Browse by Artist: CAPTAIN BEEFHEART & HIS MAGIC BAND

Artist:	CAPTAIN BEEFHEART & HIS MAGIC BAND
Title:	Doc At The Radar Station
Label:	4 MEN WITH BEARDS
Format:	LP
Price:	$19.00
Catalog #:	4M 211LP

"Captain Beefheart's 1980 release Doc At The Radar Station is considered by many fans to be one of his best albums and a strong comeback after Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller). Featuring the sizzling hot new Magic Band providing superb backing for the Captain's songs and poetic flights of the imagination this goes way beyond the 'new wave' so dominant at the time it was made. Who else could make a record that is influenced as much by the blues, rock, free jazz and poetry with a singular, it could only be one person in the world vision? With songs such as 'Ashtray Heart', 'A Carrot Is As Close As A Rabbit Gets To A Diamond' and 'Making Love To A Vampire With A Monkey On My Knee' there is little doubt as to who made this record." On 180 gram vinyl.

Artist:	CAPTAIN BEEFHEART & HIS MAGIC BAND
Title:	Ice Cream For Crow
Label:	4 MEN WITH BEARDS
Format:	LP
Price:	$19.00
Catalog #:	4M 212LP

"Captain Beefheart's 1982 release Ice Cream For Crow was his final recording before retiring from the music business forever to devote himself to painting full time. A more somber affair than the previous record Doc At The Radar Station, it is still a strong final musical statement from him. A more streamlined new Magic Band is back for this recording and masterfully help send the Captain off in style. Featuring hit songs (in an alternate universe!) such as 'The Host The Ghost The Most Holy-O', 'Hey Garland I Dig Your Tweed Coat' and '81 Poop Hatch'." On 180 gram vinyl.

Artist:	CAPTAIN BEEFHEART & HIS MAGIC BAND
Title:	Doc at the Radar Station
Label:	ASTRALWERKS
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	ASW 65513CD

2006 remastered reissue. "Often called the Salvador Dali of rock'n'roll, Captain Beefheart is a true American original. He had a voice that's a cross between the blues bellow of Howlin' Wolf and the gruff posturing of Yosemite Sam (legend has it his voice once destroyed a $1200 Telefunken microphone), and he ran his Magic Band almost like a messianic cult. Captain Beefheart and The Magic Band produced a wildly original brew of rock, blues, psychedelia, jazz and punk influenced the likes of P.J. Harvey, Tom Waits, Public Image Ltd., Devo, the B-52s, and even The Simpsons creator Matt Groening. Sadly, after Ice Cream For Crow, his last album in 1982, he left music to concentrate on painting, turning into a virtual recluse, further building his legendary status as rock's most enigmatic genius. You gotta love the Captain, who after hearing that U2's leader was looking for him to come out of retirement to tour and collaborate, responded with 'Who is this Bongo?' Now the two critically acclaimed, final Captain Beefheart albums have been painstakingly remastered and feature fascinating new liner notes by revered Captain Beefheart biographer, Mike Barnes. Mixing surrealistic rock'n'roll, schlock-horror film scores and raw bluesy guitar riffs that haven't been heard since a mid-'60s Rolling Stones album, Doc At The Radar Station took its energy from punk rock's back-to-basics sound."

Artist:	CAPTAIN BEEFHEART & HIS MAGIC BAND
Title:	Safe As Milk
Label:	BUDDAH
Format:	LP
Price:	$14.00
Catalog #:	BDS 5001HLP

Grey area exact repro of the first Captain Beefheart LP, originally released in the US on Buddah in 1967. 180 gram virgin vinyl pressing. "Beefheart's first proper studio album is a much more accessible, pop-inflected brand of blues-rock than the efforts that followed in the late '60s -- which isn't to say that it's exactly normal and straightforward. Featuring Ry Cooder on guitar, this is blues-rock gone slightly askew, with jagged, fractured rhythms, soulful, twisting vocals from Van Vliet, and more doo wop, soul, straight blues, and folk-rock influences than he would employ on his more avant-garde outings. 'Zig Zag Wanderer,' 'Call on Me,' and 'Yellow Brick Road' are some of his most enduring and riff-driven songs, although there's plenty of weirdness on tracks like 'Electricity' and 'Abba Zaba.'" --All Music Guide

Artist:	CAPTAIN BEEFHEART & HIS MAGIC BAND
Title:	Mirror Man
Label:	BUDDAH
Format:	LP
Price:	$11.50
Catalog #:	BDS 5077LP

