THE LOST BROADCASTS: CAPTAIN BEEFHEART & HIS MAGIC BAND (Gonzo Multimedia, HST112DVD)
Track list: Mascara Snake (Bass Solo)/Click Clack 1/Click Clack 2/Golden Birdies/Band Intros/I’m Gonna Booglarize You Baby 1/I’m Gonna Booglarize You Baby 2/Steal Softly Thru The Snow/I’m Gonna Booglarize You Baby 3.
Recorded in a TV studio in Bremen (for the Beat-Club, with no audience) in 1972, mid-tour between The Spotlight Kid andClear Spot albums. The Mascara Snake (aka Hair Pie) bass solo starts with a blue screen before Rockette Morton (aka Mark Boston, looking like Dr. Jacoby from Twin Peaks) appears - or rather, primarily it’s his hands and bass we see. A portly Captain then strolls on to impishly announce, “And this is the mascara fake!” Once the solo ends, the camera switches to a monocled Ed Marimba (Art Tripp), who appears to be wearing a small pair of psychedelic underpants on his head, with a very animated and behatted Boston now on six string and Roy Estrada out on parole. I mean bass. Click Clack 1 is largely focussed on the Captain, his taped together mics and harp. And it seems we’re getting everything that was filmed here, so a bit of a second stab of that one too - which collapses shortly after the harp solo. Golden Birdies signals some visual effects so beloved of 70s TV producers whereby Zoot Horn Rollo (Bill Harkleroad) is superimposed on the rest of the band, etc. Tripp appears to emit a short fart during Band Intros, as the lens fails to actually capture exactly who’s who. Never mind. There’s a fair bit of feedback during I’m Gonna Booglarize You Baby 1, and Beefheart seems a little distracted by a studio technician. So he stops the song and walks off. The band start version 2 without him, but he returns in time to warble as only he (and Howlin’ Wolf, and possibly some others) can. Or could. Steal Softly Thru The Snow is played as an instrumental (with two basses), and sees Tripp and Beefheart - on soprano sax - duetting for the song’s thrilling denouement. I’m Gonna Booglarize You Baby 3 signals some more FX and is the only part of this performance that was actually shown on the Beat-Club. Now, thanks to Gonzo and Voiceprint, it’s readily available for all to marvel at. And well worth the wait it was too. Great sound and picture quality throughout. Oh, and by the way: the hirsute other former Mother, Winged Eel Fingerling (Elliot Ingber), is fairly anonymous behind his shades, with the camera really only dwelling on him occasionally, and most notably when he’s not actually playing (when the miffed Beefheart walks off).
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