Captain Beefheart

File:Captain Beefheart 1982 promo.jpg

Don Van Vliet in a 1982 promotional photo.

Don Van Vliet (born Don Glen Vliet on January 15 1941 in Glendale, California) is a painter and retired musician, best known by the pseudonym Captain Beefheart. His musical work was mainly conducted with a rotating assembly of musicians called the Magic Band, which was active from the mid-1960s through to the early 1980s. Van Vliet was chiefly a singer, but was also a capable harmonica player, and occasionally played noisy, untrained free jazz-influenced saxophone. His compositions are characterized by their odd mixtures of shifting time signatures and by their surreal lyrics, while Van Vliet himself is noted for his dictatorial approach to his musicians and for his enigmatic relationship with the public.

Van Vliet joined the newly forming Magic Band in 1965, quickly taking over as bandleader. Their early output was rooted in blues and rock music, but Captain Beefheart & the Magic Band gradually adopted a more experimental approach. 1969 saw the release of their best known album, Trout Mask Replica, which was produced by Van Vliet's former schoolmate Frank Zappa and is today regarded as a groundbreaking and influential masterpiece. Van Vliet released several further albums throughout the 1970s, his group beset by shifting line-ups and a lack of commercial success. Towards the end of that decade he settled with a group of younger musicians, and his three final albums, released between 1978 and 1982, all received critical acclaim. Van Vliet's legacy is one of poor record sales, despite a devoted following, but his influence on later punk and New Wave music and other genres and musicians has been described as "incalculable".

Since the end of his musical career around 1982, Van Vliet has made few public appearances, preferring a quiet life in his Mojave Desert home, and he has concentrated on a career in painting. His interest in art dates back to a childhood talent for sculpting, and his work—employing what has been surmised as a "neo-primitive abstract-expressionist aesthetic"—has received some international recognition. He is reportedly suffering from the long-term illness multiple sclerosis. Meanwhile, several of Van Vliet's former band members have reformed as a group, and since 2003 they have once again been performing and touring as The Magic Band.

Early life

Van Vliet's father, who was of Dutch ancestry, was a bakery deliveryman. It has been reported that Don added the 'Van' prefix to his surname to emphasize his Dutch heritage, and specifically as an acknowledgement to the Dutch Masters in painting. Van Vliet is also distantly related to Wallis Simpson, famous as the wife of Edward VIII of the United Kingdom; his maternal grandmother was Simpson's second cousin. At a young age, Van Vliet demonstrated prodigious painting and sculpting talents, in spite of describing his working class family as lacking interest in art, and he was noticed by Augustinio Rodriguez, who invited Van Vliet to sculpt with him on a weekly television show. Van Vliet claims his parents discouraged his interest in sculpture, turning away several scholarship offers and through their moving from California. Van Vliet remained interested in art; his paintings, often reminiscent of Franz Kline's, were later featured on several of his own albums.

While studying at Antelope Valley High School in Lancaster he met the teenage Frank Zappa. They began collaborating on pop song parodies and a movie script called Captain Beefheart vs. the Grunt People the first appearance of the Beefheart name. Van Vliet's stage name came from a term used by his Uncle Alan. Alan had a habit of exposing himself to Don's girlfriend, Laurie. Alan would urinate with the bathroom door open and, if she was walking by, mumble about his penis, saying "Ahh, what a beauty! It looks just like a big, fine beef heart." In a 1970 interview with Rolling Stone, Van Vliet requests "don't ask me why or how" he and Zappa came up with the name. He would later claim in an appearance on Late Night with David Letterman that the name referred to "a beef in [his] heart" about how humans were treating the environment.

Van Vliet enrolled at Antelope Valley Junior College as an art major, but left the following year. After managing a chain of shoe stores, Van Vliet relocated to Cucamonga, California to reconnect with Zappa, who inspired Van Vliet's entry into music performing. Van Vliet was reportedly quite shy, but able to imitate the deep voice of blues singer Howlin' Wolf and in possession of an astonishing four-and-a-half octave vocal range". Eventually growing comfortable performing, he learned harmonica, and played around southern California, at dances and small clubs.

Professional music career

Van Vliet had previously worked with local groups such as The Omens and The Blackouts. In early 1965 he was contacted by Alex Snouffer, a local Lancaster rhythm and blues guitarist. Together they assembled the first Magic Band, and at this point Don Vliet became Don Van Vliet, whilst Alex Snouffer became Alex St Claire. Nearly all the musicians Van Vliet worked with were given stage names, which became more bizarre over the years. The first Magic Band was completed with Doug Moon (guitar), Jerry Handley (bass) and Vic Mortenson (drums — soon replaced by Paul Blakely).