Exact repro. "Originally, Captain Beefheart & the Magic Band's second album was intended to be a double-album set called It Comes to You in a Plain Brown Wrapper. Although 1968's Strictly Personal has the same artwork that was mooted for the double album, it's a single disc. As part of the same post-Trout Mask Replica closet-cleaning that led to Buddah (the parent company of Blue Thumb Records, which released Strictly Personal) reissuing Safe As Milk as Dropout Boogie in the U.K. in 1970, the label released Mirror Man, the second disc that was intended for the Plain Brown Wrapper release. Recorded in November 1967 (an odd misprint on the sleeve claims it was recorded in 1965, when the band barely existed), the four lengthy tracks on Mirror Man are even more simplistic and primal than those on Strictly Personal. The key tracks are 'Tarotplane Blues,' a free-form jam in which Beefheart jumbles together the lyrics of at least half a dozen blues standards into a stream-of-consciousness ramble (adding musette and harmonica for good measure) as the Magic Band vamps on a slide guitar-based, two-chord groove for over 19 minutes, and the similarly expansive 'Mirror Man,' one of the key tracks of Beefheart's entire career." -- Stewart Mason, All Music Guide.

Artist:	CAPTAIN BEEFHEART & HIS MAGIC BAND
Title:	Strictly Personal
Label:	EMI (UK)
Format:	CD
Price:	$16.00
Catalog #:	EMI 29654CD

1994 CD reissue, only issued in the UK, of the 2nd Captain Beefheart album, originally issued by Blue Thumb in 1968. 12 page booklet with extensive liner notes by Mark Paytress. The legendary bridge between Safe As Milk and the opus Trout Mask Replica, Strictly Personal features late 60s-style psychedelic production techniques that tend to confuse the purists, but sound better and better all the time. Legendary and a lot less commonly available than the Virgin/WEA/Buddha Beefheart titles... "Considered by many to be a substandard effort due to the circumstances of its release (producer Bob Krasnow, the owner of Blue Thumb, the label which debuted with this album, remixed the album while Don Van Vliet and crew were off on a European tour, adding extraneous sound effects like heartbeats and excessive use of psychedelic-era clich�s like out-of-phase stereo panning and flanging), 1968's Strictly Personal is actually a terrific album, every bit the equal of Safe As Milk and Trout Mask Replica. Opening with 'Ah Feel Like Ahcid,' an a cappella blues workout with its roots in Son House's 'Death Letter,' the brief (barely 35 minutes) album is at the same time simpler and weirder than Safe As Milk had been. Working without another songwriter or arranger for the first time, Captain Beefheart strips his idiosyncratic blues down to the bone, with several of the songs (especially 'Son of Mirror Man/Mere Man') having little in the way of lyrics or chords beyond the most primeval stomp. Krasnow's unfortunate sound effects and phasing do detract from the album at points, but the strength of the performances, especially those of drummer John French, make his efforts little more than superfluous window dressing. Strictly Personal is a fascinating, underrated release." -- Stewart Mason.

Artist:	CAPTAIN BEEFHEART & HIS MAGIC BAND
Title:	Bluejeans & Moonbeams
Label:	MERCURY
Format:	LP
Price:	$11.50
Catalog #:	SRM 1018LP

Exact repro reissue of Captain Beefheart's ninth album, originally released in 1974. Recorded during his more commercial period and featuring some sort of prop formation of the disbanded Magic Band that would never appear on any other recording, this one goes down smoother than Trout Mask and, while historically written off by purists as the one to forget about, actually stands as a testament to how authentically weird Van Vliet could be, even at his most normal. Includes a cover of J.J. Cale's "Same Old Blues" and "Party Of Special Things To Do," a track later covered on a 2001 EP by the White Stripes (who would've thought?).

Artist:	CAPTAIN BEEFHEART & HIS MAGIC BAND
Title:	Dust Sucker
Label:	OZIT (UK)
Format:	2LP
Price:	$41.00
Catalog #:	OZIT 8006GRELP

2008 release, now on green-colored vinyl, higher price. "The new Ozit vinyl sets are all deluxe in terms of packaging, gatefold sleeves with PVC protective covers and all 180 gram vinyl based on the Simply Vinyl type of special vinyl re-issues. These sets are limited to 1000 copies only worldwide and will not be around for too long. This 2LP set includes the 12 tracks from the Captain's own tape of the original Bat Chain Puller album (you will never have heard these tracks in this quality). When Mojo did a feature recently on classic lost albums, this was one of the main albums featured. There are a further 7 extra tracks, including 5 live recordings of tracks from 'Bat Chain Puller,' plus a version of 'Well Well Well' featuring Rockette Morton and a live festival performance of 'My Human Gets Me Blues.'"

