I made myself a TMR Rehearsals disc several years ago, excerpted from Grow Fins. Kept the songs in the same order as on TMR and tried to limit the duplications.Originally Posted by Dave (in MA)
Whole thing came out to only 42:34 minutes.
For the cover I used one of the many drawings online where people have duplicated the famous cover. That seemed more appropriate than a 1966 shot of the band.
Bro, what's up?
Obviously, Beefheart can take time. Like anything, the wait is worth the reward.
Had these 3-4 cousins/relatives that were about 5 years younger than me. When they were hitting 16ish, into the tunes...every time they saw me. they'd ask for band/album recommendation. One time they caught me at a family reunion but I was on the move and I just blurted out "Trout Mask Replica" By captain beefheart. later I never saw em...moved out of town for quite a while. When I moved back, they couldn't wait to track me down to tell me about what huge Beefheart fans they were now. BUT, the story was, one of them bought TMR. They all thought it was the worst shit they'd ever heard in their life. They thought I played a practical joke on them, or...that I had lost my touch...or my mind. lol I guess that a few years later they heard Clearspot at a friends place and loved it...and went back to TMR, and every other Beefheart record they could get their hands on ... and were blown away! They said they joked to themselves that it must not have been a practical joke after all.
1981 Interview
"A winter night in January 1981 I drove up to Reseda in Los Angeles to see Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band at the Country Club. It was a fantastic concert and Don and the band were flying. At the time I was working for the Danish Radio as a freelancer and I asked a guy at the door if Don would be available for an interview. To my surprise he came out and told me to meet Don at a Denny’s restaurant across the street. And there he came in his stage-clothes, very nice and we talked as you can hear here. After the interview he drove off in his old Volvo into the dessert, back to his paintings as he said. The interview never made it to the radio and I forgot about it until very recently when I found my trusted mini-Nagra hidden in a corner of my loft together with some tapes. One of them was this interview. Enjoy! (Steen Rasmussen)"
Why/how did I miss Mirror Man? That opening blues jam for 18+ min is phenomenal.
^ ^ ^ ^
Tarrotplane? Monsterous.
Steve F.
www.waysidemusic.com
www.cuneiformrecords.com
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"the masses have spoken, and this has appropriately vanished into the great Prog boner pile in the sky."
“Remember, if it doesn't say "Cuneiform," it's not prog!” - THE Jed Levin
"Death to false 'support the scene' prog!"
please add 'imo' wherever you like, to avoid offending those easily offended.
^Because he's still so amazingly underrated? Who could appreciate this kind of music? Punks? Or proggers, with their leaning on chops and fine melodies? Beefheart is an anomaly for any fixed conception of music.
Yep!
Dusted off my Pork Chop Blue Around the Rind CD by Gary Lucas Fast 'n' Bulbous. Absolutely amazing recording and arrangements! Good lord I need to listen to this album more. Easily A+, 10/10.
Wonderful record. Your post just compelled me to cue it up (even though I should be going to sleep).
Excellent. Do you have the newer album as well? I think I need that if its half as good as the first one. I would place "Pork Chop" in my fav top 10 Cuneiform albums now. It's just so well done in every respect.
If it isn't Krautrock, it's krap.
"And it's only the giving
That makes you what you are" - Ian Anderson
I have got it, and it's not a letdown at all. Whilst I think I prefer the first one slightly, there's not much in it - both are great with no weak spots. I'm sure you won't be sorry if you get it.
Great...thanks man.
I was an early fan(first two albums), but he lost me at TMR. Good stuff to be had later on on Doc at the Radar Station.
I agree that TMR is overrated. Even if trimmed to a single album it wouldn't be my favorite. I like Beefheart better when he keeps a balance between avant garde and classic blues. I also agree that Doc is one of his better albums. Three of its songs were recently profiled by a rising YouTuber:
Kandy Korn holds up too. This solo guitar version might just be a faint reflection in some ways, but there are some nice reminders of what happens on the Mirror Man version. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cj74MSLSV3w
I have been listening to Zappa's 32-minute track The String Quartet For Uncle Meat on "Transmission Impossible" (which has the live bootleg album Bacon Fat on it). The String Quartet for Uncle Meat, which was recorded in Toronto on February 23 1969, has The Blimp from Trout Mask Replica on it (without words). Is what is played during the Toronto concert the original music, which was then used on Trout Mask Replica, or did the Toronto concert use backing tracks (which would make it one of the earliest examples of sampling)? Trout Mask Replica was recorded in March 1969, which makes it feasible that the Toronto concert recording was used as the backing on The Blimp. But none of the Zappa band members was credited with playing on it.
