might not be into artists like Zappa and Beafheart, but damnit I'm glad I enjoy both
This week he's reviewing
Talking Heads - Remain In Light
Emperor - In The Nightshade Eclipse
Tom Waits - Rain Dogs
Outkast - ATLiens
Charlie Lane-Field how did you know that?
TheBmo4538 huh
@@lukec1471 wtf with this Responses
The more you know about jazz and 20th Century atonal classical music, the easier it is to appreciate this album. Beefheart is basically doing all the things those composers were doing, but with rock instruments and no formal training. This album has been dissected by music scholars, who have confirmed that nothing on this album is random (except Beefheart's voice). This album is often taught in music conservatories. Not even joking.
I think it's important to note that Zappa recorded and produced this record
All facts matter
The first time you listen to album you say to your self what is awful noise. The 2nd time you listen you say it’s still awful. The 3rd time you say I Heard something I did not hear before.the 4th time you say I hear even more.after 10 times you are convinced what a absolute masterpiece
@@danielabrenchak9379 i aint listening to the album 8 more times ffs
It's also important to note that Zappa pretty much just pressed a couple buttons producing it, since he had agreed to give complete creative control to CB. It's also important to note that Zappa regretted that agreement, though he did abide by it.
@@danielabrenchak9379 Know what you mean. I bought it when it was released, recoiled in shock, put it up on the top shelf for six months, got it back down and never stopped playing it thereafter.
I was there when Captain Beefheart started up his first band.
I told him, "Don't do it that way. You'll never make a dime."
I was there.
Mark H. Fantano should do an LCD review, because Sound of Silver is most definitely a classic.
But have you seen my records?
Mark H. I'm losing my edge
i'd like him to also review the swans
Hipster.
Moonlight on Vermont is such a good singalong track
Ella Guru is pretty damn catchy.
so's malaria......
MASS PANIC goes to show what a moon can do
It’s glorious. Simply glorious.
Exactly! You just have to play the album over a good few times and then you realise how many great little catchy lines are in there. I have to confess: I've played this when I had dinner guests. They didn't leave early. They enjoyed their trifle.
Friend and rival Frank Zappa believed in Captain Beefheart and, using his superior business skills, served as patron on his next release, Trout Mask Replica. Beefheart lived with the Magic Band in a dilapidated house and survived with the help his parents. The group, strengthened by the young guitarist Bill Harkleroad (aka "Zoot Horn Rollo"), by bassist Mark Boston (alias "Rockette Morton") and by Victor Hayden ("The Mascara Snake") at the bass clarinet, lived in isolation. Van Vliet composed the pieces that French, a fundamental collaborator at the time, transcribed to music for rock band. Each musician had complete freedom of interpretation. Van Vliet was also taken by the clarinet, which he used as a harmonica with an extended range. The gestation of the album was long and laborious, but was resolved by an eight-hour session from which Zappa and Van Vliet extracted a double album entitled Trout Mask Replica (Straight, 1969).
That record has an aura of "art-rock" that the previous albums don't have. The savage spontaneity of the warped blues in Mirror Man is transformed into an artistically conscious program, albeit just as spastic. The humor of Safe As Milk is abandoned in favor of an eccentric but serious humor reminiscent of Erik Satie. The infernal fumes of Strictly Personal evolve into complex and angular harmonies. What comes out is one of the most creative, courageous albums of all time, decades ahead on the rest of rock music.
In many ways this record is the equivalent of the Fantasia in Schumann's career. Adorno wrote that the Fantasia only seems the product of a madman, while in reality it is the expression of the madman one second before folly takes over.
The most notable difference from the earlier albums is the duration of the cuts, for the most part very short. Another superficial difference is in the instrumentation, augmented by horns.