Artist:	CAPTAIN BEEFHEART & HIS MAGIC BAND
Title:	Translucent Fresnel: Live 72/73 (The Nan True's Hole Tapes)
Label:	OZIT (UK)
Format:	2LP
Price:	$40.00
Catalog #:	OZIT 8008LP

"180 gram vinyl, gatefold sleeve. The title obviously is a reworking of Clear Spot - Translucent Fresnel ('Fresnel' is a spotlight). From the late 1960s through to 1980 John Peel collected tapes of recordings of Captain Beefheart's live shows, particularly ones in the UK. During a tidy up at Nan True's Hole in 2003 he discovered around six large reels of tape containing many of Beefheart's live UK performances and he sent these on to Ozit Morpheus Records. Here is Volume 1 of material from the tapes."

Artist:	CAPTAIN BEEFHEART & HIS MAGIC BAND
Title:	Clear Spot
Label:	REPRISE RECORDS
Format:	LP
Price:	$13.00
Catalog #:	MS 2115CLP

New red colored vinyl version manufactured by Rhino. 6th album, following The Spotlight Kid. "In 1972, Warner Bros. Records producer Ted Templeman, already riding high with the Doobie Brothers and soon to be known as Van Halen's producer, decided to produce Beefheart. The result was Clear Spot, one of Beefheart's best-sounding records. It's also one of the rare occasions when Beefheart's music survived commercial staging without failure. Throughout the album, the band -- Zoot Horn Rollo, guitar, steel guitar and mandolin; Rockette Morton, rhythm and bass guitar; Ed Marimba (Art Trip), drums and percussion; and Or�jon (Roy Estrada ), bass -- cooks, Beefheart is in great voice and the sound is crystal clear."

Artist:	CAPTAIN BEEFHEART & HIS MAGIC BAND
Title:	Clear Spot
Label:	REPRISE RECORDS
Format:	LP
Price:	$14.00
Catalog #:	MS 2115HLP

180 gram vinyl, manufactured by Rhino. 6th album, following The Spotlight Kid. "In 1972, Warner Bros. Records producer Ted Templeman, already riding high with the Doobie Brothers and soon to be known as Van Halen's producer, decided to produce Beefheart. The result was Clear Spot, one of Beefheart's best-sounding records. It's also one of the rare occasions when Beefheart's music survived commercial staging without failure. Throughout the album, the band -- Zoot Horn Rollo, guitar, steel guitar and mandolin; Rockette Morton, rhythm and bass guitar; Ed Marimba (Art Trip), drums and percussion; and Or�jon (Roy Estrada ), bass -- cooks, Beefheart is in great voice and the sound is crystal clear."

Artist:	CAPTAIN BEEFHEART & HIS MAGIC BAND
Title:	Lick My Decals Off Baby
Label:	REPRISE RECORDS
Format:	LP
Price:	$14.00
Catalog #:	RS 6420

180 gram vinyl, manufactured by Rhino. 4th album, originally released in 1970, following Trout Mask. Unbelievable but true, this album is not currently available on CD anywhere in the world.

"Vast scholarly dissertations could be written on Beefheart's brilliant new approach to song lyric. Leaving in the dust both post-Dylan 'poetic' pretensions and the primitive approach which too often mistakes simplemindedness for simplicity, Cap's lines are magic flashfloods of free-association that somehow never get murky, strange jewel-like clusters of images, hilarious little vignettes from the lives of raffish louts and juicy mamas, half-muddled mamma's in coveralls and zoot suits. Robert Crumb could draw them, though in his vision they'd be vaguely threatened or threatening... In Lick My Decals Off, Baby this vision is extended, and even though the sonic textures are sometimes even more complex and angular than on Trout Mask, the lyrics have taken an added universality, many of them stepping back a stride from the kaleidoscopic image-clusters of last year's songs. Lick My Decals Off, Baby is just great bawdy music, as sanguinely sexual as a tale out of Boccaccio." -- Lester Bangs/Creem, 1971.

