Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band's "Trout Mask Replica"

Does anyone have the 180 gram reissue of this? I can get a fairly good deal on it through today, but it's still rather pricey. I know a couple of my vinyl reissues suck as far as sound goes (as discussed on other threads), but I wanted to check on this one since it's basically my favorite album of all time.

I haven't, but I *can* tell you that the original vinyl sounds *miles* better than the CD....

Blimey, does notifications still work on threads?

...and yet the "Clear Spot/Spotlight Kid" CD is still FAR worse!

yeah, Spotlight Kid/Clear Spot's remastering is way too low and a disgrace. Even at his mildest the Cap was pretty commanding. For some reason, a lot of those Reprise records from around that time are the same way, like Randy Newman's 12 Songs is mastered way too dimly.

So any road up, I play a bit of "Trout Mask Replica" to Amber and Alice (Alice's middle name is Ella..) just to see what they think..

A few days later, Alice comes in with a set of fridge magnets, front and back halves of animals.

She picks the front of the elephant and the back of the kangaroo, puts them on the fridge, and says "EleGaroo!"

Damn.

The Captain would love that

It seems so obvious now!

The men don't know but the little girl understands...

It's a play on "allegory" though, isn't it?

lol that's brilliant

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y161/MarkGrout/elegaroo.jpg

hahaha "Alice in Blunderland!"

So any road up, I play a bit of "Trout Mask Replica" to Amber and Alice (Alice's middle name is Ella..) just to see what they think..

A few days later, Alice comes in with a set of fridge magnets, front and back halves of animals.

She picks the front of the elephant and the back of the kangaroo, puts them on the fridge, and says "EleGaroo!"

Damn.

― Mark G, Tuesday, December 1, 2009 1:26 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark

mind=blown

holy shit that is the greatest mark g post ever

and that jpg...i will never be able to listen to that song again without seeing it

This is obv the wrong thread for it but I just want to say that my lp of The Spotlight Kid has been getting serious play lately and I think it is sometimes unfairly overlooked. "White Jam" is one of the best moments in the Beefheart discography.

It's a play on "allegory" though, isn't it?

― E Poxy Thee Thule (Tom D.), Tuesday, December 1, 2009 5:33 AM (Yesterday)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_yellow

Funny - I just finished reading the 331/3 book on TMR last night (which was entertaining, but not the best of the series, IMO) and am currently blasting disc 5 of Grow Fins.

Lick My Decals.. has to be my personal fave.

xpost The Spotlight kid is sometimes unfairly overlooked.

Right, there's a single-disc remaster on the way..

Apparently, the cd available now was using a damaged master so they have gone back to Frank's safety copies of the original master. Hray!

and it is £23, according to Spin's website

EH???

Hm. Safety tapes could mean lower fidelity though. Hm.

i have only ever owned this album on cassette weirdly enough.

Actually, if you buy direct from Frank's "Barfco" website, it's $20, which is reasonable.

I ordered it, I'm curious, if a little skeptical. I have a Straight/Bizarre press of the lp, will be curious to compare the masters. The Zappa Family Trust vers of "Bat Chain Puller" from last yr was pretty great.

I am wondering about how the Zappa's can release this? Doesn't Warners/Reprise own the rights? Obv that could have changed, but seems like they would be unlikely to give up the rights to such a "name" record, even one that hasn't sold many copies...

I thought TMR was around as a mid priced cd as it was. Has that gone out of print?
& is Decals due on cd?

It's available in every branch of "That's Entertainment" for £5 or so.

Having said that, Amazon has 'new' copies of the old CD for £24, old/second-hand ones for £8

No news on "Decals"

Ok wait wait. The reissue for which Mark G bumped the thread. Is it Decals or Trout Mask?

Trout Mask.

LOL I am dumb.

Did anybody shell out for Trout Mask from "Barfco" or whoever?

Any Good? Any Different?

?

o ok.

I think we are all to cheap to plunk down the money without hearing a note.

At least that's my reasoning for skipping it thus far.

Mine reasoning, is that I have the orig 2LP, and I recently made a CDr from it.

It sounds pretty nice...

All I have is the late 80s CD. I'm tempted, but I'd love a preview of a few tracks first.

