Brace yourselves, this video is about Trout Mask Replica by Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band.
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Trout Mask Replica, by Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band was inducted into the Library of Congress' national recording registry in 2010 - nearly 40 years after it's release. The album has been widely cited by artists of all kinds as a shining point of creativity and original thought - it also is very very hard to listen to. It's the musical equivalent of a Jackson Pollock painting. Its discordant rhythms and motifs sound made up on the spot by a child, but every sound and riff you hear on the album was arduously rehearsed over the course of a year by a group of young musicians who were remarkable in their own right.
Samuel Andreyev and Susan Rogers join me on Episode #6 of Vox Pop's Earworm to breakdown why this album is such a masterpiece.
Samuel Andreyev's Frownland analysis: • Frownland by Captain B...
Interviews with John French and Bill Harkleroad: • Interview with Bill Ha...
• Interview with John Fr...
Articles and Sources:
www.beefheart.com/
The Artist Formerly Known as Captain Beefheart:
• Video
Guardian: www.theguardian.com/music/200...
Rolling Stone:
www.rollingstone.com/music/alb...
Some songs don't just stick in your head, they change the music world forever. Join Estelle Caswell on a musical journey to discover the stories behind your favorite songs.
Check out the entire Vox Earworm playlist here: bit.ly/2QCwhMH
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I love how everyone is like "wow this is so creative 'cause it's polytonal and polyrhythmic" while the drummer of the band literally said that Beefheart didn't even know what a time signature was hahaha
That doesn't mean anything. You don't have to know what time signature a song is in to play it.
It truly is a beautiful mess
Yeah but John French who arranged the pieces after beef heart figured them out on the piano knew music theory really well and is a virtuous drummer. The thing about tmr is it’s made by a brilliantly creative artist and a bunch of insanely talented musicians. They didn’t make it sound like it did because they didn’t know what they were doing. It’s quite the opposite.
Re:@@tylerjacobson8012 - not virtuous, virtuoso.
That has probably contributed to the creative process. If time signature is considered a rule that must be followed by convention, this limits the creative process. To be creative, you don't have to be knowledgeable. And many times I think, being knowledgeable can hinder a creative process.
This just seems like one giant set up for a "Dude, your music is so bad they'll be analyzing it for years after you're gone" joke.
It's like the audio equivalent of a Rothko painting.
Basically. What I'm getting an achievements in ignorance vibe where he bumbled his way through composing songs not only bad but so hilariously convoluted and hard to play people decades later are picking apart everything wrong with it and calling it avant garde. It's like a meta commentary on the pretentiousness of the art world that happened totally by accident.
@@TipsterStu because it is. Pretentious means giving a work or statement that's actually completely without substance or soul the illusion of being profound. Ie; self-important bullshit that's actually completely hollow no matter how smart its trying fake being.
Just stick to the 4 chords maybe mate
@@TipsterStu You are wrong.
I bought this album when it came out , when Beefheart came to the rainbow in London a year later in 1970 I went to see him and the magic band . They played nearly every track on this album note for note . I was amazed because I thought the band was just improvising but I knew the record so well . It w s an incredible show
reffoelcnu alouncelal Captain Beefheart was a task master. The Captain was not alway easy to get along with and he was very demanding of his band mates! They rehearsed for hours. Literally captives of their music! He was truly brilliant!
@titlewave I think maybe he's saying he thought they were improvising on the album, but the concert showed him that maybe they hadn't been improvising after all, because the performances were the same.
They rehearsed for months.
@titlewave Um, he thought the album might have been improvised but, hearing it live exactly the same, realized it was not.
@@mikegrialou9665 nine i think...🤔
This album sounds like something that would play in a dream. Like if your brain tried to make what music was
That is the perfect description of this album. It's about as focused and coherent as a dream.
Paul McCartney may disagree xD
You realize the brain does make music, right?
@@Whitsoxrule1 If AI made music it would just sound like contemporary pop: soulless.
Yeah, and kind of like in a dream at some point, a little ways through the album, you find you have no recollection of how you got there.
LSD was really really good in the '60s.
Phillip Leong still is 🤪
You can still get good vitamin L . But yeah.
accurate
Phillip Leong he didn’t do lsd
Phillip Leong he was Schizophrenic
The claim that Beefheart "couldn't play an instrument" is absurd. He was a killer blues harmonica player, and could skronk out a tune on his sax. Plus, he'd been soaked in the Blues for years, for which he had a deep knowledge and understanding.
True. I just made a similar comment before I scrolled down and saw yours.
In fact he played a number of reed instruments, including double reed.
He even played a shenai in tarotplane and even though sometimes he went off the key he played in that song pretty well
I believe the only instrument he couldn't play was piano
@@eliasmg9144 Well, that’s not strictly true. According to John “Drumbo” French, during the period before the Magic Band recorded Trout Mask Replica, Don would bash out tunes on the piano and record his efforts on a little cassette recorder, then French would take the tapes and decode what Don wanted and write out individual parts for the rest of the band. Beefheart could also play the drums, in a rudimentary fashion. He wrote the song “Ant Man Bee” on the drums and got French to write it down in drum notation whilst he was playing it, least he forgot it once he stopped!
I always imagine the fish singing the album
It looks like something out of Spongebob Squarepants lol
LOL
Especially in Allagaroo
They need to make a billy big mouth bass, that sings the entire album.
I take back everything I've ever said. NOW it makes sense.
