Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band-Trout Mask Replica (1969)

Unfortunately, I don’t have a copy of one of the greatest experimental rock albums of all time, which would happen to be Trout Mask Replica. It was released on CD many times, but it never made its way to iTunes for some strange reason (I get lots of my music off of iTunes), but I was lucky enough to hear the full thing on YouTube plenty of times before I would have a chance of buying it. I remember when I first listened to it a couple years ago, and I thought it was one of the most awesome things I had ever listened to. In fact, some of this was recorded in an old abandoned house! Don Van Vliet, as is the real name of Captain Beefheart, sure is a musical genius!

I remember reading the album’s credits, but they looked rather plain (but it did give out some of the instruments used). So, for this reason. when I describe each of the tracks for this review, I’m going to give personnel credits to each of the songs, just to add to the album’s weirdness!

“Frownland”-An electric boogie starts, but Don’s vocals quickly deconstructs the song into interlocking guitar noise. Not like noisecore in the Gerogerigegege fashion, but more in an electric blues style. This is a good way to start the album, by the way!

Captain Beefheart-lead vocals
Antennae Jimmy Semens-lead guitar, steel appendage guitar (slide guitar with a steel slide)
Zoot Horn Rollo-lead guitar, glass finger guitar (slide guitar with a glass slide)
Rockette Morton-bass guitar
Drumbo-drums

“The Dust Blows Forward n’ the Dust Blows Back”-A lo-fi a capella sung by Don, and he pauses the cassette recorder several times throughout the song, meaning that the song could’ve been improvised

Captain Beefheart-vocals

“Dachau Blues”-A song about the Holocaust. This song starts in an ominous manner, and Don’s voice sounds more deeper. The drums began to have a much slower beat. He also plays a deep droning bass clarinet in the background, at times sounding like some of the music you hear in the original Thomas the Tank Engine series. At the end, there’s a field recording of Rockette Morton giving an impromptu narrarion.

Captain Beefheart-lead vocals, bass clarinet
Antennae Jimmy Semens-steel appendage guitar
Zoot Horn Rollo-glass finger guitar
Rockette Morton-bass guitar, narration
Drumbo-drums
Frank Zappa-field recording

“Ella Guru”-An interlocking song about a pretty woman. Throughout the song, you hear random voices talking, and Antennae performs vocals with his hand cupped over his mouth. This was credited in the notes as a “flesh horn”.

Captain Beefheart-lead vocals, voice
Antennae Jimmy Semens-steel appendage guitar, flesh horn
Zoot Horn Rollo-glass finger guitar
Rockette Morton-bass guitar
The Mascara Snake-voice
Drumbo-drums
Frank Zappa-voice

“Hair Pie: Bake 1”-This track is a “bush recording”, beginning with an improv duo between Don’s saxophone and The Mascara Snake’s bass clarinet. Since this is a field recording, you can hear various outside sound effects. Both instruments were panned perfectly, in an atmospheric manner. Afterwards, the Magic Band strikes up a tune, recorded inside of the house that they recorded this in, with the other two instruments outside. Later, the Magic Band’s music gradually becomes louder, eventually drowning out Captain Beefheart and the Mascara Snake. The track ends with Don talking to two unidentified neighbors, with sounds such as doors opening and closing, an airplane flying, a dog barking, and some other outside sounds.

Captain Beefheart-tenor saxophone, voice
The Mascara Snake-bass clarinet
Antennae Jimmy Semens-steel appendage guitar
Zoot Horn Rollo-glass finger guitar
Rockette Morton-bass guitar
Drumbo-drums
Frank Zappa-bush recording, effects
Dialogue provided by two anonymous contributors

“Moonlight On Vermont”-A more garage rock-oriented tune centered around distorted guitars. In the middle of the track, you hear some guitar feedback, and some more feedback while the band are still playing.

