Track Listing: 1. Electricity 2. Yellow Brick Road 3. Zig Zag Wanderer 4. Kandy Korn 5. Abba Zabba 6. Drop Out Boogie 7. I'm Glad 8. 25th Century Quaker
I bought this a few months back at Revolver Records in Tempe...It was hanging on the wall behind the counter and I had no idea what in the hell it was...A mustard-yellow 10 inch with a very "budget" looking cover... The guy working there didn't know what it was either...I had him take it down and throw it on my "buy" pile...I always love 10 inch records but I own very few of them...The only other 10 inch records in my collection are...
Cheap Trick: Found All the Parts...
Oingo Boingo...
Damned: Looking at You...
After I paid for it and got it home, it appeared to be some sort of UK compilation of songs from Captain Beeheart's first two albums..."Safe as Milk" (which I discussed yesterday) and "Mirror Man"...
(which I've never heard.)
I have to give credit to whoever compiled this...If I had to pick the six best songs from "Safe As Milk" I think my selection would look pretty similar...I think I forgot to mention yesterday how I much I enjoy "Yellow Brick Road." It sounds like such a happy kids song...Maybe a close relative of "Pop Goes the Weasel"...
No, not that "Pop the Weasel"...
Yea! That one!
The two "Mirror Man" selections are feature-length blues jams that showcase the Magic Band more than Captain Beefheart...and apparently they're the two shortest songs from that album...I particularly like "Kandy Korn" but I can't say either song really makes me wanna run to the record store and pick up a copy of "Mirror Man" anytime soon...
But yea, glad I found this...I have a real love for oddball releases like this...I mean who was it for? Someone mildly curious about early Captain Beefheart albums but didn't want to invest in a whole twelve inches of his work?
Alright, fair enough...Let's check out "Electricity" by Captain Beefheart...Enjoy...
Track Listing: 1. Sure 'Nuff 'n Yes I Do 2. Zig Zag Wanderer 3. Call on Me 4. Dropout Boogie 5. I'm Glad 6. Electricity 7. Yellow Brick Road 8. Abba Zaba 9. Plastic Factory 10. Where There's Woman 11. Grown So Ugly 12. Autumn's Child Bonus Tracks: 13.Safe as Milk (Take 5) 14. On Tomorrow 15. Big Black Baby Shoes 16. Flower Pot 17. Dirty Blue Gene 18. Trust Us (Take 9) 19. Korn Ring Finger
The first album by wonky-zonky Frank Zappa associate Don Van Vliet...He's joined by rootsy guitarist Ry Cooder, who after this album, moved on to his own successful career...
...as a solo artist...
..and in the ugly-album-covered super-group Little Village...
...and the Buena Vista Social Club...
This is much more in the 60's heavy blues rock mode than Captain Beefheart's later work, but thanks to his restless, rasping vocals and surreal word-play this is still pretty far from straight-forward...
Generally, the farther-out "Safe As Milk" gets, the more I like it...Like the vocals on "Electricity" where Beefheart sings the songs as in a buzzing, guttural manner as if he were electricity itself (rather than the more predictable choice of sounding like someone being electrocuted), and it turns out electricity itself sounds a lot like Wolfman Jack...
This shit was probably even too wigged out for 1967, a banner year where all of the greatest bands in music history were busy pushing boundaries that often resulted in their best albums ...Looking at the list of album releases for the year convinces me that every single, man, woman and child was ingesting massive amounts of LSD...
Lysergic acid diethylamide was the Cronut of 1967...
Check out some of the other albums that came out the same year...
"Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band"...
"Are You Experienced"...
"Absolutely Free"...
"The Piper At the Gates of Dawn"...
"Smiley Smile"...
"Disraeli Gears"...
"Their Satanic Majesties Request"...
"The Velvet Underground & Nico"...
"The Who Sell Out"...
Was 1967 the greatest year for albums ever? Let's just say yes... However, looking at those records kind of makes me feel like "Safe as Milk" is less acid-drenched than the others...Most of these seem like they were produced by level-headed musicians who dropped a tab or two and went out of their heads for brief inspiration and then went on with their lives...Captain Beefheart seems more deeply weird than that...Like the straight doo-wop of "I'm Glad" was the escape and the nonsensical chanting of "Abba Zaba" was more the norm...
Safe as Milk's psychedelia resides in its DNA rather than in the colorful clothes that it wears...It's also one of the most endlessly inventive (and fun as hell) blues-rock albums I've ever heard.... So let's check out "Dropout Boogie" by Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band." Enjoy...
