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On Friday 29th August 2025 Robyn Hitchcock performed the Safe As Milk album live at The Chapel, San Francisco. A second set Deep Cuts & Classic Tracks  included a selection of other Beefheart songs from the later albums. The musical director for the show was Allyson Baker from the San Francisco rock band Dirty Ghosts. She and her husband played a couple of Beefheart songs with Robyn Hitchcock at The Chapel in May 2025 – Electricity and Zig Zag Wanderer – and enjoyed the experience so much that they wanted to do it again. By coincidence the promoter of the show that night had anRead More →

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The photography for the Strictly Personal album was the work of Guy Webster. The wonderfully bizarre inner gatefold photo of the band has been discussed in another post. The other photos for the album were taken at a separate session, probably at Webster’s studio and the resulting images were colourised and mocked up as postage stamps for use on the front of the album to help it look more like a real package that had been through the mail. Apart from these five images that were used on the album there were probably other ones taken on the day too. None of these have everRead More →

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In March 2025 I spoke at length to Ira Ingber about his brother Elliot when putting together a tribute following Elliot’s death and I took the opportunity to ask Ira about his involvement with the Bluejeans and Moonbeams album. Not much is written about this 1974 Beefheart-lite album because it’s not liked by many hardcore fans. So, I thought it would be of interest to find out a bit more about how it came together from someone who was involved with the recording. Our chat inevitably rambled over other Beefheart topics and so I have also included some of  these reminiscences and comments from IraRead More →

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Track list Side 1 I’m Gonna Booglarize You Baby Her Eyes Are a Blue Million Miles The Smithsonian Institute Blues (Or the Big Dig) My Head Is My Only House Unless It Rains Click Clack Side 2 Low Yo Yo Stuff Too Much Time Clear Spot Lick My Decals Off, Baby Big Eyed Beans from Venus Rhino blurb : Captain Beefheart’s “Now Playing” vinyl LP includes 10 seminal tracks from across the artists’ catalog. Introducing Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band ‘Now Playing’- a diverse mix of blues, soul, and experimental rock, featuring songs like “I’m Gonna Booglarize You Baby” and “Her Eyes Are aRead More →

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Great news ! Another Beefheart album gets the Record Store Day treatment by Rhino/Warner. For release on 20 April 2024 will be The Spotlight Kid (Deluxe Edition), which means a second disc of outtakes from those sessions is included. There will be 7000 copies on 140g ‘milky clear’ vinyl. The track list of the bonus disc is as follows : C1. THE WITCH DOCTOR LIFE (instrumental ) [5:27] C2. SEMI-MULTICOLORED CAUCASIAN (instrumental)* [4:37] C3. YOUR LOVE BROUGHT ME TO LIFE (instrumental) [3:11] C4. TWO RIPS IN A HAYSTACK/KISS ME MY LOVE [2:38] C5. HARRY IRENE [3:33] C6. BEST BATCH YET (TRACK) [VERSION 1] [2:18] C7.Read More →

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In: Blog, Clear Spot, Lyrics, Poetry and lyrics, Song notes
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Cinematic. From his first words he sets it out, frame by frame. The situation whereby us folk gather in a circle stunned by the alien assault and preparing for the next wave of human annihilation. Possibly the circle of “earth people” is world leaders in a United Nations type emergency meeting, but it doesn’t really matter. The greatest existential challenge portrayed in fascinating drama- all in just a few words. Lyrically perfect. Perfect. Perfect. Over the years as I struggled to decipher the lyrics to some of his songs and grasp their meaning, I would have many moments of enlightenment and laugh aloud-did he identifyRead More →

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Tracklist Disc One Electricity Take Me To Your House / You’re Gonna Need Somebody I’m Gonna Boogalise You Baby Mirror Man Upon The My-O-My Full Moon Crazy Little Thing Improu Peaches Take Me To Your House / You’re Gonna Need Somebody This Is The Day Upon The My-O-My Disc Two Peaches Upon The My-O-My Hot Head Feel Like An Ashtray Heart Intro In French Nowadays A Woman Gotta Hit A Man Beast Batch Yet Dirty Blue Gene Safe As Milk Flavour Bud Living Bat Chain Puller Big Eyed Beans From Venus The above track list is as printed on the cover of this release, sadlyRead More →