For every 100 people who listen to this album, it may resonate with 10. However, for those 10, it will stick with you for a lifetime and change the way you think of music and song. The album never bores me or fails to floor me with its beauty. Beefheart was a child prodigy in sculpture and he literally scupted the sound of each song. Fortunately, Van Vliet was surrounded by extraordinary musicians who could bring his vision to life. Beefheart’s other albums are more accessible and many are classics but Trout Mask Replica is a one of a kind masterpiece
Well said... Lick My Decals is a more compact, single album, somewhere going even further.. Petrified Forest, Doctor Dark... grinding, stuttering greatness... Spotlight Kid was a great tribute to blues, and Booglarize was my first encounter with Cpt.. on BBC in 1974.. and that really changed it all for me for good 😉
@Ben Rawlins One can never get enough of it - I've been listening to it for what ? 45 years ? Right..
was it an instantaneous thing or did it take a while to click? thinking of checking it out and wondering if its a time commitment
@@zephyr6927 why do you need a recommendation from anyone ? If it doesnt click with you - you will know it right off... it´s not like you have to spend hours trying to like it ? I dont get it
1 out of 10 is a lot tbh
So he didn't know the rules and broke them anyway?
Yes. He basically transcended all logic, good sense and decency.
ZzzesChannel thats the easiest way to break em hahaha
ZzzesChannel he made an album before called safe as milk that played by the rules exceptionally well.
He and his band spent over a year and a half rehearsing in a shack, and the rehearsal tapes are nearly identical. The album itself goes through about 30 different unique songs that break the rules in exciting, new ways
The problem is that there are no rules to break in music, only norms set by society and cultural stigma
I'm so psyched that you got Samuel Andreyev on here! He's the real deal.
Adam Neely pro tip: make sure the guitar and bass ARE IN THE SAME KEY! Also: g,a,c,d,b g,a
Adam Neely bass
G A Bb C A F G
Adam Neely Thank you Adam. Same to you :)
pass the god damn butter?
Vox kinda painted Captain Beefheart as someone who just dived into music with Trout Mask Replica. Truth is he was an experienced pop musician. Listen to Safe As Milk which was pure 60s pop, not too experimental and very accessible.
Album title says it all
He was also pretty involved with Zappa, I think.
@@banjoist123 they know each other since highschool
Although Zappa and Van Vliet had a falling out over the production of this record. They did reunite for a live album called Bongo Fury many years later.
@@banjoist123 Zappa was actually the producer of Trout Mask Replica. He was the one that recorded the whole album. Look it up! It’s also in the record sleeve.
My buddy at work gave me his copy in January 2020. I listened to it maybe 10 times in a row. I think that's what set off the pandemic.
😂
it's a carp, not a trout, but that's all part of the genius.
Doug, I never noticed that before, I think you are correct. THANKS !!
Too bad the Captain knew nothing of scales.
Well, it's not an actual trout mask. Just a replica.
@@OverlandOne cleva
@@OverlandOne r/angryupvote
to be honest they skipped a lot of the reasons why people like this album to focus on the polyrhythms rather than the surrealism
Surrealism isn't a musical element. Perhaps you feel that it is surreal, but you can't just say it is without attempting to describe how that quality was achieved. What makes it surreal?
@@ooos2989 Surrealism, "The principles, ideals, or practice of producing fantastic or incongruous[...] effects[...] by means of unnatural or irrational juxtapositions and combinations." I think this music definitely has such a quality. Music is an art-form, even still, Surrealism is not restricted to physical images(paintings, etc.); the Surrealist movement even initially included literature. You cannot tell someone to explain themselves or they are otherwise incorrect when you yourself are incorrect.
@@dinkledankle That definition isn't very clear musically. Irrational or unnatural in what way? More importantly, we should know what about Trout Mask Replica makes it surreal and what about other artists' works, say Mozart, don't make them surreal? What I'm arguing is that it's bad practice to use vague or bloated terms to describe music because it becomes musically meaningless such that they cannot be correct or incorrect, which is why I never said he was incorrect. This video does a better job by actually talking about the musical elements, such as rhythm, timbre, and performance, and by bringing in Samuel Andreyev, a real composer familiar with the work. This is why I find his complaint of talking about musical elements confusing. He says they should have talked about _the surrealism_ like it's a musical element. I think you may also be conflating Surrealism, the movement, with surrealism, the quality of being surreal. I'm sure Surrealism as a movement isn't restricted to visual art, but I don't know of any analogue in the history of music.
oʞoʎos music can be transcendental, there. same meaning. Can’t argue with it.
@@dynamis8381 You've just made the problem worse by introducing more vague language.
Trout Mask Replica sounds like a Guitar Center without noise insulation.
God. I know what that is.
if everybody at the Guitar Center were in sync with one another and had to come up with extremely unorthodox playing styles just to recreate the really angry man's piano bashing
@@Malkmusianful hmm gives me an idea. How about there should be a standard song(s) that everyone in guitar center must learn. It might makes it less cacophonous. Course, right now, I'd put up with th noise. I miss the place.
Good one. 😎
Actually this is kinda true in a way, to record the vocals captain Beefheart didn't listen through headphones as the slight (literal millisecond) latency was not good enough for him so he just listened through the walls
Oh yes. The album and the band influenced me as an artist and my life. I saw them live in 1972. They played the album live. It was THE greatest concert I ever attended. They PLAY this music.
They replicate the album note for note. It's all rehearsed, NOT random at all. Amazing.
Say what you want, this music was COMPOSED. None of it is accidental. It's incredible. Plus, if you don't know the rules, you're not inhibited by them.