Captain Beefheart-lead vocals
Antennae Jimmy Semens-steel appendage guitar, feedback
Zoot Horn Rollo-glass finger guitar
Gary “Magic” Marker-bass guitar
Drumbo-drums

“Pachuco Cadaver”-This begins with Don talking about “a squid eating dough in a polyethylene bag”. After that comes a jam driven by Rockette Morton’s bass. A strange tenor saxophone solo comes in later on.

Captain Beefheart-lead vocals, tenor saxophone, voice
Antennae Jimmy Semens-steel appendage guitar
Zoot Horn Rollo-glass finger guitar
Rockette Morton-bass guitar
Drumbo-drums

“Bill’s Corpse”-I can’t describe this song!

Captain Beefheart-lead vocals
Antennae Jimmy Semens-steel appendage guitar
Zoot Horn Rollo-glass finger guitar
Rockette Morton-bass guitar
Drumbo-drums

“Sweet Sweet Bulbs”-This song has a more country feel to it. The lyrics describe a garden.

Captain Beefheart-lead vocals
Antennae Jimmy Semens-steel appendage guitar
Zoot Horn Rollo-glass finger guitar
Rockette Morton-bass guitar
Drumbo-drums

“Neon Meate Dream of a Octafish”-This is a jazzy tune driven by Don’s vocals, which sounds like it was processed through a small speaker to give it a very tinny quality. He also plays a simran horn and an oboe musette.

Captain Beefheart-robot voice, simran horn, oboe musette
Antennae Jimmy Semens-steel appendage guitar
Zoot Horn Rollo-glass finger guitar
Rockette Morton-bass guitar
Drumbo-drums

“China Pig”-This is a lo-fi delta blues piece played by Doug Moon on acoustic guitar with Don singing about a piggy bank. Near the end of the song, there is a tape splicing sound effect.

Captain Beefheart-lead vocals, voice
Doug Moon-acoustic guitar
Gary “Magic” Marker-tape splice

“My Human Gets Me Blues”-This is another interlocking song that has really weird vocals.

Captain Beefheart-lead vocals
Antennae Jimmy Semens-steel appendage guitar
Zoot Horn Rollo-glass finger guitar
Rockette Morton-bass guitar
Drumbo-drums

“Dali’s Car”-A minimalist/modern classical-style guitar duel without any other accompaniment.

Antennae Jimmy Semens-steel appendage guitar
Zoot Horn Rollo-glass finger guitar

“Hair Pie: Bake 2”-The same rock melody from “Hair Pie: Bake 1”, but this time was recorded in an actual studio. The track ends with the sound of sleigh bells that gets sped-up to sound like a vacuum cleaner. Don was indeed a vacuum cleaner salesman at one point.

Captain Beefheart-sleigh bell tin tear drop
Antennae Jimmy Semens-steel appendage guitar
Zoot Horn Rollo-glass finger guitar
Rockette Morton-bass guitar
Drumbo-drums
Frank Zappa-special effect

“Pena”-Beginning with some studio dialogue, this leads into a really weird tune with high-pitched, very nonsensical, girly ranting backed by high-pitched barking.

Antennae Jimmy Semens-lead vocals, steel appendage guitar
Captain Beefheart-voice, barking
Zoot Horn Rollo-glass finger guitar
Rockette Morton-bass guitar
The Mascara Snake-voice
Drumbo-drums
Frank Zappa-voice

“Well”-The album’s second a capella. This, however, is not a lo-fi recording. The reverberation in Don’s voice comes from the house’s acoustic setting.

Captain Beefheart-lead vocals

“When Big Joan Sets Up”-The album’s lognest track, coming in at over 5 minutes. In this song, Don plays an even weirder tenor saxophone solo. Some of the instruments stop and start at a couple of points.

