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

An Analysis of The Warner Bros. Album by the Residents (1971)

Here’s another review of a Residents demo tape. This time, it is not an actual review. It is an analysis of the band’s most anarchic-sounding psychedelic work, The Warner Bros. Album. The picture above was the cover of the actual tape box. Allow me to explain its partial history.

From late 1970-mid 1971, the band that became the Residents recorded an album of 40 songs, all of them on a reel-to-reel tape, made with a very low budget and with crude instruments, and sent it to Warner Bros. Records in hopes of getting a recording contract with the label. The band sent it to that label because the label’s A&R manager, Hal Haverstadt, helped signed Captain Beefheart, who was a major influence for the project, to the label. When listening to the tape, Mr. Haverstadt was horrified, and probably psychologically-scarred, when he heard the music, and wondered what was the reason behind it. So, Hal rejected it, and since there was no name given on the return address, he sent it simply to “The Residents”. The photo below is the actual back cover of the original tape.

Let me try to give a theoretical history of this mighty weird album.

In 1969, Captain Beefheart & the Magic Band released what was their most critically-acclaimed work, Trout Mask Replica. The album was considered to be one of the weirdest albums in rock music history. A year later, the Residents just finished recording a demo tape of desolate experimental psychedelic rock called Ballad of Stuffed Trigger. When the Residents bought a copy of Trout Mask Replica and listened to it for the first time, the band really liked the music, and thought that they could do the same. The band were recently discovered by Philip Lithman, a British musician who later became known as Snakefinger, as well as the Bavarian avant-garde composer N. Senada, whose existence is widely disputed. In fact, N. Senada was rumored at one point to be Captain Beefheart (real name Don Van Vliet) because the same house that Trout Mask Replica was recorded in was located on “Ensenada Drive” in Woodland Hills, California. When 1969 ended, Flower Power and the hippie generation were still becoming popular even as the 1960’s ended. Charles Bobuck, a member of the Residents, did gave out on the Residents website the history of “Moonman”, a pre-Residents track recorded on the day of the moon landing in July 1969. He said that at that time, the band liked to go to Psilocybin Beach and take psychedelic mushrooms, run around naked and then completely losing their minds. So, I think that this could mean that drug use played a role in the making of The Warner Bros. Album. When Snakefinger joined forces with the Residents, he took a violin with him, and the band began to make music. N. Senada also helped the Residents in their music at this point, too.

When the band tried to record something for Warner Bros. Records, I think stuff such as William S. Burroughs, Looney Tunes cartoons, Richard Nixon, The Beatles, guerilla art and grindhouse films all played a key role in the making of this tape. The Residents were a bunch of hyper-hippies at this point, and maybe the recording studio that the tape was made in was a living room that was covered in a bunch of psychedelic posters and strange junk. I also read on Discogs that the artwork, perhaps the back cover art, was done by N. Senada himself. The instruments used for the album included detuned acoustic guitar, violin (played by Snakefinger), drums, various percussion instruments, harmonica, low-watt electric guitar, distorted electric bass, kazoo, saxophone, barroom piano, upright bass, and tape effects (I’ll explain them later). According to The Cryptic Guide to the Residents, “strange liner notes” were designed for the inside of the tape box, and I guess the liner notes were a stream-of-conscious rant that was literally typed.

If Warner Bros. Records considered releasing The Warner Bros. Album, they would probably market it to stores under the label’s own categories, such as “Free-Form Comedy Noise”, “Sub-Surface Infiltration”, “Hillbilly Dada”, “Velvet Waste”, or “Discombobulated Country”.

I also have two theories about the album’s artwork:

1. The back cover of the tape shows guerilla-style artwork with figures that are (1) a schoolgirl who was one of the Residents’ friends when they were very young, and (2) Richard Nixon’s head on Mr. Peanut’s body, who is holding a plate with what appears to be a skyscraper. I’m thinking that this was a political statement, talking about Richard Nixon’s policies during the Vietnam War.
2. The inside artwork, which could be for the gatefold, consists of what I think could’ve been either: (1) Looney Tunes cartoon characters looking completely stoned, (2) various doodles of weird things, or (3) a group photo of the Residents during the recording of the album.