Plastico Flamingo exactly!!!
Um, the video says it was 'composed' by a guy who didn't know anything about music
@@pauldzim isn't that what he said in the top comment?
pauldzim Composed nonetheless.
@@kumascampfire3335 you not liking it doesnt mean its bad, kind of like pickles, i dont like them but lots of people do.
A squid eating dough in a polyethylene bag is fast and bulbous, got me?
Billy Dodds FAST AND BULBOUS
Tight, also
Bulbous also Tapered
Also, a tin teardrop.
Got it. Can't wait for the English translation.
In 1967 I purchased Captain Beefhearts album Safe as Milk, and loved it. When Trout Masked Replica came out I had that "what is this?" and put it away. But every three to six months I pulled it out. Result? I learned to love it. Here, 40 years later, it's still one of my favorite albums. I can even enjoy it as I'm falling asleep. I love all his albums now.
How can you sleep in the presence of unbridled geniatic existentialism, panchromatic resonance, and praiseworthy gobbledygook?
I can acknowledge the complexity and organized chaos of the album. My sister’s boyfriend carried this album around for years and was totally addicted to it. He always tried to get me to appreciate the genius of TMR by saying that all the discordant notes and wildly changing rhythms were not improvised but perfectly planned. All I knew was this album should never be used to try and get your girlfriend into the mood..
Unless she's a Beefheart fan. I knew one once and she was coming on to me quite strong.
@@louisgreen3915 I made the same mistake getting my girlfriend to listen to 'Tago Mago' years ago. It would be hard to find an unsexier song than "Peking O".
@@johnenock7939 Oh my god I love that album its like a mix of James Brown funk music and psychedelic funk rock with vast experimental to it, the song Aumgn is basically meditation out of control, Love it!
@@sverkerolausson2252 I bought it when it came out in 1971; still have my vinyl copy. Aumgn and Peking O, along with 'An Electric Storm' by the White Noise were easily the freakiest things we'd heard up to that point.
So relate to this comment! 😂😂😂
love that -46p skype call, really makes me appreciate why we all switched to discord
No idea why they didn't just edit it as a voiceover on top of a still photo.
Good luck getting your data sold to a 3rd world company in the middle of nowhere
Runa Syalva To be fair your data is probably already stolen
@@rsyalva any better luck if we give all our data to Microsoft for free?
@@rsyalva instead of Microsoft?
I'm sure my neighbors will understand how complex and deep this album is, and will immediately love it when i blast it full volume on my speakers.
You’ve got the right spirit!
😂 that’s hella funny
I’m 67 (2022) I have loved this album ever since I first heard it as a teenager. It tickles my brain and makes sense to me. I listen to it at least once every year…
"Anything can be music, but it doesn't become music until someone wills it to be music, and the audience listening to it decides to perceive it as music."
Captain Beefheart would hate Vox.
He would also hate you.
Agreed. Is there a name for the buzzfeeding/Voxing/Vicing of popculture?
@Flying Flurrox this has nothing to do with liberalism. Try watching the video.
You have a skewed caricature in your mind, but you live that black-and-white fantasy.
@Flying Flurrox You think the man is just trying to be different for the sake of it and that he was so petty that he bothered to rally against anything analytical like Vox, even when it is praising him as a genius. Just because he made weird music, doesn't mean he hates analysis or trying to understand weird music. Those things aren't mutually exclusive.
Frank Zappa produced. Entire band locked in a house, almost starved of food whilst Beefheart taught them the album. This album is so tight and was recorded in one or two takes. Btw its Matt Groening favourite record and he thought it was trash the first time he listened to it.
Matt's first impressions were 100% correct...it is trash.
AND... they were taking a lot of acid. In fact, I heard some members of the band felt that Beefheart bullied them mercilessly while they were tripping- and therefore psychologically vulnerable.
The first TIMES he listened to it.
@@squirlmy They were not taking a lot of acid. They all certainly did it more than once but during this time they didn't have food, let alone drugs. They all certainly had taken acid and smoked weed, but that's not really significant to the creation of this album.
IIRC, the starvation period lasted for like three weeks they largely had to live off of welfare - Don was much better fed than everybody else, but he was getting food from his mom
I'll never forget the first time I heard this album. It was on the evening of the day that Hendrix died. I was with about a dozen friends and we were all tripping. Hendrix was admired by all of us and there was shock and sadness experienced for the loss of our hero. The guy who had called to informed us was a school friend of mine and he had arrived with a few albums under his arm. To change the mood, he placed a disc on the turntable and stood back to watch. It was this album. It caused some mirth and most, if not all, became fans of Beefheart that night. I still listen to him and Trout Mask Replica always brings me back to that night of very mixed emotions.
Thank you for the story. I can only imagine what the deaths of Jimi and Janis so close together did to a generation that they were so important to.
@@Yosef9438 To be truthful Yosef, we just got on with life. At times you would think, if only they were still around. I only knew them by listening to their music and the odd bit of gossip. Nothing has changed regarding listening to them. I still enjoy their music very much. I've just arrived home and you have put it in my mind so I will be listening to some of their music when I get settled. I'll probably listen to Beefheart too, while I'm at it. Thanks for reminding me.
@@bodyer2120 I just found your story poinant and a bit touching. It reminds me that some things never change. My friends and I had a similar experience with a comedian we were big fans of.
when you say "it's the musical equivalent of barbed-wire" you make me want to buy the record
You really should, believe me
It is but in a good way. It's very abrasive. But oddly catchy.