Captain Beefheart & the Magic Band signed to A&M Records and released two 1966 singles, a version of Bo Diddley's "Diddy Wah Diddy" followed by "Moonchild" written by David Gates. Both were local Los Angeles hits. The band was by now beginning to play "underground" venues such as the Avalon Ballroom in San Francisco.

Some time in 1966 demos of what became the Safe as Milk material were submitted to A&M. Jerry Moss (the M in A&M) reportedly described the new direction as "too negative" and they were dropped from the label. But by the end of 1966 they were signed to Buddah Records and John French had joined as drummer. French would be the mainstay of the band until 1971, and returned twice after that (1975-77 and 1980 - he now leads the reformed Magic Band). French had the patience required to be able to translate Van Vliet's musical ideas (often expressed by whistling or banging on the piano) for the other players. In French's absence this role was taken over by Bill Harkleroad.

The Safe as Milk material needed much more work, and the 20-year-old Ry Cooder was asked to help. They began recording in Spring 1967, with Richard Perry producing (his first job as producer). Cooder did not hang around long after the album was recorded. The album was finally released in September 1967.

In August, guitarist Jeff Cotton was recruited and the Snouffer/Cotton/Handley/French line-up began recording for the second album around November. It is said to have been intended to be a double album called It Comes to You in a Plain Brown Wrapper with one disc recorded live (or live in the studio). What finally emerged in October 1968 was Strictly Personal, on producer Bob Krasnow's Blue Thumb Records. After the album was released Van Vliet, in interviews, constructed a myth which alleged that the tapes of the album had been remixed by Krasnow without the band's knowledge, and further, that he had ruined it by adding modish psychedelic effects (phasing, backwards tapes, etc). In fact this was likely Beefheart's hasty rebuttal to some negative reaction to the album from some quarters, but the myth has persisted, and is included as fact in Jason Ankeny's All Music Guide biography. This was also the period in which Van Vliet started creating his own myth, for example, by saying in an interview that having not slept for a year, he'd dreamed the whole Strictly Personal album in one 24 hour sleep. Earlier recordings of two of the Strictly Personal songs and two other songs were released by Buddah in 1971 under the title Mirror Man. The original release bore a sleeve note claiming that the material had been recorded "one night in Los Angeles in 1965". This was a ruse to circumvent possible copyright issues; in fact the it probably dates from late summer 1967.

Trout Mask Replica

File:Trout Mask Replica.jpg

The album cover for Trout Mask Replica, designed by Cal Shenkel, suggests the surrealism of the album's lyrics.

Full article: Trout Mask Replica

Regarded by many as Van Vliet's masterpiece, Trout Mask Replica was released in November 1969 on Frank Zappa's newly formed Straight Records label. By this time, the Magic Band included guitarist Bill Harkleroad and bassist Mark Boston. However, Van Vliet had also begun assigning nicknames to his band members, so Harkleroad is better known as "Zoot Horn Rollo", and Boston as "Rockette Morton", while John French becomes "Drumbo", and Jeff Cotton is "Antennae Jimmy Semens". The group rehearsed Van Vliet's difficult compositions for eight months, living communally in conditions drummer John French described as "cultlike". According to Vliet, the 28 songs on the album were quickly written in about 3 weeks, but it took 8 months for the band to actually mold the songs into shape.

The 28 songs on Trout Mask Replica draw on blues music, Bo Diddley, free jazz, and sea shanties but the relentless practice blended the music into an iconoclastic whole of conflicting tempi, harsh slide guitar, loping drumming, and honking saxophone and bass clarinet. Van Vliet's vocals range from growling blues singing to frenzied falsetto to laconic, casual ramblings. His lyrics often seem impenetrably strange and nonsensical, but closer examination actually reveals complex poetic use of wordplay, metaphor and all manner of references: music history, American and international politics, the Holocaust, love and sexuality, Steve Reich, gospel music, conformity. Although the album was effectively recorded live, Van Vliet recorded much of the vocals whilst isolated from the rest of the band in a different room, only being in partial synch with the music by hearing the slight sound leakage through the studio window.

Van Vliet used the ensuing publicity, particularly with a 1970 Rolling Stone interview with Langdon Winner, to promulgate a number of myths which have subsequently been quoted as fact. Winner's article stated, for instance, that neither Van Vliet nor the members of the Magic Band ever took drugs, but guitarist Bill Harkleroad later discredited this. Van Vliet also claimed to have taught both Harkleroad and bassist Mark Boston from scratch; in fact the pair were already accomplished musicians before joining the band.

