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I felt weird. Like I didn't know how to feel feelings for a bit. Then I kind of just turned it off. Came back, loved it, love it, but Decals... is the better record.

ssakmule wrote:NerblyBear & Ubercat . I think your conflict you can be amicably resolved by the captain ...mr. van filet himself.

NerblyBear can't even spit into a cup. The kid talks out of his ass two of three posts.

There's no conflict here. There's just a guy who doesn't want to get drawn into an argument with a dolt, and a dolt.

I love these kinds of threads.

I was 25, so I was prepared for it's wierdness. I found it to be a very refreshing listen and mostly I was amazed trying to imagine the reaction to the record in the 70's. I loved the instrumentation, But I was substantially annoyed by the goofiness of the silly voices and what not. These same sentiments exsist today.

I wasn't familiar with the record's trendiness until recently. It's odd because I don't hear it's influence at all in any trendy music.

I find nothing "wilfully ugly" about this record. Also:

honeyisfunny wrote:I interviewed Bill Harkleroad. He explained it that first of all John French and then he had the role of interpreting what Van Vliet wanted the song to sound like. With Decals, the role was entirely Harkleroads as JohnFrench quit only to be brought back for the recording at the last minute.

From what I've heard this is pretty much what went on.

I thought it was the coolest thing I had ever heard and still do.

I was around 16 / 17 and it was pretty inaccessible, I mean I couldn't see me dancing at the disco to it and I sure as hell wasn't going to impress any girls with it.

By the time I actually heard TMR I had been listening to difficult music for a long long time. In fact, I'm sure a lot of that music had been influenced by Beefheart. I had probably listened to TG, certainly Can, Zappa, Pere Ubu, the Fall, etc., and I had picked up on the fact that a lot, if not all these bands were influenced by him. I always tend to backtrack influences on music I like anyways, so of course I knew I would investigate him at some point.

When I did finally acquire the album, at first, I'm not so sure I actually liked it. I did know, the instant I listened to it, how much it influenced all these artists I listened to and really liked, but that did not translate, at least right away, into me actually liking the album as an entity unto itself. So, there it sat amongst my records, for probably 3, 4 or 5 years, until I listened to it again. This time, I fell in love with the album, listening to it over and over, and feeling enriched every time I did so.

Fast forward again, probably another 10 years at least. There it sat, the lone example in my record collection of the Captain, except for the few things he did with Zappa. I still listened to it, quite regularly, but never had I sought out the rest of his records. Finally, at one point, my desire to further investigate Beefheart took hold, and I quickly acquired virtually all the rest of his records, enjoying each new one even more than the last. I came to realize, how important Beefheart really was to almost all the music, at least the more difficult variety, that I listen to, and how incredible and rich a legacy Beefheart has provided, if only you take the time to delve into it.

Bump for Don's birthday.

still haven't heard it...

I was about 18. I'd just played the song "Lady Sniff" by the Butthole Surfers at a party, in the hopes of impressing this older hippie/metalhead guy I'd just met (my friend's older sister's friend). I figured he'd be totally blown away by the weirdness and raunchiness of this obnoxious punk rock stuff I was into, but he merely remarked, "That sounds like a total ripoff of Captain Beefheart."

A bit flummoxed, I asked, "Who?"

The next day I was at the local indie record store. I picked up Trout Mask Replica, took it right home and gave it a spin.

My initial impression: "Whoa. Now that right there is some down-and-dirty shit." I loved it, though I really didn't quite understand why. Maybe just because it sounded so atonal and crude. It became a fixture of my turntable for about 2 weeks straight. Most of my friends were kind of dismayed. I heard, "You're playing this again?" several times during that phase. My reply was invariably "Yeah! Isn't it great?"

18-19. I was on acid.

So, pretty good.


Zen Arcade was exceptionally beautiful that night as well.