Quote from Andy Partridge, no less.
Frank Zappa reacted similarly to what he heard about that Edgard Varèse album ("Ionisation," I think). Some dude advertising for Sam Goody (I think) mentioned the album and talked about how hard it would be to sell due to its jarring and eccentric content. Zappa heard that and decided he simply HAD to have it!
It's worth the buy just for the song titles...
"And he composed every song on the piano, without knowing how to play it." Does this make me a master too?
I ve listened to all his stuff and many others ? He is a. Very unorthadox and raw ? But hardly a masterpiece ? Lsd and the desert and coltrane ?
Propably in some sense of philosophy everyone is a master
Yes, if you can produce something as creative as Trout Mask Replica
Prolly
No
My old manager (who was a huge musician) put it best when he said "Trout Mask Replica is the musical equivalent of one of those 3D art posters that you have to stare through to see the image, but when you see it, its amazing"
Exactly! And all these people are telling you that you're just pretending to see something, because they can't see it themselves and refuse to believe that anyone else can see something they can't.
Except this album is more like the static on an analog TV. And I'm no Carol-Anne.
Trixster Million - You're Willem from Mallrats and you can't see the sailboat. If it was static noise, how do you explain this instrumental rehearsal recording that's played the same as the album track? kzhead.info/sun/a9yaiaqGn6WgdZE/bejne.html
A perfect analogy, because the actual image on those posters is never really the amazing thing, it's the seeing something that other people can't that is amazing -- a quality that is infinitely attractive to hipsters. I love Captain Beefheart, but not this album.
Gerbil - You can't see the sailboat, it's ok.
But it doesn't sound awful. It's bizarrely beautiful, poetic, the furthest thing from boring. It never loses its mystique. It sounds new everytime I listen to it.
No really it does sound awful. I promise ya.
It's horrible. Stop lying
@@timothynoll4886 To you. We obviously have very different tastes in music.
I think it is one of the most inspiring pop music albums ever made. And it is pop.
There is nothing like it
The album and seeing the band four times live changed my life. I never listened to music, or composed the same way again. Like James Joyce, or Charles Ives it can take a lifetime to absorb and understand it all.
It's like there's a new path in my brain that I have to explore now...
YES YOU GOT IT!
How to Trout Mask Replica?
Look who it is
I feel like I'm seeing a celebrity in the comments. but yeah How to Trout Mask Replica might need to be in order
Imaginary Ambition Residents, Throbbing Gristle, Prurient, Famous Breathers, Women
An album you don’t actually like but you can act all pretentious about to your hipster music friends.
D WG Everybody says this in every captain beefheart video. Hipsters don't like this album(At least not enough to comment on any videos about him). On the other hand, John Lydon, Jack White, John Frusciante, Matt Groening, Tom Waits, John Peel, And no telling how many other people have said this album is one of the greatest albums of all time. Please, go spread your nonsense about this album elsewhere.
I think this Album and Zappa's stuff is for freaks and no one else
gosh, I love this album. Guess I'm not as superior as you.
and I think you're an idiot. There... your serve, chief.
Except I do unironically like it
Beefheart's music is like a secret Masonic handshake: most people aren't supposed to get it.
Preach
Exactly.
Beefheart's music doesn't want you to get it
Well, the recording session is something like a Masonic cult.
Hey Hiram
I remember seeing this album art in my dad’s makeshift music studio when I was growing up. I liked the album cover for years; and finally just got into Beefheart in my early 30’s. Thanks dad.
At first I hated this album. But then I listened to it a few times, then a dozen times, then I lost count. Now I hate myself. Good album though!
Now I hate myself. One of the finest comments ever.
Thats basically how i got into Sd Laika too,some stuff just takes time to appreciate.
One of the first avante albums listened. Not my style let's go isolation Mandelbrot space rock
Just realized I've seen Captain Beefheart's picture many times before. Never knew the story though.
I think I did too
Enthused Norseman there are cd prints all over my town...
In the hope of fending off another "Frankenstein's Monster" situation, I think you mean you've see Trout Mask Replica's picture before.
Enthused Norseman i
fucktard
I'm glad they touched on it here because the rhythm is what locks you into each song and, imao, the key component to appreciating Beefheart's music.
'Ahead of it's time' is a cliche that's used far too often, but Trout Mask Replica, and most of Beefheart's work, was definitely ahead and still is. I remember hearing it for the first time and wasn't overly impressed, but something in it hooked me without me even realising it, and I found myself going back to it again and again. The good Captain used to do that to me and I'm forever grateful that he gave me much more than I could ever return, no matter how many records of his I bought. Not safe music, nor accessible, but more important on so many levels.
*A SQUID EATING DOUGH IN A POLYETHYLENE BAG IS FAST AND BULBOUS*
Bulbous yeah!
Got me?
Ya man. Its really amazing stuff. Ashtray heart.
My yearbook quote!
F A S T A N D B U L B O U S _that's right_
I enjoy this album. I don't know anything about music, but it gets my brain ready to handle difficult problems so I sometimes listen to it while I'm starting to paint.
M Ouija I found it very helpful when ironing shirts and other complex but routine housework.
I can imagine more than 40 years later Vox uploaded a video on why Corey Feldman's Angelic 2 the Core is a masterpiece.
if only "Duh" was as hard of a banger as "Neon Meate Dream of a Octafish"
Bro?