The work is so innovative and complex as to be nearly indecipherable. The rhythm section sounds so polyrhythmic that all rhythm is lost. The singing , vaguely interested in music, travels within alien universes. The guitar acts as atonal contracanto. The counterpoint of the ensemble is something halfway between the orchestral chaos of Charles Ives and the audacity of John Cage. The chaotic but rational improvisation is reminiscent of the frenetic geometry of Ornette Coleman, who in turn was influenced by Van Vliet. The heterogeneous meter that Van Vliet produces are to melody what the free poetry of the 1900's are to rhyme. But free-jazz and avant garde music are only alibis, pretexts to freely vent the leader's anarchical compulsions. The album is by all accounts an anthology of chaos in all its musical forms. For as deeply varied as they are from one another, these twenty-eight cuts are many versions of the same scene of devastation. Trout Mask Replica is above all a collage of abstract paintings, each different from the other in color, intensity and contrast, yet they're all homogeneous in their "abstraction".
Most of the songs are miniatures of dense, dark and crackling sounds that present themselves as a white man's rhythm and blues, but are in effect delirious episodes of psychosis. They preserve a shadow of bloodcurdling melody in the unbalanced bacchanal of the instruments, but is like the gasping of the moribund trying to articulate a phrase but only succeeding in putting together a blabbering mess: Ant Man Bee, Frownland, My Human Gets Me Blues, Sweet Sweet Bulbs. Here Beefheart's Dadaism is at its apex. The lyrics are pure nonsense, abstract sketches that serve only to set the listener on the wrong track.
Very little remains of the grotesque blues of Safe As Milk,except perhaps the rhythmic self-confidence of Sugar' n' Spikes. Zappa's influence is noticeable in the humorous spoken comments between tracks and in the "music for telephone call" in the The Blimp.
Despite the quantity of surrealistic asides, most of the humor is quite tragic: Beefheart is no longer a clowning freak, but an anguished wild animal. Towering above legitimate blues cuts are blues without accompaniment: the spectral delirium of The Dust Blows and Well's solemn solo. Dali`s Car pushes this format to the edge of chamber music, blues, and gospel.
The Delta blues inspires three of the great masterpieces of the album: the convulsed riot between rabid dogs in Pena, one of Van Vliet's vocal masterpieces (the second howling voice), the grotesque Dachau Blues, dedicated in Van Vliet's style to the Nazi concentration camps, with a revolting clarinet counterpoint that would make Eric Dolphy's skin crawl, and the slow China Pig, rhythmic breathing accompanied by a single guitar, one of the greatest blues of all time. In the cuts most obviously influenced by free-jazz, that is to say those that favor instrumental improvisation, Dolphy's characteristic realm of tender desperation is recognizable, taken to a depressing level of amateurism and sloppiness, in the rambling argument between clarinets in Hair Pie, the swirling mix of Neon Meate Dream Of Two Octafish, colored by jazz-style drumming, distorted clarinets and Indian hallucinations, and that boiling magma entitled When Big Joan Sets Up. The most demented and deafening jam however, is found in Veterans Day Poppy.
Often Beefheart's singing, in its bizarre cosmography, has the function of declarative verse, while guitar improvisations and cocksure rhythms act as primitive background, as is the case in Pachuco Cadaver, a piece that comes in thick and fast and spirited, and in the voodoo exorcism Hobo Chang Ba, performed with bells and moronic singing. Under the column "horror" style ought to be listed two more barbaric assaults on rhythm, two more tributes to caustic irrationality: Ella Guru, with its loud background voices, incoherent syncopations, guttural anthems, tribal beat, steel slide short circuits and hesitant bass riff, and the lycanthropic attack Moonlight On Vermont, a dark and obsessive midnight incubus within a storm of devastating syncopations and voodoo drums This is Van Vliet personal version of hard-rock, his zombie blues, devoted to human sacrifice and occult rituals.
Trout Mask Replica is a monumental experiment in irregularity and an impressive catalog of vocal acrobatics. Raucousness, gargling, heavy breathing, whispering, falsetto, etc. are needed in order to dismantle the art of singing and transform it in a degraded emission of beastly verses. The dominant instrument is the clarinet that pops up everywhere in a "hit and run" guerrilla mode.
The overall meaning of the pandemonium in Trout Mask Replica is not only playfulness, or the negation of a meaning. The allegorical messages of Van Vliet's masterpiece are multiple, hidden by layers of abstractions that allow a cosmic-metaphysical interpretation, despite the author's pretense of illiteracy. These interpretations redirect the listener toward a form of apology for madness, to the primordial stages, and to chaos, counterposed against the monolithic order of technocratic society.
