Tag: Captain Beefheart

Title: Heart – Magazine (1978) [Audio Fidelity 2014]
Genre: Rock
Format: SACD ISO + DSF DSD64 + Hi-Res FLAC

Problems with the Mushroom label delayed the release of Magazine, which eventually went platinum and peaked at number 17 on the album charts. Only the hard-rocking “Heartless” made it into the Top 40, and the album didn’t really live up to Heart’s last few efforts. 1976’s Dreamboat Annie showed stronger songwriting, while Little Queen had a lot more bite to it. Magazine lacks in energy and, to a much greater extent, fluency. The songs sound careless and scrambled together, and while some of the blame can be placed on the label controversy, it’s apparent that the Wilsons seem unconcerned, for the most part. “Here Song,” “Just the Wine,” and the predictable “Without You” all have weak seams in both the writing and the articulateness of the tracks as a whole. 1978’s Dog & Butterfly shows more interest and rock & roll vitality than its predecessor, making Magazine an album even the band likes to forget about.

hraudio | allmusic | discogs

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Title: Heart – Alive In Seattle (2x SACD, 2003)
Genre: Rock
Format: MCH SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

Recorded at the last stop on their 2002 tour, Alive in Seattle documents an impeccable performance and production, mixed for surround-sound playback on both regular and Super Audio CD formats. A warm artist/audience vibe permeates this set; it’s easy to imagine families sprawled out on an amphitheater lawn, taking in the music on an early summer evening. All that’s missing is any sense of urgency. The musicians hit every note flawlessly — too flawlessly, perhaps. Ann Wilson hints at the problem in the album notes, where she describes bandmember Ben Smith’s transformation from “studio cat to being a real rock & roll drummer.” In fact, some element of “studio cat” dispassion colors these performances; even the sisterly banter between tracks seems forced, if not, in their spoken prelude to “Magic Man,” slightly condescending. Ultimately it’s Ann Wilson who brings each track home, with a vocal delivery that never lacks soul. On their cover of “Black Dog” she even challenges Robert Plant’s original rendition, more than holding her own on high notes, power, and drama. On balance, that’s enough to recommend Alive in Seattle, lack of warts and all.

hraudio | allmusic | discogs

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Title: Captain Beefheart – Ice Cream For Crow (1982) [Japanese Limited SHM-SACD 2015]
Genre: Rock
Format: SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

With yet one final Magic Band lineup in place, featuring Richard Snyder on bass and Cliff Martinez on drums alongside returning vets Jeff Moris Tepper and Gary Lucas, Beefheart put the final touch on his recording career to date with Ice Cream for Crow. It’s a last entertaining blast of wigginess from one of the few truly independent artists in late 20th century pop music, with humor, skill, and style all still intact (as even the song titles like “Semi-Multicoloured Caucasian” and “Cardboard Cutout Sundown” show). With the Magic Band turning out more choppy rhythms, unexpected guitar lines, and outré arrangements, Captain Beefheart lets everything run wild as always, with successful results. Sometimes he sounds less like the blues shouter of lore and more of a spoken word artist with an attitude, thus the stuttering flow of “The Host the Ghost the Most Holy.” “Hey Garland, I Dig Your Tweed Coat” is even more entertainingly outrageous, Beefheart’s addictive if near impenetrable ramble about tobacco juice and straw hats and more backed by an insanely great arrangement. Magic Band members each get chances to shine one way or another – “Evening Bell” in particular demonstrates why Lucas went on to later solo renown, a complex, suddenly shifting solo instrumental that sits somewhere between background music and head-scratching “how did he do that?” intrigue.

hraudio | allmusic | discogs

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Title: Captain Beefheart – Doc At The Radar Station (1980) [Japanese Limited SHM-SACD 2015]
Genre: Rock
Format: SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

Generally acclaimed as the strongest album of his comeback, and by some as his best since Trout Mask Replica, Doc at the Radar Station had a tough, lean sound owing partly to the virtuosic new version of the Magic Band (featuring future Pixies sideman Eric Drew Feldman, New York downtown-scene guitarist Gary Lucas, and a returning John “Drumbo” French, among others) and partly to the clear, stripped-down production, which augmented the Captain’s basic dual-guitar interplay and jumpy rhythms with extra percussion instruments and touches of Shiny Beast’s synths and trombones. Many of the songs on Doc either reworked or fully developed unused material composed around the time of the creatively fertile Trout Mask sessions, which adds to the spirited performances. Even if the Captain’s voice isn’t quite what it once was, Doc at the Radar Station is an excellent, focused consolidation of Beefheart’s past and then-present.

hraudio | allmusic | discogs

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