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A various  artists tribute featuring covers of 20 Beefheart songs (19 to be exact, as one is Willie The Pimp; although I’m not sure about track 8!). Label: Animal World Recordings Released: 13th May 2003 Song list: Dirty Blue Gene – Mike Watt Flash Gordon’s Ape – Weasel Walter Orange Claw Hammer – A Warm Palindrome Electricity – Racebannon Neon Meate Dream Of An Octafish – Miss Murgatroid Ink Mathematics – Monotract Hair Pie: Bake 2 – Trumans Water Dacaer Pinga & Black Alaska – “Bad Ronald baked a Wooden Hairpie, and no one would eat it, not even old Whale Waist Seymour” Too Much Time – Jad FairRead More →

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A various artists compilation featuring women artists from Philadelphia performing 20 Beefheart songs with imaginative arrangements. Label: Genus Records Released: 7th June 2005 Song list Where There’s Woman – Sweetie The Past Sure Is Tense – Winterbrief The Witch Doctor Life – Global Transmission Run Paint Run Run – Big Mess Orchestra Apes-ma – Radio Eris Abba Zaba – Voices of Africa Sugar Bowl – Jane Gilday Her Eyes Are a Blue Million Miles ­ Faye Davis w/ The Next Skip Heller Generation My Head is My Only House Unless it Rains – Nancy Falkow Crazy Little Thing — Mia Johnson w/Tom Gillam Band Lick MyRead More →

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Song list: 1. The Dog Faced Hermans – Zig Zag Wanderer 2. XTC – Ellaguru 3. The Scientists – Clear Spot 4. The Membranes – Ice Cream For Crow 5. The King Of Luxembourg – Long Necked Bottles 6. The Beat Poets – Sun Zoom Spark 7. That Petrol Emotion – Hot Head 8. The Primevals – China Pig 9. Sonic Youth – Electricity 10. Good and Gone – Harry Irene 11. The Screaming Dizbusters – Frying Pan 12. The Mock Turtles – Big Eyed Beans From Venus CD includes 2 extra tracks: 13. The Beat Poets – Gimme Dat Harp Boy 14. The PrimevalsRead More →

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Robyn Hitchcock is a big Beefheart fan and has already covered some of Don’s songs. See his entry in our Covers section. For this tribute project he has put together a band to perform the Clear Spot album live in its entirety. On the Wychwood Festival site he explained: The most exciting gig I ever saw was Beefheart at the Colston Hall, Bristol in 1973. He was a big guy and the whole room vibrated [with] the low frequencies coming from his voice … he was large and he sort of elbowed the musicians out of his way and they’d run around. We’re not doing that. What you’re going toRead More →

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Unofficial cover art by Unkie Al Song list: Frownland The Dust Blows Forward And The Dust Blows Back Dachau Blues [spoken] Ella Guru Hair Pie (Orchestral Version) Moonlight On Vermont Pachuco Cadaver Bill’s Corpse Sweet Sweet Bulbs Steal Softly Thru Snow My Human Gets Me Blues Hair Pie (Guitar Version) Further info A fascinating but, sadly, unreleased project from musician Lewis Taylor. Overview by Derek Laskie Troutrageous Replica! I have recently been playing a demo CD called ‘Trout Mask Replica’, a Replica replica, single-handedly made by Lewis Taylor, a professional musician best known for his soul albums and his music for feature films. Lewis chooses not to follow the growlingRead More →

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Update: 15 Oct 2015 I have been told by the gallery that there is only one of Don’s paintings in the exhibition and that one is Beezoo Beezoo ———————————————– A few of Don’s paintings are included in a group exhibition at Michael Werner’s London gallery. Called ‘Body Shop’ the exhibition explores ” depictions of the human figure in painting and sculpture”. There may only be two of Don’s pieces showing. One of which is probably ‘The Navy Blue Vicar’ as it is pictured on the exhibition invite (see below). The ‘Body Shop’ exhibitions runs from 30 September  to 5 December 2015 at Michael Werner GalleryRead More →

