Captain Beefheart Discography

Bootlegs

The original Bat Chain Puller (1976)

The legendary album which has so far not been officially released.

Recorded at the beginning of 1976 by the remains of the 1975 touring Magic Band after Elliot Ingber and Bruce Fowler had left.

John French - drums
John Thomas - keyboards
Moris Tepper - guitar
Denny Walley - guitar

A tape of the album (before production on it had been finished) was sent to Virgin Records in the UK to see if they were interested in releasing it. Unfortunately it got caught up in the legal wrangle that Zappa was having with Herb Cohen so the deal fell through. But tapes of the album had already been sent out to reviewers and radio stations. It wasn't long before one or several of these found their way onto vinyl and eventually CD.

Nowadays the rights to the original Bat Chain Puller album are owned by the Zappa Family Trust. They have considered releasing it, and have even gone as far as getting Denny Walley to finish the production work needed but nothing has yet come of this. In fact, it looks likely that the more recent CD releases of the album have decided the ZFT that it's not worth releasing. If that's the case they need a good slap!

Over the years there have been a number of versions of this album available. Here are the ones we know about:-

Original 1976 Shiny Beast Version

Year released: 198?
See full info

The Original Bat Chain Puller + Paris 1972

Year released: 1994
See full info

Bat Chain Puller - The 1976 Sessions

Year released: 2000
See full info

Original Bat Chain Puller + Safe As Milk (mono mix)

Year released: 2000
See full info

Dust Sucker

Year released: 2002
See full info

Help us

If anyone is able to complete or update any of the information above, then please do get in touch.