Song List

1. Soundcheck
2. Moonlight on Vermont
3. One Nest Rolls After Another
4. Best Batch Yet
5. Doctor Dark
6. Ashtray Heart
7. Dirty Blue Gene
8. One Man Sentence
9. The One Red Rose That I Meet
10. My Human Gets Me Blues
11. Abba Zabba
12. Well
13. Bat Chain Puller
14. Old Farts At Play (sic)
15. Veteran’s Day Poppy
16. Suction Prints
17. Desserts of Time (sic)
18. Kandy Korn
19. Big Eyed Beans from Venus
20. Snake Radiating Light

Radar Station Overview

Recorded live at various venues during the late 1970s and early 1980s. I’ve not been able to identify all the sources but the first show from Atlanta 1978 is well represented.

This is a interesting ‘Bloodshot Rollin’ Red Production’ pulling together most of the regular live songs along with a couple of rare improvised mellotron pieces to give the impression of being one long concert. The sound quality is variable but there is an excellent colour photo of Don from 1968 on the cover.

Sleeve notes:

Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band were regular concert performers from 1964 to 1981, shocking and delighting audiences in equal measure. the music was atonal, featured a multitude of rhythms and spanned several octaves, often in the same song. The Captain’s obsession with rehearsals ensured

that the live versions of his songs were as equally well performed as the studio versions. Yet even though the songs were almost always performed identically there was always something different to be heard at each new listening, the music was so complex, the instruments each having their own life to live.

Toward the end of his musical career the Captain’s concerts were captured on high quality recordings from which this selection has been taken. The band members were of the later  incarnations but the sound hasn’t mellowed, the fiercely independent and often cantankerous Don Van Vliet is at the peak of his creative career.

There are the songs regularly featured live in concert, plus the rarities that never made it to the record – the poems (one nest; one man sentence;) and the ad libs (deserts of time; snake radiating light etc).

Listen and enjoy.

Releases

• 1994 CD [no label] CBCD460 Made in Luxembourg

Live at the Radar Station – 2CD

The original CD was redone and released in small numbers as a double disc collection a few years later

Song List

Disc One

1. Soundcheck
2. Moonlight on Vermont
3. One Nest Rolls After Another
4. Suction Prints
5. Best Batch Yet
6. Doctor Dark
7. Ashtray Heart
8. Dirty Blue Gene
9. Floppy Boot Stomp
10. Nowadays A Woman’s Gotta Hit A Man
11. Tropical Hot Dog Night
12. You Know You’re A Man
13. Hot Head
14. Her Eyes Are A Blue Million Miles
15. Harry Irene
16. Flavor Bud Living
17. When I See Mommy
18. Sugar ‘n’ Spikes
19. Dropout Boogie
20. My Human Gets Me Blues
21. Abba Zaba
22. Kandy Korn
23. One Man Sentence

Disc Two

1. One Red Rose
2. Picture of Mahavishnu
3. Ice Rose
4. Suction Prints
5. Deserts of Time
6. Apes Ma
7. Sheriff of Hong Kong
8. China Pig
9. A carrot is as close…
10. Owed T’Alex
11. Safe As Milk
12. Well
13. Bat Chain Puller
14. Old Fart At Play
15. Veterans Day Poppy
16. Big Eyes Beans From Venus
17. Snake Radiating Light

Notes

From the sleevenotes:

Another Bloodshot Rollin’ Red Production

For the very first time a double CD of Unreleased Recordings that were previously re-mixed into a single CD called ‘Live At The Radar Station. It includes many tracks taken from different incarnations of The Magic Band. US and European Tours circa 1976 – 81. Play this double CD as loud as your neighbours will permit

Releases

200? 2CD HPCD 001

Help us

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