Beefheart uses the Delta blues as a pretext, but dismembers its structure, rhythm, harmony, tonality and melody, and then reassembles the pieces randomly, injecting it with free-jazz and casual improvisation. Beefheart is the first musician to perform an avant garde operation of such capacity without the least intellectual pomposity.
THE
Where did you copy and paste that from?
Sanic Youth he just wrote it
www.scaruffi.com/vol1/beefhear.html#tro
Scaruffi is the guy who got closest to understanding the thing...
I really enjoy it. I dont think theres some "deep meaning" i dont think you have to be a genius to "get it". I just like it.
Have you ever seen interview with members of The Magic Band on this album? Captain Beefheart basically came up with everything himself on the piano (which he doesn't even play) which he just gave to his band and said "make it". Every member was left to interpret these insane poly-rhythms and incoherent harmonies into separate instruments, and several elements were literally impossible for them to re-create. I highly recommend looking at music theorists analyze this. I don't really go out of my way to listen to it as it's very weird and I don't like the sound, but the inherent art involved in this album is incredibly admirable.
Now review Selected Ambient Works 85-92
VictorNFN most boring suggestion yet
most strong 10/10 suggestion yet*
maskei+
Your face is boring
HI i'm Sam i'm sexy
maskei+
Sexy Back
this sounds like my first fl studio beats
Sounds like my first LMMS beats
You couldn't play music this complex
Don’t flatter yourself
Ha
@@jt-mx4on that's not the same thing
Where is the guy that keeps track of the scores each year. We are two days into 2017 and I don't see him.
I once played "Big Joan" for a few friends. One guy stared at the speakers in horror, one lady started dancing before going into the ladies' room and another guy just balled his eyes out in laughter. This record gets attention. One of my all time top 10 faves, easily. 👏
I played Hair Pie Bake 1 at a work party once. My friend's wife loved it everyone else acted like I just assaulted them
what's the album next to Godly Godspeed Antenna reviewbruh?
oh wow bandstand was commenting on this guy for years
yeah what is that album?
@@lacanian1500 Crusher by Grave Babies
@@TheRealRobertEOSpeedwagon they're a couple for years now.
review the downward spiral or ill be minimally upset
Zetsubou Aaron That's what makes it good
ananana?
rschiela of
rschiela nin is fucking amazing
"I have thought an awful lot about blowing up the White House" - Anthony Fantano
review a mr. bungle album? just for fun?
That albums was actually a lot more musical than I was expecting. I thought it would be more like the first James Chance and the Contortions album, but it was way more melodic and coherent.
What I like about this album, that nobody talks about, is the poetry. He recites very good poetry on his own, not the singing of the songs.
Tons of poetry - words that just sound good coming out of his mouth - knowing he likely spent as much time as any poet putting these things together - and then reciting then in a very very hard environment of sound and rhythm. Dare I say: as important as any poetry, imho.
It's classic week!?!??!?!
Tatami Yessir
Tatami
Nah. This tape just dropped
is classic week
yeah, its on soundcloud, shits lit af
Hey new years resolution idea. Do I hate Mars Bars.
wrong channe m8.
I dunno do you.
What
This guy has really been doing this for 4 years
DO WEEN - CHOCOLATE & CHEESE OR THE MOLLUSK
^2NDED
3rded
Yes Please
GodWeenSatan though
YES CHOCOLATE AND CHEESE
Thanks for reviewing! But I really disagree with what you said at 9:22. Did you know this album was composed to the note? It's almost entirely patterns, the drums switch between following the drums and following the guitars. The ensemble is similar to a trio sonata - three instruments with equal melodic importance. They play in different time signatures and different tempos. Everything was written down. Any improvisation was either at the fringes of written parts, or found in the drums. Going on for minutes about the production is kind of missing the point (though it would have made it a lot better). This album does have a high level of depth, and in my opinion is a musical masterpiece. If you have the ability to transcribe music, I highly suggest running through "Frownland" with a pen and paper. Anthony I know you are a great bass player. Try some of these out
I was not a fan of Trout Mask Replica until I'd heard it over 100 times. It took me a long time to acclimatise to it but once I did it all made sense. Now I give it a spin and it doesn't sound anything out of the ordinary. The secret to it is to not try and make sense of it or analyse it. Instead just put it on in the background and let it slowly enter your blood stream.
