Captain Beefheart: An appreciation

Following Don Van Vliet's passing the previous month, I have been revisiting and replaying his albums more than ever. The Captain has meant a great deal to me since the age of thirteen, so I felt compelled to write a post commemorating him. I won't write an overview of his career, I will write what his music means to me personally.

Discovering Beefheart at the precociously young age of thirteen was a gateway to a whole realm of possibilities. Without him I wouldn't have discovered the avant-garde in music, literature and film as soon as I did.

In the same sense as football is a hangover from my childhood, the music of Beefheart and Zappa is hangover from my adolescence. That's why I hold it in a special place in my heart.

My first album of his was Trout Mask Replica. I didn't completely understand it initially, playing the orthodox songs like 'Moonlight on Vermont' more frequently. To begin with I liked it because it was 'whacky', jumping on an 'alternative' bandwagon in the process. But I soon unearthed the jostling and unnerving genius in it.

There is nothing like it in 'rock and roll' - not even in the music of Frank Zappa, Tom Waits or The Fall. While many post-punk and alternative bands have cited his influence, their music doesn't really follow in this tradition. It may do so in spirit and attitude, but not musically.

The arrangements and guitar interplay on the album is truly extraordinary. Yes, its conception should be credited to the musicians more than Don, but he imposed this atmosphere upon them that unearthed this very original music. He was able to achieve equally good music with different band while these members have never come anywhere near in matching the vitality and quality of the music in their other endeavours.

He was a tyrant and a manipulator, imposing dictatorial regimes. He was also a compulsive liar, taking all the compositional credit for himself. Yet, paradoxically, this is part of his charm, part of the Beefheart mythos he created.

Like much early 20th century classical music, you have to re-adapt yourself and re-conceive your notions of music. Once you do understand it, everything else sounds tame.

Many people do take it all a little seriously. His lyrics are playful and humorous; they are not attempting to communicate messages on politics, the environment or morals. They should simply be seen on their own terms. He did have a rather idiosyncratic observations on the world and this surfaces through his lyrics.

I watched her cut with clarity
the sea of Satan's red rolling water
that stung my eyes with vile vile brine
and clung to the vine that choked Mary's only Son
God in vain to slaughter
I can't darken your dark cross door no more
the light lovely one with the nothing door
and oh that pours life water

I do feel sorry for the condition he has been in over the last two decades or so. He has suffered from multiple sclerosis, a terrible condition for such a bright and agile mind. His mind has continued to function throughout all these years, but his body shut down.

Having come across a plethora of what I call 'boring fucking cunts', it is pretty startling to think that people as unusual and complex as Don van Vliet have roamed the earth. The world is a little less special without him.

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My top 13 Beefheart records, ordered by personal preference.

1. Trout Mask Replica

2. Lick my Decals Off, Baby

3. Safe As Milk

4. Doc at the Radar Station

5. Bat Chain Puller (Unreleased)

6. Ice Cream for Crow

7. Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller)

8. The Spotlight Kid

9. Strictly Personal

10. Clear Spot

11. Mirror Man

12. Bluejeans and Moonbeams

13. Unconditionally Guaranteed