Zappa.com

... on US Library of Congress National Recording Registry

http://www.loc.gov/today/pr/2011/11-073.html

"...

19. "Trout Mask Replica," Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band (1969)

This unclassifiable melding of country, blues, folk and free jazz filtered through Captain Beefheart’s feverishly inventive imagination remains without precedent in its striking sonic and lyrical originality. Captain Beefheart (the stage name of Don Van Vliet) and the Magic Band—Bill Harkleroad, Jeff Cotton, Victor Hayden, Mark Boston and John French—had spent months sequestered in a house in Los Angeles foothills, rehearsing and re-rehearsing the compositions to meet Van Vliet’s exacting standards before they entered the studio, to be recorded by Frank Zappa. Upon its release, the album, by no means universally embraced, nonetheless garnered raves from many influential music critics. Scores of pop, new wave, punk and post-punk artists claim Beefheart as an influence, including The Gang of Four, Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Minutemen, Pere Ubu, The Fall, Tom Waits, The Red Hot Chili Peppers and The White Stripes.

..."

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This world is made for people who aren't cursed with self-awareness.

All the slavery and physical abuse have finally payed off!

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why is this always the 'go-to' beefheart album? personally i find Safe as Milk to be a WAAAAAYYY better album, and actually listenable.

i bought safe as milk first and was blown away. i still listen to it weekly. i bought trout mask because of all the hubbub and "listened" to it once and never took it out again. the cover of the album is better than the music

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Who's this dude with his hair straight back?
His new white socks, 'n his pants all black
His T-shirts rolled His watch is gold
A '55 Chevy that his brother just stoled

...it was produced by Frank Zappa

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Another Zappa connection:

2. "Take Me Out to the Ball Game," Edward Meeker, accompanied by the Edison Orchestra (1908)

This popular song has become an unofficial national anthem of America’s national pastime. It was composed in 1908 and was recorded by all three of the major U.S. record companies, Victor, Columbia and Edison. Few copies of these recordings are now extant, which may indicate that initially the song was not as popular as it was to become later. Comic vocalist Edward Meeker, whose duties for Edison included announcing the titles and artists on hundreds of cylinder recordings, sings on this Edison cylinder recording. Meeker delivers the song in his stentorian, but good-natured baritone, including both verses, which remind us that the song is about a baseball-loving woman.

I also noticed that Crumb's Black Angels and Songs of the Humpback Whale are on the list. I guess that means I have to move them from the avant-garde and oddities section of my LP collection. Crumb and Humpback are mainstream now, along with Beefheart!

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We make a special art in an environment hostile to dreamers. Frank Zappa, 1971

kool link. lots of interesting stuff there. thanks.

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"bit of nostalgia for the old folks."

There's your mistake right there.

(Yes, you can say "but why would I listen to something I don't like again", but with this album it's close to impossible for it to click and be able to enjoy it on one listen)

I had that reaction the first time I listened to it too. At first listen it was just noise to me. But, I kept going back to it periodically and eventually it started sounding like music to me. It took a while to realize that this was composed, highly rehearsed stuff. Then put the Captain's growling poetry over it and it's pretty cool. Safe As Milk is really good too and definitely alot more accessible.

I don't know why but I had the goddamndest time finding Trout Mask Replica and it took until '85 that I finally did find it used but with some carefully typed up lyrics gratuitously stuffed into it with the added bonus of half the songs on "Lick My Decals Off" included -- while already having "Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller)" and "Ice Cream For Crow" and a very old copy of "Safe As Milk" I got in '76.

One thing I learned never to do was judge on the first listen to anything with a few minor exceptions when something was obvious shit start to finish.

But I do know one, possibly two people who buy albums, listen to them, shelve them or give them away the way they'd read a paperback novel and think, "I've read it, it was good, so now I'm finished with it." Obviously no re-read. I never understood that. I even burned a copy of "YCDTOSA Vol. I" for someone who liked it but after hearing it felt, "I've heard it, it was good, so now I'm finished with it."