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In: Bluejeans And Moonbeams, Unconditionally Guaranteed
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Not a lot is known about the di Martino brothers – Andy and Dave (aka Augie or Auggie). (Note: not to be confused with the music journalist Dave di Martino who has written a few pieces about Don and the Magic Band) They seem to have been hustlers in LA, trying to make money where they could but hung around the fringes of the music scene there. Andy was a guitarist and the more ‘musical’ of the two whereas Auggie wasn’t a musician and was probably the business ‘brains’ of the operation. I have seen one reference to Andy as ‘a guitar teacher from SanRead More →

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Tracklist Side One 1. Yellow Brick Road 2. Abba Zabba 3. Sure ‘Nuff ‘n’ Yes I Do 4. Electricity 5. Beatle Bones ‘n’ Smokin’ Stones 6. Safe As Milk 7. Kandy Korn Side Two 1. Trust Us 2. Steal Softly Thru Snow 3. Click Clack 4. Golden Birdies 5. I’m Gonna Booglarize You Baby Publicity Blurb Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band are showcased over 12 tracks recorded live for radio and TV. The material is sourced from two 1968 sessions for John Peel plus a 1972 appearance on Beat Club and features tracks from four different Beefheart LPs. Beat Club tracks are excellent soundRead More →

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In: Blog, Music, Tributes, Trout Mask Replica
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An interesting experiment has turned up on Youtube. Using AI software Ant 2 Man Bee has deconstructed the Trout Mask album. He’s taken each of the songs and isolated each individual track, breaking it down so you can hear Mark’s bass, John’s drums, Bill’s guitar, Jeff’s guitar and Don’s vocals separately. As Ant 2 Man bee explains: I was shocked at how good the neural net was after I tested using Sugar ‘n Spikes. While it isn’t perfect, it is still amazing how quickly the technology evolved when just a few years ago you couldn’t isolate instrumentations from whole songs without having a very goodRead More →

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In: Blog, Clear Spot, Discography, Music, New releases
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A look at the November 2022 Record Store Day release of a double vinyl set to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Clear Spot album. Tracklist Sides 1 and 2 as to be expected are the same as the original release. Side 3 Nowadays A Woman’s Gotta Hit A Man (Early Mix) Clear Spot (Rough Mix) [Instrumental] Crazy Little Thing (Rough Mix) [Instrumental] Dirty Blue Gene (Rough Mix) [Instrumental] Big Eyed Beans From Venus (Rough Mix) [Instrumental] Kiss Where I K’aint Side 4 Sun Zoom Spark (Rough Mix) [Instrumental] Nowadays A Woman’s Gotta Hit A Man (Rough Mix) [Instrumental] Little Scratch Low Yo Yo StuffRead More →

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In: Blog, Music, Sun Zoom Spark 1970 to 1972
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In my original review of the Sun Zoom Spark : 1970 to 1972 box set I looked at each track on the Out-takes album and related them, where possible, to previous released versions. However what I didn’t do was compare them to the versions on the classic bootleg 3CD set Spotlight Kid Outtakes which contains all these tracks and more, although I think I presumed the same versions were on both compilations. Anyway, my omission was spotted by Elias Rost, who sent me the article below in which he does the comparison between the two box sets … over to Elias … —————————————————————– I got theRead More →

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You’ve probably seen the photographs of John Lennon and George Harrison behind whom are copies of the Safe as Milk bumper sticker and wondered what the story is. As far as I know The Beatles have not committed to record their views on the album Safe as Milk or whether they liked the band but it does look like they have had copies in their possession … or least copies of the bumper sticker. What is obvious is that to have copies of the bumper sticker they would have had to have the American release of the album because the UK release on Pye InternationalRead More →

