A selection of tracks that helped mould the avant-garde sounds of Beefheart including some from The Man himself.
Song list:
01. Intro [The Birth of Captain Beefheart]
02. New Minglewood Blues – Noah Lewis Jug Band
03. The Lion – Duke Mitchell
04. Didddie Wa Diddie – Blind Blake
05. Mope-Itty Mope – The Boss-Tones
06. New Black Snake Blues (Part One) – Victoria Spivey & Lonnie Johnson
07. New Black Snake Blues (Part Two) – Victoria Spivey & Lonnie Johnson
08. Best Batch Yet – Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band
09. His Majesty the Policeman – Lord Buckley
10. Rubber Dolly Rag – Uncle Bud Landress with The Georgia Yellow Hammers
11. Tomi Tomi – Kanui & Lula
12. Cream puff comment
13. Old Folks Boogie – Al Simmons
14. You’re Gonna Need Somebody On Your Bond – Blind Willie Johnson
15. Wild Cat Blues – Sidney Bechet & James P. Johnson
16. Rockin’ Chair Blues – Robert Petway
17. Weaver’s Life – The Dixon Brothers
18. Jungle Suite – Rahsaan Roland Kirk
19. Egg Comment
20. Keep on the Firing Line – Blind Joe Taggart & Son
21. Who’s Yehoodi? – Cab Calloway & His Orchestra
22. Howlin’ Wolf Comment
23. Hungry Wolf – Funny Papa Smith
24. Somebody’s Leaving – Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band
25. The Fang – Nervous Norvus
26. Skaleton In the Closet – Louis Armstrong & His Orchestra
27. Poem – Captain Beefheart
28. Koko – Charlie Parker & The All Stars
29. Go Away From My Door – Monroe Moe Jackson
30. Little Scratch – Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band
31. Johnny B Goode – Al White & The Hi-Liters
32. New Highway 51 – Tommy McLennan
33. Stravinsky comment
34. Flaming Autograph – Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band
Released on Ozit Morpheus Records BS-OZIT CD302.
Further information
From the back cover:
“Gimme Dat Harp Boy presents a broad slice of
American music from the 20’s through to the 60’s. This music contributed
to the heady mix that manifested itself partly in the blues revival
of the early 60’s and subsequently in the sounds of the psychedelic
years. One of the few artist to combine these influences along with
his own genius into a wholly satisfying and individual musical art
form was Don Van Vliet aka Captain Beefheart.”
Radar Station overview
As can be seen from the track listing this is not a direct linking of specific Beefheart tracks to their original recordings (except in a couple of cases) but more of an impressionistic look at the blues and some of the oddities of the jazz, jump and rock ‘n’ roll genres to give a feeling for the influences that were out there in the ether for the the young Donnie Vliet to soak up.
A great cover plus a 12 page insert with many pictures of the performers featured and a short piece about each track (which, annoyingly, are not in the order that the tracks appear on the CD!)
I have to admit to enjoying this collection of music and despite it being an Ozit Morpheus product I have to recommend it …
BUT … why did they feel they had to include three out-take tracks from the ‘Spotlight Kid’ sessions which really add nothing to the purpose of the CD. Also, the first track has been nicked from Zappa’s ‘Mystery Disc’ and the ‘Poem’ is actually a badly edited snippet of a live Old Fart At Play.
Help us out/
If anyone is able to complete or update any of the information above, then please do get in touch.