I apologise to those who may not wish to encounter something which
reads like the fawning sleeve notes from some long-forgotten mid-sixties
album, but I felt I should try to say something about my thoughts
on the work of Captain Beefheart, and why I was inspired to create
this web-site to try to ensure that none of his albums ever become
'long-forgotten'.
It is fairly rare for a performer or artist to have
such a 'completeness' to their work. Many go through phases of experimentation,
searching for either a new identity, or the one which they started
out with that has long since been lost. Many reject whole periods
of their previous work because they feel it is no longer releavant
to where they are today. Changes are frequently evident as the artist
encounters new influences which touch their lives and cause a change
of direction. Such is the development of the artist.
Little of this applies to Don Van Vliet, an artist
whose work resembles the pieces of a jigsaw which make up a fuller
picture of his life and personality. A brief 'commercial' phase
only highlights the obvious vision behind all his work. Throughout
his career he had engaged with and excelled at music, poetry, sculpture,
drawing and painting; all of which complement each other beautifully,
concerning themselves with similar themes, and getting their message
across in similar ways, whatever the medium. His switch in the early
1980s from music to painting as his main interest has not interrupted
the consolidation of his ideas.
Read the words to Frownland, look at the painting
of Cat's Got His Tale, and listen to You Know You're A Man. Here
we have three very different ways of communicating a similar feeling,
which leave me with an impression of a person genuinely and eloquently
expressing their own hopes, dreams and view of the world, all with
an underlying joy which bubbles up through the sadness. We have
the same imagery appearing time and time again, but always in a
refreshing way, or one which helps us to understand his story that
little bit better. He paints, writes and performs with a passion
and charm, and a uniqueness which ensures that it never wears thin.
We should also consider the fact that he is downright hilarious.
Humour has played an important part in Van Vliet's work - his pockets
are stuffed with all the best words.
Although never achieving anything resembling mainstrem
or commercial success, he has nevertheless touched a vast number
of people's lives. In the words of John Peel, it would be hard to
consider yourself a music fan until you had heard everything that
the Captain had recorded. Probably a flippant comment, but hey -
you know what he's getting at.
In 1994 I was lucky enough to have one of Don Van
Vliet's very rare art exhibitions come to my hometown, Brighton,
England, for two and a half months. Fortunately David Breuer at
the local museum is a Beefheart nut (all due respect!) and managed
to get the whole thing going. He even gave a lecture one evening
about why the Captain was so special, surrounded by his glorious
paintings. The exhibition was mindblowing - one big room full of
the most wonderful colours that just brightened up my eyes as soon
as I saw them. Some of the material featured in this web-site was
taken from the book of the exhibition which I managed to obtain
(following the hurried sale of a vast chunk of my record collection
to raise the cash for it... ahh it was worth it).
I hope you find this site interesting. If you have
any photographs, articles, whatever that you would like included,
please get in touch. I am also after anything written by you about
why you are interested in Don Van Vliet for inclusion in this section.
Send anything you have to me, marked 'Low Yo Yo Stuff'.