I've got it, it sounds basically the same as the original Straight/Bizarre lp pressings

lol opinions

I just heard the Faces' version of "Wicked Messenger" off their first album (in fact, off the "Good boys when they're asleep" comp)

And yeah, it's a Bob Dylan song, but whoo it's very like "Orange Claw Hammer"

lol

BUT TRUE!

Thank you.

If someone put TMR as their favorite album on their okcupid profile would you judge them? Someone had a perfectly serviceable profile but he had this at the top of their list and no matter what else we'd have in common I don't think we could hang. Is there another album that dog whistles "I care deeply about 'music'" more than this idk

you may be entering narcissism of small differences territory w/ yr canine hearing

when someone puts TMR at the top of their list they are very consciously trying to present themselves as a "music person," it's not an accident

What if they really, genuinely like it. Is that possible? Are you saying that all of your friends must share the same likes and dislikes as you? What are you saying?

I must know.

not familiar with Brautigan really (I think I read Venus On The Half Shell decades ago?) but really feeling #3 and #4 there, thanks Kate

this is like my least favorite Beefheart album aside from Bluejeans & Unconditional and uh maybe Decals cuz I do love "Orange Claw Hammer" to death, more than "I Love You You Big Dummy".

This album inspired a lot of proggy Euro nonsense that I have zero time for, as well as informing the least memorable aspects of the RIO movement. Fight me.

When I want to listen to Beefheart I usully go for 'Decals' or 'Grow Fins''

Really avoiding the TMR soundworld altogether there I must say.

lol

plz also note that by "least favorite" I mean something more akin to "least amazing"

not everything has to be contemporary or relevant, you know.

streaming has sort of flattened and destroyed time for me wrt music, I start to just flip around through history and nothing seems really fixed

I think I read Venus On The Half Shell decades ago?

too much trout itt as it is, sleeve

Lol

I'm reading through the TMR lyrics booklet now with Kate's post in mind.

First thing I notice: "Well, I put down my bush. And I took off my pants and felt free. The breeze blowin' up me and up the canyon. Far as I could see. It's night now and the moon looks like a dandelion" would not sound at all out of place in TFIA or IWS.

ella guru" sounds to me not terribly far from walk on the wild side

This might be a stretch, but I think it's quite perceptive.

It's tempting to read the moon in "moonlight on vermont" as a symbol of the (divine) feminine. He says "gimme that old time religion" over and over again, Lifebuoy's pistol showin, etc. I think this is comparing female attractiveness to the Transylvania effect.

Point definitely taken about Paucho cadaver

This album inspired a lot of proggy Euro nonsense that I have zero time for, as well as informing the least memorable aspects of the RIO movement. Fight me.

― zoomer death circus (sleeve)

you talking like etron fou leloublan? i always thought of them as being distinctly gallic. i don't know how much prog music there is that i'd classify as being genuinely inspired by trout mask replica. Michael Maksymenko if you want to count that, and honestly i think he's pretty alright, particularly the tunes about ice hockey.

The line about God dressing you because he never had a doll is wonderful.

...it's also quite heavy. I'm not going to finish all of this tonight, it's heady and dense, and i'm not sure i find it campy (is he Lou Reed or PT Barnum on Pachuco Cadaver? I can't tell, this is walking some inimate/sensation tightrope) but it's been rewarding to read through it slowly and carefully.

*sensational

xps nah I can hang with Etron Fou, I was specifically thinking of Dunaj and related Czech stuff like Uz Jsme Doma and even carrying through to Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, the kind of hammering relentlessness that I find overwhelming, even the Art Bears sometimes.

Kate, great post above. (:

an earthy masculinity about it that feels utterly remote at this point...and much of the 'exceptional' music of the period is unexceptional in this regard

What kind of exceptionality are we looking for? Obviously, something greater than "Under My Thumb," and I know there are plenty of other problems. But I will say that, growing up in the '70s/'80s, an awareness of rock music going back to the '60s was a significant thing for me in seeing suggestions of a more feminine way of being for those born male.

All I'll say is they know how to do breakfast TV in Sweden.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-kH_aNnNiA

I wasn't aware of that iteration of the Magic Band. Who needs coffee when you have music like that?