Why would you play it 100 times if you didn’t like it?
If it takes you 100 listens to “like” something... then do you really like it or did you force yourself to like it?
@@JayCruz49er it's just more rewarding
You just accustomed your brain to it
No this album is hit garbage, and it’s not because I “just don’t get it man” it’s absolute trash.
Do a Bjork album for classics week
Homogenic
***** or Post or Vespertine or Debut
He did NOTM
It's interesting to know that this chaotic music on Trout Mask Replica was extremely and meticulously planned out and performed, over six months of rehearsals, in the house where the Captain (Ahab) Beefheart and his Magic Band all lived. Captain was an unholy tyrant, using shaming and chew out sessions lasting hours, in order to ensure intensity and adherence to to the noisy sounds that the captain invented, for the band to learn, note for note. It's quite an impressive feat for a rock band to memorize 80 minutes of sequential atonal nonsense noise, perhaps. Now that is dedication to the Avantgarde of music. They recorded the album in four hours because they were so well rehearsed. I sometimes wonder if the Captain was afraid of spending expensive recording time, and that was perhaps a prime motivation to perfect the performance and record it as efficiently as possible. It was, after all, a two disc album from a band that had not achieved any profit in sales to speak of. Basically, his childhood friend, Frank Zappa, was doing a favor By having Captain Beefheart on his independent record label.
I've been asking for Beefheart from Anthony for years
you know you have some serious talent when you can pull 100,000+ views for a review of Trout Mask Replica ... Anthony you are living my dream life :-) I always wanted to be a music review writer ... this is beyond awesome to see
Trout Mask Replica is one of my favourite albums of all time. I love how broken it is, yet it all kind of falls into place for me too.
It's unbridled chaos, and I love every moment of it.
It took me like 5 minutes to realize that this was a classic review
Reminds me of my high school days when me and my decidedly nonmusical friends decided to perform an improv cover of “frownland” for music class presentation.
I was expelled shortly after. Love this album.
TMR is easily the best rock album ever made. I've played it hundreds of times and 80 minutes goes by very quickly. Yesterday, I played it 3 times in succession. Also, it's full of great riffs from Bill "Zoot Horn Rollo" Harkleroad and fabulous drumming from John French. I saw Beefheart & the Magic Band live three times, in Leeds, London and Brighton. The tightest band I ever heard. Two bass players: Roy Estrada playing a straight bass and Rockette Morton playing a Fender Jazz bass but fingering chords and strumming frenetically it as if it were a guitar. With Beefheart's roaring vocals and soprano sax, the effect was incredibly powerful, unlike anything I've ever heard since.
nice to see Godspeed vinyl in the background
Beefthony Hearttano. Should’ve done that.
He's a vegan so I'm not sure about that.
Captony Beeftano
Fastony Bulbtano
Television - Marquee Moon. please.
Ben Byck hell yeah
I have not been waiting all day for this
I've been waiting years for this.
I totally disagree with the idea that the instruments sound like they are all playing different songs. The music is sometimes polytonal and sometimes atonal, and the rhythms and grooves are wonky and off kilter, but they are absolutely still locked in with each other. Tense and unconventional yes (that's what makes it fascinating in my opinion) but not out of sync or poorly performed. I personally enjoy listening to this record, I find it to be a cathartic and unpredictable roller coaster of wacky grooves and insane lyricism. I also disagree that the production is bad. It could be better produced and mixed yes, but I think the punchy tone on the bass guitar and the bright treble heavy guitars add to the albums sound perfectly. I'm not one of those people who thinks that because somebody else dislikes this record it's because they don't "get it" or that it reflects on their taste poorly, because the album is very much a take it or leave it proposition, but I absolutely love it and find it an amazingly satisfying listen. I will point out though, that you didn't give enough credit to the musical talent on display om this record, one example can be heard in the drum solo at the end of Sugar and Spikes.
tru
s e m e n s t a i n s t h e m o u n t a i n t o p s
That's a great summing up and yes, Sugar n Spikes, another great melody to add to the others mentioned above.