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Legendary broadcasts from the 1960s, 1970s & 1980s Song List Disc 1 Down In The Bottom 02:39 Don’t Start Me Talkin’ 02:16 The Sun Is Shining 02:41 Tupelo 04:23 Somebody In My Home 02:53 Old Folks’ Boogie 03:22 St. James Infirmery 06:18 Evil (Is Going On) 02:36 Harp Instrumental 03:15 Somebody In My Home 02:40 Sure’Nuff’n’Yes I Do 02:06 Call On Me 03:04 Yellow Brick Road 01:33 Plastic Factory 02:55 Sure ‘Nuff ‘N’ Yes I Do 02:47 Yellow Brick Road 02:54 Abba Zaba 03:36 Kandy Korn 04:24 Disc 2 Mirror Man 07:31 Upon The My-O-My 03:17 Crazy Little Things 05:08 Full Moon Hot Sun 04:21Read More →

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Well, here’s news that’s going to annoy a few people, especially some of those who recently bought the Sun Zoom Spark package. Rhino Records are now releasing the ‘remastered’ versions of Lick My Decals Off Baby, The Spotlight Kid, and Clear Spot as separate CD albums. No news on vinyl versions as yet. Lick My Decals Off, Baby features an 8 page book with original lyrics The Spotlight Kid features lyrics and a 4 panel poster fold book (folds into a CD size square), keeping the original LP back cover intact on the inside Clear Spot – no information about this The Sun Zoom SparkRead More →

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Don Van Vliet’s works will be shown in a special exhibition entitled “DON VAN VLIET: BEATLE BONES N` SMOKING STONES Paintings and Drawings from the late Seventies and Eighties”. There are 12 paintings and 11 drawings included in this exhibition. Two are shown here and some others are visible on the link below. The exhibition begins September 5, 2015 and runs through to October 24, 2015 at Michael Werner Kunsthandel in Köln, Germany.     Striped Light & Meaty Blond People Danced At The End Of The Hall Yellow and White © Estate of Don van Vliet, Courtesy Galerie Michael Werner Märkisch Wilmersdorf, Cologne & New YorkRead More →

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Updated: 5 November 2015 The Magic Band are touring again during November this year. These are the confirmed venues: 4 November 2015 – The Rescue Rooms, Nottingham 5 November 2015 – Band On The Wall, Manchester 7 November 2015 – The Continental, Preston 8 November 2015 – The Kazimier, Liverpool 10 November 2015 – The Greystones, Sheffield 11 November 2015 – Brudenall Social Club, Leeds 12 November 2015 – The Studio, Hartlepool 13 November 2015 – Arts Centre, Norwich 15 November 2015 – Arts Centre, Colchester 16 November 2015 – Robin 2, Wolverhampton 17 November 2015 – The Fleece, Bristol 18 November 2015 – Winter Gardens,Read More →

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Update: 15 Oct 2015 It was touch and go there for a while with this project going right to the wire but it’s good to see that it has been fully funded. Great work from all the fans who contributed! ——————————————————- With one Indiegogo crowdfunding project successfully completed the band have set up another one! This time it’s for another DVD called Singing Through You which is a recording of the 2013 show at London’s Under The Bridge. A fine venue and by all accounts a very fine show. The release of this on DVD has been talked about for a while now, and hopefully itRead More →

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Updated: 3 Sept 2015 Great news – after only 4 days this has already reached its target! ——————————————————- John French has started a crowdfunding project on Indiegogo to finance the release of The Magic Band’s latest DVD. Called Magnetic Draw this is a two disc set which includes, on one disc the concert performed at “The Engine Shed” Lincoln, UK on 23 May 2014, and on the other interviews with all the band members. All monies raised will go to the production of the DVD, and more importantly all profits will go directly to all the Magic Band members who have taken part. Here’s  a chance for allRead More →

