Monday, October 16, 2017

Trout Mask Replica? And Please, Be Honest



Once every five or seven years, I give Captain Beefheart's "Trout Mask Replica" a spin. I never make it all the way through. I was reminded of this thanks to a new Blade Runner movie that was just released. Once every five or seven years, I try to watch "Blade Runner." I never make it all the way through. In the case of "Blade Runner," I'll admit that I am not a big fan of science fiction, so though I find the first 30 minutes of Blade Runner unbearable, I blame myself. But in the case of "Trout Mask Replica," I think I qualify to say, it is unbearable.

I am a fan of Captain Beefheart. "Safe As Milk" and "Clear Spot" are personal faves, with "Lick My Decals, Baby" and "The Spotlight Kid" both having some fine moments. But even members of Beefheart's Magic Band told the Captain to go fuck himself during the recording of "Trout Mask Replica." (I read that in Mojo magazine last year.)

So to all of the people who rave about "Trout Mask Replica," just stop it. But if you really and truly  think I am missing something, tell me what it is. It's about that time to give it another go and this time, with your help, maybe I'll know what I am listening for.

29 comments:

Anonymous said...

Like free jazz you simply must let go of what you insist must be the moorings of the music you listen to. Trout Mask Replica is kind of like scat mixed with dada. If you don't get it, you don't get it. To disparage it is worse than not liking it. Not caring, OK. To do damage? A poor idea. Consider Moondog with a be-bop background. It's marginal but brilliant.

Sal Nunziato said...

I appreciate that, anonymous. I am also a fan of Ornette Coleman. If you're implying giving a record a fifth or sixth chance is "disparaging" it, or doing damage, then maybe you haven't been reading me long enough to recognize my sarcasm.

buzzbabyjesus said...

"Trout Mask Replica" has the best title, cover, and band photo, but the documentary about it's painful creation is much more enjoyable than listening to the album.
I used to go through the same cycle, because I like just about every one of his other records better than that one, I kept hoping I'd put it on, play it through, and then repeat until memorized. The last time, which was probably six or seven years ago I realized that was never going to happen, and it's OK.

I'm no fan of science fiction. "The Man In The High Castle" is the only Phillip K. Dick I've read. I thought it was an interesting story, but wished he was a better writer.

I loved "Blade Runner" when it came out, although it's not because I could follow it. As a painter, I was caught up in the visuals. It helped that I lived in LA.
It took 3 or 4 times over decades, including the most recent cut, to get a grasp.
I want to see the new one, but I'm really lazy when it comes to going to the movies.

I like film scores and movie soundtracks. Back then "Blade Runner"(Vangelis), "Cat People"(Giorgio Moroder, Bowie), and "Blue Velvet"(Angelo Badalamente) got a lot of play. I've picked up yard sale records for movies I've never seen or heard of, like "Thief", starring James Caan, because the music was by Tangerine Dream.

Days of the Broken Arrows said...

When I first bought it -- on Memorial Day weekend '84 when I was 19 -- I relegated my listening to one side at a time. At first, it was rough sledding. But eventually bits and pieces began to make sense and by August I was actually humming these tunes in my head.

The trick is to bite off small portions and digest them before going onto the next part. It's too "out there" and complex to get if you play it start-to-finish the first few (dozen?) times. If you do that, by side four you're burnt out.

Beneath the dissonance and weirdness, these are ultimately pop songs -- replete with their own type of hooks and riffs. Granted, they're very unconventional pop songs, very based in the blues, and with weird meters, melodies, etc.

But they do have hooks. I realized this at some point that summer. One day I was driving and it occurred to me that the hook "She's too much for my mirror, she almost makes me lose it" was lodged in my head -- as if it were "Have a Coke and a smile."

Of course, there is also the chance that this music just might not appeal to you, regardless of how you listen. I have this problem with David Bowie and King Crimson beyond the obvious songs. I play them and play them but they're just not for me. I try. So there's that. But "Trout Mask" remains a favorite of mine and I still get the tunes running through my head:

"And no more bridge Tuesday to Friday/Everybody's gone high society." Cue that guitar riff!

Sal Nunziato said...

"Beneath the dissonance and weirdness, these are ultimately pop songs -- replete with their own type of hooks and riffs."

That's how I feel about "Spotlight Kid" and "Clear Spot," although the latter is actually kind of soulful, as well, and a whole lot easier to digest. I guess my point is, and also why I used the word "qualify" is that, I know this and yet after all these years and all these spins, I am not hearing it. I get free jazz. I get Moondog. I don't get, or still have not gotten Trout Mask.

Shriner said...

Blade Runner 2049 -- is worth it. It's long and (for me) it started slow (which is never great for a movie that's almost 3 hours), but then it gets better and better and I was fully engaged and it flew by after the start.

