Album by album: Captain Beefheart's discography

Safe as Milk (1967)

Beefheart had already made his presence felt in the scene with a couple of blues covers, but he truly broke new mould with debut album, Safe as Milk. With arrangements and guitar playing from Ry Cooder, these are blues songs with frequent tempo changes that diverge from continuity, but they can still be followed and understood on first listen. There are a couple of numbers that hint at what to come, but overall this release is charged with rough R&B. For some reason, these songs evoke feelings of nostalgia within me. Often, the music will be at a steady 4/4 beat but will go off at a tangent. This was not the most 'far out' release from 1967 (some consider it to be his best), but it announced an audacious new voice in rock music.

Stand-out track: Autumn's Child

Mirror Man (1967)

This is basically an extensive jam session and perhaps the only Beefheart album that includes extensive improvisation and ad-libbing from The Magic Band. While Safe as Milk included snippets of his signature drumming, Drumbo's inside-out playing is more pronounced here. Apart from the two 1974 albums, this is the Beefheart record I return to the least; I get a little impatient when I hear it. Still, it is a fascinating document of a major development in Beefheart's career.

Stand-out track: Tarotplane

Strictly Personal (1968)

This is what many Beefheart followers have dubbed a 'ruined masterpiece'. Though Beefheart approved of its re-mixing, he claimed that it was done without without his awareness when he heard it criticised! Producer Bob Krosnow added many clichéd psychedelic sound effects that sometimes stifle the actual music. But people do tend to overlook the excellent song-writing, perhaps featuring one of the few 'progressive' and 'extensive' pieces of Beefheart music. It also has his best vocals, especially in his acapella opener 'Ah Feel Like Acid'. While Safe as Milk definitely had its eccentricities, there is some out-and-out attempts at weirdness here, most pronounced on 'Beatle Bones and Smoking Stones'.

Stand-out track: Trust Us

Trout Mask Replica (1969)

This is equally (or even more so) renowned for its conception than its actual content. Now having a recruited a much younger band, he ensnared them in a small house for a whole year, tormenting them psychologically and subjecting them to never-ending rehearsals. The process for composition had now changed; the music was now written on piano, an instrument Beefheart couldn't play. It was transcribed by Drumbo, who then arranged it all accordingly. The 21 pieces they constantly rehearsed (in addition to 7 other tracks that were recorded from different sessions) were intricately assembled, skewed and frenetic music that had never really been heard before and hasn't been heard since. The tracks are strangely disjointed yet somehow complementary. Beefheart never rehearsed with the band, so his vocals bear no resemblance to the rest of the music (which was conceived instrumentally), but by now there is an increasing amount of playful word-play and surrealist lyrics. It seemed as if he was approaching it as the painter/sculptor he claimed to be, rather than as a blues singer. This album has stood the test of time and is rightly cited as one of the best rock albums ever made, but it is understandable why it receives so much contempt and befuddlement. There is so much going on here that it goes over people's ears.

Stand-out track: Neon Meat Dream of an Octafish

Lick My Decals Off, Baby (1970)

Perhaps because of featuring just one guitar, this is marginally more accessible than Trout Mask. Though now the complementary interplay is percussive, now featuring an additional drummer and marimba player. This album is equally compelling as Trout and even has moments that surpass it, but nowadays it is sadly overlooked and is not available on CD due to copyright issues. The Magic Band now had a flair for this kind of music and had got to grips with it. The polytonal mastery of tracks like 'Doctor Dark' and 'Bellerin' Plain' is truly mind-blowing. Beefheart's lyrics had now darkened, dealing less with a life-affirming view of the world than with apocalyptic visions and messages in tracks like 'Petrified Forest' and 'Space Age Couple'. The detractive aspect of the album is the cacophonous saxophone playing, which obscures quite a lot of the music.

Stand-out track: Bellerin' Plain

The Spotlight Kid (1972)

After the intense experimentation of his previous two releases, Beefheart now wanted to return to a simpler sound, producing an album consisting of simpler blues songs. The songs now were constructed by the band jamming with Beefheart's supervision. This album has many detractors because of its production; the songs are very slowed-down and zombie-like, but the song-writing is superb and better than in Clear Spot. Guitarist Zoot Horn Rollo isn't too fond of this album, and the tracks are meant to sound speedier as their live version incarnations attest. In 'click clack' the whole band emulates a speeding locomotive - stunning stuff. One can definitely sympathise with The Magic Band's frustration, Beefheart posing in the cover sans the band's name is selfish and a tad bit narcissistic.

