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The CD version has been long out of print but Rhino have announced the re-release of I’m Going To Do What I’m Gonna Do as a two disc vinyl album for Record Store Day 2023. The first time on vinyl this will be a limited edition of 5000 to be released on 22 April 2023 with a price tag of 39.98USD. At the time of writing it is not clear whether copies will be able from non-US outlets. Originally released back in 2000 in the Rhino Handmade Series this album is of the excellent 1978 My Fathers Place, NY show which was widely bootlegged backRead More →

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I’m pleased to welcome a new contributor to the Radar Station. Sam Smyth has been running one of the better Beefheart pages on Facebook for several years now and has a good following. He has been producing some interesting content which I thought deserved a wider audience. Although Facebook does have its uses, when it comes to searching for relevant posts you have to wade through a lot of sludge to find the diamonds. I didn’t want Sam’s posts to get lost so I offered him the opportunity share his posts on the Radar Station as means of archiving them, and making them available toRead More →

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Publisher ‏: ‎ Sonicbond Publishing Date of Publication : 26 August 2022 Language : ‎ English Paperback‏ : ‎ 160 pages ISBN-10 : ‎ 1789522358 ISBN-13 : ‎ 978-1789522358 Dimensions : ‎ 14.96 x 1.24 x 20.57 cm Extract from blurb: Few Bands are as influential. The Beatles, The Fall, PJ Harvey and Tom Waits all pay homage, while The Magic Band have inspired a myriad of tribute bands and created a mythology like no other. This book sets the history of the band in context, analysing every track and interpreting the music with its poetic content. It is essential reading for diehard fans andRead More →

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Tracklist Side One 1. Yellow Brick Road 2. Abba Zabba 3. Sure ‘Nuff ‘n’ Yes I Do 4. Electricity 5. Beatle Bones ‘n’ Smokin’ Stones 6. Safe As Milk 7. Kandy Korn Side Two 1. Trust Us 2. Steal Softly Thru Snow 3. Click Clack 4. Golden Birdies 5. I’m Gonna Booglarize You Baby Publicity Blurb Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band are showcased over 12 tracks recorded live for radio and TV. The material is sourced from two 1968 sessions for John Peel plus a 1972 appearance on Beat Club and features tracks from four different Beefheart LPs. Beat Club tracks are excellent soundRead More →

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An interesting experiment has turned up on Youtube. Using AI software Ant 2 Man Bee has deconstructed the Trout Mask album. He’s taken each of the songs and isolated each individual track, breaking it down so you can hear Mark’s bass, John’s drums, Bill’s guitar, Jeff’s guitar and Don’s vocals separately. As Ant 2 Man bee explains: I was shocked at how good the neural net was after I tested using Sugar ‘n Spikes. While it isn’t perfect, it is still amazing how quickly the technology evolved when just a few years ago you couldn’t isolate instrumentations from whole songs without having a very goodRead More →

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A look at the November 2022 Record Store Day release of a double vinyl set to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Clear Spot album. Tracklist Sides 1 and 2 as to be expected are the same as the original release. Side 3 Nowadays A Woman’s Gotta Hit A Man (Early Mix) Clear Spot (Rough Mix) [Instrumental] Crazy Little Thing (Rough Mix) [Instrumental] Dirty Blue Gene (Rough Mix) [Instrumental] Big Eyed Beans From Venus (Rough Mix) [Instrumental] Kiss Where I K’aint Side 4 Sun Zoom Spark (Rough Mix) [Instrumental] Nowadays A Woman’s Gotta Hit A Man (Rough Mix) [Instrumental] Little Scratch Low Yo Yo StuffRead More →