Let me give an analysis of some of the tracks heard on The Warner Bros. Album. However, I’m not going to describe all of them, since that would be a big waste of time.

“The Mad Sawmill of Copenhagen, Germany” is a piece full of droning electric guitar, ukulele, jazzy drums, electric bass, harmonica and piano. The way the electric guitar was played sounds like it was fed through a broken fuzzbox, making it sound like an out-of-tune Indian instrument.

“Baby Skeletons & Dogs” features rather cartoonish lyrics, which describes things such as “an American dream” and a “washing machine”. I think the song was referencing America in the 1950’s.

“Stuffed Genital” is a short instrumental that consists of a recording of metal percussion and a cheap horn, and then the recording was gradually sped-up.

The track “A Merican Fag” has a little kid singing along with the Residents to this song. It sounds a bit creepy if the lyrics are any indication! Maybe the little kid is Lana Flynn, the daughter of Homer Flynn, one of the founders of the Cryptic Corporation, the Residents’ business management.

“Going to Arcata Blues” references Arcata, a city in Northern California that is located in Humboldt County. This track has a sound collage consisting of random hippies in the studio shouting random slogans typical of the Counterculture. You can also hear a couple of women’s voices, which could perhaps be girlfriends of a couple members of the band. At the same time of the recording of this track, Snakefinger and N. Senada appeared on a college radio station in Arcata, where they were performing a composition composed by N. Senada himself for saxophone and violin. This live broadcast was officially released on the Residents’ 1991 rarities compilation Daydream B-Liver, which was released on CD by Residents fan club label UWEB (Uncle Willie’s Eyeball Buddies).

“Black Velvet Original” can be best described as a hillbilly tape speed experiment, featuring violin, acoustic guitar, and percussion. Note that when the violin is sped-up, it sounds like a fiddle.

“Christmas Morning Foto” was an instrumental that was a free jazz piece featuring out-of-tune saxophone, acoustic and electric guitar, and percussion. This also experimented with tape speed effects because a majority of this piece, particularly the guitars and percussion, sound a bit warped.

“Snot & Feces Live at the Grunt Festival” is an instrumental consisting of a recording of acoustic guitar and drums. This time, the tape was gradually slowed down to achieve a desolate effect.

“Oh Yeah Upp Bop Shu Bop” is a free-form mix of country noise and doo-wop that sounds like an extreme attempt at impersonating both Dion & the Belmonts and the Legendary Stardust Cowboy all at the same time. The way the instruments were played sounds like the tape was warped and distorted a little, and had new vocals overdubbed on top. The lead vocals sound like a teenage hippie, and the background vocals sound like characters from The Simpsons.

The lead vocal on “Ohm is Where the Art Is” sounds strangely like Paul McCartney. A rumor was told thousands of times, particularly in Australia, that the Residents were in fact the Beatles!

“Concerto in R Flat Minor II” has a faint spoken word segment that is partially unintelligible. Some of the stuff I hear in the monologue include “Minnesota”, “special impact”, and “defective”. I posted the song to a Facebook group I made called “The Pre-Sidents: The Residents Before 1974”, and a person named Gary Childs commented:

“It sounds like he’s reading a product warranty. He’s saying the product will be replaced if it is defective.

This sounds like an example of “found object art”. He is reading the warranty label from some product. It’s like a boiler plate legal statement written by a lawyer from some corporation.”

Similarly, the album Music to Eat by the Hampton Grease Band, also from 1971, had lyrics read from encyclopedia pages and a can of spray paint.

Good ears, Gary! I’m very proud of you!

“Love Theme from a Major Motion Picture” is perhaps the only piece on the album to be more “commercial”, because it is a majestic piano tune. Since the album was rejected by Warner Bros., it counts as a failed attempt at a film score.

“Prelude for Accordion, Sousaphone, and French Horn”, a piece made for those three instruments, sounds like a mix of Louisiana carnival music, Captain Beefheart, and cheap parade music.

“Short Circuit Comes to Town I” is a 7-second snippet of noise that always intrigued me as if what was used to make the strange noises heard in it. I posted the whole snippet to a Facebook group I joined called “WIERD INSTRUMENT TRIBE”, and I was told in the comments:

“Off the top of my head, sounds like metallic friction (like a brake disc) taped at 7.5 ips and played back at 15–or something like that.”