Track Listing: Disc 1: Millionenspiel 2. Waiting for the Streetcar 3. Evening All Day 4. Deadly Doris 5. Graublau 6. When Darkness Comes 7. Blind Mirror Surf 8. Oscura Primavera 9. Bubble Rap
Disc 2: 1. Your Friendly Neighbourhood Whore 2. True Story 3. The Agreement 4. Midnight Sky 5. Desert 6. Spoon (Live) 7. Dead Pigeon Suite 8. Abra Cada Braxas 9. A Swan Is Born 10. The Loop
Disc 3: 1. Godzilla Fragment 2. On the Way to Mother Sky 3. Midnight Men 4. Networks of Foam 5.Messer, Scissors, Fork and Light 6. Barnacles 7. E.F.S. 108 8. Private Nocturnal 9. Alice 10. Mushroom (Live) 11.One More Saturday Night (Live)
Holy sheesh...Remember last week when I said you could dedicate an entire night listening to "Tago Mago?"
Well, you could easily blow an entire weekend on "The Lost Tapes." This is a 3 disc, 3 and a half hour selection of material that had been left in a studio cupboard somewhere and has just been recently unearthed and put together by Irmin Schmidt (Can's keyboardist)...
Whittled down from over 30 hours of music, we get a treasure-trove of unreleased songs, soundtrack material, and live recordings...Some totally new songs, but a good chunk of the material shows the evolution of Can classics...
For example, "Dead Pigeon Suite" is an extended soundtrack piece, but you'll probably recognize it as the basis for "Vitamin C." It's fun to hear too, because you finally understand that the bundle of flutey mellotron sounds at the end of "Vitamin C," that once seemed like an inspired afterthought, were once a vital part of the song...More of a parallel reality version, than your standard "demo."
I've never had the chance to check out too much live Can music, outside of the odd youtube video, so all the live material here is was pretty welcome......
In a live performance setting their songs sometimes only bore a passing similarity to their studio counterparts...For a good example of this check out the version of "Mushroom" included here...More of a slow, droning meltdown than the tight and punchy version on "Tago Mago." I also found it amusing, reading the liner notes, that the band referred to their noise jams as "Godzillas." For some reason early Can always reminded me of Godzilla...Towering, unpredictable, messy, exciting...Too bad they never did a soundtrack to a Godzilla movie...I could totally picture Godzilla battling Hedorah with some Can playing in the background...
I love the manner in which they edited all the various soundtrack work
into suites...It's much more in line with the Can aesthetic than
"Unlimited Edition's" various snippets...I can't see any Can fan not flipping over this...The band has stated that any further outtakes would be scraping the bottom of the barrel, but I don't know, man...I say "scrape away!" Let's hope there's another dusty box of tapes lying in some forgotten closet somewhere...
Let's check out "Millionenspiel" by Can...Enjoy...
Track Listing: 1. Gomorrha 2. Doko E 3. LH 702 (Nairobi/München) 4. I'm Too Leise 5. Musette 6. Blue Bag (Inside Paper) 7. E.F.S. No. 27 8. TV Spot 9. E.F.S. No. 7 10. The Empress and the Ukraine King 11. E.F.S. No. 10 12. Mother Upduff 13. E.F.S. No. 36 14. Cutaway 15. Connection 16. Fall of Another Year 17. E.F.S. No. 8 18. Transcendental Express 19. Ibis
This is an expanded re-release of an earlier outtakes collection titled "Limited Edition"...
"Unlimited Edition" covers the time period between 1968-1975, which is fortunate because it so happens to capture Can's peak years...That said, don't go into this expecting to hear anything on par with "Halleluhwah" or "Vitamin C," these are very much outtakes, mostly comprised of songs that can only be described as "snippets" (Considering that most of what's here falls into the 2-3 minute range, which is highly unusual for Can, who are renowned for their lengthy jams)...So loose and experimental that when something resembling a "real" song comes along ("Connection" for example) it almost catches you off guard...But man, this album's a lot of fun for Can enthusiasts...
The record is most successful on the 17 minute "Cutaway," fully embraces its tossed-off glory...an edited suite of wild noises, off-the-cuff jams and some of the most highly amusing studio chatter I've ever heard...Listen to Malcolm Mooney chiding Holger Czukay about an out-of-sync modulation effect and try not to laugh at Holger's civil, robotic responses...I think what makes it stand out is that it's as tightly edited as their usual stuff...It's all about a rough cut and paste job that captures the feel of the album...
Other highlights are "TV Spot" which never fails to make me LOL...Damo starts out the song yowling like he's hit his thumb with a hammer...
...eventually things settle down into a neat little groove as Damo coos "Somebody loved you..." and counters himself with an equally dreamy "Nobody loved you..." Man, this is some TV spot...The bizarre "Blue Bag (Inside Paper)" is remarkable in that it totally invents Ween...Listen to "Candy" from "Chocolate and Cheese" and then listen to this...