Artist:	CAPTAIN BEEFHEART & HIS MAGIC BAND
Title:	Lick My Decals Off, Baby
Label:	REPRISE RECORDS
Format:	LP
Price:	$13.00
Catalog #:	RS 6420CLP

Tangerine-colored vinyl reissue, manufactured by Rhino. 4th album, originally released in 1970, following Trout Mask. "Vast scholarly dissertations could be written on Beefheart's brilliant new approach to song lyric. Leaving in the dust both post-Dylan 'poetic' pretensions and the primitive approach which too often mistakes simplemindedness for simplicity, Cap's lines are magic flashfloods of free-association that somehow never get murky, strange jewel-like clusters of images, hilarious little vignettes from the lives of raffish louts and juicy mamas, half-muddled mamma's in coveralls and zoot suits. Robert Crumb could draw them, though in his vision they'd be vaguely threatened or threatening... In Lick My Decals Off, Baby this vision is extended, and even though the sonic textures are sometimes even more complex and angular than on Trout Mask, the lyrics have taken an added universality, many of them stepping back a stride from the kaleidoscopic image-clusters of last year's songs. Lick My Decals Off, Baby is just great bawdy music, as sanguinely sexual as a tale out of Boccaccio." -- Lester Bangs/Creem, 1971.

Artist:	CAPTAIN BEEFHEART & HIS MAGIC BAND
Title:	It Comes To You In A Plain Brown Wrapper
Label:	SUNDAZED
Format:	2LP
Price:	$34.00
Catalog #:	SC 5217LP

"One of the most exciting aspects of reintroducing so much rare and incredible music to the world is being able to finally make available material that's been in label-vault limbo since the day it was recorded, vital sounds locked away from the deserving ears of the legions of devoted music fans we at Sundazed count ourselves among. But when we're able to present previously shelved material by one of the most visionary and influential artists of all time, in exceptional fidelity, with the look and feel of the packaging that the artist originally meant it to have? Well, then, that just takes everything to another level completely -- a level that's certainly been reached with the exclusive vinyl-only issue of Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band's mind-blowing lost 1967 sessions. Recorded in part as the follow-up to Safe as Milk, Beefheart's debut from earlier that year, the world-shattering material on It Comes to You in a Plain Brown Wrapper was re-recorded, truncated, and issued -- without the Captain's approval -- as Strictly Personal in 1968. Mastered directly from the original analog tapes and featuring a wealth of unedited takes never before on vinyl, Sundazed's stunning gatefold double-LP release of this infamously enigmatic opus comes to you wrapped in a sharp outer sleeve bearing specially commissioned artwork by Frank Zappa/Straight Records illustrator Cal Schenkel replicating the album's planned '67 design (deliberately not shown here. It's a surprise!); inside are rare photos and fascinating, exhaustive liner notes by Magic Band drummer John 'Drumbo' French. So here, then, is Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band's second album of gloriously disjointed avant-rock/blues and free-jazz skronk, presented just as nature -- and the Captain -- intended. Even after more than 40 years, this music is still hopelessly ahead of its time -- or, as one-time Magic Band member Ry Cooder once described it, 'right on time.'"

Artist:	CAPTAIN BEEFHEART & HIS MAGIC BAND
Title:	Railroadism: Live In The USA 72-81
Label:	VIPER (UK)
Format:	CD
Price:	$18.00
Catalog #:	VIPER 015CD

A collection of various live recordings in the US over the years '72-81 (from Boston, NYC, TX, LA, etc.). "This album shows what a magnificent, powerful and remarkable voice the Captain had and what a truly formidable force the'magic' band were. This is another historic document and features such rarities as the captain performing 'The Blimp' from Trout Mask Replica which leads him into playing a sax solo equal to the free jazz experimentation of Ornette Coleman or John Coltrane, 'Harry Irene' with the best whistling outro ever and the lost gem, 'Railroadism'- a distant cousin of the lost track 'Hoboism' + many more. This will not only be of importance to Beefheart freaks but to the world as a whole. Also features previously unpublished photos and in-depth liner notes."

Artist:	CAPTAIN BEEFHEART & HIS MAGIC BAND
Title:	Magneticism
Label:	VIPER (UK)
Format:	CD
Price:	$17.00
Catalog #:	VIPER 053CD

..The Best Of Captain Beefheart & His Magic Bands Live 72-81 "Magneticism features some of the finest live performances by Captain Beefheart and his Magic Bands, combining the highlights from two previous releases Magnetic Hands - Live in the UK 1972-80 and Railroadism - Live in the USA 1972 - 81 plus unreleased rarities. Led by the enigmatic singer song-writer Don Van Vliet (Captain Beefheart), his various Magic Bands were obsessively faithful to his musical visions. Live they always shone and these joyously cacophonic & unforgettable performances make this a truly historical document, showing one of the great innovative bands of the modern age on staggering form. These recordings also give a broad scope of the Captain's work with material from every era of his career, reminding us of why even today he is still regarded as one of the most important and influential musical artists of the 20th century." Includes 12-page booklet with notes by Bernie Connor.

