SHINY BEAST (BAT CHAIN PULLER)

One of the Captain's most under-rated albums, this one's really a lot of fun!! Probably a much better starting place than legendary opuses of weirdness like "Trout Mask" or "Lick My Decals Off."

"Bat Chain Puller" is just so incredibly awesome, one of his best tunes ever. The music is very hard to describe -- pulsing funk-like horns & bass (no actually, it's NOTHING LIKE funk, tho you can dance to it!), chirping electronics wandering through the mix, those unqiue "Chinese" guitar licks, and Don Van Vliet raving some of his most dementedly poetic lyrics ever. If you've never heard it before, I bet this song makes you want to get this album!

I also love "Tropical Hotdog Night", which is a swinging mambo number just like the title indicates! Don keeps singing that he wants the young girls "to meet the monster tonight!" It sounds sexual, but it's probably not!

"Harry Irene" is a lovely little ballad kinda thing -- when did the Captain start writing songs fit for Frank Sinatra to sing? I don't know, but it sounds great when he does it!

Then there are the "rockers" like "Floppy Boot Stomp" and "You Know You're a MAAAAAAAAN!!!!" It's all quite good!

Nothing else quite like this one in the Capt's discography -- this might be the Beefheart album for people who don't like Beefheart.