One of my favorite recordings is an out-take from these sessions. Beefheart directed the sax player to run around the outside of the house, skronking as he ran. The result is amazing as he passes by on every circle of the house; the skronking gets louder and louder as the saxophonist approaches, hits maximum skronk as he passes, then fades away as he runs away from the mike. It seems like that sax player must have made twenty laps around the house, never once ceasing to blow. "Here he comes...and there he goes." Simply astounding.
So, I'm sitting in my office at work one day listening to Trout Mask Replica's 'The Dust Blows Forward n' the Dust Blows Back' when a co-worker walked into my office. He recited every word of the song. Seriously blew my mind, thinking that another human being appreciated what I did!
Death Grips ft. Don Van Vliet,
No Trout Deep Mask 10/10
Nice one.
Weird that you say you don't even really like the album or think it can be liked. Because I certainly enjoy it! It has an absolutely unique atmosphere. The music is awesome and I looove Beefheart's singing. It's not an album you can listen to on the regular, but when I'm in the mood, sit down and listen to it it's always an experience. Safe As Milk is an album you can listen to on the regular, and I personally probably find it even more brilliant than TMR
You say that the song compositions seem random to you, yet Beefheart let his band practice those songs for MONTHS so that they play exactly like he envisioned it. They were locked in a house and Vliet was almost like a dictator to them, in a very borderline way. This album didn't come from anywhere, it was intentionally and carefully crafted to sound as perplexing as it does. I can highly recommend the little 33 1/3 book on the album, it's very informative.
Milo Goes To College or My War
Bill Stevenson week!
oxbow - king of the jews
Sean Crawford The Decendents - Milo Yiannopoulos goes to a safe space
Max Seuberlich I don't get this reference
Never heard of Milo? The popular right-wing, christian, gay dude who goes to colleges and pisses off SJWs and Hardcore 3rd wave feminist? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milo_Yiannopoulos
Beefheart’s discography outside of this album is, from my observations, very underrated, and I think that’s mainly because Trout Mask is the one that people hop onto first.
Not to say that albums like Doc at the Radar Station, or Ice Cream for Crow don’t have that same kooky energy, but I’d say if you bounced off of Trout Mask, I’d highly recommend jumping into any of his final 3 albums, you’ll probably have a pretty fun time.
11:15 did Fantano really just say it's not worth seeking out the enjoyable moments in this album because you're going to have to deal with music you don't like initially???
Review an outkast record.
Canaan Carter he's reviewing atliens soon
Canaan Carter it's tomorrow
Peter Weible Good, Atliens>Aquemini>SPCM>Stankonia
I really respect this album - but i also really cant stand it. Safe as milk is the shit..
E Schur I feel that
Shiny Beast is awesome too
Clear Spot's great.
E Schur So fucking edgy.
I enjoy quite a bit of this record, although a couple tracks are just dumb here and there.
I would really love to see you review Laughing Stock, or Pink Moon
I like this album.
FAST N BULBOUS I would’ve never guessed
ok
me too. i even played this to my wedding. filed a divorce later day on
Zack Zallie did you get this from the comment section of the album?
@@ducktheparentofducks9421 Yep. lol I only changed the sentence.
Sometimes I can't tell if this is a classic review or a Not Good review.
paolo why not both? It’s kinda what this album is to me anyway
This album is not amazing because it makes some artistic statement about breaking the rules. It's amazing because it's FUN. It's goofy and hilarious.
That's it. There's no big secret. Sorry.
Do one of the Pink Floyd albums
I feel like Dark Side of the Moon is so good to the point where no one needs to talk about it.
Meddle's da shit.
The True Joey how
***** Yeah, but you implied they are objectively bad. Im not a Pink Floyd fanboy, i've heard two songs of theirs but I dont really see how you can say they lean to shit unless you're a super hipster experimental music fan. You dont have to like them but I dont really see how they lean to shit.