Safe as Milk is definitely more of what I dig, but to really listen to albums like Trout Mask and Shiny Beast is worth the time because like other art that you don't immediately like, it's challenging you and it is good to be challenged.
Now I want to buy a 2018 Camry. Don't know why.
The trout mask compels you. The trout mask compels all of us.
Subliminal messages
It's the ABBA of cars. Not even the Kinks.
But honestly, before today, would you have ever put money down to bet that they'd be sponsoring an in-depth analysis of Captain Beefheart? I say shill all you want, as long as that shilling is paying for something truly educational.
Wow. Weird Mandela.
Yes but The Shaggs
For sure
#teamshaggs
Captain Foot Foot? Lol...
ParaNatural Podcast oh hell yeah
The shaggs were like captain beefheart but less talented
If you guys think this is amazing, give a listen to the first 3 Ween albums. Particularly The Pod. It's a masterpiece.
20 years between the first ween album and captain beefheart and more than thirty between ween and today
All of their albums are great. I think the most artistically inclined one is the mollusk, as well as the most popular one for a great reason. It’s just awesome in general
You get it.
na man Pure Guava... however beefheart stands alone!
Many, many, many years ago some friends of mine played Captain Beefheart records a lot. I didn’t get it. One of my friends decided to take me to a Captain Beefheart concert and not tell me until I got there. Once I saw the Captain and his band i got it! They were amazing and I have been a fan ever since. BTW, The Captain was a good friend of Frank Zappa and they rented out the upper floor of a photography studio in Redding California many years ago ( my friend’s dad owned the photography studio). They both practiced there. The Captain absolutely knew about music.
He may have been flouting the rules, but he clearly wasn’t “flaunting” them.
Thank you for fighting the good fight.
define the rules, massah
Maybe flaunting his own rules. 😊
So... A dude that didn't know anything about music 'composed' an album on an instrument he didn't know how to play, later his musician friends turned it into something a bit more musical, and he is the Genius? Fascinating...
His “musician friends” (band mates) didn’t turn it into something more musical they just played it as beefheart wanted them to. He’s genius because his lack of musical knowledge helped to create this wildly experimental and hugely influential piece of music, which pushed many boundaries on what could be done instrumentally.
If this was his only interesting album or you knew more about him than a 10-minute video, I'd almost take that opinion seriously. I mean, the album doesn't sound "awful" or like "rusty barbed wire" to be, but then again, I think it's ok to form my own opinions on things.
D-One - Sometimes that is how "visionaries" work.
kind of Steve Jobs of music
That's a very invalidating view on atonality and music theory
Excellent analysis. Thank you for sharing ! I used to have this album which I bought shortly after its release but,sadly lost it during a move from London to Scotland in 1972.
I remember a friend played me Ella Guru when we were younger. I laughed for a bit at it and then said play it again. I don’t know but this album has some grooves.
Whenever I hear music like this I think of Frank Zappa and lookie here Frank Zappa is somehow involved.
I first heard this because my local rock station, WBLM, plays the opening of The Blimp ("It's the blimp, Frank, it's the blimp!") as part of their call (the call themselves "The Blimp" for obvious reasons), and I had to find where that came from (their full call is sound bites of classic rock songs spelling out "102.9 WBLM," and I knew where all of those came from...stuff like Harry Nilson, Foreigner, Muddy Waters, and Fleetwood Mac...but had to dig in for the Blimp part). I think this album broke me lol
You should totally check out the band "Plastic People of the Universe" if you happen to enjoy those types of compositions.
robinsl27 He produced it!! Which is actually really cool
robinsl27 he was on a bunch of Zappa songs including muffin man and I am the slime
Greg Moonen man, you just blew my mind. Zappa is a god
I knew this series was going to be good but I wasn't expecting a Trout Mask Replica / captain beefheart video. Thank you, keep up the great work!
When I first heard "TMR'" in 1979, I thought it was the worst album I had ever heard in my life. I didn't play it for three years. After I was introduced to jazz music (Mingus, Charlie Parker, Ornette, Miles, Coltrane etc), I listened to "TMR" again and it made perfect sense. All the tracks are based on jazz timings. Same goes for "Lick My Decals Off, Baby". It isn't easy listening but it sounds great fifty years later. That's why it hasn't dated, unlike many other albums from that period. It also came out in the same year as the first Stooges album (1969), another gem that was initially mocked and loathed.
Trout Mask Replica is one of the most captivating albums ever recorded. It's something that after you listen all the way through will dig its way back into your mind. It's one of the most wholly original and well performed album. The songs are incredibly dense and an absolute joy to revisit several times. Each time youll hear some melody or rhythm that you dont seem to remember but the band is able to perform perfectly every time
You showed 24 rectangles when saying 23 motifs
Yoav Shati Those are squares
Brendan Keane Well, squares are rectangles with all sides equal.
Pramithas burnnnn
Pramithas And triangles are squares with one less side??
Brendan Keane geometrically speaking, a square is objectively a rectangle: a quadrilateral with 4 right angles. But a triangle is not a square, because it is not a quadrilateral. A square is the quadrilateral that matches the definition of all kinds of quadrilaterals.
want to clear out a room, put on trout mask replica.
I want to make a snappy comment but am drunk right now 🇦🇺
The other day I sat in a bus and someone was listening to music on her smartphone on loudspeaker. I asked her to turn it down and she refused. So I listened to CB on loudspeaker. She turned the music down. But you should have seen the stares I got.
I will stay and enjoy the album
And make friends for life from those that stay!
