Trout Mask Replica
by Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band

From Space-Dementia 07/07/2016 01:46 | #170729 | TOP COMMENT Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.

This is the only music I've listened to all day today. I've listened to it six times in about nine/ten hours:
FIRST LISTEN
holy shit this is bad. i want to like it but it's shit.
SECOND LISTEN
i guess it's cool that they practiced this like essentially hundreds of times to get it down perfect. it's still weird as shit though.
THIRD LISTEN
dude he literally intended everything that happens on this record to happen. this is actually super impressive, as weird as it is.
FOURTH LISTEN
i actually kind of like it. parts of it are catchy.
FIFTH LISTEN
it doesn't even seem that weird anymore. it seems like just rock music that had a lot of thought put into it.
SIXTH LISTEN
THAT'S RIGHT, THE MASCARA SNAKE. FAST AND BULBOUS. ALSO A TINNED TEARDROP. I RUN ON BEANS. THIS IS SO COOL. (Edited)

I refuse to rate and/or rank this album. It's straight up impossible for me to compare its quality to other albums' qualities. I also find it impossible to give it a number between 0 and 10 to represent how good/bad I think it is, 'cause I don't think any rating fits.

It's sure as hell an interesting listen, and I can enjoy and appreciate how crazy, bizarre and absurd it is for ca. an LP side worth of time, but after that it just becomes exhausting and even annoying, and sitting through 80 minutes of this in one sitting is more of an unenjoyable experience.

You may think this is all improvised and just a couple of guys going nuts in the studio and trying to make the weirdest shit they can. But in reality every track on here was planned and practised to death. And you can hear that when you give the album a close listen. Quite allot of skill and talent was put into this.

It does have a bit of a dark story behind though that allot of people overlook or just don't know about. Captain Beefheart had the group live communally in a small house where they had to practice Beefheart's difficult compositions 14 or more hours a day for 8 months. He would, at times, both mentally and physically abuse them. They also had very little food and rarely got to leave the small house. There was also some stuff about Beefheart suffering from paranoia and schizophrenia at the time, causing him to see nonexisting things.

So... Yeah. It's sure an interesting and important album, and I can enjoy and appreciate a little dose of it every now and then, but I don't know if I'll ever bother to listen through the whole thing again, especially not in one sitting. Oh, and it's got a hella cool cover too. (Edited)

From Onater 01/24/2017 23:36 | #184179 | TOP COMMENT Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.

This gets even better (Or worse, they're basically the same thing when talking about Beefheart) when you know about the story behind it. From Wikipedia:

"In preparation the group rehearsed Van Vliet's difficult compositions for eight months, living communally in a small rented house in the Woodland Hills suburb of Los Angeles. Van Vliet implemented his vision by asserting complete artistic and emotional domination of his musicians. At various times one or another of the group members was put "in the barrel", with Van Vliet berating him continually, sometimes for days, until the musician collapsed in tears or in total submission to Van Vliet.[4] According to John French and Bill Harkleroad these sessions often included physical violence. French described the situation as "cultlike"[5] and a visiting friend said "the environment in that house was positively Manson-esque."[6] Their material circumstances also were dire. With no income other than welfare and contributions from relatives, the group survived on a bare subsistence diet. French recounted living on no more than a small cup of soybeans a day for a month[7] and at one point band members were arrested for shoplifting food (with Zappa bailing them out).[8] A visitor described their appearance as "cadaverous" and said that "they all looked in poor health". Band members were restricted from leaving the house and practiced for 14 or more hours a day. Vliet once told drummer John French he had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and thus he would see nonexistent conspiracies that explained this behaviour.[9]"

Some more fun facts:

"Van Vliet enrolled at Antelope Valley Junior College as an art major, but decided to leave the following year. He once worked as a door-to-door vacuum cleaner salesman, and sold a vacuum cleaner to the writer Aldous Huxley at his home in Llano, pointing to it and declaring, "Well I assure you sir, this thing sucks."[35]"

"In the end, after the album's recording, Beefheart ejected French from the band by throwing him down a set of stairs, telling him to "Take a walk, man" after not responding in a desired manner to a request to "play a strawberry" on the drums."

"Van Vliet claimed to have gone a year and half without sleeping. When asked how this was possible, he claimed to have only eaten fruit.[15]" (Edited)

From Anti TOP 100 COMMENTER 05/18/2014 19:03 | #112226 | TOP COMMENT Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.

I understand that everything that was put onto this album was on purpose and that it's filled with asymmetric stuff, but it just doesn't do it for me. I gave it another listen and my opinion still hasn't gotten better. Go ahead, dislike the crap out of my comment just because I don't like it. It just doesn't work for me.

