Don would have been 80 years old today. To celebrate that milestone Gary Lucas has written a piece for the Please Kill Me website about the dysfunctional relationship between Don and Frank Zappa. Gary offers his take on the rivalry between to the two old friends and also looks at the recording of the last Beefheart album Ice Cream For Crow. Read the article – Don Van Vliet and Frank Zappa: Two Peas In A Misshapen Pod   Another album that gets mentioned in the article is Doc At The Radar Station which last year reached its 40th anniversary. Gary devoted three of his FacebookRead More →

As you may know Gary Lucas has been regularly busking via his Facebook page during the lockdown. He has already devoted a couple of those sessions to the music of Beefheart. To celebrate the 40th anniversary of its release Gary will be focusing on the album Doc At the Radar Station during his sessions on Tuesday 1st September, Thursday 3rd September and Saturday 5th September starting at 3pm EDT which is 8pm BST. Find Gary’s Facebook page here – https://www.facebook.com/gary.lucas.5836Read More →

There is an excellent article by Sean Kitching on The Quietus website marking 40 years since the release of Doc at the Radar Station. It includes insights about the recording of Don’s penultimate album from new interviews with Gary Lucas and Eric Drew Feldman. Read the article here – The Best Batch Yet? Captain Beefheart’s Doc At The Radar Station RevisitedRead More →

In June 2020, to keep himself amused during the pandemic lockdown, Gary wrote about his five favourite Beefheart albums. We’re pleased to present them here on the Radar Station —————————————————- CAPTAIN BEEFHEART: I’LL GIVE YOU A BUNCH OF FIVES 5-count them-5 seminal albums by CAPTAIN BEEFHEART AND THE MAGIC BAND As a follow-up to my 3 Part Tribute to the one and only DON VAN VLIET a/k/a CAPTAIN BEEFHEART just completed on Facebook, as promised here are my 5 recommended favorites of the 11 studio albums Don released with his truly MAGIC BAND. I’m gonna dole them out as the week progresses, okay? And hereRead More →

Paper and wire killed my brother and my sister too And if you don’t watch out You know they’re going to get you too And if I don’t watch out You know they’re going to get me too Telephone Telephone Telephone Telephone Well I strangled the cord Ripped it off of the phone And I saw the bone And I saw the twinkling lights It must have been rats [?? is this right? – any ideas?] ‘Cause it sure was a drone It sure was a drag Paper and wire killed my brother and my sister too And if you don’t watch out You knowRead More →

Chills quick you Voices pick you Crows hex you Deluxe-um(?) Postum avion Wizard kiss and all be gone Scenes Dreams Boats to forever Bolted ether Creep the ether feather Sue Egypt Sue Egypt Boing pong hocus pocus avion I think of all those people that ride on my bones I think of all of those people that ride on my bones That nobody hears That nobody sees that nobody knows Sue Egypt Sue Egypt I think of all I think of all I think of all those people who ride on my bones That nobody sees, that nobody dares That nobody hears, that nobody caresRead More →

She always shows up when I’m up But she never shows up when I’m down But she’s under arrest ’cause I might guess The Sheriff of Hong Kong Then she goes up in a flash I bite the end of her sash Then I’m long gone To Hong Kong Kong She never makes a taste mistake She’s the Sheriff of Hong Kong Now I’m the Sheriff of Hong Kong Now she’s the Sheriff of Hong Kong Long gone gone To Hong Kong Kong Whoa I’m long gone To Hong Kong Kong Long gone gone To Hong Kong Kong Ad hu And uh zing hu IRead More →

Run paint run run Run paint run run Run paint run run Paint hears this and he begin to run Electric black shadow runs ‘cross the sun Run paint run run Run paint run run Hold holes in the world The sun goes down, we’ll be done You hoped And you hopped And you hopped And you swung There’s my baby standing at the gate Waving, “Come, come.” Paint hears this and he begin to run Run paint run run You got hot paint, and you’re havin’ fun There’s my baby standing at the gate Waving, “Come, come.” Run paint run run Paint hears thisRead More →

Making love to a vampire with a monkey on my knee The pond shined dry like a ladies compact Lilies leaped like flat green hearts with white hearts Squirting yellow pollen…cocks… Ferns ran like cool spades.. fossils. ..away from rocks Bees echoed dark carbon hums that dashed in nothing Gnats fucked my ears ‘n nostrils Hit my brain like hones ‘n numbed t’ nothing Wings stuck on liquid bones Making love to a vampire with a monkey on my knee The moon poured hollow down my milky leg Splashed still ‘n moved The wind peed down the willows ‘n pricked the needle vine The monkeyRead More →

She can burn you up in bed Just like she said Cos she’s a Hot Head, Hot Head, Hot Head She can throw uh pot t’show(?) She can start a fire aglow Cos she’s a Hot Head, Hot Head, Hot Head She puts her head into the fire Makes you red hot perspire Cos she’s a Hot Head, Hot Head, Hot Head She was burnt before she was born Burnin’ up a storm Cos she’s a Hot Head, Hot Head, Hot Head Lick out like flame ‘n’ burn you to a shame ‘n’ bite the burnin’ flame Things are burnin’ big She’s a red hotRead More →