Critic Steve Huey writes that the album's influence "was felt more in spirit than in direct copycatting, as a catalyst rather than a literal musical starting point. However, its inspiring reimagining of what was possible in a rock context laid the groundwork for countless experiments in rock surrealism to follow, especially during the punk/new wave era." Matt Groening has written that his first reaction to Trout Mask Replica was that it was "the worst thing [he]'d ever heard", but now lists the album as one of his favorites.

Later music

Lick My Decals Off, Baby (1970) continued in a similarly experimental vein. The LP sees the addition of Art Tripp III to the band, who had joined from the Mothers of Invention, playing drums and marimba. Decals was the first record on which the band were credited as "The Magic Band", rather than "His Magic Band"; journalist Irwin Chusid interprets this change as "a grudging concession of its members' at least semiautonomous humanity."

The next two records, The Spotlight Kid (simply credited to "Captain Beefheart") and Clear Spot (credited to "Captain Beefheart And The Magic Band"), both released in 1972, were much more conventional. In 1974, immediately after the recording of Unconditionally Guaranteed, The Magic Band, which had by then coalesced around the core of John French, Art Tripp III, Bill Harkleroad and Mark Boston, decided they could no longer work with Van Vliet, who was by all accounts a severe taskmaster. They left to form Mallard. Van Vliet quickly formed a new Magic Band, which had a much slicker, more mainstream sound, and who therefore were referred to (by unkind fans) as the Tragic Band. Unconditionally Guaranteed and its follow up Bluejeans & Moonbeams (1974) have a completely different, almost soft-rock sound to any other Beefheart record and neither were critically well received.

The friendship between Frank Zappa and Van Vliet over the years was sometimes indistinguishable from rivalry (Zappa had called Beefheart a year before their collaboration on Bongo Fury, "an asshole") as musicians drifted back and forth between Van Vliet and Zappa's groups. (Miles, 2004). Their collaborative work can be found on the 1975 album Bongo Fury, along with Zappa rarity collections The Lost Episodes (1996) and Mystery Disc (1996). Also notable is Beefheart's vocal on "Willie the Pimp" from Zappa's otherwise instrumental album Hot Rats (1969).

From 1975 to 1977 there were no new records (the original version of Bat Chain Puller was recorded in 1976 but has never been released). In 1978 a completely new band was formed (consisting of Richard Redus, Jeff Moris Tepper, Bruce Fowler, Eric Drew Feldman and Robert Williams). These were from a younger generation of musicians eager to work with him and extremely capable of playing his music. In several cases they had been fans for years, and had learned his music from records before being given auditions.

Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller) (1978) was largely regarded as a return to form, featuring once again the innovative and eccentric style of the earlier albums. Doc at the Radar Station (1980) helped establish Beefheart's late resurgence as possibly the most consistently creative period of his musical career. In this period, Van Vliet made several appearances on David Letterman's program, and performed on Saturday Night Live. The final Beefheart record, Ice Cream for Crow (1982), was recorded with Gary Lucas (who was also Van Vliet's manager), Jeff Moris Tepper, Richard Snyder and Cliff Martinez. This line-up made a video to promote the title track which was rejected by MTV. Soon after, Van Vliet retired from music and established a new career as a painter.

Current life and painting

Van Vliet currently lives in northern California, and is reportedly suffering from multiple sclerosis. In recent years, Van Vliet has become somewhat reclusive and abandoned music, stating he can make far more money painting. He was initially dismissed by some critics as "another rock musician dabbling in art for ego's sake". Over the years, however, his work began receiving positive attention. His artwork, like his music, has been seen as extreme and innovative, and it commands high prices, as well as comparisons to Pablo Picasso and Franz Kline. Gordon Veneklasen, director of the Michael Werner Gallery in New York City, describes Van Vliet as a "really incredible painter" whose work "doesn't really look like anybody else's work but his own" and art critic John Rogers agrees that Van Vliet is "one of the art world's more renowned abstract expressionists".

Legacy

Beefheart has been the subject of at least one documentary: the BBC's 1994 The Artist Formerly Known As Captain Beefheart. There also exists a DVD of a short 10 minute film available entitled, "Some Yo Yo Stuff: An Observation of the Observations of Don Van Vliet." Some of his recent sounds and noises were captured on his guitarist Moris Tepper's 2002 album Moth to Mouth and on 2004's Head Off. The Magic Band, fronted by John French, with Denny Whalley, Mark Boston and Gary Lucas, reformed without Van Vliet in 2003; and in 2005 toured the UK, playing a selection of small venues.

