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Nogbad_The_Bad 
Forum & Site Admin Group
RIO/Avant/Zeuhl & Eclectic Team
Joined: March 16 2007
Location: Boston
Status: Offline
Points: 21565
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 Posted: February 16 2015 at 18:39 |
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It's a great album but I certainly have to be in the right mood, man it's a hard listen, took me years to get. I prefer Shiny Beast and Decals.
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Ian
Host of the Post-Avant Jazzcore Happy Hour on Progrock.com
https://podcasts.progrock.com/post-avant-jazzcore-happy-hour/
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progrockdeepcuts
Forum Senior Member
Joined: August 14 2013
Location: West Virginia
Status: Offline
Points: 394
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Posted: February 18 2015 at 08:21 |
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Brilliant record. Decals has all of the same brilliance, but is a bit more direct, so I return to it a bit more these days. Sort of like the difference between CAN's Tago Mago and Ege Bamyasi.
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Listen to older shows here: mixcloud.com/progrockdeepcuts/
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Tom Ozric
Prog Reviewer
Joined: September 03 2005
Location: Olympus Mons
Status: Offline
Points: 15926
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Posted: February 18 2015 at 23:44 |
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After all is said and done, I did get this album for the 'legends' that surround it. Some of it is surprising, most of it is a challenge - I'm not convinced that 'every note was rehearsed and meticulously recorded' - this is difficult for me to grasp, unless it was rehearsed to be DELIBERATELY out of sync in places....this is possible, I guess. Couldn't quote a track, but some of it is together and really good.
I enjoy Mirror Man more, now this one impresses me.
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chopper
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
Joined: July 13 2005
Location: Essex, UK
Status: Offline
Points: 20049
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Posted: February 19 2015 at 06:42 |
 Syzygy wrote:
I sometimes find myself singing some of the drum or guitar parts, which means I generally get a seat to myself on the underground. |
I find myself wondering if there's not a slight case of the Emperor's new clothes with TMR. Do people actually like it or are they just saying so to be hip (apart from you Chris).
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irrelevant
Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
Joined: March 07 2010
Location: Australia
Status: Offline
Points: 13382
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Posted: February 19 2015 at 17:44 |
dr wu23 wrote:
Not my favorite by him nor do I consider it to be his masterpiece.
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This. Definitely have to be in the right mood.
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HolyMoly
Special Collaborator
Retired Admin
Joined: April 01 2009
Location: Atlanta
Status: Offline
Points: 26138
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Posted: February 19 2015 at 18:01 |
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It was my first Beefheart album, which I got because I was a huge Zappa fan. I was in high school and very open to weird stuff. The funny monologues and between-song skits were what hooked me in, but I came to find some of the instrumental passages to be really complex and lovely in a Zappaesque way. Hair Pie, My Human Gets Me Blues, Moonlight on Vermont, Veteran's Day Poppy and others all had emotionally moving instrumental passages. Much later I learned the story of how the album was composed and recorded, and what the lyrics were about, and that added even more to the experience.
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My other avatar is a Porsche
It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle if it is lightly greased.
-Kehlog Albran
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Tom Ozric
Prog Reviewer
Joined: September 03 2005
Location: Olympus Mons
Status: Offline
Points: 15926
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Posted: February 19 2015 at 23:14 |
HolyMoly wrote:
Much later I learned the story of how the album was composed and recorded, and what the lyrics were about, and that added even more to the experience. |
Well Dear Sir, do tell..........
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Kazza3
Forum Senior Member
Joined: November 29 2009
Location: Australia
Status: Offline
Points: 557
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Posted: February 20 2015 at 04:29 |
I really like this album these days, and I like it more on each listen. (The first time Dad showed it to me, I firmly believed he had gone nuts.) I think you have to have it in full focus- if you're not paying attention, it just becomes a bunch of weird noises. But then you pay attention, and there's so many amazing things going on, and it all somehow works together wonderfully. The guitar tone is great.
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chopper
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
Joined: July 13 2005
Location: Essex, UK
Status: Offline
Points: 20049
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Posted: February 20 2015 at 06:34 |
This explains a lot (from Wikipedia) -
"When they entered the studio the band knocked out 20 instrumental tracks in a single six-hour recording session. Van Vliet spent the next few days overdubbing the vocals. Instead of singing while monitoring the instrumental tracks over headphones, he heard only the slight sound leakage through the studio window.As a result the vocals are only vaguely in sync with the instrumental backing"
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ExittheLemming
Forum Senior Member
Joined: October 19 2007
Location: Penal Colony
Status: Offline
Points: 11420
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Posted: February 20 2015 at 07:15 |
Kazza3 wrote:
(The first time Dad showed it to me, I firmly believed he had gone nuts.)
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My god sir, you're not suggesting that this benchmark of a benchless universe is tantamount to 'Dad' Avant... 
Edited by ExittheLemming - February 20 2015 at 07:15
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Mascodagama
Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
Joined: December 30 2006
Location: United Kingdom
Status: Offline
Points: 5111
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Posted: February 20 2015 at 07:27 |
Falls into the category of records I'm fond of but only actually seem to play once every few years. Maybe I'll give it a spin today. It's about time.
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dr wu23
Forum Senior Member
Joined: August 22 2010
Location: Indiana
Status: Offline
Points: 20697
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Posted: February 20 2015 at 08:18 |
chopper wrote:
This explains a lot (from Wikipedia) -
"When they entered the studio the band knocked out 20 instrumental tracks in a single six-hour recording session. Van Vliet spent the next few days overdubbing the vocals. Instead of singing while monitoring the instrumental tracks over headphones, he heard only the slight sound leakage through the studio window.As a result the vocals are only vaguely in sync with the instrumental backing" |
I have also heard he could be a real 'tyrant' while in the studio recording these albums. Allegedly he made the band members go without sleep, food, bathroom privileges, etc at times when recording things.
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One does nothing yet nothing is left undone.
Haquin
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KingCrInuYasha
Forum Senior Member
Joined: September 26 2010
Location: USA
Status: Offline
Points: 1281
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Posted: February 20 2015 at 12:22 |
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^He kind of reminds me of how Ayn Rand and L. Ron Hubbard ran their inner circles with the "I'm the only genius around here and you can't disagree with me" schtick. At least Beefheart could come up with decent stuff when he tried/felt like it.
Edited by KingCrInuYasha - February 20 2015 at 12:23
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He looks at this world and wants it all... so he strikes, like Thunderball!
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Kazza3
Forum Senior Member
Joined: November 29 2009
Location: Australia
Status: Offline
Points: 557
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Posted: February 21 2015 at 03:15 |
Haha. I'll contend that if I like it too it doesn't count as 'dad music'.
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Toaster Mantis
Forum Senior Member
Joined: April 12 2008
Location: Denmark
Status: Offline
Points: 5898
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Posted: February 21 2015 at 04:28 |
dr wu23 wrote:
I have also heard he could be a real 'tyrant' while in the studio recording these albums. Allegedly he made the band members go without sleep, food, bathroom privileges, etc at times when recording things. |
Quite a few of Beefheart's former bandmembers, while they enjoyed the resulting music, consistently describe his behaviour towards them as something that strikes me as uncannily close to textbook sociopathy. Same thing with Mark E. Smith from The Fall, though Beefheart was to my knowledge not a domestic abuser like him.
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"The past is not some static being, it is not a previous present, nor a present that has passed away; the past has its own dynamic being which is constantly renewed and renewing." - Claire Colebrook
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