--Bat

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<------PhotoArtWerk by debutante_daisy http://www.facebook.com/BatchainTheMovie

Hi,

I still have not heard this stuff ... and I think that the only album of his I have is moonbeams and something or other ... which has a couple of very nice things in it. The song about observatory crest is really pretty ... do I have the right album?

Your album is "Blue Jeans and Moonbeams". That along with "Unconditionally Guaranteed" are usually considered his weakest albums - his attempt to go commercial. I rather like them though.

moonlight on vermont

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"bit of nostalgia for the old folks."

Oddly enough that was the year I found it new. (Only Zappa-related album Warner Bros. kept in print after the lawsuit.)

Listened 3 times. Never liked it. Don't play it anymore.

It sounded random like a bunch of kids playing at first, then I listened again the next day and noticed most of the songs had strange repeating guitar riffs, then I loved it for a few years, then eventually I decided a little of CB goes a long way for me and these days I play it now and then in small doses (although I tend to favor the weirdest cuts - "Hair Pie," "Bills Corpse," "Neon Meate Dream" etc.).

Shit, too bad. It only really kicks in on the fourth listen.

Even though I'm a big CB fan and Trout Mask is considered his masterpiece (by music critics, at least) and I do like it, it is not my favorite. I prefer Clear Spot, Safe As Milk, Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller), and the Spotlight Kid. Also, there are several other CB albums I enjoy just as much as TMR. It IS very hard listening (as opposed to easy listening) and you have to look at it as art more than as a rock and roll album. I'm not trying to be high brow or anything, but you have to be able to see it as abstract art. If you can't accept somebody like Jackson Pollock in the art world then you would have a very hard time accepting TMR in the music world (rock or otherwise).

Can't listen to it...I've tried it a few times, and just can't seem to dig it at all....

Out of all the Beefheart albums, Trout Mask has some of the most memorable songs and it only takes maybe 3 listens to start growing on you like a fungus. Somewhere between 3 and maybe 6 listens I became completely hooked. I remember the first listen I was completely shocked and actually pissed off that someone had come up with this "con" as a way of getting everyone's attention when they "obviously" had no musical talent. Hahahaha, I was an ignoramus teenager of the 80s and had no idea who the musicians were. It didn't take too long to realize that it wasn't just random noise, though (like I said, just a few listens) and after that, I became so enamored and mystified by the album that I started seeking out anything I could find about it. I remember for a short time, I actually thought PJ Harvey must be pretty cool because she publicly named it as one of her favorite albums... then, I realized this album was super-hip to name drop if you wanted to be an "alternative" artist... anyhoo, I like all of Captain Beefheart, but Troutmask Replica is probably my favorite. For that reason, I don't listen to it too often because I don't want to wear it out. The other albums are more groovy and repetitive and not so easy to wear out. I put 'em on in the background and zone in and out of paying attention. With Troutmask, it's pretty much at-attention listening straight through.

i like it. a lot!

As with a lot of other people I didn't really dig Trout Mask Replica the first time I listened to it....but after the 5 times of listening, it really started to grow on me and I now consider it my favorite Captain Beefheart album!

I picked up "Trout Mask Replica," after I had heard "Willie The Pimp" on Hot Rats.
Boy, was I in for a surprise. The first time I listened to it I was like "what is this crap?"
It took me a couple of listens to appreciate it. It is definitely not an easy listen.
There's some great stuff on it though.
I'll usually listen to The Spotlight Kid and Clear Spot, the unreleased Bat Chain Puller,
Bat Chain Puller (Shiny Beast) and also his last two 80's albums.

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"The largest land mammal is the absent mind" (Don Van Vliet - 1971)

My first copy of TMR was when it was first released on CD, circa 1989 or so? I already owned the Ryko release of "Hot Rats" and learned of Beefheart via that album. So I had to have the TMR CD when it first came out. It took a few dozen listens to even begin to get it, but I do remember loving "Pachuco Cadaver" from the very first listen...what a masterpiece!

Man, what a trip it was to first discover that album!!

"A squid eating dough in a polyethene bag is fast a bulbous!...got me?!"

I listened it again last week. And to think I trusted you!