This review by John L. Walters originally appeared in the Friday 27th October
2000 edition of The Guardian.
Various artists
Cucamonga (Emigre)
****
At first glance, this looks like a coffee-table book for the Mojo
generation. It is a beautifully produced collection of short texts and photography,
and a 16-minute CD of music, which has been produced as a tribute to Don Van Vliet,
otherwise known as the front man to Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band. Dutch-born
Rudy VanderLans has provided the photography, text and design. He founded the
Emigre type foundry and magazine in the 80s, and recalls "going on field
trips visiting the houses of Rembrandt and other historical figures" - which,
he points out, were little different from other old homes. His sunlit snaps show
the bleak, bright non-places where Van Vliet and the Magic Band lived and made
their unique, dislocated music a generation ago.
The mini-CD features three tracks by former Magic Band musicians:
Gary Lucas, always an impressive solo performer, contributes Hurly Burly Comin'
Down on solo acoustic guitar; John French's Vienna Sausage Waltz is a modestly
demented slice of multitracked, marimba-led fusion; and Don's Secret is a bluesy
groove by guitarist Zoot Horn Rollo featuring Brian Price on violin. Under the
double-page spread entitled "Looking northeast from the corner of Challenger
Way and Avenue H East" is the note: "To listen to this photograph play
track 1 on the enclosed CD" - and sure enough, track 1 is a stereo "field
recording" of cars whizzing by this busy LA County intersection.
Track 5 is a similar recording outside the decaying house in Woodland
Hills where the Magic Band made Trout Mask Replica: you can hear a dog barking
in the distance, a helicopter's buzz ... er, that's about it. Cucamonga is an
obsessive little object, but its warmth and oddness made it unlike any other fan
book, except perhaps Palm Desert, VanderLans's previous book/CD dedicated to Van
Dyke Parks. It's the ideal Christmas present for expatriate Dutch 40-something
graphic designers everywhere.