In addition to Damo, you also get a bunch of Malcolm songs too!
"The Empress and the Ukraine King" and "Connection" being the best of the bunch..."The Empress..." is so bright and funky I can't believe they didn't use it on one of their albums...Same with the straight-forward rocker "Connection." How many times did Can do straight-forward rockers? This is a real, rare treat...Also note how much Radiohead is indebted to "Fall of Another Year."
A quick glance at the track listing also reveals 5 tracks titled "E.F.S." These are all part of the band's "Ethnological Forgery Series" where they attempt to emulate the indigenous music of various cultures...Most surprising is "E.F.S No. 36" where they take a shot at New Orleans-style jazz...To be honest, I didn't think they had it in 'em...
I'd probably hold off purchasing "Unlimited Edition" until you've fully digested the preceding albums, but yea...The day is going to come when you're going to look at "Tago Mago" or "Ege Bamyasi" and say, "But I've already heard these ones a million times..." At that point go to the record store and pick this up...You're going to have a blast...But if you haven't heard those albums first, you're really jumping into the deep end here...
Track Listing: 1. Dizzy, Dizzy 2. Come Sta, La Luna 3. Splash 4. Chain Reaction 5. Quantum Physics
Damo Suzuki leaves the band and surprisingly the group doesn't replace him...Michael Karoli and Irmin Schmidt just take turns on the mic (in addition to their existing instrumental duties)...Sure, neither one is as interesting a vocalist as Damo Suzuki or Malcolm Mooney, but they don't hurt the album one bit...
I had always heard that after Damo left, the band's recorded output went down the toilet, but I picked up a copy of the "Can Antholgy" (which, in view of the band's love of "can" puns, I'm surprised wasn't called "Canthology") ...
...and went crazy for the song "Dizzy Dizzy." I loved the violin and the stammering vocals..."Got-t-t- -t to-to-to-to get-t it up...Got-t-t-t to-to-to-to get-t it over..." It's surprising how that vocal line gets hammered in your brain...Anyway, I went to the record store and picked up a copy of "Soon Over Babaluma," despite not having any idea what "Babaluma" meant...
As I played it, I was surprised to discover how smoothly this picks up right where "Future Days" left off...It differentiates itself by stepping a little deeper into the "World Music" waters, but really, "Chain Reaction" and "Splash" would have sounded just fine on that album...
"Chain Reaction" is the best thing here, by the way...It's unbelievable how intricate all the little lines in the song are...Each instrument functions as a microscopic, precision gear that contributes to the larger, forward momentum of the track...After 11 head-nodding minutes, the machine disintegrates into closing track "Quantum Physics" and we're all left pondering our place in the universe...Ladies and Gentlemen, this is the shit!
I'm also a huge fan of Irmin Schmidt's vocals on the cosmic bossanova "Come Sta, La Luna." The song makes me want to drink liquid LSD out of a space pineapple....
I often see "Splash" singled out as the album's weakest moment, but I think that speaks more about the overall quality of the album rather than any particular shortcomings "Splash" may have...It's a 7 minute Latin/Martian/ Jazz workout full of squonkin' saxes and electric piano, and while it may be the least appealing thing here, I still say you'd better savor it...If you're anything like me, you'll find the albums following this one not up to the same high standard, despite their always stellar playing...
I'll cherish the psychedelic mystery that made these early Can albums so unique...So let's listen to "Dizzy Dizzy" by Can...
Track Listing: 1. Future Days 2. Spray 3. Moonshake 4. Bel Air
I don't know...Listening to this, I can't help but think this might be Can's finest moment...There's not a weak spot on it, but it's easy to overlook because the album is so mellow...All the aggression is gone and it's replaced by a sort of ambient world music...But the world in question isn't necessarily Earth, if that makes sense...
Listening to this kind of feels like a quiet summer day, spent sipping a tropical drink and staring at your lawn...
...But as you look closer at the ground, you suddenly notice a vast, bustling insect civilization...
...and then your eyes readjust and suddenly you're staring at your beautiful lawn again...
I normally hate music that is branded ambient...The term is usually reserved for music done by musicians too lazy to write a melody and is often characterized by bland synth washes or acoustic guitars...
But this is different...It's extremely busy...Each song is packed with independently moving parts that all click together to provide a pleasant alien vista...And this is all done with electric guitars and rock drums...There's really nothing like it...
I think one of the hardest things to get around initially was the lack of vocals...I mean, Damo Suzuki is still here, but he doesn't seem as present at first...On half the songs he doesn't come in until 5 minutes or so into the track...And he mostly sings in an unassuming swoon...None of the sudden outbursts that made their earlier albums so exciting on first listen...The only song that really jumped out at me the first go-around was the short and sweet pop tune "Moonshake" and maybe the sing-song-y vocals on the title track, but after a few listens you'll realize it's all about the 20-minute album (and era) closer "Bel Air," which is the audio equivalent of visiting a floating city...
