Trout Mask Replica - Capt. Beefheart (1969)

[DudeAsInCool]

Trout Mask Replica = Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band (1969)

On first listen,Trout Mask Replica sounds like raw Delta blues: Don Van Vliet (a.k.a. Captain Beefheart) singing and ranting and reciting poetry over fractured guitar licks. But the seeming sonic chaos is an illusion -- to construct the songs, the Magic Band rehearsed twelve hours a day for months on end in a house with the windows blacked out. (Producer Frank Zappa was then able to record most of the album in less than five hours.) Tracks such as "Ella Guru" and "My Human Gets Me Blues" are the direct predecessors of modern musical primitives such as Tom Waits and PJ Harvey.

Total album sales: Under 500,000

http://www.rollingstone.com/features/featuregen.asp?pid=2205

[Umma]

I watched the documentary about the making of Trout Mask Replica. It's a wonder they all didn't need padded rooms after that ordeal.

[DudeAsInCool]

Music critics at the time liked this avant-garde stuff. I bought the hype and purchased this, but I never really liked it. I'd rather listen to Yoko..

[Umma]

yeah.. it's not really a favourite here either... more of a curiousity.

Safe as Milk is much more agreeable.

[grab_grab_the_haddock]

now this is quite possibly the greatest album ever made: totally unique, surreal, funny and hugely influential. It can take quite a few listens to get into as its far from accesible, but its well worth making an effort.

Some of the captains other stuff is great too, like the clear spot, doc at the radar station and lick my decals off baby.

and as for comparing this to yoko? well thats just pure heresay. yoko's inane dribblings can in no way be compared to this magnificent magnum opus.