Captain Beefheart-lead vocals, tenor saxophone
Antennae Jimmy Semens-steel appendage guitar
Zoot Horn Rollo-glass finger guitar
Rockette Morton-bass guitar
Drumbo-drums

“Fallin’ Ditch”-This bluesy track begins with a musique concrete intro of sound effects and dialogue. The sound effects heard in the intro are:

1. An amplified recording of someone munching on food with Laurie Stone, Captain Beefheart’s girlfriend at the time, talking in the background
2. A recording of Laurie’s laughter that was sped-up, with some clacking sounds accompanying it
3. Tiny static
4. A tape-spliced voice that darts like a laser beam

Captain Beefheart-lead vocals, voice
Antennae Jimmy Semens-steel appendage guitar
Zoot Horn Rollo-glass finger guitar
Rockette Morton-bass guitar, narration
Drumbo-drums
Laurie Stone-voice
Frank Zappa-tape effects

“Sugar n’ Spikes”-I can’t describe this track, either!

Captain Beefheart-lead vocals
Antennae Jimmy Semens-steel appendage guitar, background vocals
Zoot Horn Rollo-glass finger guitar
Rockette Morton-bass guitar
Drumbo-drums

“Ant Man Bee”-This track has Don playing a soprano saxophone and a tenor saxophone simultaneously.

Captain Beefheart-lead vocals, tenor and soprano saxes played simultaneously
Antennae Jimmy Semens-steel appendage guitar
Zoot Horn Rollo-glass finger guitar
Rockette Morton-bass guitar
Drumbo-drums

“Orange Claw Hammer”-The album’s last a capella, sung in the form of a sea shanty. At one point, when Don pauses the tape recorder between verses, his voice warps a little. This is common in most lo-fi recorders of the time.

Captain Beefheart-vocals

“Wild Life”-Much of the guitars in the beginning of this track have a proto-grunge feel to it due to the distortion. Later, a jazzy bass clarinet solo comes in.

Captain Beefheart-lead vocals, bass clarinet
Antennae Jimmy Semens-steel appendage guitar
Zoot Horn Rollo-glass finger guitar
Rockette Morton-bass guitar
Drumbo-drums

“She’s Too Much for My Mirror”-This song begins with a radio announcer-style voice. After that is a short jam about a beautiful woman. At the end, Don’s voice echoes off into the distance, with a tiny bit of commentary to end it all.

Captain Beefheart-lead vocals, voice
Antennae Jimmy Semens-steel appendage guitar
Zoot Horn Rollo-glass finger guitar
Rockette Morton-bass guitar
Drumbo-drums
Dick Kunc-announcement

“Hobo Chang Ba”-This track is driven by jingle bells. At one point, you hear a tiny flute noise

Captain Beefheart-lead vocals, jingle bells
Antennae Jimmy Semens-steel appendage guitar
Zoot Horn Rollo-glass finger guitar, flute noise
Rockette Morton-bass guitar
Drumbo-drums

“The Blimp (mousetrapreplica)”-In this song, Frank Zappa’s group, the Mothers of Invention, plays their composition “Charles Ives”, while Antennae Jimmy Semens recites impromptu poetry by way of telephone, with Don accompanying him on a hunting horn. In some points, the drums roll off into space, some brass instruments honk like car horns, and a piano can be heard futzing about.

Captain Beefheart-hunting horn, voice
Antennae Jimmy Semens-voice
Roy Estrada-bass guitar
Arthur Tripp III-drums, percussion
Don Preston-piano
Ian Underwood-tenor saxophone
Bunk Gardner-alto saxophone
Buzz Gardner-trumpet
Frank Zappa-voice, telephone

“Steal Softly Thru Snow”-I can’t describe this track as well!

Captain Beefheart-lead vocals
Antennae Jimmy Semens-steel appendage guitar
Zoot Horn Rollo-glass finger guitar
Rockette Morton-bass guitar
Drumbo-drums

“Old Fart At Play”-One of the album’s best-known songs. This consists of the band accompanying the Captain’s bizarre poetic ranting. This is also where the title of the album comes in. At the end, Antennae can be heard speaking in a hippie manner.

Captain Beefheart-voice
Antennae Jimmy Semens-steel appendage guitar, voice
Zoot Horn Rollo-glass finger guitar
Rockette Morton-bass guitar
Drumbo-drums

“Veteran’s Day Poppy”-The track ends with a song about some veteran’s day poppy, but if the lyrics are any indication, the song might have been about a psychedelic drug.