I have never once made it through Trout Mask Replica. "Ashtray Heart" is the only Beefheart song I could ever listen to when somebody would play it for me. "It's not you, it's me" applies here... To each their own!

Anonymous said...

Thank you Sal, for taking this one to task. Clear Spot is in my top ten, but Trout Mask Replica has never caught for me despite the occasional spin that always results in lifting the needle (often to put on Clear Spot).

xopher.tm said...

When Rolling Stone 100 (or whatever massive anniversary issue it was that came out in the mid-late-80's) listing their "Top 100 All-Time Greatest Rock And Roll Albums!!", I gave every chance to hearing and listening to everything their erstwhile columnists touted as The Greatest. Trout Mask was, of course, on the list. I couldn't get through the whole of Side 1. Still can't. I've given other Beefheart albums a listen since; can't do it.

I love strange musics. Free Jazz? Easy-peasy. Dischordant Punk Rawk? Oh, hell yeahs. Industrial Noise? Thank you, Sir! Weird or stupid, avante or trash, I can dig it.

But I've never been able to listen to anything Captain Beefheart.

I'll also add that, while I can and do recognize his genius and talent, Zappa has never done it for me either.

Cheers.

-Xtm

Bombshelter Slim said...

Don't feel bad about it,Sal. Everybody who loves TMR has encountered numerous folks who don't "get" it. Maybe you had to be there: summer of 69, youngsters sitting around the hifi trying to out-weird each other, copious quantities of combustible herbal remedies... hey, you get the picture. Personally, I love the album, but it must be at least 6 or 7 years since I've heard it. Mind you, as noted above, it still runs thru my head occasionally. I always thought that "Lick My Decals Off Baby" was a superior effort, maybe because it was a single LP. You should probably read Drumbo's book for an inside look at the process (I still haven't come across a copy of Harkleroad's account). I had the good fortune to see the Captain live several times from about 75-81 or so. The best concert (in, I think, 1977) featured a re-formed Magic Band with the Decals lineup. Lots of Trout tunes were played exceptionally well. You might have "got" it then!!

Iff said...

Great record, precursor to Ice Cream for Crow which is relentless and Doc at the Radar Station

Sal Nunziato said...

To those who love Trout, what do you think of "Clear Spot?" Is it too accessible? Do you think Beefheart sold out? Or do you love that as well? I have it on now and it's hard to believe it wouldn't resonate with anyone who loves music, though I can totally understand not getting Zappa.

Bremble said...

I heard Captain Beefheart on the old Warner Brothers' Loss Leaders (samplers) records. Zapped had "the Blimp" and "the Old Fart at Play" on it, and The Big Ball had "Ella Guru". I loved those off-beat tunes, and plunked down money for Trout Mask Replica a couple of years later. I didn't get the record when I first bought it (at age 12 or 13), but I forced myself to listen to the album numerous times, and got an appreciation as to what Don was trying to do, and I grew to love it. I know that I'm in the minority here (my wife won't let me play it if sh'es within hearing), so it's definitely different strokes for different folks. I, too love Safe as Milk and Clear Spot (oddly, never really got into Lick My Decals Off, Baby - didn't go through the same intense experience as I had with Trout Mask). I totally understand people who don't like it - if not for repeated listenings I'd probably have sold my copy.

I like the interstitials (or whatever) between songs, when he's talking to someone. Side 1 (always been an LP fan) has become my favorite side, with "Ella Guru" and "Dachau Blues."

I'm not sure that one more listen will change your mind - and hey, life's too short and there's lots of great music out there. Who cares if you don't like a piece (regardless of it's reputation). I've gone from not liking Radiohead to appreciating Radiohead (as an example of a critically acclaimed band), but I still don't really like them - not sure I get why they're supposed to be so good.

Anonymous said...

a great album, would it have been better as a single LP, maybe but there are many great tunes there especially Ant Man Bee

A

soundsource said...

It sucks it always did it always will. The Emperor has no clothes. There I've said it.

jonder said...

My favorites are Lick My Decals, Clear Spot, and Doc At The Radar Station. Those albums have the songs that I love most, and they are better produced. What I like about Trout Mask is that it creates a world of its own. The interstitials (good word!) are part of its charm; the spoken word stuff and the surreal field hollers. There's a lot of humor on the record, although there's nothing funny about what the musicians went through to make it.

I wouldn't listen to the whole album front to back; it becomes grating after awhile. Maybe it is best experienced as no more than one LP side in one sitting, as Days of Broken Arrows said. Try starting at the end with side four, and give yourself permission to skip "Veteran's Day Poppy", which (like "Moonlight In Vermont") is sometimes too much for my ears.

I don't think Clear Spot was a sell out. Tracks like "Sun Zoom Spark" and "Big Eyed Beans From Venus" are as wild and woolly as anything the Magic Band ever did.

Sal Nunziato said...

Jonder,
I don't think clear spot is a sell out either. Just wondering if trout mask diehards thought it was, since it is so damn accessible.

