My first unsung review…

To begin with.… i have owned this album for well over a year, and have played it very regularly… i feel it is rather unsung because Troutmask Replica seems to get all the hype and attention from the early period of the Captain’s output.

Released in 1967, it is thought (and has been said by van vliet himself) that it was recorded in 1966, the band were just waiting around for a record company willing enough to release it. The first thing that struck me was the cover. Through a round lense there’s Beefheart standing to the left, dressed in black suit, shirt buttoned to the top and sporting a tie.… looking like the kinda guy u wouldnt dare fuck with, or he’d send the guys around to bust ur kneecaps.… if u were lucky! Jerry Handley (Bass on most tracks) standing to his left, looking boyish, yet sinister. Behind them in the middle we see Alex Clair Snouffer (damn cool name!) wearing a hat and moustache.… looking remarkably like beefheart’s ‘Ice Cream For Crow’ era image. And just behind is john french, wearing sunglasses. Cool! It’s just a shame that Ry Cooder hmself doesnt appear on the cover… now THAT would have been surreal (well, i think so anyway!).

The music itself is way more accesible than what can be heard on the next few albums, and is very upbeat and in places poppy. But that doesnt make it bad in anyway whatsoever, in fact, a number of the cuts are quite mad! Of all his albums i own, this gets most repeated listens.

1. Sure ‘Nuff ‘N Yes I Do. A steady Blues guitar line opens the album, van vliet singing about being born in the desert, then he went around all day with the moon sticking in his eye! alright! the music shifts up a gear and gets into a distinctive blues boogie* with slide guitar… sliding all over the place!
2. Zig Zag Wanderer. Zig! Zag! bweeeow bweeeow bweeeow bweeow goes the guitar, another amazingly up tempo, popish number, another to get up and dance to! This one i think could always bring me up if i am feeling down. The bass in the last minute of the song is outstanding in a boomy booglarized way, bouncing out of the speakers and over the room. Incidently, i read somewhere that Zig Zag wanderer is a kind of rolling paper, the song going: “You can huff, you can puff.….” this is definately a stoney dance boogie.
3. Call On Me. starts with some slow jangled guitar chords before breaking into one of the more disposable songs on the album, a sweet enough love song where Beefheart is telling his baby to call on him “At any time baby that you need love” also: “And a little of that understanding too”. Well, he’s sure been there for me! I dont detect too much sexual
4. Dropout Boogie. This is no boogie, rather a mean, lean, fuzzed out 2 and a half minutes garage song sounding very punk indeed. A real angry, mean jagged fuzz guitar crunching away, drums only just audible, pattering away and with bass ‘a pumping in the most pugwall’s summer-esque way imagineable** Over which u can hear Don Vliet*** sounding rough and nasty, “singing” about wanting to drop out outta school cos he “just cain’t, just cain’t”. Her mother has figuered you love her, so adapt her adapt her! Woah, whenever he sings “adapt her” i first thought he was singing about an ‘Adapter’ hehe! But to adapt her sounds quite sinister, as mr beefheart often does!
5. I’m Glad. Arrrgh! I’m not glad at all that this song is on the album, 9 times out of 10 i will skip it. Perhaps the most “ordinary” song on the album, yet in a way, it’s by far the weirdest. Perhaps blatent commercial attempt? Or do i just not get it? Nevermind!
6. Electricity. This is more like it.… possibly my favorite! Starting in a much more angular way, there are a few jabbings of bass notes, clattering drums, then a few guitar notes, and we are then treated with this lovely piece of poetic brilliance:

Singin through you to me
Thunderbolts caught easily
Shouts the truth, peacefully
EeeEEEEEEEElLeeeec-Tric-ah-tayy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

His voice DOES NOT sound in the slightest bit human here, rather more like, well, i dunno what like, but some weirdo for sure, a possessed one at that!
Putt put putta putt putt putt go the drums, theramin travelling from channel to channel sounding like a wave of electricity. In fact everything about this song is quite electric sounding in it’s own kinda way, i LOVE it! What adds to the mystery is that this is the song where Van Vliet shattered the microphone with his voice, i hope that’s true!
7. Yellow Brick Road. “The following tone is a reference tone, recorded at our operating level” Ok dude, sure thing! However, this, to me is another of the more standard tracks, nice blues slide guitar in usual beefheart way. Quite harmless, happy song about the wizard of Oz i guess!
8. Abba Zaba. Boogie time again, this must be pointing in future directions somewhat, as somehow it reminds me a bit of ‘Tropical Hotdog Night’ (later song). It has a tropical rythm, and lyrics about a babbette baboon. Strong pro-nature song, as the captin claimed to be! again… Abba Zaba zoooooooom Babbette Baboon!
9. Plastic Factory. A howlin’ wolf blues styled factory workers pseudo protest song. Beefheart contributing some great mouth harp (sounds better than harmonica by far!). “Factory’s no place for me, Boss man let me be!”
10. Where There’s Woman. Slow slow slow rythm, drums with what sounds like a conga providing the beat. Here the captain is yearning for female company i reckon anyway! Quite a good mong type song for me!
11. Grown So Ugly. Starts with blues arpegio which just HAS to be Ry Cooder, then it moves onto a good whisky fueled stomp through the desert blues land.
12. Autumns Child. When i first heard this, it broke my heart. Great way to end the album, again featuring a theramin prominently, which i thought must have been an opera diva first few times this song sunk in. Filled with great vocal imagery about a lost love from the past. 

In conclusion, this is a great way to get into Beefheart’s music. It displays his more accessible side, and yet it hints at what was to come in the future. The Reissued version released by Buddha Records features 7 brilliant extra tracks, all around from the Mirror Man Sessions. This version of Safe As Milk is a must have imho!

Notes:
* Please note, when i say boogie, i do NOT mean it in a jules holland, boogie woogie-on-my-ass kinda way!
** Pugwall’s Summer, the programme i watched nearly every morning of the summer holidays when i was young. The theme choon is so crap.…. so crap that it is good 😛
*** Just incase u dont know, Don Van Vliet is Captain Beefheart 😉