Captain Beefheart-lead vocals
Antennae Jimmy Semens-steel appendage guitar
Zoot Horn Rollo-glass finger guitar
Gary “Magic” Marker-bass guitar
Drumbo-drums

Jingle Reviews: A Classic Kentucky Fried Chicken Advertisement from 1969

I love KFC, but nowadays, I’m trying to slim down from fried chicken (Don’t worry! I’m not obese! I’m just a tiny bit husky!). However, if I want to go to KFC, it should be just for stuff like their chicken tenders and chicken sandwiches (the not-so-greasy stuff), but that would be when I lose weight.

Let’s not talk about KFC, and talk about the background music, and the jingle, for a classic KFC ad, back when it was called Kentucky Fried Chicken, back in 1969.

The background music gives the commercial a very nice ambience, which makes sense because the commercial shows Colonel Harland Sanders sitting in a family’s living room discussing how the Colonel’s fried chicken is made in his restaurants. I would describe this music as Southern country blues furniture music. The music consists entirely of a simple acoustic guitar melody along with harmonica, with simple-sounding electric bass appearing later on. At the end of the commercial, when it shows a KFC location, a man with a very rich, very golden voice, sings “Kentucky Fried Chicken, if you want Kentucky Fried Chicken, you have to visit me.”, ending with a gentle chord as the commercial fades to black. Contrary to what the lyrics announce, the man is not Colonel Sanders singing.

The sound quality on the jingle is rather rough, but it is actually fine by television standards at the time, as the commercial was shot on film, not videotape. The jingle reminds me of the country-sounding title song off of the first suite of the Residents’ 1970 demo tape Rusty Coathangers for the Doctor, but with two more instruments other than just an acoustic guitar (although later in that particular demo track, it develops into a jam with distorted Hammond organ and sloppy electric bass). I remember the Residents did similar-sounding country folk music, like in the KFC jingle, on undocumented tapes dating back 1969, the year that this commercial aired on television, such as the tracks “I Hear Ya Got Religion” and “Moonman”, how both of those tracks have a living room atmosphere and acoustic guitar.

The acoustic guitar, by the way it sounds, could’ve been produced on an old-fashioned acoustic guitar, one that was prominently used by many African-American blues musicians in the 1920’s, 1930’s, and so on, such as the very popular Gibson L-5 model, which was first produced in 1922. This may be so because it is an acoustic guitar that is built to look like a later hollow-bodied electric guitar, giving the guitar a very rich sound. The electric bass, which sounds very simple, could’ve been an electric bass produced by Fender because those type of bass guitars were very popular in the 1960’s, and was commonly used by many psychedelic and progressive rock bands of that era. The man who was singing the jingle (again, not Colonel Sanders) could’ve been a famous voice-over artist, but I’m not sure which one, because I know a very few voice-over artists. Two of them include Ken Nordine, who famously recorded the Word Jazz albums for Dot Records, a subsidiary of Paramount Pictures, back in the late 1950’s, and Brian Cummings, who was most famous for his work with Disney.

I have a big soft spot for old-fashioned country blues music, especially the ones that have a nice atmosphere. So far, I have 2 old-fashioned country blues albums in my vinyl collection, and those are: (1) the early-1960’s Maude Humbard album Camptown Meeting, which is a gospel album, and (2) the psychedelic-sounding Powerglide, an album from 1972 by New Riders of the Purple Sage. Maybe, I’ll put Powerglide up for a review on this blog.

The full advertisement, complete with the music, can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwURoueDzFo

Residents Recordings Before Rusty Coathangers for the Doctor: A Study

The first documented Residents demo tape was 1969’s Rusty Coathangers for the Doctor. However, several reel-to-reel tapes, whose names are not documented, did exist, with only a very few of them being officially released.