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A new exhibition of Don’s artworks opens on 16 November 2022 at the Michael Werner Gallery, 50 Newtown Lane, East Hampton, New York. the gallery is open Wednesday through Saturday from 11am to 5pm. From the gallery’s press release: Michael Werner Gallery, East Hampton is pleased to present Don Van Vliet: Cold Furniture, an exhibition of paintings and works on paper … Art critic John Yau explains the way in which Van Vliet achieves mastery over sound, tone, word, and image through synchronous engagement with his senses: “Dream, sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch are inextricable aspects of his experience. For Van Vliet, one ofRead More →

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Rhino are set to release a two disc clear vinyl of the Clear Spot album as part of Record Store Day Black Friday on 25th November 2022. This will be a limited edition of 8000 (according to the Rhino website) or 4500 (according to the Record Store Day site)! The original album has been recut from the original master tapes at Bernie Grundman Mastering, plus there is an additional LP of rare studio outtakes, alternate versions, and previously unreleased instrumental rough mixes from the Clear Spot sessions. At the time of writing no track list has been published which leaves us to speculate as toRead More →

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Don is included as part of a group exhibition at the Kewenig Galerie, Bruderstrasse 10, Berlin from 9 September 2022 to 29 October 2022 curated by David Dorrell. This exhibition is described as: A survey of the interface between the worlds of the aural and the visual is presented by KEWENIG with ‘Paracusia: Of Sounds & Visions’, mapped through works from artists as diverse in approach as Helen Chadwick, Ian Hamilton Finlay, Kimsooja, Haroon Mirza, Chris Newman, Camille Norment, Sean Scully, Jeremy Shaw, Liliane Tomasko, Naama Tsabar, Don Van Vliet, and Marcelo Viquez. Paracusia seeks to trace the kaleidoscopic steps of this existential tango betweenRead More →

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Released August 2022 on Madfish SMACD1214 (Double vinyl released November 2022) Radar Station Review by Steve Froy This is one review I thought I would never be writing but here we are. Jeff Cotton has released his first solo album after a 50 year break from the music business. Jeff had already been a professional musician for several years before joining Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band in late 1967. He would go on to achieve legendary status amongst fans for his guitar work on Mirror Man, Strictly Personal and Trout Mask Replica. On leaving the Beefheart band he launched another band that would becomeRead More →

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As  a taster for his new album, The Fantasy of Reality, to be released on 12 August by Madfish, Jeff has produced this video for his ‘single’ from the album. The track ‘Does It Work For You’ is the opener to the album and features Jeff’s trademark slide guitar work. It’s a strong comeback by this talented musician. Preorder the album – https://jeffcotton.lnk.to/fantasyofreality Here’s a message from Jeff: Greetings and Aloha to all my music loving friends! The single, Does it Work for You, the first tune on my new album, “The Fantasy of Reality,” exemplifies the overall sentiment of this new work. I sincerelyRead More →

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To say this is long awaited would be an understatement … Magic Band and Mu alumni Jeff Cotton, aka Antennae Jimmy Semens, announces his debut solo album The Fantasy of Reality – available on CD and digital on 12 August via Madfish. Pre-order/Save: https://JeffCotton.lnk.to/FantasyOfReality Trout Mask Replica cover designer Cal Schenkel returns to contribute to the internal artwork to continue the Captain Beefheart canon into the 2020s. Now blending together musical strands such as jazz, delta blues, Hawaiian and the avant-garde to create a melting pot of ideas, Jeff Cotton will astonish fans with his comeback.  Read More →

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The great John Peel’s record and memorabilia collection is, sadly, in the process of being dismantled. On 14 June 2022 two hundred items will be auctioned by Bonhams, the London auction house, under the heading Live In Session. Property From The John Peel Archive There are a few Beefheart related items which are of interest. Firstly, there is An Acetate Recording Of The Album, Strictly Personal, described as : a double-sided, 12inch disc, with DCT Recorders Hollywood labels with typewritten recording details, some variations in track titles, in black, die-cut paper sleeve It has an auction estimate of £3000 – £4000 (Sold for £4462.50 inc. buyer’sRead More →