“It sounds like an overdriven electric guitar picked way up near the pickups”

“Cymbal, tom and a guitar played between saddle and bridge plus the recording is played back faster and its distorted like hell.”

“Short Circuit Comes to Town II” is a 6-second snippet of noise that sounds similar to the first, but this time it sounds like the Residents played a duel between a slide guitar played Hawaiian style and an electric guitar that sounds like it was played on the 5th and 6th strings, muted and distorted. This recording was gradually sped-up with a violin and jazz drums overdubbed on top of it.

There’s also a short untitled track near the end of the album which consists of distorted electric guitar, percussion, violin, and tribal chanting. I think this was the Residents trying to channel Frank Zappa’s 1966 track “The Return of the Son of Monster Magnet”, but only by under 30 seconds.

And finally, the intro to the noise track “Psychedelic and Orgasmic Finale I” has a strange grating noise. I posted the song to the same “WEIRD INSTRUMENT TRIBE” Facebook group and asked what was used to create that sound, and a person commented:

“Sounds like they’re bowing a violin’s strings with a rusty warped hand cranked wheel.”

The rest of the track consists of grating violin, drums, sloppy electric bass, out-of-tune penny whistle, and a bunch of free-form guitar noise that sounds like the guitar player turned up the volume of the amplifier all the way up, complete with the drive setting, and just made out-of-tune noise and mechanical feedback. An extreme attempt at trying to overcome the Velvet Underground!

In the “The Pre-Sidents: The Residents Before 1974”, Facebook group, my Facebook friend William Reinhardt commented on my Warner Bros. Album-related post:

“BTW, my ‘falling out’ with the Residents was over selling ‘WBA’ & ‘Baby Sex’ Reel-to-Reel dubs from the masters in the original silk screened tape box boxes (as shown above) a special gift to me for radio play on my KBOO show.\ I was in a desperate period for cash and is something I have regretted ever since! (Whoever is in possession of these one of a kind tapes has the rarest of collectibles). Their early Sycamore St. studio was simply a mixer and a 2 track and 4 track 1/4 inch recorders, as i recall.”

Mr. Reinhardt was a radio DJ who worked at KBOO FM in Portland, Oregon. He was one of the guys who helped the Residents become popular. He even broadcasted the entire Warner Bros. Album on radio in 1977!

That’s pretty much my analysis of The Warner Bros. Album.

Hampton Grease Band-Music to Eat (1971)

Today, I’m going to review an album that I seriously want to get on CD or vinyl (it sucks that this album isn’t even on iTunes yet!). The album in question is Music to Eat, the only album released in 1971 by the Hampton Grease Band. The Hampton Grease Band was formed in Atlanta, Georgia, and before they recorded this album, the band became known for their wacky and quirky stage antics ranging from covering the whole stage with junk to inviting a lot of friends over to do random things. Here’s a review, from the album’s gatefold, that describes the latter performance:

“On stage with the Grease Band were friends who danced, watched TV, listened to the music and marched around stage as if at home in their living room. One girl even read a book and another sewed on an American flag during the Grease Band’s performance. 

As to their `music’–and I use the term loosely–the band performed much the same way. Very little of what they did had any context within itself. The casual actions on stage relayed directly to the audience and caused wandering, talking and virtual unrest.”

The band even performed at the Atlanta Pop Festival in 1970, and the band was brought to the attention of Columbia Records, who wanted to give the band a record deal. Music to Eat was the second worst-selling album in the history of Columbia Records at the time, as the honor for the worst-selling album stayed with a Maharishi Mahesh yoga record. Because of a lack of potential radio hits, Columbia marketed it to stores as a comedy record, which makes perfect sense because a famous comedy troupe that were on Columbia Records at this point was the Firesign Theater. However, Music to Eat was far from being a comedy album, but the lyrics are full of lead vocalist Bruce Hampton’s strange sense of humor, and some tracks have sound effects that give the album a rather whimsical feel. The music is a perfect mixture of Captain Beefheart & the Magic Band, The Allman Brothers Band, The Grateful Dead, and Frank Zappa. Even Bruce Hampton’s vocals sound a LOT like Captain Beefheart himself. but with a more tenor voice.

