What’s All This Booga Booga Music? Review by Jim Morse
Captain Beefheart and The Magic Band Live At The Troubador, LA, CA 1-5-73
Midway through the Clear Spot tour, Alex St. Claire rejoined the Magic ranks after a five year hiatus, and this was the second show following his return. Bill Harkleroad, Roy Estrada, Mark Boston, and Art Tripp round out the Magic line-up.
My particular copy sounds ok, however, the drums and bass are pretty muddy, and the dual bass attack is sadly sonically indistinguishable. St. Claire and Harkleroad, though lacking the usual Magic Band syncopation, provide really straight forward, down-home, butt kickin’ blues (listen to I’m A King Bee and Jimmy Bill’s Back In Town). Art Tripp, who was extremely well received during the introductions, was an adequate alternative to Drumbo (check out Suction Prints and Golden Birdies). The Captain was in top form, exercising his four and a half octave range and does a superb a cappella rendition of Old Black Snake. Although this line-up did nothing special on the standards (Big Eyed Beans, Abba Zaba, I’m Gonna Booglarize You), the appeal here is the sludgy blues tunes. In fact, if one didn’t know their Beefheart, this easily sounds somewhere between A&M and Mirror Man.
One last point of interest: for some reason, Golden Birdies is listed from the 1-3 Troubador set although its sound is consistent with the rest of the show. Methinks the Suction Prints may have been from another show because the drums and cymbals are more audible.
- Jim Morse