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I’ve been sent information by Frederica Caliandro who hosts an Italian web radio series called ‘Art Around Music’. On Thursday 12th May 2022 at 6pm she will be presenting a show about Don: The fortnightly appointment with ART AROUND MUSIC by Ki Kal Federica Caliandro is with Don Van Vliet alias CAPTAIN BEEFHEART, a total and experimental artist. Musician, songwriter, sculptor and painter active through the seventies and eighties, disseminating art everywhere, as intriguing and hypnotic as chaotic and oblique. Appointment in streaming on https://webradio.admr-chiari.it or via the ADMR Rock Web Radio app From the site you can also download the podcasts of previous episodesRead More →

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Are you looking for some live Beefheart music? Well, there’s some coming up in New York … THE WORLD OF CAPTAIN BEEFHEART featuring GARY LUCAS and NONA HENDRYX — with Fast ’N Bulbous and Gods and Monsters vets Jesse Krakow on bass, Richard Dworkin drums, and Jordan Shapiro keyboards — will perform for the first time in several years as part of Bang On a Can’s Long Play Festival in Brooklyn the last weekend in April. The group will perform at Roulette, the venerable avant-garde music club at 509 Atlantic Avenue at 8:30pm on Friday April 29th More about the festival and tickets here: https://bangonacan.org/longplay/Read More →

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I’m very sad to say that my old friend and fellow Beefheart fan Paul Brown has passed away. Paul was probably THE Beefheart fan, a fervent collector and the most knowledgeable of all things Beefheartian that I have ever known, he always knew what was shakin’ in Vlietland. He was a great mate, kind and generous and a good laugh. Many longtime fans will have probably come across Paul at some point and others will have benefited in one way or another, even if they don’t know about it, by his involvement in collecting all things Beefheart. I first met him back in the daysRead More →

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Gary Lucas has sent us some previously unseen drawings by Don. These were drawn in a large notebook (8.5 x 11 inches) which Gary carried everywhere during 1980 to 1984 and used for Beefheart related business — “dictated lyrics, poems, observations he wanted me to write down, business contacts etc.” (click on the image for a larger version) #1  “Untitled Abstract “ Don drew this in November 1980 towards the back of the notebook using a black marking pen. #2 “Growlin Poeé” (dated 11 / 11 / 82) #3 “Early Phoe Faux Thump” (11-11-82) The last two drawings Don drew in NYC during a periodRead More →

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In my original review of the Sun Zoom Spark : 1970 to 1972 box set I looked at each track on the Out-takes album and related them, where possible, to previous released versions. However what I didn’t do was compare them to the versions on the classic bootleg 3CD set Spotlight Kid Outtakes which contains all these tracks and more, although I think I presumed the same versions were on both compilations. Anyway, my omission was spotted by Elias Rost, who sent me the article below in which he does the comparison between the two box sets … over to Elias … —————————————————————– I got theRead More →

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You’ve probably seen the photographs of John Lennon and George Harrison behind whom are copies of the Safe as Milk bumper sticker and wondered what the story is. As far as I know The Beatles have not committed to record their views on the album Safe as Milk or whether they liked the band but it does look like they have had copies in their possession … or least copies of the bumper sticker. What is obvious is that to have copies of the bumper sticker they would have had to have the American release of the album because the UK release on Pye InternationalRead More →

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A collection of Don’s paintings and drawings is being exhibited at Michael Werner’s Cologne Gallery from 4 September to 16 October 2021, under the title “Ralf Love Don”. Galerie Michael Werner is pleased to announce a solo exhibition of paintings by American artist Don Van Vliet, also known as Captain Beefheart (1941-2010). Featuring small- and large-format paintings and drawings made between 1979 and 1994, the exhibition reveals the compelling evolution of Don Van Vliet’s oeuvre. The b / w short film from 1993 “SOME YOYO STUFF” by Anton Corbijn will accompany the exhibition. Van Vliet painted throughout his many years performing, and in the mid-1980sRead More →