Bombshelter Slim said...

Clear Spot is more accessible than The Spotlight Kid, but for "selloutedness" you have to go to Unconditionally Guaranteed and Blue Jeans & Moonbeams. Those two are pretty sucky.

A walk in the woods said...

Mic drop. I hate to admit it, but you're right. That's part of why I'll never be a true hipster music listener... I generally like music that sounds good.

M_Sharp said...

I used to listen to it once a year for a few years, but I still never got it. I liked almost everything else the Captain did before and after TMR, except those two Mercury albums. Might as well give it another shot.

Anonymous said...

TMR is fucking brilliant. The totally obscene deconstruction of the blues, polyrhythmic guitar lines, dada-ist lyrics, sound collage, and assorted weirdness sum up to an amazing album. Yeah, Beefheart could have edited it down to one album of highlights, but the sprawling nature of the album also puts it in a certain time/place. I can easily picture these S Californian hippy/weirdos recording this stuff, in large part due to extra/extraneous filler. Yeah, Bat Chain Puller or Doc at the Radar Station may be more straight-forward distillations of Beefheart's aesthetic, but none of his other albums have high-points quite as high as TRM.

Michael Giltz said...

Why torture yourself? I mean, sure, I give albums second and third and even fourth chances if there is some huge critical approval or people I respect love it. But you've given it more than a fair shake and I'd say there's too much good stuff to worry this one to death. Maybe a track will sneak up on you in a movie or playlist or radio. Ok, not the radio. There is no radio anymore and drunken college djs spinning Captain Beefheart to scare away listeners are long gone, working on Wall Street and wishing they were Ryan Seacrest. Heck, I wish I were Ryan Seacrest. I don't listen to Captain Beefheart much or deeply. But I did just spin Doc at the Radar Station while driving and dug out. In college, a friend loved Trout Mask Replica (he leaned towards classical,opera, Bowie, glam, women and men -- that kind of guy) and he didn't insist I hear the whole album. He just played "The Dust Blows Forward and the Dust Blows Back" and we just laughed our asses off when Beefheart sang, "And I took off my pants and felt...free" (just the little pause is hilarious) and the final line "Me and my girl named Bimbo Limbo...Spam" Did I mention we might have been stoned? Certainly never sent me rushing to hear the rest of his extensive recordings but I've spun the whole thing sometimes and can get into it in a boho, aggressively offbeat way (which is really not my cup of tea, I would have had no patience with the hipper than thou Beats) but I'd never urge it on anyone or defend it too passionately.

Unknown said...

English artist Lewis Taylor attempted a cover version of the whole of Trout Mask. He didn’t get all the way through either....though it’s an interesting listen if you can find a copy online anywhere.

I agree with the guy who said take it in small chunks.....some sort tracks I love - moonlight in Vermont, frownland, Ella guru - others less so. Beefhearts career shows him trying to record his art in different degrees of concentration, like all intoxicants. The Spotlight Kid is a great session beer, Trout Mask is for sipping.

buzzbabyjesus said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Stan says... said...

Love reading the comments on this piece. It's certainly a divisive listen.

Sal Nunziato said...

It's not torture, Michael Giltz. I am truly fascinated.

Sal Nunziato said...

I also see it as a challenge. Sure there are so many "great" records out there that I have yet to listen to, but this seems like a more interesting mountain to conquer than the Dawes catalog.

Noam Sane said...

I can pop it on for a few "songs" and get a kick but have never gone front-to-back. Funny, Andy Partridge was just discussing this on his twitter feed yesterday. Consensus seemed to be that you need to focus on the lyrics. Kinda makes sense.

dogbreath said...

Loved reading all the comments. Nothing to add. My first encounter with Captain Beefheart was his appearance on the BBC's Old Grey Whistle Test about a 100 years ago which traumatized me so deeply I was rendered incapable of listening to anything else by him for decades to come except, thanks to that OGWT version, Upon the My O My which I'm fond of to this day.

Anonymous said...

I loved it when it came out, listened to it over and over. I probably couldn't enjoy it now, but I'm certain it contains magic.

I saw this very version of the band play at a mafia nightclub in Manhattan (Ungano's) on the upper west side in 1971, I think. What killed me was that they played every note of Trout Mask precisely as it was on the record. Made it clear to me that this was a fully composed record that sounded completely improvised.

I wouldn't have cared except that the music was devastatingly powerful live. Another Beefheart fan I played with and I brought two lovely girls, and they were all devastated, too, and neither of the girls had ever heard Trout Mask.

The guitars and drums were very unique, had very unique sounds. They were the instruments used on the original record.

Two days after the show I saw, the band were invited to visit Ornette Coleman at his loft downtown. They took a cab, left the instruments in the cab and never saw them again.

The next time I saw them they were using standard issue guitars and such. They sounded somewhat pedestrian. The music had very little power.