I listened to all the tracks on the album before, thanks to YouTube. Here are each of the track descriptions, by order:

“Halifax”-The 19-minute opening track starts off in a soft rock manner, similar to the Journey classic “Lights”. The lyrics for this track was literally taken from an encyclopedia page about the city of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. The music develops a drumbeat and the guitars begins to have a more progressive tone. Try to imagine Captain Beefheart making a lengthy progressive rock song! Glockenspiel appears for a bit with soft guitar jamming. The music changes in tempo, and one of the guitarists begins to sing a duel (not duet) with Bruce. Vibraphone appears in a jazzy, lounge-style jam. The guitars begin to dart in like a satellite signal beaming into outer space, with the drums having a more jazz-fusion approach. Later on, a guitar begins to make an experimental sound that sounds like a telephone ring being echoed into space, and a similar sound comes in after some more guitar jamming. More vocals come in, with the guitars futzing around a little and making weird sound effects. A reprise of the vocal duel appears, but with a different key. A Minutemen-style punk jam appears, reminding me of the band’s 1984 classic Double Nickels on the Dime, which I have in my ITunes collection (great album, by the way). The guitar soloing in this part sounds like Led Zeppelin. Another jazz jam appears. After all of this endless jamming, a voice sample of one of the album’s recording engineers appears, talking about how he doesn’t trust the tape recorder that was used for the track (it was an 8-track recorder that had only 5 tracks working). A reprise of the very opening part of the track appears to close it out.

“Maria”-This piece is about Mexican teenagers stalking a woman taking a bath. A quirky, Frank Zappa-style folk rock number with acoustic guitar. The glockenspiel from “Halifax” makes a return. This time, it’s not just Bruce Hampton singing the lead. Silly voices appear throughout the track. The track gets a bit ethereal later on, with a rather calm acoustic solo. Afterwards, it gets upbeat with group vocals, with one of the vocalists sounding a bit like “Weird Al” Yankovic. A noodley solo appears, reminding me of the solo from the Residents’ 1971 cover of Frank Zappa’s “King Kong”. The track gets dramatic at the end.

“Six”-This is another 19-minute track about a series of weird events involving aliens from the planet Pajodis, as how Bruce Hampton describes it. Like “Halifax”, this has a lot of bizarre jamming. Near the end of the track, an old-school country hoedown appears, before reprising to the original opening jam.

“Evans”-A 12-minute piece that is about a guy named Jim Evans. A majority of this track consists of uninspired guitar soloing. Before the track finishes, you can hear a bunch of people running around the studio and freaking out, in a manner similar to that of the unreleased Residents rarity “Going to Arcata Blues” off of The Warner Bros. Album, which was also recorded in 1971.

“Lawton”-This is a jam between guitarist Harold Kelling and drummer Jerry Fields. A majority of the opening consists of strange electronic sound effects and percussion, sounding like something Pink Floyd would do in the late 60’s and early 70’s. When actual guitar sounds do show up, it’s just strange jamming. Tribal chants also appear, and the track ends with a Hammond organ-like distorted guitar chord along with semi-choral vocals.

“Hey Old Lady/Bert’s Song”-This track reminds me a LOT of Minutemen during their Double Nickels period. The track is divided into two themes, one about a crazy old lady, and the other about a garbage truck driver.

“Hendon”-This closing track is over 20 minutes long. It features stuff ranging from Bruce Hampton singing lyrics from a can of spray paint, an anatomy lesson, horse hooves clopping about, and a lot of jazzy, abstract jamming that all leads to an Allman Brothers-style improv. Practically the best track on the whole album.

I told my Mom practically the whole story behind the Hampton Grease Band and this album, and I even shared a couple of the album’s tracks on Facebook, and to her, they all sounded incredibly weird. This album is so awesome that I may buy it on either CD or vinyl, so that way I can listen to it at home. If I want to form my own band, it would be like the Hampton Grease Band, but also fusing with the arena rock styles of Journey. It would be awesome combining two of my all-time favorite bands!