The True Joey They do tend to change their sound with every record they put out, so if you listened to something they made before DSOTM you might enjoy that instead. My favourite is Piper At The Gates Of Dawn, have you ever tried it? Syd Barrett era = Best Era IMO
DO LED ZEPPELIN BOI
LIKE THE COMMENT
Tom Smith Led Zeppelin is overrated.
Ricamortez ok
Ricamortez no they aren't
Armsauce Mmmmm yeah it is ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
"I was shanghaied by a high hat beaver mustache man.
And his pirate friend.
I woke up in vomit and beer in a banana bin.
And a soft lass with brown skin.."
Sir, you are right.. many albums lose their potency.
"Trout Mask Replica" will never be boring.
But you can't say Captain Beefheart was "added
after the mayhem." He wrote every note of those
tracks on piano. The story of how that album was
made is a great one.
Rolling Stone listed "Trout.." as the 60th best album
of all-time in its 500 Greatest issue. I would easily
place it in the top ten.. INCREDIBLE WORK!!
My first time watching your station.. good stuff.
Please review ℃-ute's last album "°Cmaj9."
They are a talented Japanese girl group. The
album contains four triple-A side singles..
fun!
He wrote every note on the piano (though some parts were whistled or sung) but he didn't arrange the music.
@@vollsticks Yeah he arranged, he'd say this is guitar or bass part, sometimes the drummer John French was left to his own a bit, after a while he maybe gave them a little more freedom, it wasn't exact. Well he kinda left things to French so maybe French arranged some things but musically it's all Beefheart. On another note I have a similar plastic trout mask that I like to wear when I listen to the album, I don't know why it's just kinda my thing. : )
And yes, fantastic album and imagery, Beefheart then was in a world of his own it must be said. : )
I love how the review starts with Anthony addressing a technical fail, knowing full well his audience would comment endlessly about it.
You should review Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps) or Station To Station, Pleasethony. Thankstano!
Both solid albums, but I'd rather he do "Heroes" or Low.
Hal Saunders Both fantastic, as is Lodger, but I think he's already done one or both during classics week. Maybe, I'm not remembering correctly, I'd have to check.
It's almost impossible for me to rank everything Bowie did from 76-80, but I'm not shy saying I think Station To Station is probably my preference on most days.. Tough, though. Also, I might rank Lodger above Heroes as a whole album. They're the only children I'll ever have, I.should stop talking about favorites.. lol
Hunky Dory or The Man who sold the world would be nice
I'd say that Trout Mask Replica and Velvet Underground And Nico tie for greatest rock album ever. The transition at 1:42 of "Veterans Day Poppy" is probably the most beautiful thing a band has ever played on record.
After Frank Zappa asked the Magic Band to play a second take in case he needed it for splicing/dubbing, he was absolutely floored when he discovered that the two recordings were exactly the same. These guys were fucking talented dude.
Carter ! It's like a reward for making it to the end. Love it
Review Jane Doe for classic week.
survivorofthefire too recent
White Supremacist Hate Symbol It was released 3 years after ITAOTS and he reviewed that, so I don't see why he couldn't review Jane Doe
+James Grice he reviewed Madvillainy which is 2004
props on the dark souls pic bro
I just received my red pressing a few days ago. Smoked a blunt and listened to it at full volume...
I came. Neighbors hate me though.
I put this Lp on to get people;e out of my place/end of party or lets go to the pub already
Review gives the impression it's just a lot of freakish random noise - the album wouldn't be being reviewed here as a classic if this was the case! It was painstakingly crafted and rehearsed by the band (guitarist Bill Harkleroad's book Lunar Notes gives a good account of this), and stylistically makes sense if listened to within Beefheart's whole discography - particularly the albums before and after it. It is basically just blues rock put through a blender, and not so different to what Sonic Youth did with alternative rock on Daydream Nation a couple of decades later. Repeat listens do reveal yunno...actual songs with catchy refrains and riffs n stuff.
What are your thoughts on Ween? Not looking for a classics review, just curious of your opinion
Or even Mr. Bungle
I actually respect him doing a review of an album he doesn't like to give an accurate destruction of it!
