Friday 29 November 2013

CAPTAIN BEEFHEART - Strange Days Indeed: The Tale of Two Weirdos On Vinyl

No, Barack Obama is NOT the weirdo referred to in the title of this post. I think this is an airbrushed image, but regardless, hilarious it is, so here it is, heading up this oddball entry. 

The album above is Trout Mask Replica by Captain Beefheart and The Magic Band. Circa 1969, for your info. About 4 years before I disgraced the Earth with my presence. However, I found out about this work of sonic splendor through that 10-year waste of time known as Jean-Luc. Part of my initiation into his “heart” was an education in all things Captain Beefheart. I got to hear this one evening while drinking ridiculous amounts of Captain Morgan Spiced Rum and wolfing down Pepperoni Pizza Hot Pockets. Charlie, JL’s best friend and the best bartender/shyster I’ve ever known in my life, was scoffing and arguing for Tom Waits, but JL wanted to make sure that I didn’t miss out on this. I remember wondering several times if I did indeed smoke pot and forget it. That’s what the first go-round of this album was like to me. A gigantic trip. It made me want to drink more to forget it. But, like sex with the exes, a bad car accident in the sonar waves made me want to try and try again. 

The second time around, i was still as puzzled. It took many more nights of Captain Morgan and Captain Jean-Luc to convince me that this was an album of legendary status. By the seventieth or eightieth time, I was hooked enough to enjoy the madness that is Trout Mask Replica. And then, I had to have a copy for myself. It took me almost ten years and many nights of patient record store trips with Jen before I finally found it, at a Borders in Orland Park.


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