According to the official Residents website, in the “Delta Nudes” section, the Residents began recording music “as early as 1956”. I’m not joking. That’s what I’ve actually read on the website! If the Residents made recordings at that point in time, I have two theories of what they might’ve sounded like:

1. Like Elvis Presley, but incredibly weird!
2. Old-school American folk

The first documented Residents recording was a track called “I Hear Ya Got Religion”. This was when the band was a no-budget folk combo, prior to developing an experimental sound that began in 1969. This track existed in three versions. I believe that the first two versions were recorded in around 1966. I can tell because of the audio quality and the way the acoustic guitar sounded. These two versions also had bleating, Captain Beefheart-style saxophones. NOTE: The same tape also had a short snippet of music and vocals. All three of these recordings were found on a Residents bootleg called 19 Mysterious Tracks. The third version was recorded in around early 1969. This time, it has the same formula as the earlier versions, but this time, it ends with a chaotic, Warner Bros. Album-style freak-out. The third version was first officially released, in an edited form, as an mp3 download from the band’s Buy or Die! website in 1999, before being released on the CD compilation Dot.Com in 2000, which comprised of all the mp3 recordings released on that website. Remember, this was before iTunes. The complete version also sought an official release, first in 2012 on the limited-edition mp3 ERA B474, and again in 2013 on the limited edition CD compilation Delta Nude’s Greatest Hiss.

Next, comes “Moonman”, which was recorded on the day of the first moon landing in July 1969. It is an abstract-sounding space rock piece featuring acoustic guitar, low-watt electric guitar, fiddle, acoustic bass, handclaps, and harmonica. The lyrics were actually a poem written by one of the Residents, sung in a high-pitched redneck voice. The piece is also filled with some ambient sounds coming from the room that the band recorded this in. When Charles Bobuck, one of the members of the band, told on his Codgers blog on the official Residents website that an early version of this tape was an instrumental, but had to be re-recorded. The first instrumental version was never bootlegged. “Moonman” was released on ERA B474 and Delta Nudes’ Greatest Hiss.

And finally, there is a very strange piece called “Blow Bluesy Balloon”. This track was also recorded before the existence of Rusty Coathangers for the Doctor. “Blow Bluesy Balloon” was an odd number that predates The Warner Bros. Album, featuring deep electric bass, ceramic-sounding percussion, springy, out-of-tune electric guitar effects, the sound of a latex balloon being filled up, jazzy drums, violin, kazoo (at the end of the track), and nonsensical, out-of-tune vocals. This was also released on the two aforementioned compilations.

That’s pretty much all I know about pre-pre-Residents recordings.

Homer Flynn, Hardy Fox, & Roland Sheehan-Rusty Coathangers for the Doctor (Unreleased, 1970)

UPDATE: This cover was shown to me by one of my Facebook friends.

For my first Residents review, I reviewed their second demo tape, 1970’s Ballad of Stuffed Trigger. This time, I’m going to review their very first demo tape, also recorded in 1970, entitled Rusty Coathangers for the Doctor. This is basically the holy grail of Residents history, and I wished that the band would release this! However, in a Residents-themed Facebook group, I was told by one of my friends from the group, who was from Germany, that the reason why the Residents refused to release all or part of Rusty Coathangers for the Doctor is because it has “no artistic value” and that it just consists of “uninspired fuzting around with musical instruments”. Also, this was not made by the actual Residents, but by some guys who later formed the band. Their names were Homer Flynn, Hardy Fox, and guitarist/organist Roland Sheehan. Upon hearing some of the results, however, I would have to disagree, because out of all the demo recordings I’ve been listening to that have levels and levels of uninspired fiddling around, Rusty Coathangers for the Doctor is what I would say to have the most least amount of uninspired fiddling out of all of them. I’m going to give you a description of the first track out of the two tracks on the whole tape, since that was the only one uploaded by someone on YouTube so far.

“Rusty Coathangers for the Doctor”-A 12-minute suite in several parts, all of which I’m going to give a name, since the movements in the suite doesn’t have any actual titles.