We walked arm in arm with madness, and every little breeze whispered of the secret love we had for our disease (P. Blegvad)
The vocal/sax track on “The Blimp” is Antennae Jimmy Semens and Beefheart playing and singing over the telephone to Frank, who was in the studio at the time; he recorded them on an empty track of a tape of a studio recording of The Mothers playing Frank’s composition “Charles Ives” (which is what that portion of “The String Quartet” is called; there’s another live version of it on the extended “Didja Get Any Onya” from the original Ryko “Weasels Ripped My Flesh” CD). So it’s the Mothers playing Frank’s composition on “The Blimp” even though neither the players or the composer are credited. Different performance from Toronto.
Wasn't the backing track of The Blimp released as Charles Ives on YCDTOSA disc 1?
https://www.donlope.net/fz/notes/You...ol_5.html#Ives
I think it's a combo of a Columbia University live recording, FZ at the studio in Glendale, and Antenna Jimmy Semens on a phone call to FZ.
Last edited by Dave (in MA); 05-05-2022 at 11:58 AM.
I discovered the Captain on a warner bros sampler album entitled Zapped which featured Tim Buckley,Wild Man Fischer,The GTOs ,Pre-Eighteen Alice Cooper......
Hmm! I always took Frank’s quote that he was in the studio working on MOI material when Beefheart phoned him to mean that he was in Whitney studio WITH the MOI, but you’re right, it could be construed that he was working with live tapes. Had he broken up the MOI already by the time Trout Mask was being made?
FWIW: I agree with you.
It always sounded to me like he was working / rehearsing with the musicians live; that's why towards the end of the phone call it sounds like rehearsal / practice stuff with just the bass or just the drums.
Steve F.
www.waysidemusic.com
www.cuneiformrecords.com
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"the masses have spoken, and this has appropriately vanished into the great Prog boner pile in the sky."
“Remember, if it doesn't say "Cuneiform," it's not prog!” - THE Jed Levin
"Death to false 'support the scene' prog!"
please add 'imo' wherever you like, to avoid offending those easily offended.
^^^
Yeah, that’s compelling evidence I think (those repeated riffs at the end of the take do suggest a studio performance); I think I agree with me too 😁
I have no idea one way or the other, but the Whitney Studios recording and overdubbing sessions in Aug. 1969 were what produced Hot Rats and parts of Weasels , and I can't find any evidence that any MOI were there except for Ian Underwood. Weeny sessions included stuff from July @T.T.G.; was the MOI breakup in between the T.T.G. and Whitney sessions? It could be that the Charles Ives was from the same backing tracks as The Blimp. This book https://books.google.com/books?id=KS...fheart&f=false says that FZ was in the studio "MIXING a freeform jazz parody from the Mothers' last tour", but also quotes Zoot Horn Rollo who wasn't there, but apparently is under the impression that the piece features some MOI studio tracks.
This site is a one stop resource for Zappa dates: https://www.donlope.net/fz/chronology/1965-1969.html
According to it, Trout Mask was recorded March/April 1969 and released in June. (FZ mentioned in the Real FZ Book that the Magic Band showed up to hear the final album like they were dressed for Easter church, which I guess has to do with the March/April date.)
The Mothers seem to have played "Charles Ives" often live in 1969 although only a few tapes are around. I remember there is a good one from the Fillmore East. In "The Blimp" I think FZ is working with a studio tape as you can hear him count the band in at the beginning. They did some sessions at Criteria in Miami in January 1969, which is my guess about where they recorded that.
I always interpreted that as "You ready?" (starts playback of a recording, starts recording) "Okay, go." (tells Jeff Cotton to start reading the words over the phone).
The count-in is so faint, I figured it was on top of a live recording. Listening to it again, it sounds cleaner than 1969 MOI recordings that I've heard, so probably studio, maybe leftover from the T.T.G. sessions?
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