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 →

Song List 1. Bat Chain Puller 2. Seam Crooked Sam 3. Harry Irene 4. 81 Poop Hatch 5. Flavor Bud Living 6. Brickbats 7. Floppy Boot Stomp 8. A Carrot Is As Close As A Rabbit Gets To A Diamond 9. Owed T’Alex 10. Odd Jobs 11. 1010th Day Of The Human Totem Pole 12. Apes-Ma + nine mystery live tracks (on the CD version only) From Ozit publicity drivel New Updated version of the “Dustsucker” album which will be deleted after the current pressing has sold through. Captain Beefheart’s original tapes of the Bat Chain Puller album sent to his friend Roger Eagle in the UK toRead More →

Song List 1. Bat Chain Puller 2. Seam Crooked Sam 3. Harry Irene 4. 81 Poop Hatch 5. Flavor Bud Living 6. Brickbats 7. Floppy Boot Stomp 8. A Carrot Is As Close As A Rabbit Gets To A Diamond 9. Owed T’Alex 10. Odd Jobs 11. 1010th Day Of The Human Totem Pole 12. Apes-Ma 13. Bat Chain Puller 14. Harry Irene 15. Flavor Bud Living 16. Floppy Boot Stomp 17. Owed T’Alex 18. Well Well Well 19. My Human Gets Me Blues Tracks 1 to 12: the original Bat Chain Puller Tracks 13 – 17: taken from the My Fathers Place 1978 showRead More →

Song List: Bat Chain Puller (1976) Bat Chain Puller Seam Crooked Sam Harry Irene ’81 Poop Hatch Flavor Bud Living Brick Bats Floppy Boot Stomp A Carrot Is As Close As A Rabbit Gets To A Diamond Owed T’Alex Odd Jobs The 1010th Day Of The Human Totem Pole Apes Ma Safe As Milk (mono mix 1967) Sure Nuff N Yes I Do Zig Zag Wanderer Call On Me Dropout Boogie I’m Glad Electricity Yellow Brick Road Abba Zabba Plastic Factory Where There’s Woman Grown So Ugly Autumn’s Child Radar Station Overview This is a top quality version of the original Bat Chain Puller album –Read More →

Song List Bat Chain Puller Seam Crooked Sam Harry Irene A Carrot Is As Close As A Rabbit Gets To A Diamond Brick Bats Floppy Boot Stomp Flavor Bud Living Carson City (aka Owed T’Alex) Odd Jobs The 1010th Day Of The Human Totem Pole The Witch Doctor Life Candle Mambo #1 Candle Mambo #2 Run Paint Run Run (instrumental) Suction Prints When I See A Mommy I Feel Like A Mummy Radar Station Overview There is no “Poop Hatch” nor “Apes Ma” listed because for some reason they haven’t been included. Overall the sound quality is quite good. The songs 12 through to 16 are listedRead More →

Song List Bat Chain Puller Seam Crooked Sam Harry Irene Poop Hatch A Carrot Is As Close As A Rabbit Gets To A Diamond Brickbats Floppy Boot Stomp Flavour Bud Living Carson City (Owed T’Alex) Odd Jobs 1010th Day Of The Human Totem Pole Apes Ma Bass Solo Alice In Blunderland Abba Zabba Click Clack My Human Gets Me Blues I’m Gonna Booglarize You Baby Golden Birdies Tracks 1 – 12: Original Bat Chain Puller 1976 Tracks 13 – 19: The Bataclan, Paris 15th April 1972 (incorrectly labelled as 1973 on the cover) Radar Station Overview When this CD first appeared it presented the best qualityRead More →

Song list: Side One Apes Ma When I See A Mommy I Feel Like A Mummy Veteran’s Day Poppy Interview ’78 Bat Chain Puller Poem Harry Irene Side Two 81 Poop Hatch Brickbats Floppy Boot Stomp Owed T’Alex Poem Human Totem Pole Apes Ma Side One Tracks 2 & 3: My Fathers Place, NYC 1978 Track 4: interview with John Peel from 1973 Track 6: Seam Crooked Sam Side Two Track 5: Odd Jobs Radar Station Overview A single vinyl release of the Original Bat Chain Puller album with additional tracks from a 1978 show and a mis-dated interview with Don by John Peel. Unfortunately the wholeRead More →