Stand-out track: Click-Clack

Clear Spot (1972)

This is Beefheart going commercial without suffering a heart attack and without impinging on the music. Like all dictatorships, Beefheart's tyrannical rule had now softened and The Magic Band were given more latitude. Zoot Horn Rollo is on fire on this album, the slide guitar rollicking along and driving the music forward. For the first time, this is a Beefheart album with good production - clean, crisp and clear. There are moments when you get the impression where Beefheart is being pushed into commercial pop, like 'Too Much Time', but overall this album is one hell of a blast and very, very entertaining.

Stand-out track: Big Eyed Beans from Venus

Unconditionally Guaranteed (1974)

Wretchedly awful. Here Beefheart is self-consciously selling out, even appearing on the cover gripping money. Apart from Zoot Horn Rollo's guitar playing, The Magic Band sound nothing like they should and they would shortly leave Beefheart. Soppy music and soppy love lyrics co-written with his wife which don't sound at all genuine. Beefheart's worst.

Stand-out track: Peaches

Bluejeans and Moonbeams (1974)

Marginally better than Guaranteed, but still wretched. This group was nicknamed 'The Tragic Band' and consisted of session musicians. It has a few good bluesy numbers, but overall this simply doesn't work. Something that redeems the album very slightly is Beefheart's impressive vocals which would soon crack.

Stand-out track: The Party of Special Things to do

Bat Chain Puller (1976)

To this day, this album remains unreleased and can only be heard in bootleg form. Which is a huge shame. Beefheart got entangled in an assortment of contractual difficulties and couldn't release this, his best work since Decals. This is quite possibly Beefheart's most eclectic album; every facet of his musicality is featured here. There is a return to more atonally constructed music, but it is far more relaxed and nowhere near as frenetic. Now the guitars seem to cohere with the drum parts more, but they still remain idiosyncratic. The highlight of the album, and one of the highlights of Beefheart's entire career, is 'The Thousandth and Tenth Day of the Human Totem Pole', an immensely angular and obtuse track which sounds like what would have happened if Stravinsky had written a rock song. Ten of the twelve songs of the album would be reworked in his next three releases.

Stand-out track: The Thousandth and Tenth Day of the Human Totem Pole

Shiny Beast (1978)

This album is usually seen as a re-recording of Bat Chain Puller, but it should really be seen as an entirely different album in its own right. Five of the tracks from that album appear here, but they are re-worked. This album was a godsend to those who thought Beefheart had lost it with his '74 recordings. This is a very colourful recording and the album by Beefheart that comes the closest to sounding like Zappa. Playful, fun and intelligent with a melange of sounds including trombone, slide guitars and marimba.

Stand-out track: Bat Chain Puller

Doc at the Radar Station (1980)

By far Beefheart's harshest, aggressive and abrasive record. He sounds like he's really pissed off here. And it's probably the best of his later work! The guitars intersect and clash one another like shafts of glass and, even if you're familiar with Trout Mask, it demands a couple of listens to get familiarised with. Even if Beefheart disliked punk, its spirit is very present here as he rants against everything he hates and has ripped him off ("I hate all those people who have been riding on my bones", "Open up another case of the punks"). There is even a little oriental feel in this album, featuring Chinese gongs, a little oriental guitar piece and a mellotron interlude.

Stand-out track: Best Batch Yet

Ice Cream for Crow (1982)

After the glossy production of his two previous releases, here Van Vliet wanted a 'two dimensional' sound, "like a painting". Initially, the album was going to consist of half of new material and the other half of the unreleased Bat Chain Puller but, due to Zappa's negligence at handing over the tapes, they had to produce new material in just a few weeks. And some of the material here feels a little rushed, but there is some spectacular stuff here nonetheless. Lyrically, this is Van Vliet's best, conjuring word play and narratives that are unmatched by any other of his albums. The ending track 'Skeleton Makes Good' ends with Beefheart bashing Chinese gongs, an adieu to his entire career.

Stand-out track: The Host The Ghost The Most Holy-O