Robert Sandall

WHILE nobody questions his status as one of rock’s great originals, Captain Beefheart’s madcap variations on the blues are an acquired taste. Armed with a voice like Howlin ‘ Wolf, a band he claimed to have taught himself and an imagination that just went thataway, Beefheart did not set out to be easy listening. The unhinged adventurousness of his 1969 masterwork, Trout Mask Replica, appeals mainly to critics and students of musical weirdness. More approachable and ultimately more satisfying is the album he recorded three years later with a new producer. Ted Templeman, whose clients included Van Morrison and the Doobie Brothers, was drafted inRead More →