Magnetic Hands cover

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In: Magnetic Hands, Magneticism - Live in the UK/USA 1972 - 81
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Track list Click Clack Old Black Snake Grow Fins Peon Golden Birdies Electricity Sugar Mama Orange Claw Hammer Gimme Dat Harp Beatle Bones ‘n’ Smokin Stones Dali’s Car Flavor Bud Living Nowadays A Woman’s Gotta Hit A Man Abba Zaba Hothead Safe As Milk Dropout Boogie Kandy Korn Tracks 1 – 3: Bickershaw Festival, 7 May 1972 Tracks 4 – 5: Free Trade Hall, Manchester, 1 April 1972 Tracks 6 – 7: Leicester University, 1 May 1973 Tracks 8 – 9: Knebworth Festival, 5 July 1975 Tracks 10 – 11: Guildhall, Portsmouth, 1 December 1975 Track 12: The Venue, London, 12 November 1980 Tracks 13Read More →

Railroadism - Live in the USA 72 - 81

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In: Magneticism - Live in the UK/USA 1972 - 81, Railroadism - Live in the USA 72 - 81
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Track list Old Black Snake King Bee The Blimp/Air Bass-Soft Shoe(Sax Improv) I’m Gonna Booglarize You Baby A carrot is as close as a rabbit gets to a diamond China Pig / Railroadism I Love You You Big Dummy (short quote only) Grow Fins Floppy Boot Stomp Harry Irene The Dust Blows Forward ‘n’ The Dust Blows Back Ashtray Heart Dirty Blue Gene Smithsonian Institute Blues One Red Rose That I Mean Veteran’s Day Poppy Big Eyed Beans From Venus Avalon Blues Tracks 1: Fenway Theatre, Boston 22 January 1972 Tracks 2: Town Hall, NYC 24 February 1973 Tracks 3 – 4: The Roxy, LARead More →

Amsterdam 80 cover

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In: 1980 Amsterdam, Amsterdam 80
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Track list Abba Zaba Hot Head Ashtray Heart Dirty Blue Gene Best Batch Yet Safe As Milk Her Eyes Are A Blue Million Miles One Red Rose That I Mean Doctor Dark Bat Chain Puller My Human Gets Me Blues Sugar ‘n’ Spikes Veteran’s Day Poppy Dropout Boogie Sheriff Off Hong Kong Kandy Korn Suction Prints Big Eyed Beans from Venus Recorded live at The Paradiso, Amsterdam on 1st November, 1980. Publicity Superb quality as this live set was mastered from the original record tape and features 18 tracks and over 75 minutes of music and includes a 12-page booklet with many previously unseen photos.Read More →

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In: 1974 Royal Theatre London, Live in London - Drury Lane '74
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Track list Mirror Man Upon The Me Oh My Full Moon Hot Sun Sugar Bowl Crazy Little Thing Keep On Rubbin’ aka Mighty Crazy Sweet Georgia Brown This Is The Day New Electric Ride Abba Zabba Peaches Capitol Radio Concert Advert Recorded at the Drury Lane Theatre, London June 1974 Album overview Recorded by Virgin but never released until 2006 presumably because the two 1974 Virgin albums were such critical failures they didn’t think it was worth bothering with at the time. Two tracks – Mirror Man and Upon The My Oh My – did appear on the ‘V’ sampler in 1975 and part ofRead More →

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In: 1980 Chorus Paris, Multimedia
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This recording was taken from Chorus, a French television programme. The performance took place at Théatre De L’Empire, Paris on 7 November 1980. Track list Nowadays A Woman’s Gotta Hit A Man Best Batch Yet Dirty Blue Gene Safe As Milk Flavor Bud Living Bat Chain Puller Big Eyed Beans From Venus. Band members Don Van Vliet Eric Drew Feldman Rick Snyder Jeff Moris Tepper Gary Lucas Robert WilliamsRead More →

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In: Magnetic Hands, Magneticism - Live in the UK/USA 1972 - 81, Railroadism - Live in the USA 72 - 81
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Vinyl version Track list Side one Click Clack Old Black Snake Dali’s Car Nowadays a Womans Gotta Hit a Man Drop Out Boogie Kandy Korn Tracks 1 – 2: Bickershaw Festival 7 May 1972 Tracks 3: Guildhall, Portsmouth 1 December 1975 Tracks 4 – 6: Rotters, Liverpool 29 October 1980 Side two Abba Zabba Electricity Little Golden Birdies A Carrot is as Close as a Rabbit gets to a Diamond Veteran’s Day Poppy Big Eyed Beans From Venus Tracks 1 – 2: The Bottom Line, NYC 25 November 1977 (early show) Tracks 3: The Bottom Line, NYC 25 November 1977 (late show) Tracks 4: TheRead More →

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In: Ice Cream For Crow, Multimedia
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There was also a great promotional video for the title track of the final album, with its striking shots of  desert landscapes, Don’s paintings, tumbleweeds and the Magic Band earnestly miming with no leads connected to their guitars. Filmed on 7 August 1982 in the Mojave Desert, California. Directed by Don Van Vliet with Ken Schreiber; cinematography by Daniel Pearl (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre). The video, an uncommon concept at that time, was explained by Don as being a more favourable alternative to a promotional tour, leaving him free to get on with the rest of his life. Too weird for MTV at the time, itRead More →

