Bootleg Review: Captain Beefheart’s Captain, My Captain (1999)

SOURCE: Radio broadcast on WLIR-FM, live from My Father’s Place in Roslyn, New York; November 18, 1978 (although some sources claim that it was December 18th).

SOUND QUALITY: Good to Very Good FM broadcast (7-8) with some hollowness and echo, especially on the horns. The good Captain’s vocals are clearly up front though and the entire set is quite listenable without causing any aggravation.

COVER: Single-sided panel with color picture of Beefheart on the front cover and a different shot of the Captain on the back cover with tracklist and venue info.

TRACKLIST: Tropical Hot Dog Night (listed as “Hot Dog”)/ Hit A Man (listed as “Woman’s Gotta Hit A Man”)/ Owed t’Alex/ Dropout Boogie/ Harry Irene/ Abba Zaba/ Her Eyes Are A Blue Million Miles (listed as “Million Blue Miles”)/ Old Fart At Play (listed as “Old Fart”)/ Well (listed as “Well, Well, Well”)/ Ice Rose/ Moonlight On Vermont/ Floppy Boot Stomp (listed as “Floppy Boot”)/ You Know You’re A Man (listed as “You’re A Man”)/ Bat Chain Puller/ Apes, Ma        

COMMENTS: Although I don’t share many of my critical brethren’s adoration of Don Van Vleit, a/k/a Captain Beefheart, I can easily see his influence on a generation of young noisemakers. Beefheart’s blues-infused improvisational jazz skronk can be followed in a steady timeline from the early seventies through numerous bands up to, and including Jon Spencer Blues Explosion and other current critic’s darlings. Personally, when one of Beefheart’s Kenny G-wannabe brassmen start blowing and choogling like a pale Coltrane imitation, it makes me want to take a freshly-sharpened fireaxe to the box from which said offending decibels are bleating.

That said, I must admit that Captain, My Captain is a fairly accessible live performance from Captain Beefheart and crew, including his aural executioner of choice, ex-Mother of Invention trombonist Bruce Fowler. Dating from the time period of Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller), the set is representative of where Beefheart seemed to be artistically situated at the time, mixing mutant blues with clever pop/rock and jazzlike, avant-garde musical experimentation. The Captain is a truly unique vocalist, sort of like Howlin’ Wolf on a steady liquid diet of broken glass and rotgut whiskey while the band, which includes guitarists Jeff Morris Tepper and Richard Redus, were capable of handling most of what Beefheart might ask of them.

This particular performance is a familiar one to fans of the Captain, having been previously circulated on vinyl and CD under such titles as Live At My Father’s Place and New York Hot Dog Night. This Tendolar CD-R version doesn’t include the entire performance, missing some four songs and at least a quarter hour from what I can tell. The neophyte Beefheart fan might find Captain, My Captain to be a heady brew, difficult to swallow in light of Beefheart’s penchant for surrealistic, stream-of-consciousness lyrics and discordant instrumentation.

The newbie might want to start with the legitimate release Safe As Milk, work their way up to Trout Mask Replica and then jump into Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller) before searching for the one of many Beefheart boots that circulate in fan circles. As for the dedicated follower, they probably already have the material here, albeit in not as sonically pleasing a form. An acquired taste and touchstone of modern alt-rock, the good Captain is nothing if not a true original. (Tendolar Records CD-R, released 1999)

Review originally published by Live! Music Review zine...