Tied up in the legal wrangles between Frank Zappa and Herb Cohen before it could be offically released this album has been bootlegged many times over the years. Although production on the album hadn’t been finished advance copies were sent out to music reps and radio stations and it was these that enabled the easy bootlegging of this otherwise  (at the time) unreleased album. The Zappa Family Trust finally got around to releasing it in 2012 – see info on official release Here are the bootleg versions we know about: Original 1976 Shiny Beast Version (Der totem pole sagt) Year released: 198? See full info The Original BatRead More →

Few rock artists as washed up – and seemingly past it – as Captain Beefheart was in 1974 have come back with new music as dazzling as that on Bat Chain Puller. Having flirted disastrously with commercialism, the nadir of which was Bluejeans and Moonbeams, he took a lengthy sabbatical, returning two years later, aged 35, with an album legendary for the wrong reason – it has never been released. Occasionally it harks back to the complexities of Trout Mask Replica but is more measured, with a vivid, plangent, colourful sound. The remit is as wide as anything Beefheart had attempted before: pop songs, poeticRead More →

This is the Beefheart album very few people are going to hear unless the record and management companies involved with the Captain get moving. It sees Don Van Vliet returning to an area somewhere between ‘Trout Mask Replica’ and ‘Clear Spot’, undoubtedly his most satisfying period. Possibly to prove the claim that he created the sound of his original Magic Band, the Captain has found himself an unidentified band and – guess what! They sound just like a Magic Band. Not the Magic Band, but they go a long way to rediscovering the drive from years past. The album opens with the title track ‘BatRead More →

The mule kicked off a new one and the stockings ran up Seam Crooked Sam bandana frock stuffed with smoke and ears out flopped like bowlin’ pins hog troughs hocked and wallered in cool mud bins and patent leather hooves split in twos rooms for rent down t’ Ben’s Frendsa danced in a frenzy choked a juke bird with froth glass ferns and turpentine urns her sawdust daily keep and whiskey creeps down her neck naked front and red leatherette peen button set where her fanny sweat raised her wrist-a-fan and a mouse coughed cotton through a screen door cracked sand rooms rent only toRead 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 →

Bat chain Puller Bat chain puller Puller, puller A chain with yellow lights That glistens like oil beads On its slick smooth trunk That trails behind on tracks, and thumps A wing hangs limp and retrieves Bat chain puller Puller puller Bulbs shoot from its snoot And vanish into darkness It whistles like a root snatched from dry earth Sodbustin’ rakes with grey dust claws Announces its coming into morning This train with grey tubes That houses people’s very thoughts and belongings. Bat chain puller Puller puller This train with grey tubes that houses people’s thoughts, Their very remains and belongings. A grey cloth patchRead More →

It has been a week now since the cd landed on my mat. It has been in my cd-player ever since. Even now – at work – I find it playing in my head. I had never heard these recordings prior to this edition. I don’t really download, didn’t buy the bootlegs and, although tempted by the wicked Ozit, decided not to line their pockets – mostly because of fear of incurring the wrath of the good people of the Fireparty. It’s such a shame that this didn’t come out when it was intended to. It would have meant room for moving on to otherRead More →

Track list Bat Chain Puller Seam Crooked Sam Harry Irene 81 Poop Hatch Flavor Bud Living Brick Bats Floppy Boot Stomp Ah Carrot Is As Close As Ah Rabbit Gets To Ah Diamond Owed T’Alex Odd Jobs Human Totem Pole (The 1000th And 10th Day Of The Human Totem Pole) Apes Ma Bonus tracks Bat Chain Puller (alternate mix) Candle Mambo Hobo-Ism Publicity blurb It turns out that The Dust DOES Blow Forward ‘n The Dust DOES Blow Back. As Don would say “That’s incredible.” Incredible that we get to release this directly from the Vault to you. This, being the Original and Definitive IssueRead More →

ISBN 0 7043 8073 0 You can order this book from Amazon.co.uk or any good UK book sellers. ‘Everything they did I had ’em do. I mean I’m a director. I don’t wanna boast or anything like that, but I am an artist. And the thing is that sometimes artists are considered horrible after they direct something. Y’see those guys, they fell too far into my role, and then they didn’t like me after that. It happens in theatre and everything. But I can’t think of myself as doing something wrong, because I asked them everyday, “Are you sure you want to do this?” IRead More →

This has already been mentioned in a previous post but I think it deserves one of its own… Yes, the Zappa Family Trust have finally decided to release the often bootlegged Original Bat Chain Puller from their Vault only 36 years after it was recorded. For the past 18 months Gail Zappa has been saying it was going to get a release. However, here at the Radar Station we’ve been wary of reporting it until it we were certain. But it does now look like it’s actually going to happen … it was announced on the anniversary of Don’s death and will be released onRead More →