SHINY BEAST (BAT CHAIN PULLER)

What an astonishing, powerful, vital comeback! After straying in the wilderness for the majority of the 70s, and following an intense legal battle over some of the music re-recorded for this record, dear Captain Beefheart returns with what may be his most simultaneously commercial/odd/bold recording. Numerous musical styles are courted and conquered, each instilled with flavorful classic Vliet weirdness. The new Magic Band purrs along like the most elegant and well-tuned of machines, less accompaniment and more extension of Beefheart's rambling, growling, gorgeous escapade. Five stars easily: this is a masterpiece that I've rarely heard rivaled, and potentially my favorite Beefheart release alongside Safe as Milk and Lick My Decals Off, Baby.