1. “Majestic Introduction”-The whole tape starts off with guitar and keyboards that gradually becomes more and more majestic, perhaps in a classic movie-style manner. Drums also appear. The guitar in this part reminds me of Pink Floyd during their Atom Heart Mother period. No fiddling around in this part. The track ends by being altered with effects to make it sound like a broken radio transmission.
2. “Dialogue & Records”-This has some studio dialogue (that has some microphone feedback at the start) between a couple of the Residents and some girls. In several parts, you hear snippets of old records being played (one of them belonging to the soundtrack for the film Bye Bye, Birdie!), making this movement Plunderphonics-sounding in the process.
3. “Rusty Coathangers for the Doctor”-A really folky piece with lead and background vocals and acoustic guitar, kinda like Bob Dylan but with a more hick voice. More dialogue starts, then comes a reprise, this time in its full form with lyrics. The spoken opening describes how the singer’s “42-year-old baby sister” had a family member killed by soldiers during a battle. It soon becomes psychedelic with distorted bass guitar and Hammond organ.
4. “Freak Out!”-This is a free-form noise improv with distorted bass guitar and Hammond organ. The bass sounds like something from a 70’s or 80’s punk rock song, while the organ has a lot of strange mechanical wonkiness. It ends with a psychedelic chord that leads into a clock ticking with distorted electric guitar and high-pitched organ chords. Some percussive bass chords are played, followed by more organ sounds. A kitschy, NBC Chimes-style guitar melody appears leading to some strange experimental jamming, ending with a vibrating organ cord.

I also listened to a section of the second track of this demo tape (the whole track wasn’t on YouTube, unfortunately), and it is a Hammond organ-filled cover of the classic hymnal “Bringing in the Sheaves”. I absolutely loved the way the Hammond organ sounded, how it is all campy and cheesy.

I didn’t think that the Residents were fiddling around talentlessly with their instruments when they recorded this. Maybe they didn’t want to release anything from this tape because it just consisted of guys who later formed the Residents, meaning that this tape is not really from the Residents.

And, since I’m a musician who releases music online, hopefully I can buy a Hammond organ and a couple other instruments and try to make a clone of this tape, but with different tracks.

The Residents-Ballad of Stuffed Trigger (Unreleased, 1970)

We all know the Residents for being one of the most well-known and uncategorizable experimental music collectives in the history of popular music. With each era of their albums, they actually like to undertake stages of musical evolution going from tape loops and musique concrete-oriented Dada collage music to avant-garde minimal synth music all the way to futurisitic experimental electronic music. However, what would happen if there was a band that combined desolate electric blues with psychedelic fuzz rock, free jazz, and musique concrete and Dada weirdness?

That answer lies within one of the earliest stages of the Residents, on an unreleased demo tape from 1970 called The Ballad of Stuffed Trigger. This tape was recorded after their first demo tape, Rusty Coathangers for the Doctor, which sounded totally different from this tape. I listened to plenty of tracks from this tape, as clips of this were uploaded to YouTube recently. (One of them I remember listening to was on there along with others from the tape, but got taken down. It was a year back.)

The music itself has a very coarse, free-wheeling, and at times junky atmosphere. This doesn’t have the typical experimental electronic music that the Residents experimented with after 1976, and there were no synthesizers used. This is basically the Residents experimenting with what they have. This was all recorded with cheap equipment, which at times can max out into the red, like the track “Unknown Song”. Highlights include the desolate country blues that is the title track, the old-fashioned Dixieland jazz version of George Gershwin’s “Summertime” (the Residents would revisit Gershwin’s works 15 years later), and the experimental Dada-inspired freak out version of “House of the Rising Sun”.

 

 

Out of all of these tracks, the original title track was officially released by the Residents, first on their 2012 mp3 compilation ERA B474 (consisting of stuff recorded before the band’s 1974 debut album Meet the Residents), and second on their 2013 CD compilation Delta Nudes’ Greatest Hiss (Delta Nudes was the band’s name before the name “The Residents” was chosen).

The only way the full demo tape can be found is through bootleg CDr’s and mp3 downloads from file-sharing sites. However. Most bootleg CDr dealers want you to pay more than 30 dollars for their stuff, so I suggest you look up songs from the tape on YouTube, so you could do it more safely!