Captain Beefhart & His Magic Band: Mirror Man

Captain Beefhart: Mirror Man

1971

Buddah Records

Format I Own it on: Vinyl

Track Listing: 1. Tarotplane  2. Kandy Korn  3. 25th Century Quaker  4. Mirror Man


Oh yea, I think I neglected to mention this last time, but "Strictly Personal" started out as a double-album called "It Comes to You in a Plain Brown Wrapper" (explaining the cover showing a  parcel in a plain brown wrapper) consisting of the usual 3-5 minute songs interspersed with some epic 8-20 minute jams... The album was scrapped for whatever reason (I'm sure I read the reason in the Beefheart biography, but I can't remember off the top of my head...) and some of the shorties were re-recorded and released as the single-album "Strictly Personal."

Some years later, Buddha got around to issuing those 20 minute jams as another single album called "Mirror Man" (I'm sure the phrase, "I don't hear a single" was tossed around)...If you listen to Captain Beefheart for his stream-of-conscience poetry, this might not be the album for you...At a mere four (albeit very long) tracks, a goodly chunk of it consists of long-form instrumental jamming with the Captain singing maybe only a verse or two or punctuating the song with a repeated phrase...

I don't know, I often find myself engaged and listening attentively to some of the material.."Tarotplane" is just plain awesome...My ears could wander that soundscape forever and I wouldn't regret at minute...Same goes for the title track, where Beefheart exclaims, "Mirror Man! Mirror me!" a thousand different ways...Most memorably with his microphone switching off and on rapidly....The band's strut is especially rubbery here...

 On the other hand, I often zone out during "Kandy Korn" and "25th Century Quaker"...I'm engaged while the vocals are there, but I often find my mind wandering during some of the extended playing...Every so often an especially transcendent moment (like when "Kandy Korn" gets all majestic at around the seven minute mark) will momentarily snap me back to attention and make me go, "Wow"...I don't know...Maybe I don't have the proper attention span for this, but it's hard to imagine many people who would tolerate this more than I would...

Not that I see a big problem with an album that just kind of dances around in the background...It certainly doesn't annoy or bother me...Quite the opposite. After a six pack, I'm deeply digging the groove, foot tapping constantly..Those two tracks don't implant themselves in my permanent memory like "Tarotplane" or "Mirror Man" do...Oh, well...

I would definitely recommend this to any Beefheart fan who already has a few of the group's
albums under their belt... It's that prime Beefheart majorly-askew-electric-blues sound that becomes addictive once you've acclimated yourself to it...And fans who are drawn more to the instrumental side of the Magic Band will flip their lids over this...It's a good place to hear the band stretch out, untethered by any narrative but their own...But if you're new to Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band, I'd  recommend some of their more succinct stuff...

Oh yea, this was later re-released on Compact Disc as "The Mirror Man Sessions" which gathers up more tracks from the unreleased "It Comes to You in a Plain Brown Wrapper" sessions...I don't have a copy of that release at this time, so I can't comment on the quality of it...Hopefully, I can locate a copy soon...

Here's "Tarotplane" by Captain Beefheart...Better grab a couple of extra beers...This is a long 'un...Enjoy...