Carry me and my baby to colored land Drink paint run run Drink paint run run When the sun goes down, we’ll be done Drink paint run run Drink paint run run Pick up ypur glass, baby, ‘n’ look me in the eyes We’ll drink paint, toast our love in the sun Drink paint run run Carry me and my baby to colored land Drink paint run run Drink paint run run When the sun goes down, we’ll be done Drink paint run run Drink paint run run Carry me and my baby to colored land Drink paint run run When the sun holds handsRead More →

Unreleased 1971 version Uh life(?) turned into a while ‘n’ then into a mile A shirt to work, a back to ache And someday we’ll smile, Oh, I will ‘n’ you will But that ain’t gonna bend you down ‘n’ tie your workin’ shoe Don’t you wish you never met her Dirty Blue Gene A mile after mile Stand there bubblin’ like a open cola in the sun Troublin’ n fizzlin’ in the noonday sun Wonderin’ if you got the time to get clean Empty headed handed pockets ‘n’ shoes A Dirty Blue Gene, boys, is achin’ hard to lose Don’t you wish you never metRead More →

The shiny beast of thought If you got ears You gotta listen Old woman sweat Young girls glisten The extract you thought is the extract you got Pop in a thought Ex-extract D’you hear me? Hope these are hard[?] drops Grooves you away Drop by drop Light by bright Night by light There ain’t no good ‘n’ there ain’t no blame Not hip Ain’t no aim You make the fault You cause the blame Devil the same Pop in a thought Ex-extract Shiny beast of thought You hang up Now you’re caught If you got ears You gotta listen Old woman sweat Young girls glistenRead More →

Brickbats fly at my fireplace Upside down I see them in the fire They squeak and roast there Wings leap across the floor Fold up the wall shadows The window curtain ghost Throws my heart and dusts my throat My mind caught by the corner Gradually decides its safe Becomes a bat itself Flexes its little claws Curse its leather wings With loud, hollow pops Around the room Threatening to dash its brains Somehow at the last minute Retreats and becomes a natural glue And holds fast and slow In every other motion Making the night more interesting Becomes a cold, liquid breeze That freezesRead More →

You used me like an ashtray heart Case of the punks Right from the start I feel like a glass shrimp in a pink panty With a saccharine chaperone Make invalids out of supermen Call in a “shrink” And pick you up in a girdle You used me like an ashtray heart Right from the start Case of the punks Another day, another way Somebody’s had too much to think Open up another case of the punks Each pillow is touted like a rock The mother / father figure Somebody’s had too much to think Send your mother home your navel Case of the punksRead More →

1980 UK Original on Virgin V2172. 1980 German (Ariola Euro Pressing) on Virgin 202 870-320. 1980(?) New Zealand Original on Virgin Records V2172 marketed by RTC Cover as standard issue with logo and RTC Marketed by RTC P.O. Box 3825, Auckland. Label is Virgin Red/Green but with different layout and MADE IN NEW ZEALAND. Inner sleeve clear plastic. 1980 Australian Original on Virgin L37440(V2172) by Festival Records Pty. Australia White Label Test Pressing with Matrix SMX 56823/4 and VIRGIN VGL 37440 DOCK AT THE RADAR STATION CAPTAIN BEEFHEART block printed in black on labels. Cover has red sticker with This album contains language which mayRead More →

CAPTAIN BEEFHEART makes no mistakes, tells no lies. He is a painter, not a photographer. He doesn’t encapsulate, summarise, categorise, conceptualise, react. His music is pure, as pure as you like, not that it matters whether you like it or not. He is greedy, and selfish, not like a shopkeeper, but rather like a baby crapping on the floor. It isn’t a case of his music not being like anybody else’s, but the other way round. The other’s aren’t even real hacks. They are hacks in inverted commas. Comparison is irrelevant, so disregard the last bit. His music compromises less than most. It is awful,Read More →

Of all musicians loosely considered rockers, Captain Beefheart is the most original. Because his music is a genre unto itself, it’s particularly difficult to describe. Analogy, the efficient critics tool, gets nowhere near the heart of Beefheart’s creations. Beefheart’s late ’60s work was virtually all self composed, and he taught it note by note, beat by beat, to his Magic Bands. This is probably still true; on Run Paint hear Bruce Fowler, occasional db Pro Session writer, whinny on trombone like a rabid equine. In the beginning, Beefheart relied heavily on blues forms and his own intense, rasping vocals – the closest known voice isRead More →

As in Captain Beefheart’s best music over the past 14 years, at the cholesterol-filled heart of his new album there is one big, intriguing contradiction. The songs are crawling with grotesque lyrical imagery and bluesy, growling vocals over totally non-conventional music that all suggests a complete breakdown in our perception of things. Yet the weird part is, this is seldom music of despair or destruction. While some other, truly unconventional modern musicians call for elimination or speak of disillusion (Public Image or Lydia Lunch and 8 Eyed Spy), Beefheart’s music is more an act of joyous experimentation. This strange brew of anger and joy canRead More →

Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band probably would have been an anomaly had they burst on an unsuspecting world anywhere, at any time. Ironically, the Captain, whose real name is Don Van Vliet, grew up in Southern California and put together his first magic band in Los Angeles in the mid-60’s. Joni Mitchell, Jackson Browne, and other future pop icons were singing folk music and their own sensitive ballads at the Troubadour, the Ash Grove offered pure folk and blues, and the Birds were setting Bob Dylan’s folk songs to rock-and-roll rhythms. For harder rock, one could listen to garage bands. Frank Zappa, who wasRead More →