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Sent to me by William, this was a 1982, Ice Cream For Crow-era promo shot for Virgin Records. Note the discreet reappearance of Don’s clothes peg as seen on the sleeve of Doc at the Radar Station.Read More →

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Sent to me by Rick Snyder, this was a 1975, Bat Chain Puller-era promo shot for DiscReet Records, featuring the newly revitalised, post-Tragic, Magic Band.   L-R: Elliot Ingber, Don Van Vliet, Denny Walley, Bruce Fowler, John French (front)Read More →

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In: 1980 New Jersey, Photos
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An account of a concert at the Stanhope, New Jersey, 6 December 1980. This article and photographs are by Raymond Ricker and originally appeared at Home Page Replica. The show in question was held the night after the Boston, MA show at the Stanhope Club – Stanhope, New Jersey on 6th December 1980. The club was traditionally used to house Country & Western bands. I showed up, with 3 friends, about 2 hours before the scheduled start. As luck would have it, the Magic Band (minus Don) was in the middle of a sound check and they invited us to sit in. For most ofRead More →

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In: 1981 Vancouver, Photos
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I was very pleased to receive some photographs taken at a 40th Birthday Tour show which took place on Saturday 17th January 1981 at the Commodore Ballroom, in Vancouver, British Columbia. They were sent to me by Greg Gardner, who writes: I saw the Captain play twice – 2 days apart on his 40th Birthday Tour. Once in Vancouver, BC, and two days later in Bellingham, Washington. A friend and I managed to get in for the soundcheck at the Vancouver show, at which time I met up with a photographer for the newspaper there who knew nothing about Captain Beefheart, yet had been assignedRead More →

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In: 1980 Roden, Photos
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Many thanks to Klaas Brouwer for very kindly sending along these photos and giving his permission to feature them here. They were all taken on 4th November 1980 at De Brinkhoeve in Roden, Holland. Copyright held by the photographer, Klaas Brouwer. Used by permission, not to be reproduced for commercial use.Read More →

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In: 1980 Amsterdam, Amsterdam 80, Photos
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Many thanks to Hans Van Hulst for sending along these splendid photographs and giving his permission to feature them here. They were all taken on 1st November 1980 at the Paradiso in Amsterdam, Holland; a semi-legendary show due to it being recorded for a radio broadcast and subsequently widely bootlegged. Hans writes: In 1980 I attended the concert in Paradiso, Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The band was late, so by the time the audience arrived they were still tuning up behind closed doors. I was standing right in front of those doors, trying to peek in. I could see all kinds of people on stage, but noRead More →

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In: 1981 San Francisco, Photos
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Mike White’s photographs of Don in action were sent to me by Charles Holzhauer, and were taken by his friend Mike White. Another of Charles’ friends, Paul, can be seen with Don in the final picture. Charles thought that they were taken at The Stone in San Francisco on the last tour which would make the date 23 January 1981. Can anyone confirm that? Many thanks for sending these, Charles, and a big thankyou to Mike for agreeing to their being featured here. Copyright held by the photographer, Michael White. Used by permission, not to be reproduced for commercial use.Read More →

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In: 1975 Bloomington Illinois with Frank Zappa, Photos
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This photo was taken and very kindly sent to me by John Petraitis who was at a Frank Zappa gig in Bloomington Illinois when Captain Beefheart appeared as a special guest (centre left, in front of the drums, pointing at the camera – click the pic for a larger version). The show took place 12 May 1975. Many thanks to John for sending this along and for his permission to feature it here. Copyright held by the photographer, John Petraitis. Used by permission, not to be reproduced for commercial use.Read More →

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In: 1974 Newcastle Upon Tyne, Photos
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These photographs were all taken by Rik Walton on 4 June 1974 at Newcastle Upon Tyne City Hall on what has become pejoratively known as the Tragic Band tour. Click on any of the images to go to Rik’s website where you’ll find larger versions and information about purchasing prints from him. [one_third][/one_third][one_third][/one_third][one_third_last][/one_third_last] [one_third][/one_third] [one_third][/one_third] [one_third_last][/one_third_last] Copyright held by the photographer, Rik Walton. Used by permission, not to be reproduced for commercial use.Read More →

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In: 1977 New York, Photos
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These two photographs were taken by Michael at The Bottom Line in New York on 25th or 26th November 1977. Many thanks to Michael for sending them along. Michael writes: The Band included The Captain, Jeff Moris Tepper, Eric Drew Feldman, Robert Williams, and Denny Walley on the other guitar. That one picture of the masked man I believe is thier manager Harry Duncan singing The Blimp! See Michael’s 1974 photographs as well. Copyright held by the photographer, Michael Eivaz. Used by kind permission, not to be reproduced for commercial use.Read More →

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In: 1974 New York, Photos
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These three photographs were taken by Michael Eivaz on 11 April 1974 at The Town Hall in New York. Many thanks to Michael for sending them along. See Michael’s 1977 photographs as well. Copyright held by the photographer, Michael Eivaz. Used by kind permission, not to be reproduced for commercial use.Read More →