tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-660808341284783109.post2911985412814250196..comments2024-03-02T07:40:22.786+03:00Comments on Only Solitaire blog: Captain Beefheart: Bat Chain PullerUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-660808341284783109.post-39363701904843881052018-10-02T16:21:33.747+03:002018-10-02T16:21:33.747+03:00I wonder if the reviewer has been tempted to revis...I wonder if the reviewer has been tempted to revise their original view since writing this? I would. Perhaps you could try listening to it again, all the way through - to my mind this is a sublime, yet as a fan almost tragic experience, as you realise this is virtually his masterpiece, or second after Trout Mask of course. What a pair of bastards Cohen and Zappia were for creating yet another tragedy for the Captain, his classic accessible album that never transpired. His musical brother Drumbo, John French, returns and the top quality, sympathetic session guys playing here are all they need in addition, which seems to suggest this should have been his approach all along after getting TMR made. I love Mark Boston and Bill Harkleroad (and Jeff Cotton and the rest) but with the Magic Band he was always fighting a losing battle trying to balance promoting the virtuoso musicianship of fellow musicians that, deep down, he only really wanted to play his compositions with. Of course some of the mentioned Magic Band members probably contributed a lot of the music that ends up on his records but this shows that, with the help of one brilliant musician who really understood his vision he could make any band sound effortlessly great. In fact possibly better than he did on any album post-TMR. I honestly can't imagine anybody could prefer any version from SB, DARS or ICFC to any version on this album, not having lived with it for a bit longer. <br /><br />But to suggest this lost classic is superfluous because he re-recorded all the songs on the obviously inferior Virgin LPs is in my view bordering the ridiculous - his voice and passion had gone even by the 1978 partial re-recording, as well as the following two albums he made with these excellent, enthusiastic Beefheart fans with some talent. Although I love them in a way, his voice is largely reduced to hoarse self-parody and the production is trebly, twinkly and light. I think eventually, if not already, this will be seen as the Captain's final truly great record - he seems to have finally hit on the perfect blend of left of centre rhythm and blues with less abrasive, more focused sprinkles of the more out there excesses of his more celebrated yet usually unheard late 60s-early 70s output. Of course it's nothing by comparison to Trout Mask Replica but this succeeds for me where even Spotlight Kid & Clear Spot failed. And man I love those records so much. But hearing this made my tragedy-meter hit 9.5, because this feels like the glorious start of a cruelly alternative journey to musical redemption. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02322324472659406609noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-660808341284783109.post-20091999096210193772017-03-21T14:51:07.400+03:002017-03-21T14:51:07.400+03:00Agree with the review except I want to point out t...Agree with the review except I want to point out that 'Brick Bats' is WAY superior here. John Stamoshttp://www.pornhub.comnoreply@blogger.com