Influence

Van Vliet's music has been vastly influential. BBC disc jockey John Peel stated, "If there has ever been such a thing as a genius in the history of popular music, it's Beefheart…I heard echoes of his music in some of the records I listened to last week and I'll hear more echoes in records that I listen to this week." Many artists have cited Beefheart as an influence, notably those emerging during the early punk movement such as the Clash and John Lydon of the Sex Pistols. Tom Waits's shift in artistic direction, starting with 1983's Swordfishtrombones, was, Waits claims, a result of his wife introducing him to Beefheart's music. Punk rockers The Minutemen were great fans of Beefheart's music, and were arguably among the few to effectively synthesize his music with their own, especially in their early output, which featured disjointed guitar and irregular, galloping rhythms. The early albums of XTC sound very much like Beefheart's instrumental style crossed with classic post-Beatles pop-rock songwriting. More recently, Franz Ferdinand cited Beefheart's 1980 album Doc At The Radar Station as a strong influence on their second LP, You Could Have It So Much Better .

Many musicians who have worked with Captain Beefheart consider it to be the formative experience of their lives as musicians (despite the rigours of Beefheart's unorthodox methods). Some of these alumni have subsequently found collaborators who also seem to have been touched with Beefheart's creative spirit. Since Beefheart left the music business, Eric Drew Feldman has played with Snakefinger, Pere Ubu, PJ Harvey and Frank Black. Gary Lucas has played guitar and collaborated with Jeff Buckley. Moris Tepper has also worked with PJ Harvey, and has collaborated with Tom Waits and Frank Black.

In 2000, The White Stripes released a limited (1300 copies) red-and-white 7" vinyl disc on Sub Pop records' Singles Club. The disc, Party of Special Things to Do contained covers of three Captain Beefheart songs: "Party of Special Things to Do", "China Pig", and "Ashtray Heart".

Discography

Studio albums

• Safe as Milk (1967)
• Strictly Personal (1968)
• Trout Mask Replica (1969)
• Lick My Decals Off, Baby (1970)
• Mirror Man (1971)
• The Spotlight Kid (1972)
• Clear Spot (1972)
• Unconditionally Guaranteed (1974)
• Bluejeans & Moonbeams (1974)
• Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller) (1978)
• Doc at the Radar Station (1980)
• Ice Cream for Crow (1982)

Compilations and live albums

• The Legendary A&M Sessions EP (1984)
• I May Be Hungry but I Sure Ain't Weird (1992)
• A Carrot Is As Close As A Rabbit Gets To A Diamond (1993)
• London 1974 (1994)
• Grow Fins: Rarities 1965–1982 (1999)
• The Dust Blows Forward (1999)
• I'm Going to Do What I Wanna Do: Live at My Father's Place 1978 (2000)
• Magnetic Hands—Live in the UK 72–80 (2002)
• Railroadism—Live in the USA 72–81 (2003)
• Amsterdam 1980: Live (2006)

Singles

• "Diddy Wah Diddy" / "Who Do You Think You're Fooling" (1966)
• "Moonchild" / "Frying Pan" (1966)
• "Yellow Brick Road" / "Abba Zaba" (1967)
• "Pachuco Cadaver" / "Wild Life" (France only) (1970)
• "Click Clack" / "I'm Gonna Booglarize You, Baby" (1972)
• "Too Much Time" / "My Head Is My Only House Unless It Rains" (1973)
• "Upon the My-O-My" / "Magic Be" (UK) (1974)
• "Sure 'Nuff 'n Yes I Do" / "Electricity" (1978)
• "Ice Cream for Crow" / "Oceands" (1982)

References

• Barnes, Mike (2000). Captain Beefheart. Quartet Books. ISBN 1844494128.
• Harkleroad, Bill (1998). Lunar Notes: Zoot Horn Rollo's Captain Beefheart Experience. Interlink Publishing. ISBN 0946719217.
• Delville, Michel & Norris, Andrew (2005). Frank Zappa, Captain Beefheart, and the Secret History of Maximalism. Cambrdige: Salt Publishing. ISBN 1844710599.
• Miles, Barry (2004). Frank Zappa. Atlantic Books. ISBN 1845340924.

External links

• Beefheart.com - The Captain Beefheart Radar Station
• Captain Beefheart Electricity
• Captain Beefheart Link Explorer