Artist:	CAPTAIN BEEFHEART & HIS MAGIC BAND
Title:	Ice Cream For Crow
Label:	VIRGIN (UK)
Format:	CD
Price:	$16.00
Catalog #:	VIR 86739CD

UK issue of the final Captain Beefheart studio album, originally released in 1982. "The best thing about Ice Cream is that it meshes up the best elements of Beefheart: rampaging garage rock, Delta blues, dislocated jazz/avant-garde rhythms, and most of all, very catchy songs. The bulk of the record borders on twisted pop, much like Safe As Milk: a mixture of wild R & B/trash-rock and maudlin, schlocky harmonies. This album was released at a time when 'rock' music of any stripe wasn't very fashionable, yet it rocks harder than the bulk of its contemporaries. Whilst many admirers of Beefheart from the punk era had either gone New Wave, synth-pop or completely underground Beefheart sounds oblivious to it all. The rough, earthy sound of Ice Cream for Crow, along with its stunning sleeve art comprising of a mournful photo of The Man placed on top of an original, desert-tinged painting by himself, always brings to mind visions of Beefheart heroically sailing off to his caravan in the Arizona desert for a lifetime of retirement after one of his strongest artistic statements." -- David Lang.

Artist:	CAPTAIN BEEFHEART & HIS MAGIC BAND
Title:	Trout Mask Replica
Label:	WARNER BROTHERS
Format:	2LP
Price:	$26.00
Catalog #:	MS 2027CLP

Red colored vinyl version, manufactured by Rhino. The third Beefheart album (following Safe as Milk and Strictly Personal) to be released, first issued in 1969. Gatefold sleeve, classic Cal Schenkel artwork. "Trout Mask Replica is Captain Beefheart's masterpiece, a fascinating, stunningly imaginative work that still sounds like little else in the rock & roll canon. Given total creative control by producer and friend Frank Zappa, Beefheart and his Magic Band rehearsed the material for this 28-song double album for over a year, wedding minimalistic R&B, blues, and garage rock to free jazz and avant-garde experimentalism. Atonal, sometimes singsong melodies; jagged, intricately constructed dual-guitar parts; stuttering, complicated rhythmic interaction -- all of these elements float out seemingly at random, often without completely interlocking, while Beefheart groans his surrealist poetry in a throaty Howlin' Wolf growl. As one might expect from music so complex and, to many ears, inaccessible, the influence of Trout Mask Replica was felt more in spirit than in direct copycatting, as a catalyst rather than a literal musical starting point. However, its inspiring reimagining of what was possible in a rock context laid the groundwork for countless future experiments in rock surrealism, especially during the punk/new wave era." -- All Music Guide.

Artist:	CAPTAIN BEEFHEART & HIS MAGIC BAND
Title:	Trout Mask Replica
Label:	WARNER BROTHERS
Format:	2LP
Price:	$27.00
Catalog #:	MS 2027HLP

180 gram vinyl, manufactured by Rhino. The third Beefheart album (following Safe as Milk and Strictly Personal) to be released, first issued in 1969. Gatefold sleeve, classic Cal Schenkel artwork. "Trout Mask Replica is Captain Beefheart's masterpiece, a fascinating, stunningly imaginative work that still sounds like little else in the rock & roll canon. Given total creative control by producer and friend Frank Zappa, Beefheart and his Magic Band rehearsed the material for this 28-song double album for over a year, wedding minimalistic R&B, blues, and garage rock to free jazz and avant-garde experimentalism. Atonal, sometimes singsong melodies; jagged, intricately constructed dual-guitar parts; stuttering, complicated rhythmic interaction -- all of these elements float out seemingly at random, often without completely interlocking, while Beefheart groans his surrealist poetry in a throaty Howlin' Wolf growl. As one might expect from music so complex and, to many ears, inaccessible, the influence of Trout Mask Replica was felt more in spirit than in direct copycatting, as a catalyst rather than a literal musical starting point. However, its inspiring reimagining of what was possible in a rock context laid the groundwork for countless future experiments in rock surrealism, especially during the punk/new wave era." -- All Music Guide.

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