Trout Mask and Decals, either/or.

Decals, followed by Doc and Strictly Personal.

big_dave wrote:"Ink Mathematics" is the only sub-par song on Ice Cream For Crow, and its still a good one.

I love that song!

big_dave wrote:The Spotlight Kid is much, much weaker than Clear Spot. I still like it, it sounds like Unconditionally Guaranteed grew facial hair and some bollocks.

The two albums don't compare.

Clear Spot is a pleasant return to pop, with able production assistance from the guy who gave you The Doobie Brothers and Van Halen. The Spotlight Kid is Beefheart's masterpiece.

Biggest mistake ever was pairing these two albums on the same CD.

Sid Hartha wrote:The correct answer is:

Though I disagree I´m glad to see some love for this very underrated record. I´m on the camp of those who find that this record has a strong, dark vibe to it. Clear Spot is too upbeat and not interesting enough to me.

For me it´s a tie between Trout MaskReplica, Lick My Decals Off, Baby and Doc at The Radar Station. But Trout Maks gets the most replay value for the sheer size of it. Next on the list would be The Spotlight Kid.

Mmm...hard to pick just one.

No love for the Mirror Man Sessions (1999)? I think this is a beautiful record but perhaps not my favorite. But it's in there. It's much closer to the original idea for the album and superb. Tarotplane is genius.

My favorites:

Early Period:
Trout Mask Replica
Lick My Decals off Baby
The Mirror Man Sessions

Middle Period: Not too keen on these records but Clear Spot is probably the best of a not so good bunch.

Late Period:
Doc at the Radar Station - Easily the best of the three but they're all great.

Sid Hartha wrote:Everybody guessed wrong.

The correct answer is:

I picked up an original US print of this a few weeks ago!

However my favourite is still Safe As Milk. That record does something very strange to brain and I love it.

To me, Trout Mask Replica was always the key album, the sun around which all the others revolve. Well, that one and Decals, which sounds more electric to me. For some reason I like to think of TMR as an acoustic record, or a folk record, something akin to those great Harry Smith compilations, raggedy and a complete world at the time (Beefheart is much closer to a guy like Coley Jones than to any of the "post punk" dudes anyway). TMR is the most painterly of his records, there's this tremendous ambience about it. I have learned more about America through this album than through any other work in any other medium (with the possible exception of those great Harry Smith compilations), although I realize that that America is probably dead now. It is also the record that introduced me to serious music, right after a very youthful infatuation with the Beatles. I have probably listened to TMR a few thousand times, and it still reveals something new to me on every visit. I really don't want to imagine a world without it.

So, Trout Mask Replica. And I own every damn Beefheart record, which is really another way of saying: I am right.