That just separates the wheat from the chaff! BeeFheart and the Magic Band is a litmus test for who you want to be associated with...
I wish this video was about three times longer because I could listen to people talk about TMR forever! I don’t think they even scratched the surface.
Captain Beefheart and Frank Zappa's album "Bongo Fury" is an awesome album.
One of my favorites.
People call it it "snobby" or "pretentious" because they didn't enjoy it after a listen or two, got frustrated want to dismiss other people's enjoyment... but seriously if you're at all interested don't let those guys turn you away. If you're having trouble with this album, start with the easier tracks: "sugar n' spikes" is a great example & an amazing song and should be easier to grasp, "moonlight on vermont" is as well. This album was a mystery the first time i listened to it... but I kept listening out of curiosity, even using one headphone to parse out and listen to single instruments at a time on the difficult tracks. Gradually it became my favorite album and the most I've ever enjoyed a piece of music. Its DEFINITELY not for everyone, but I have to say that in my PERSONAL experience I'm so glad I put the time into this record.... It brings me to the most surreal, exciting, and psychedelic space I've ever found through music. I wouldn't care if every critic in the world agreed it was utter garbage... I would still put on my headphones and love this album.
The way I usually explain experimental/diferent art to people is with a quote written by a Poet of my country that translates to "first it's weird and then it goes in" it was was written as a coca-cola slogan, when coca cola came out it was a weird thing too but it eventually got to everyone once they started drinking it, the same happens in art, we are so used to repetition and relatable things that we disregard different things at first impression, but if those diferent things are really good we grow to love them and understand them, it just doesn't happen so well if things are not promoted and no one knows about them, it did work out with most art movements where picasso was involved for example. The hardest thing is that you can lie, you can tell people its good or its bad but no one really knows at first impression it takes time to understand if its really good or bad. So critics will just say its bad because they do not care.
Well Said
Based on my experience if you can get through the first 10 minutes you'll be fine. Starting with Moonlight in Vermont, some songs are definitely enjoyable and more than just experimental polyrhythmics
if you're having trouble I suggest starting with "Safe as Milk" or "Ice Cream for Crow." No one should start with this album.
The album itself isnt snobby or pretentious its the idiots who read way more into the album than was intended that are full of sh. Ive recorded with some very talented professional "artists" people read waaay more into the music than any artist did. It reads like bs reviews out of a rolling stone. Yes i hear the poly rythmns. Yes i hear the instruments playing modally in different keys. Blah blah blah. I could notate and record goats bleating and sell that sh to a hipster using real theory concepts. Yaaaawn.
Once you find a way into this album, that's it, you're finished! Might take a week, might take a year but in time YOU WILL BECOME OBSESSED! One of the most important albums ever made. Also this is one of the best dissections of TMR I've ever seen. Kudos to all involved. Anyone wanting to delve in further should acquire the second volume of Grow Fins and read John French's Through the Eyes of Magic autobiography.
vollsticks: The analysis of "Frownland" by Andreyev here on KZhead (roughly 30 minutes) is also quite a revelation. Highly recommended.
Thanks, I've checked it out though, a great piece of scholarly work. His issection of the velvet Underground's Murder Mystery is great, too. Have you seen Andreyev's interviews with john french and Bill harkelroad? Highly recommended. All the best fellow Beefheart fan
That's right, thou Mascara Snake!
My ears thanked me once this train wreck (called music) was over. No way in hell this garbage will ever get stuck in my head and make me crave hearing more of it.
No piece of music has challenged me as much as that. I bought it on a whim about 10 years ago because I recognized it from a Rolling Stone top 50 list. I laughed at it, and only made it through a few songs. I was intrigued, though, and discovered his other of his works. Safe as Milk is one of my favorite psychedelic pieces. As my taste in music has evolved and matured over the years I keep going back to. I appreciate it, and enjoy it more each time. It's like a stinky piece of blue cheese. When you're young the flavor is way to intense, and unique compared to anything you've eaten. Then you get older, and experience other complex tastes, and you begin to enjoy it. I also love pulling it out, and making people listen to it to see their reactions.
I love this album so much while I'm listening to this analysis. But sadly not when I listen to the album itself.
Total agree. Love Beefheart before and after TMR, and I love the idea of TMR, but listening to it is a horrible experience. It's a bad trip from start to finish. It's like a trying to appreciate the beauty of a cactus while hugging one.
Lick My Decals Off, Baby is very much an improvement on this album. I'd recommend giving it a listen.
I studied guitar with Zoot Horn Rollo for a year. He's phenomenal. I recommend all Beefheart albums that feature him on guitar, as well as Mallard, his solo works, and Drumbo's "City of Refuge."
DrumWild wow! That must have been amazing to learn from an amazing player like Zoot. I love all his playing on Don’s albums but the Spotlight Kid in particular.
Yeah, Captain Beefheart and The Who forever.
Anyone who thinks they can't kick a smooth jam, though, needs to listen to "a blue million miles", which is on the Big Lebowski soundtrack. Also, he did play several wind instruments, such as saxophone, and he was an extremely skilled harmonica player..
Uhm, he did not play wind instruments, he just blew throught them.
ah mann he was a mean blues harp player, a friend of mine showed me beefheart and the way i listen to music has never been the same
He didnt know how to play a single instrument when he wrote all the music for trout mask replica. All the music was made on a piano, and translated it. It often asked for octaves unavailable on the instruments they were written for.
He was absolutely badass on harmonica. What are you talking about? Check out I Love You You Big Dummy or Gimme That Harp Boy.
