More Captain Beefheart & the Magic Band Live!

Back in May, the good folks at Gonzo Multimedia released a rare live recording by the legendary Captain Beefheart & the Magic Band, Live From Harpo’s 1980. Now the label is going for a second bite at the apple with the upcoming release of yet another rare Beefheart platter. On October 27th, 2014 (U.S.) Gonzo Multimedia will release Somewhere Over Paris, a two-disc set that captures a November 1977 performance at the Le Nouvel Hippodrome in Paris.

According to The Radar Station, a Beefheart fan site, this particular show was part of a festival at Sorbonne University organized by a French Trotskyist party, and was the only European performance by the band until 1980. Gong, Prime Time, and Buffy Saint Marie also performed at the festival. Performing songs from across its discography, including material from the troubled Bat Chain Puller (which wouldn’t be released in its original form until 2012), the Magic Band line-up for this show included guitarists Jeff Moris Tepper and Denny Walley, bassist/keyboardist Eric Drew Feldman, and drummer Robert Arthur Williams.

The Radar Station describes the sound of the album as “very good bootleg quality. Well balanced so you hear everything.” Indeed, this Paris show has seen infrequent release on CD as a European bootleg, but it’s nice to have a well-sourced legitimate release to document the band’s performance, of which Beefheart himself was particularly proud of, telling a reporter “the gig we played in Paris was monstrous. It was three days ago, but I haven't slept since – it was so good! And my voice, well, I can still feel that show in my voice. It hit me so hard I am down to three octaves...I couldn't get over the way the audience was singing along with it, singing the words back at me in English – and I don't speak a word of French.”

Somewhere Over Paris track list:

Disc One
1. Hair Pie: Bake III
2. Suction Prints
3. Low Yo Yo Stuff
4. Bat Chain Puller
5. I Wanna Find A Woman That'll Hold My Big Toe Till I Have To Go
6. Abba Zabba
7. Dali's Car
8. One Nest Rolls After Another
9. The Dust Blows Forward and the Dust Blows Back
10. Nowadays a Woman's Got To Hit a Man
11. Click Clack
12. Grow Fins
13. Golden Birdies

Disc Two
14. Electricity
15. A Carrot Is As Close As a Rabbit Gets To a Diamond
16. China Pig
17. Sun Zoom Spark
18. My Human Gets Me Blues
19. Floppy Boot Stomp
20. Moonlight on Vermont
21. Carson City
22. Old Black Snake
23. Pachuco Cadaver
24. Veteran's Day Poppy/Band Intro
25. The Blimp
26. Big Eyed Beans From Venus

Previous Content: Captain Beefheart's Live From Harpo's CD review

Buy the CD from Amazon.com: Captain Beefheart's Somewhere Over Paris (Le Nouvel Hippodrome Paris 1977)