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In: Videos and DVDs
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In April 1972 the band were part of the way through their extensive European tour when on the 12th they stopped off at Germany’s Radio Bremen studios. Most fans will be familiar with the cracking video of Don and the boys performing ‘I’m Gonna Booglarize You Baby’ broadcast on the German music show ‘Beat Club’ and many have wondered if they recorded anything else at this session. Well, yes they did and here’s the proof! In excellent audio and video quality we get to see and hear Rockette Morton’s ‘Bass Solo’ and the full band on ‘Click Clack’, ‘Golden Birdies’, ‘Steal Softly Thru Snow’ asRead More →

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A collection of assorted compositions or references that have some connection to Beefheart but are not straight covers. Anything missing? Let us know. Acid Mothers Temple 2003 Finland CD St Captain Freak Out & The Magic Bamboo Request on Ektro Records EKTRO-015 This Japanese collective have soaked up most forms of rock music and then blast them back filtered through their own strange consciousness in a bewildering melange of sound. Their song titles are often based on well known songs – on this one the Captain gets a mention, which also includes Beatles, Stones and Mothers references. There is the obvious ‘Captain’ and ‘Magic’ inRead More →

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A four CD set which includes two Zappa shows, one from 1980 and the other from 1981 with a third disc of rare TV appearance recordings. Only one of the discs has any Beefheart interest and that is another recording from the Bongo Fury tour of the Providence College, Rhode Island show, 26th April 1975. Set List Camarillo Brillo Muffin Man Stinkfoot I’m Not Satisfied Velvet Sunrise A Pound For A Brown The Torture Never Stops Montana Penguin in Bondage Willie The Pimp Apparently originally released in 2004 this bootleg was manufactured in the Czech Republic Releases 2017 4CD Stormbird/Coda Publishing CPLCD248Read More →

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One of the Record Store Day releases for 17th July 2021 is the Unconditionally Guaranteed album. Probably not every fan’s first choice for such a event as it was a huge disappointment at the time of its original release but the album has undergone a bit of a re-evaluation in more recent years. Some fans even consider it ‘not too bad after all’… Okay, there are some interesting songs on there but Andy Di Martino’s bland production knocked all the stuffing out of the overall sound. It could have been a much better album if Ted Templeman had produced this one as well as ClearRead More →

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In: It Comes To You In A Plain Brown Wrapper, Mirror Man, Music info, Strictly Personal, Uncategorized
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On his Facebook page John French further tries to explain what happened with the recording of the legendary ‘It Comes To You In A Plain Brown Wrapper’ album.   After writing an 864-page book, “Beefheart: Through the Eyes of Magic,” in which I tried my best to accurately “set the record straight” on many of the myths and misunderstandings that have collectively swirled and snowballed down the hill of legends into the confused form-a-heap ( yes, I’m using that phrase from Bill’s Corpse from TMR) it is today, I still find the number one thing people seem to keep scattering misinformation about is Strictly Personal,Read More →

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Some Captain Beefheart songs have made there way onto the big screen. Blue Collar Jack Nitzsche score featuring Don’s vocals on “Hard Workin’ Man”. Released: 1978 A gritty crime drama directed by Paul Schrader based around workers on the Detroit assembly lines. See full Radar Station info     The Big Lebowski Contains “Her Eyes Are A Blue Million Miles” Released: 1998 The excellent crime comedy from the Coen Brothers       Remember A Day Contains “Zig Zag Wanderer” and “Low Yo Yo Stuff” Released: 2003 Obsessed fan/stalker movie starring Darryl Read as a reclusive ex-rock star. Loosely (and sometimes very closely) based on Read More →

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This is a list of ‘Various Artists’ compilations and samplers that have included individual Captain Beefheart songs. Benefit Albums 2003 US Where We Live: Stand For What You Stand On on Higher Octave/Delabel/EMI This is a benefit album with proceeds going to the environmental organisation Earthjustice which campaigns for the Universal Right to Clean Air & Clean Water This is a significant release because it includes the first recorded work by Don since the poems that appeared on the 1993 Stand Up To Be Discontinued CD. It’s not a new song, nor is it ‘proper’ recording as such. It’s a 35 second version of HappyRead More →