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A compilation of live tracks from the 1970s. Song list Side A China Pig A Carrot Is As Close As A Rabbit Gets Alice In Blunderland Orange Claw Hammer Carson City Old Black Snake One Nest Rolls After Another Side B Golden Birdies The Blimp Find A Woman Dali’s Claw Lo Yo Yo Stuff Grow Fins Sam With The Showing Scalp Flat Top Notes From Ozit blurb: Batlight Clearkid 1970’s is an LP compilation of great Captain Beefheart live material recorded in the UK and in Europe. The tracks are taken from John Peels personal collection of live reel to reel tapes and this albumRead More →

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Somewhere Over Kansas Song List Mirror Man Upon The My-0-My Crazy Little Things Full Moon, Hot Sun Sugar Bowl This Is The Day Keep On Rubbing Be Your Dog Sweet Georgia Brown Abba Zabba Peaches Notes From the publicity blurb: There are very few truly iconoclastic figures in the history of popular music since the mid 20th century, but Don Van Vliet (1941-2010), aka Captain Beefheart, is certainly one of them. By the time of this April 1974 broadcast, Captain Beefheart – and the 29th incarnation in along line of ever-mutating Magic Bands – had reverted to more traditionally-structured compositions, to the chagrin of someRead More →

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by Don R. Aldridge, November 2011 It was a Tuesday night, or more accurately very early Wednesday morning in 1966. I had just gotten off my shift at Lockheed Aircraft in Burbank, California and had made it back to Lancaster in just over an hour. Good time for the Thanksgiving Day traffic, which had already begun its bleed on the Los Angeles freeway system, out of the city. I had driven straight through, pulling up in front of the house on Carolside Avenue at just after 1 a.m. I was coming for Thanksgiving dinner with Captain Beefheart. It’s a little remarkable to me that so few people,Read More →

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Author Recounts Friendship with Avant-garde Icon By Don R. Aldridge, December 2010 American pop music has lost an artist of enormous influence. Captain Beefheart, composer, singer, bandleader, and avant-garde musician who was perhaps one of rock’s greatest unheralded geniuses, died in a Northern California hospital, Friday. His death was attributed to complications due to multiple sclerosis. He was 69 years old. Born Don Glen Vliet, January 15, 1941, he became known to his worldwide fan base simply as Captain Beefheart. Of Dutch ancestry, the artist, who turned to painting after retiring from the stage in the 1980s, changed his surname to Van Vliet in the 1960s. I knew Don wellRead More →

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by Don R. Aldridge, December 2010 Before I go into the details of my visit to Captain Beefheart’s home in Woodland Hills, early in 1969, I want to spend some time laying the background for the circumstances that brought about the visit in the first place. I hadn’t seen Don Van Vliet in a few months but I knew he was working on a project and that the moment probably wasn’t ripe for a visit. My instincts proved to be on target; in all of the years of our friendship, my visit to the Trout Mask Replica house on Ensenada Drive was the only time that I did notRead More →

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by Don R. Aldridge, October 2010 In 1965, I walked into the world of Don Van Vliet, the man who would become renowned internationally as the avant-garde rock artist Captain Beefheart. What I did not realize at the time was that I would be a witness to the complete evolutionary process of both the man and the artist. My birth name is Don Aldridge and knew Don Van Vliet for twenty years. I still consider him my friend although we have not spoken in many years years. And I miss Don Van Vliet. I miss the esoteric banter and friendly discussions we had in the earliest days of CaptainRead More →

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The Man Formerly Known as Captain Beefheart by Don R. Aldridge, September 2010 Stepping into the world of Captain Beefheart in 1965, was like walking through a portal into the Twilight Zone – everything was normal, to the extent anything is ever normal, and everything was strangely disjointed. Television sets had a way of finding themselves twisted into Technicolor snow, conversations could turn from blasé exchanges on politics or music, to Dadaistic rants or wordplays, and the most mundane objects became puppets for Don Van Vliet’s life production. My birth name is Don Aldridge, and I met Don Van Vliet, who would become better known asRead More →