Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band: Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller)
1978
Warner Bros. Records
Format I Own it on: Vinyl
Track Listing: 1. The Floppy Boot Stomp 2. Tropical Hot Dog Night 3. Ice Rose 4. Harry Irene 5. You Know You're a Man 6. Bat Chain Puller 7. When I See Mommy I Feel Like a Mummy 8. Owed t'Alex 9. Candle Mambo 10. Love Lies 11. Suction Prints 12. Apes-Ma
As someone who didn't know better, when I read that Captain Beefheart had made a pair of standard issue soft rock albums in the 70's I was kind of excited to hear them...The very thought of the Captain spewing his surrealist poetry over an AM radio backing sounded very promising, but the reality was quite different...There's no way about it, 1974's "Unconditionally Guaranteed" and "Bluejeans & Moonbeams" both truly sucked when compared to what Van Vliet had released before. Luckily, he came to his senses and quickly rebounded with the fan-freakin'-tastic "Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller)."
This album's origins lie in the "lost" album simply titled "Bat Chain Puller." But the album's release was blocked by his childhood friend(?) Frank Zappa, so the band re-worked and re-recorded the album as "Shiny Beast." Now, I've listened to the original "Bat Chain Puller" and I don't think "Shiny Beast" quite lives up to that album's more hard-edged sound, but it's hard to be too disappointed when everything here is so great.
The song "Bat Chain Puller" is definitely in the running for best Beefheart track ever..."BAAAAAA-AAAAAA-AAAAT chain puller. puller." Fluidly mangled instrumentation that sounds like a jerky locomotive chopping down the tracks, or possibly a set of malfunctioning windshield wipers. Listen to the Captain howl and rasp:
"A chain with yellow lights
That glistens like oil beads
On its slick smooth trunk
That trails behind on tracks, and thumps
A wing hangs limp and retreats...
Ripples felt fades and grey sparks clacks,
Lunging the cushioned thickets.
Pumpkins span the hills
With orange crayola patches.
Green inflated trees
Balloon up into marshmallow soot..."
So vivid you can practically smell the rich, damp countryside as the train rolls on... The instrumentation grows screwier and more intense with every tumble...Another notable stop on this fantastic voyage is "Tropical Hot Dog Night." It's really unlike anything I've ever heard before, sort of like listening to Jimmy Buffett being turned inside out, revealing a complex network of neon innards...Or as Beefheart so succinctly puts it in the song, "Like two flamingoes in a fruit fight..." Yea, listening to this leaves the faint taste of splattered passion fruit on your taste buds...
The album kind of hits a bit of a lull at this point, "Harry Irene " is basically standard English music hall, that's only worthwhile for getting to hear the band attempt standard English music hall. "You Know You're a Man" is straightforward blues-rock that's only worth a listen for Captain Beefheart's brilliant vocal take ...
Side two, on the other hand, is pretty much all top-notch...You can practically hear Beefheart wheezing ancient dust on "When I See Mommy I Feel Like a Mummy," and "Candle Mambo" is stunning, mainly because as I listened, it suddenly clicked that a candle's flame really does mambo! And they wrote the perfect soundtrack for the dancing flame...This really ratchets up the emotion as it builds for some reason and by the song's conclusion, your stomach is somewhere in the stars..Inexplicable.
Whenever I listen to "Love Lies" I can't help but think of a barnacle-encrusted funeral band marching zombie-like through an eternally flooded New Orleans...Captain Beefheart leading them and howling at a watery moon...Man, I really hate describing these Beefheart albums...You've really just got to experience them for yourself...You'll either be amazed at all the new, twisted shapes he's managed to wrangle from the same old rock n' roll formulas or it's going to sound like a lot of noise and you're going to want to shut it off immediately...
Either way, here's "Bat Chain Puller" by Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band...Love it or shut it off...
Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band: Doc at the Radar Station
1980
Virgin Records
Format I Own it on: Vinyl
Track Listing: 1. Hot Head 2. Ashtray Heart 3. A Carrot is as Close as a Rabbit Gets to a Diamond 4. Run Paint Run Run 5. Sue Egypt 6. Brickbats 7. Dirty Blue Gene 8. Best Batch Yet 9. Telephone 10. Flavor Bud Living 11. Sheriff of Hong Kong 12. Making Love to a Vampire with a Monkey on My Knee
You probably don't remember, but when I was doing the other Captain Beefheart posts, I declared "Lick My Decals Off, Baby" his best album. Well, that was only because I'd never heard this one. This has become my hands-down favorite Beefheart album.
Van Vliet has often claimed to dislike the punk and new wave acts he inspired, but it's hard to believe he didn't pick up on some of that energy on this record. It seems more stripped-down, jagged and plasticky than before. As soon as you lay the needle down on side one, the angular rhythm of "Hot Head" sends polyethylene shards shooting in all directions...Not to mention, the lyrics to "Ashtray Heart:"
"You used me like an ashtray heart,
Case of the punks,
Right from the start..."
His delivery has also picked up on an existential terror that wasn't so prominent before...Just listening to his hoarse, panicked delivery on "Telephone" is enough to inspire heart palpitations and profuse sweating. Although, to be honest, I'm usually always profusely sweating so I might not be able to pin that one on Captain Beefheart.
"God, please fuck my mind for good!
Making love to a vampire with a monkey on my knee.
Oh fuck that thing.. .fuck that poem...eyes crawl out with maggots,
White cloth bones pile up light thrown blades
Rags 'n skull.. scoops soil cracks.. .drain screams..
please take my hand 'n join me..."
But it's not all deliberate ugliness, there's a few moments of beauty, like the serene instrumental "A Carrot is as Close as a Rabbit Gets to a Diamond," and despite the ragged distorted guitar playing, "Sue Egypt" manages a sort of natural luminescence. Huh.
So yea, this is the best Captain Beefheart album I've heard. If you're new to his music this would undoubtedly be the place I'd point you. Looking back, I'm very surprised any of us ever got to hear this. This guy was so out there that I doubt even the indiest of indie labels would sign him these days, let alone a major! Hell, he was even a musical guest on Saturday Night Live, shortly after the release of this album. I don't know how this happened.
I can only attribute it to the fact that he emerged during the psychedelic era, where the goal (for awhile anyway) seemed to be pushing the envelope more and more each time, so I think it probably seemed logical at that point that the Captain could have conceivably found an audience. Turns out his commercial failure helped outline the boundaries of what was "acceptable" within the music business...Nowadays everything is so pre-fabricated and test-marketed, there's no way an album like "Doc at the Radar Station" could be released and especially no way they'd let such an iconoclastic figure anywhere near a television studio. Could also be that no other artist has simply even considered pushing things as far as Van Vliet did. The pain-staking recreation of random moments is a pretty daunting task once you think about it...So there might be no modern analogue to Captain Beefheart beacuse there is no longer a Captain Beefheart.I can see that, I guess...
Anyhoo, here's "Telephone." Enjoy...
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