He definitely knew how to play harmonica... listen to the stuff before TMR ...Safe As Milk album from 1967. Amazing stuff. The point here was that he was writing music for instruments he wasn't familiar with on an instrument he wasn't familiar with. He was an excellent harmonica player though and wasn't unfamiliar with music altogether.
This album sounds the way 2020 feels.
That's how "ahead of its time" it is!!
Bulbous also tapered?
@@garki1369 and fast, you got me?
I think Kate Bush's "The Dreaming" also kinda fits into that concept of breaking the rules and shocking the audience. and being awesome, of course
Kate Bush's songs are real forms of art, NOT nuisance that pretentiously pass as "art".
And it is *glorious!*
@@ProximaCentauri88 captain beefheart invented math rock and Midwest emo dude
Paleo “case of the punks” (the captain was crushed out by punk rockers as he was burning out 😆)
@@ArchKnight28 a solo woman being THAT experimental in 1982 is not breaking rules? that's far from 1969 but, come on
"Captain Beefheart, presented by Camry." Perfect.
Reading these comments and the replies to them, I'm struck with how many people are upset about others enjoying this album, calling them "pretentious" or "snobs", when in fact your attempt at gating and controlling the music taste of others and asserting yourself to be the only valid critic of music is what actual pretentiousness and snobbishness look like. The video IN THE TITLE points out that the album sounds awful (which I think is a bad choice of words, maybe unpleasant/dissonant/unnerving?). No one is telling you to like this or forcing you to listen to it. It's simply a video attempting to broaden your horizons and help you understand how something so insanely rule-breaking and bizarre can be so perfectly creative that it is important and inspirational. The video lists a number of professional, successful musicians who find joy/inspiration/enjoyment in the album, so maybe just try to accept that instead of saying "everyone but me is WRONG, this is GARBAGE", maybe it just isn't for you, and maybe the people who actually make and study music for a living know a tiny bit more about it than you do
you are one of those Special kids arent ya?
@@rusty7338 real mature, bob
They're the same people that call films like Under the Skin, Tree of Life, and Holy Mountain "pretentious".
this is the best comment on this video, I applaud you
Sora brown most modern art is pretty lazy but some are really good
At school a fellow student said his favourite musician was 'Capt. Beefheart'. I thought he'd made it up. I've been embarrassed about this for 50 years!
My husband showed me this album. We bonded over obscure music.
Calling it "awful sounding" is kinda harsh. It's just chaotic jazz / bebop music with some surreal poetry on top. The video's title sounds very condescending, like it's some kind of joke that a lot of people enjoy it. You can think it's bad, no one is better for enjoying it, but treating its relevance like an absurdity doesn't really show much respect to it.
Moony Moon they don't enjoy it, they say they do to appear educated on the matter
And now we have math rock: kzhead.info/sun/rdemcqyRgoiBdHk/bejne.html
I quite often find myself screeching verses from the album whilst taking a shower, call it what you will but my subconscious loves trout mask. The only problem arises when I realise I've been yelping about Dachau whilst under a hose.
Moony Moon this is not jazz in any form. Not even Bebop. It's just unconventional blues rock and experimental.
Really? Are you not seeing the context of what awful means in this case? Or the way it's used to create a direct counterpoint? Right after saying it sounds awful, the title calls it a masterpiece...
FAST AND BULBOUS!!!!!!
Tha Swami Bulbous also tapered.
Bulbous also tapered.
Also tin teardrop
THAT'S RIGHT THE MASCARA SNAKE
That mask is actually a replica of a carp (Cyprinus carpio), rather than a trout (Salmo trutta), as all keen ichthyologists will know.
What a load of carp that photograph is
You sure it's not Carpe Diem? "Seize the Carp"
Beefheart called it a "replica" of a trout BECAUSE it was indeed a carp.
The editing is amazing in these videos
I’m so glad you made a video about this album! I’d never heard it before and I love it! Fast and bulbous!
So, next time l'll be playing off beat or off key, I'll say that I'm trying to make a masterpiece.
I don't need practice, YOU JUST DONT GET ME
it's so much more than that lmao
true
That’s like saying you’ll spend a day filming random things and then it’ll get hailed as a great David Lynch movie. It just shows that you have a very limited understanding of art, and that you’ve probably never listened to Trout Mask Replica.
@Ramirín Cisneros lady gaga is one of the boldest, most inclusive and different artists that are mainstream though. do you even listen to lady gaga?
England here. Brilliant vid.really enjoyed it . So well put together .
I feel like this album was the catalyst for death grips lol
I’d like to see someone say such to Anthony Fantano.
@@silkymilkymememonkey lol Fantano sees Trout Mask Replica as a classic.
Been looking for this album on Apple Music for years
Unfortunately, it's currently out of print.. but the Zappa Family Trust are apparently considering a new release with improved audio quality. And used copies are easy to find.
Trout Mask Replica 320kbps ZIP... oh wait...Apple.....
Asking for a friend, how do you audiorip from youtube in this day and age? All the results that pop up for me only rip video now.
The Zappas released that damn remaster in 2013. And it's already out of print.
Try going to record stores.
Honestly every revisit the album actually sounds better and I actually find the drumming to be almost unlike anything it is genius
I have loved this album my entire life. Thank you so much for posting this video!
