Captain Beefheart "A Carrot Is as Close as a Rabbit Gets to a Diamond" 1974-1984 (rec) 1998 (comp)****

My first contact with Captain Beefheart was in my late teens: I bought Trout Mask Replica from a street seller at the Monastiraki flea market, real cheap. Later I found out why: the album is a double LP, but my copy only had one record inside. At the time I only had a hazy notion about it being 60's psychedelia, which couldn't prepare me for the shock of the cacophony within. This was nothing like Jefferson Airplane, my gold standard of U.S. psychedelia at the time! I gave it some time in case it grew on me but, with the exception of "Ella Guru" and "Dachau Blues", I still found it unlistenable and promptly sold it. It took another decade for me to try again, this time with a more conventional introduction: this Best Of- collection. Once again I wasn't sufficiently informed: this compilation only covers his years with Virgin Records (1974-1984), bypassing his earlier (and some of his best) records. Whether the song choices represent the best of that period I cannot comment, since I haven't heard all of the original albums in their entiriety But what is here is in my opinion very good, even though many critics and Beefheart fans dismiss some of it as "too commercial". The compilers have tried to mix the straight blues/pop tunes with the more experimental ones, and also interspersed various song snippets and spoken word edits, supposedly hoping to create a more even and cohesive collection. I must admit it worked on me: I still don't like the short snippets, but I found the CD as a whole quite listenable. For the purposes of this presentation, though, we'll look at the tracks in chronological order, starting with the Captain's most maligned album: Unconditionally Guaranteed (1974) made its commercial intentions clear from the cover, featuring the Captain clutching dollar bills with both hands. Here, we get 4 tracks from it: the first is blues-rock "Sugar Bowl", with a vocal strangely reminiscent of Ray Manzarek - and you know that singing wasn't Ray's strong suit. Nice to hear that harmonica, though! "I Got Love On My Mind" is straight Motown-style soul à la The Four Tops.

 

"Happy Love Song" is another R&B song with horns. It would be a perfect vehicle for someone like Joe Cocker but sounds like a weird choice for Beefheart. "This Is the Day" is an absolutely gorgeous ballad with fantastic guitar, while this time the vocal emulates the right Door: Jim Morrison. Which is fine by me, but here's the rub: is still doesn't sound like Captain Beefheart. And, while there's lots of singers who can carry an emotive ballad, there's only one Beefheart. Despite the fact that this album wasn't well received, he had another one in the works: Bluejeans & Moonbeams (1974) was cut from the same cloth, but with a new band. "Pompadour Swamp" is slow Dr. John-like funk, and "Further Than We've Gone" is a ballad with Barry White-like vocals, cool piano and a clean guitar solo à la Dire Straits. Haters call this particular incarnation of The Magic Band "The Tragic Band" which is completely unfair because their playing is really good. So what if they sound very professional and predictable? It's exactly what these particular songs call for. I don't know how you can dis a record containing a majestic ballad like "Observatory Crest", but everybody put this album down, too. Beefheart responded by retiring for the next 4 years. He would never again try approaching mainstream audiences.

 

When his next LP Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller) (1978) appeared, it was in a completely changed music landscape, transformed by the advent of punk and new wave. Opener "The Floppy Boot Stomp" shows off what made him unique in the first place which was previously suppressed in his bid for commercial success: His blues roots are evident in the excellent slide guitar but this is no Clapton-like blues rock. It's avant-garde music, growling vocals and polyrhythmic drumming far removed from the "classic rock" the punk rockers were rebelled against. Which is why one hears his influence all over Pere Ubu, P.I.L., The Fall and other punk/post-punk bands. Even more evident is his influence on Tom Waits' work from there on. In Tom's own words "Once you've heard Beefheart, it's hard to wash him out of your clothes. It stains, like coffee or blood". If it wasn't for Beefheart's influence, Waits would probably have remained the barfly balladeer of the 70's and never would have made the wonderful and idiosynchratic records he did later on. "Tropical Hot Dog Night" is even better: dadaistic lyrics ("like two flamingos in a fruit fight", what's that about?), freaky Latin beats you think you can dance to, and snappy sax riffs...weird, yet perfectly addictive. "Candle Mambo" is its more experimental little Latin Jazz cousin, and "Harry Irene" a bit of mutant cabaret featuring accordion and a... whistling solo. In these two he avoids the vocal acrobatics and goes for a sing-talking style. "Love Lies" is what I guess his ballads from the previous albums would sound like if they weren't harnessed into something more easily digestible: a repetitive blues motiff with free jazz sax and emotive singing that varies from whispers to Joe Cocker-like soul grit to painful growls and shrieks. And yet, melodic and emotional as a love song should be.