Fantano hating Trout Mask Replica just goes to show how little he actually knows. It's not meant to be audio genius but it is musical genius. Beefheart created the basis of post punk and math rock, and using free form jazz and some of the most intricate guitar and drum work you'll ever hear. Saying you hate an album which is probably one of the most influential of all time is just a scream that you can't appreciate insanity in music, and limiting musical taste by a lot. However, to be fair, you have to have a very high IQ to understand Trout Mask Replica. The musical genius is extremely subtle, and without a solid grasp of theoretical physics most of the music will go over a typical viewer’s head. There’s also Beefheart’s nihilistic outlook, which is deftly woven into his characterization- his personal philosophy draws heavily from trouts, for instance. The fans understand this stuff; they have the intellectual capacity to truly appreciate the depths of this music, to realize that it's not just weird- it says something deep about LIFE. As a consequence people who dislike Trout Mask replica truly ARE idiots- of course they wouldn’t appreciate, for instance, the genius in Beefheart’s existential catchphrase “Hobo Chang Ba,” which itself is a cryptic reference to Luo Guanzhong’s Chinese epic Romance of the Three Kingdoms. I’m smirking right now just imagining one of those addlepated simpletons scratching their heads in confusion as Don Van Vliet’s genius wit unfolds itself through their headphones. What fools.. how I pity them. And yes by the way, I DO have a Trout Mask Replica tattoo. And no, you cannot see it. It's for the ladies' eyes only- And even they have to demonstrate that they're within 5 IQ points of my own (preferably lower) beforehand.
ER influential of all time? Bruh come on
I hope yo bitch ass jokin
Jarrett Brice it is one of the most influential albums if not the most influential album of all time, you have no idea
This album is crap.
@@mistadyno It's a copypasta.
So when I first heard about this album, I heard it was good and that's it. I sat down hit play and then just sat as the cacophony of the first track hit, and I just couldn't stop laughing for a couple minutes because if was so jarring. Going into this expecting a normal album and then getting the furthest possible from a normal album.
I saw 2017 on the date and it fucked me up. Im so used to it being the [CURRENT YEAR]
But its always [THE CURRENT YEAR].
+6omery you're referring to [CURRENT YEAR] -1.
Wasn't that meme started in 2015 anyways?
Review Pet Sounds please, I can rub your melon head If you do it
john cena u cant see me classic album review
Can you review a# f# infinity for the classical week?
he already did LYSFLATH
This is the only album I’m scared my wife will catch me listening to! I’d have to explain myself and how can I explain myself? Just repeating the word genius won’t do it for her!
First thing I do when I wake up is listen to TMR. Then I have breakfast, soybeans of course. After I eat I have my shower where I listen to Trout Mask Replica again. As a cleanser, I like to go for a run where I typically listen to a lighter album like Safe As Milk or even Bongo Fury. When I get back it's lunch time and I'll listen to Trout Mask Replica while I mash my soybeans. While I eat I like to enjoy a nice documentary, specifically one about Captain Beefheart. Following that extended screen time I like to keep my mind sharp with some reading. So I'll read and interpret the lyrics to Trout Mask Replica, of course I have the album playing in the background so I'm 100% focused. By now my day is going pretty good and I usually want to share it with somebody else. So I'll call up some friends to hang out. We like to play basketball, play tabletop RPGS and watch movies together but mostly we listen to Trout Mask Replica. After we all listen to the album together in our listening circle we head back to my place for dinner where I serve up a mean soybean. Just for the sake of ambiance, I'll play Trout Mask Replica in the background. Dinner conversation tends to be lively as we each share our favorite moments from Trout Mask Replica. My friends go home after this and while it was fun, it's time to prepare for another big day tomorrow. I'm only human so pardon me if this is graphic but I do enjoy a bit of masturbation before I sleep. I'm not really adventurous, I masturbate to vanilla, lesbian sex and oral but mostly just the cover art of Trout Mask Replica. Following that I clean myself up and unwind with a bit of music; Trout Mask Replica being my favorite. That's when I hop into the shower for a brief and relaxing warmth, I'm pretty clean by now I just want to ease up my muscles. Then it's time for bed. Being something of an audiophile I like to listen to music while I sleep. After I hit play to start up the song "Frownland" I drift to sleep.
Where is Cal's favorite records Anthony Fantani? You better not have done anything to Cal.