This was a joy to watch. Smart way to approach this. Enjoyable as a musician and a layperson
Beefheart gets a lot of credit for this album that should be given instead to Frank Zappa and John French, IMHO. The "naive structure" is true, but all the "naive forces" came from Beefheart while all the structure came from French and Zappa. It was not "singlehanded" at all. Beefheart never made anything quite like this again, while FZ made stuff like this before, during, and after this project. Frank was so openly counterculture and counter-establishment that no one in the music industry at large will ever give him his due.
One of my favourite stories about the recording of this album was Frank pleading with Don to wear headphones so he could sync his vocals to the band--instead, he ended up off-beat in his refusal, singing along, instead, to bleed from the studio (which left the vocals slightly out of sync).
Rod Jones Frank and Beefheart fell out over Lick my decals off as Beefheart felt it was too pop. I bought Hot Rats thinking it would be more of the same but turned out to be one of the most accessible Zappa albums every and Willie the pimp was really good for Beefheart too
While I do agree with your statements about Zappa, Don did release a masterpiece before(Safe As Milk) and a new lineup and some ten years after Trout Mask he released Shiny Beast(Bat Chain Puller) and while the former might lack the "naive structure" the latter undoubtedly doesn't.
Frank had nothing to do with the writing of the record, and very little to do with the recording. They finished recording within a day, and the engineer had to call him to say the band was done. Beefheart wrote the whole thing in a small house with the band, who he basically tortured for eight months as they rehearsed. I'm a huge fan of Frank, but I don't think that he was the force behind this thing.
Why are hardcore Zappa fans crazy and think he's responsible for everything? Like don't get me wrong I love Zappa too but he has no song writer credits on TMR. In reality The Magic Band wrote the songs under the instruction of Beefheart.
Wow, this blew my mind and I had no idea about any of it until this video. What a soaring artistic achievement and what a sharp contrast it draws between the crap you hear on the radio today and the work of an auteur like Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band. Not saying it's an album I'm gonna listen to a lot, but I sure am glad it exists.
Thank you for your amazing explanation of something that is unexplainable. Well done!
1:54 "By the late 1960s he had an album" Way to skip over Safe As Milk, one of the greatest albums of all time. John Lennon's favorite album, in fact.
The majority of people think Trout Mask Replica was his first album not realizing the two before.
One of my favourite albums as well.
"Trout Mask Replica" and "Captain Beefheart" sound like they would make great Jojo stand names
Trout Mask Replica sounds like a name for a Jojo Part tbh
What would there stands do?, Is the question.
@@ryakinbarton8151 Break the rules in whacky ways
shut up
Im still waiting for a Zappa reference in Jojo. Freak Out is a perfect stand name.
“...makes Tom Waits sound like Julie Andrews,” Jeez that’s scathing.
LOL Tom Waits as told by his wife to emulate Beefheart!
This was wonderful to watch. I remember buying Safe As Milk for its cover (in, uh, 1966? 1967?). I fell in love with it. Then I bought Trout Mask Replica when it came out, and couldn't stand it. However, I'd listen to it again in a month or two, and eventually, it started making some semblance of sense. It eventually became one of my all-time favorite records. Having never analyzed it, hearing the compositional comments make me look forward to my next listening.
Erik Hoffman Safe as milk is amazing. Blisteringly good rock and roll.
I remember hearing this album for the first time and it inspired me to go on a painting craze of colors and shapes- it looked so bad yet so weirdly cool and now I love making those paintings lol
Another EARWORM video! Man, I love these things! Great quality Vox, keep it up
I found this record through Frank Zappa. I thought he was bugging out. He talked about Captain Beefheart being awesome. I found it and was speechless. It's so anti-music that it's actually very musical. It's like Sun-Ra making a rock album. A brilliant experimental artwork.
5:53 I’ve been to that “rare place of art making” once before. In layman’s terms, I had food poisoning while on acid.
I love this album, because its so weird. It makes no sense, and took me three days to complete my first listen. The more I listen to it, the more I hear. Its almost the definition of dada; which may be pretentious, but it still makes a statement.
Captain Beefheart is terrific, but where's your video on Frank Zappa!?
Jon B Baca because theneedledrop didn’t talk about Zappa first.
isn't Zappa's camp notoriously kind of litigious?
I love Captain Beefheart, you should watch the documentary on him. I think he's great, what Vox didn't mention is that Tom Waits was mentioned in an interview as Captain Beefheart being one of his inspirations. Matt Groening has even said that Trout Mask Replica is his favorite album. There is a legend that if you listen to this album 7 times you will get it, and it's true, I love all of Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band albums. Take a look at Zoot Horn Rollo's and Drumbo's albums too they are great as well I am glad that Vox gave them a little shout out. But there are so many great adventurous artists out there as well. One that comes to mind right away is Gentle Giant, another being Kurt Weill which is another inspiration for Tom Waits, a guy you should really watch a documentary on as well. Of course any jazz enthusiast would tell you to check out John Coltrane as well.
I remembered something else about Captain Beefheart, Big Lebowski Fans might be interested to know there is a Beefheart song in the movie and is on the soundtrack called "Her eyes are a blue million miles" good song, an interesting soundtrack as well. However there is one more artist on that soundtrack that I would like to mention, and that is Moondog, very interesting artist, you should check him out, a very pleasant surprise.
I never heard of captain beefheart until 1971 with “lick my decals off” . Afterwards i ran to the record store and tried to by all albums but there werent anymore😢 so i became obsessed and kept an eye out for for many years. It really relaxes me❤❤❤❤😊
Love me some Beef Heart. It makes such sense that Captain Beef Heart went to high school with Frank Zappa.
Yes !