Doc at the Radar Station (1980) is another vinyl I used to have and sold, as I wasn't too impressed with it at the time. Re-listening to some tracks from it which are included here I can see why: "Run Paint Run Run" initially sounds like cacophony of percussion and sax, growls and shouts. Only the recurring title chanted by the band in unison is memorable and urgent. Yet when you listen to it enough times all the disparate elements lock together. I now like it quite a lot. "Sheriff of Hong Kong" is somewhat funkier with a catchy guitar riff, but makes for even more difficult listening. The cryptically titled instrumental "A Carrot Is as Close as a Rabbit Gets to a Diamond" is the least challenging of the three tracks from Doc... included here - a strummed Rennaisence-style melody that one might even call pretty.

 

Ice Cream for Crow (1982) turned out to be Beefheart's last LP. For the last 3 dacades of his life, he'd retire to a trailer home in the desert and only express himself artistically through painting - and quite successfully, too. From that album, we get "The Past Sure Is Tense". The vocal is certainly as out-there as any he's done, all shouts and yelps and whatnot, but there's a nice rhythm to it, and bluesy elements in the guitar and harp reminiscent of the Captain's early days as a blues growler. Great stream of consciousness lyrics too! The same is true for "The Host, the Ghost, the Most Holy-O", though the choppy rhythms and derranged preacher vocals render it less approachable for the uninitiated. "Light Reflected Off The Oceans Of The Moon" is an impressive free jazz instrumental. Don't let the serene title fool you, this is noisy, feral stuff which few will enjoy. 

 

Which completes the presentation of the individual tracks. On this compilation they all sound slightly different than the original studio versions, with short (around 10 seconds long) spoken word or instrumental edits from other Beefheart songs uppended to their front end. This rarely works in favour of the song but helps somewhat in homogenizing the two very distinct facets of the artist presented here. Regarding this particular compilation, if you'd ask me whether it is a good collection of tunes, I'd say Yes, absolutely! Is it a good summary of Beefheart's work? No way! It leaves out his early blues stuff, his most famous experimental work Trout Mask Replica, and a series of great albums that are sonically in the middle and therefore among his most enjoyable. But would I recommend it as an introduction to the artist? Yes I would! Despite many fans' and critics' rejection of his more mainstream songs, I believe the ones included here are excellent and should appeal to a broad spectrum of listeners. Should you not get turned off by the weirder ones, you'll probably get hooked and be ready to delve in the Captain's wider catalogue. Fans of Frank Zappa or late-period Tom Waits will discover a kindred spirit there. Otherwise you're left with half an album's worth of amiabe 70's blues rock and another half-album of more challenging, yet still listenable, avant garde, which is enough for the simply curious.

***** for Tropical Hot Dog Night, Observatory Crest

**** for The Past Sure Is Ten,e, The Floppy Boot Stomp, Bluejeans and Moonbeams, Run Paint Run Run, This Is the Day, Harry Irene, I Got Love on My Mind, Love Lies, Further Than We've Gone

*** for Sugar Bowl, Happy Love Song, The Host the Ghost the Most Holy-O, Pompadour Swamp,  Sheriff of Hong Kong, Candle Mambo, A Carrot Is as Close as a Rabbit Gets to a Diamond

** for Light Reflected off the Oceans of the Moon