But that doesn't mean I won't give it some praise. This is truly a unique album and probably nobody will make an album like this anytime soon. It does has some cool moments. I may not like this album, but I'm not going to parade around this website degrading its awesomeness. (Unlike some people do with a certain album I enjoy...)

My absolute favorite album. A brilliant fusion of rock, jazz and the blues. Will write full review at a later time.

01. FROWNLAND - 9/10

The most shizophrenic and wild track on the album (maybe except for "Pena") The Captain put this at the start for a reason. You should know what you're getting yourself into..

02. THE DUST BLOWS FORWARD... - 8/10

A really silly folk poem. No instrumentation

ME AND MA GIRL NAMED BIMBO...
LIMBO...
SPAM!

03. DACHAU BLUES - 7/10

Quite an overrated track. The rhythms are really underdeveloped on here. Its a shame, the lyrics are quite creative for rock.

04. ELLA GURU - 10/10

The first true masterpiece. Excellent musicianship and the vocals are a ton of fun.

05. HAIR PIE: BAKE 1 - 9/10

A purely instrumental track. Hated by many for its long improvisations, those who love the album love this especially. The clarinet (?) performance is awesome.

06. MOONLIGHT ON VERMONT - 10/10

The second masterpiece. Much more straightforward than the rest of the album. I love the "Gimme that ole time religion" bit.

07. PACHUCO CADAVER - 8/10

Possibly even more accessible than Moonlight on Vermont. Very whimsical and kind of cute.

08. BILL'S CORPSE - 7/10

Its okay.

09. SWEET SWEET BULBS - 8/10

Much more of a "chill" track. Very charming lyrics.

10. NEON MEATE DREAM OF A OCTAFISH - 7/10

Hilarious poem and vocal performance.

11. CHINA PIG - 8/10

AMAZING vocals and lyrics.

12. MY HUMAN GETS ME BLUES - 9/10

Super eccentric and fun. A real earbleeder in the best way possible.

13. DALI'S CAR - 7/10

An awesome instrumental based on an even better painting by Salvador Dali.

14. HAIR PIE: BAKE 2 - 9/10

Like the first bake but a bit more concise. I prefer the first bake because its more avant-garde.

15. PENA - 8/10

AHHHHHHHHH

16. WELL - 7/10

A cute lil' track. Its a bit boring.

17. WHEN BIG JOAN SETS UP - 8/10

A lot of people's favorite track, I can definitely see why. I love the poetry but I wish the instrumentation was a little wilder (like in "My Human Gets Me Blues")

18. FALLIN' DITCH - 9/10

So underrated! Awesome grooves.

19. SUGAR 'N SPIKES - 9/10

Fantastic melodies and fun lyrics.

20. ANT MAN BEE - 9/10

Again, fantastic melodies! These 3 songs may be the best part of the album. A cute song about ants.

21. ORANGE CLAW HAMMER - 8/10

At first I hated it but now I love it. Its so weird, its so unmusical yet so catchy. I love when he says "like a hammmurrr" or "and my clothes in tatters" or "a cup of waturrr" or my favourite "water, salt waturrrr."

22. WILD LIFE - 7/10

Really fun groove. Its too repetitive, though.

23. SHE'S TOO MUCH FOR MY MIRROR - 9/10

Really sweet melody and vocals. Beefheart is an excellent vocalist, he deserves more credit for that ya know!

24. HOBO CHANG BA - 8/10

Really fun song. "Hobo Chang Ba" is fun to say.

25. THE BLIMP (MOUSETRAPREPLICA) - 9/10 (THE DRUMS <3)

Its really simple but I love it. Zappa narrates it and it sounds like it could be on Uncle Meat or one of his other albums. The way the drums roll across the speakers from left to right is such an underutilized mixing technique. So satisfying.

26. STEAL SOFTLY THRU SNOW - 9/10

I love the instrumentation on this one. The guitar is amazing.

27. OLD FART AT PLAY - 7/10 (WORST SONG)

Its just a poem with Magic Band improvisations. its fine though, I'm just glad to hear the Magic Band perform!

28. VETERAN'S DAY POPPY - 10/10 (BEST SONG)

The best song on the album, the Cap'n really saved the best for last. I love the second part of the song, its very progressive and unlike the rest of the album. Its my favorite album finisher and my favorite song ever.

There are few standout tracks, but the album as a holistic body of work is a schizophrenic masterpiece. 10/10; the only "perfect" album in the history of rock (except or "Old Fart at Play," lol).