Oddly enough this was the first Can album I ever bought, after initially downloading "Vitamin C" and "Mushroom." went to the local record store but all they had was "Future Days," so I went for it...It was different than I was expecting, but I grew to love it, too...
I wouldn't recommend starting here, unless chilled-out, ethereal grooves are your thing, but once you get the hang of Can, don't make the mistake of overlooking this one...After many years of owning and listening to it. it's only recently asserted itself as the go-to Can album for me...
So set aside 20 minutes and check out "Bel Air" ...(Which I just realized has almost the same vocal melody as "Sitting Around at Home" by the Buzzcocks...I guess I've never listened to them in such close proximity before...)...Enjoy...
Track listing: 1. The Poet 2.The Wandering 3. Strange Feelin' In The Air 4. Junky Star 5. Depression 6. Hallelujah 7. Yesterday's Blues 8. Direction Of The Wind 9. Lay My Head On The Rail 10. Hard Worn Trail 11. Self-Righteous Wall 12. All Choked Up Again
Just the other day, I was checking my mailbox and there was a notice in there stating I had a box that was too big to fit in the mailbox...The office was closed so I couldn't pick it up, but I wondered all night what it could be...
...Could it be the box of balonies I ordered? Naww...I just put in that order last night...There's no way it's here already...
I know! Maybe it's a new puppy! Or...
...Maybe "Ninja" magazine is doing a special double-sized issue this month! Maybe it's an issue packed so full of throwing-star tutorials that it couldn't possibly fit into an average mailbox...
The real answer was even better than any of those imagined scenarios...The next day I was able to finally find out what the package was...My friend Joe sent me a beautiful vinyl copy of Ryan Bingham's "Junky Star." Joe's one of my faqvorite people on Earth...Here's a photo of me, Joe and a bunch of my other favorite people...This was taken in the early 90's...
This was taken in the early 90's...
Here's a picture of us rocking out in the late 90's...
Anyway, thank you very much, Joe!
The first thing I noticed when I opened the package was the plastic sleeve had a cool logo for some place called "Sweets Records."
Man! I want to go to Sweets Records and Tapes! If they still sell tapes, then this could be the coolest place ever! I looked them up online but couldn't find a single mention...Oh well, their logo is great...I seriously contemplated using the sleeve for one of my Sweet records...Just to see how sweet something could be...
But I decided not to, since my copy of "Desolation Boulevard" has a cool "Licorice Pizza" sticker on it that I don't want to cover up...
So I think I'll keep the sleeve on the Ryan Bingham record...
...I was looking at the track listing and noticed it was a three-sided vinyl record...I love three sided records! I wonder what was on side 4...Was it blank?
No...It turns out it has a bad-ass etching of the airplane on the album cover! Today is Sunday afternoon...I try to always keep Sunday open, so I can always have at least one day devoted entirely to watching monster movies, drinking a few beers and listening to records...I decided to start with "Junky Star" and a Sierra Nevada...
Boy, I chose the right day to listen to this..."Junky Star" is totally a Sunday record... Low-key, rusty-throated country rock best heard through the haze of a lingering hangover...Actually, it would work equally well blasting through a pair of speakers on a Saturday Night at 3 a.m...But that's technically still Sunday, so yea...Sunday record...
Looking at Ryan's picture on the back, you totally don't expect him to sound like he does...
Look at him...Young, good-lookin' kid in a Han Solo suit, right? But he has a croaky voice that sounds like he's been smoking cigarettes and drinking whiskey for the last 40 years...Which is a good attribute when you're doing this kind of music...
I really love the songs like "The Poet" and "Lay My Head On the Rails," where everything is so stripped down...Just some lovely acoustic guitar and some gravelly vocals detailing dive bars, dusty highways and unexpected murders...I also like "Direction Of The Wind" where it sounds like he's taking on Bob Dylan circa "Bringing It All Back Home." Very happy I got a chance to check this out..I'm already contemplating which album of his I'm going to check out next...
Also in the box was a mix CD!
I'm always so damn excited to get mix CD's...I try not to look at the track listing before I play it for the first time...I like the element of surprise! It really is a lost art these days and God bless the people who keep the practice alive...I think I'm gonna save this to listen to tomorrow at work...
Man, what a nice way to spend a Sunday...You can join me and listen to "The Poet" by Ryan Bingham & the Dead Horses...Actually, I don't see any dead horses in this video...It only appears to be Ryan Bingham...He does have a dog, but it's alive...Anyway, enjoy...
