I’m a massive Beatles fan, and this is still one of my favourite albums of all time. I can’t stand Scaruffi. I hopped from an “Abbey Road” reaction straight into this.
At my college we have a “society of music” club and our club president loves to give a presentation about this album every semester and he will show up in his own homemade costume of Captain Beefheart on the album cover, like it’s a PERFECT costume head to toe with the fish mask, hat, coat, everything. It’s a super fun and hilarious presentation and it gave me a newfound respect for this unholy creation of an album. Long story short: Captain Beefheart was an abusive narcissist and God Bless the band that had to play what he “composed” for them.
@@Qwertyuiopaz the drummer of the Magic Band John "Drumbo" French wrote a memoir in 2010 called "Through The Eyes Of Magic" of his experience in the band and recording Trout Mask Replica. For the entirety of the album's recording they lived in a small rented house in Woodland Hills, CA because Beefheart wanted them to "live" the album. They had no source on income except for welfare, almost never ate, practiced up to 14 hours a day and were at times violently or emotionally belittled and abused by Beefheart, who kept 1 of 2 bedrooms to himself. Drumbo himself was at the end of the sessions kicked out of the band by literally being kicked down a flight of stairs by Beefheart, according to his own testimony.
@@ianmendoza6816 Yeah after doing some research it seems you're right about the guy being somewhat of a nutcase. Perhaps he cleaned up his act when he got older or maybe he just hid it or something
This is something like an avant-garde parody and actually is boundary pushing and ahead of its time in many aspects, some of these riffs are literally math rock
@@essdeeem3320Yes and it still holds so many of Frank's artistic styles and that sound was much more developed onto albums such as Sheik Yerbouti which is also impecable
That’s actually Captain Beefheart on “Willie the Pimp”. I’m pretty sure the title “hot rats” was coined by Beefheart. Beefheart also said he invented Suzy Creamcheese.
I found my way to this album after listening to years of math rock (weird time signatures) so my brain was kinda primed to "get it." Drawback of that is, I never got the experience of abject horror that it gives people the first time you hear it. I've tried for years to get someone to listen to all of it to see that in action, but it's absolutely impossible to get someone who isn't forced to listen to finish this album. I guess what I'm saying is, I voted on this to put you through the torture I never experienced. Deepest apologies 😂
i think the beautiful thing about this album is that every once in a while, youll hear some incredible little piece of music, and then it just says no fuck you and changes it. thank u for the food smags
So much stuff on this album goes so hard. Some incredible dissonance played with true skill and guts. I love how free the expression is on this whole thing. Some very ugly moments, some beautiful, some scary, some just totally perplexing, some hilarious. Beautiful work of art
This is essentially Delta and Chicago blues mixed with psychedelic rock, free jazz, and Stravinsky and Schoenberg. A lot of black free jazz musicians admired the hell out of Beefheart and his Magic Band, including Charles Mingus, Pharoah Sanders, and Ornette Coleman. Ornette Coleman actually lent Beefheart his plastic sax for a show.
So the thing about trout mask replica is that it utilizes both polyrhythms and polytonality, which gives them melodic structures that are very hard to follow on one's first listen through. But with repeated listens, it gets a lot easier to follow and gets more rewarding over time.
Captain Beefheart was given complete artistic freedom from Frank Zappa to make this album. So he wrote tracks all at different time signatures and gave them to the band to play. It took months for them to learn to play them together. This is what the accomplishment is. Getting a band to play this is a massive challenge. It does take a few listens to get into. Which is hard to get people to do. Another great wacky album is "Bish Bosch" by Scott Walker.
Bish Bosch is definitely much more emotionally resonant though. I think it's a much more focused avant garde piece. Still difficult as a listen but much more satisfying
Scott Walker absolutely needs a listen, Scott 1-4 has very lush dramatic compositions with similarities to Jacques Brel (who Scott did a cover album of too), The Beach Boys and even Jeff Buckley. His later works: Tilt, The Drift, Bish Bosch still have the drama but it's dark and twisted instead. Not that there aren't peaceful moments but Scott's given me multiple heart attacks on the Drift alone. Regardless, I think all these albums are really creative and shine in their own way and anybody interested in music should take a dig at Scott Walker. Oh and if that doesn't convince, when Scott sent David Bowie a message for his 50th birthday, Bowie would state: "I think he’s probably been my idol since I was a kid."
On first listen, it sounded terrible for the first 20 minutes, but I guess my brain adjusted to it because then it sounded absolutely amazing and blew my mind. It’s like I tapped into a different world and it all made sense.
I think a lot of the appeal is the way all the pieces actually fit together even though they clash and seem disparate. Definitely one that takes multiple listens to start really appreciating but I understand people not wanting to try it again. It's a really interesting kind of "wild man" avant-garde spirit as opposed to the intellectual approach that we see more often. The album is also really strong thematically IMO and I really enjoy the lyrical themes like humanity vs. nature and war that complement the sound well. I don't listen to this album as much as my other favorites but its one of the most thought provoking albums. In a way this album feels like a painting more than any other album if that makes sense at all. strongly recommend his album Safe as Milk. it doesn't sound like this at all but it's a masterpiece, more of a 60s psychedelic+blues rock sound with amazing guitars
If you think this is out there, I dare you to listen to Suicide’s self-titled debut from 1977 or “D.O.A. The Third and Final Annual Report” by Throbbing Gristle from 1978
I love those albums, but they’re definitely less challenging to listen to than “Trout Mask Replica”. Throbbing Gristle is incredibly dark and dissonant, but not as maximalist and chaotic. It’s industrial music before metalheads took over the genre.
I worked at a news station and would use this album for sound checks and shit cause I thought it was funny and by the time I stopped working there everyone unironically kinda loved this album. It used to piss people off so much too lmao.
One of the best stories about these songs is that one of the members was tasked with writing songs on the piano. Not so weird, rigt? Yep, except the guy couldn't play piano. The band then transcribed his "songs" to guitar
I highly highly recommend watching Samuel Andreyev's analysis of Frownland. It will make you realize it's not a troll and this is some of the most complex music of all time.
Welcome to the avant-garde style of arrangement. Personally I like the album and Captain Beefheart in general. I know not everyone can get behind it, but I like music like this just as an expression. I think of it like traditional art and just open my mind to the experience. Beefheart is one of the more experimental, so you probably could have prepared yourself a bit more for this. For instance I also like artists like Laurie Anderson or even The Residents. (Which is really where Primus jocked their style from.) There's also a lot of underground types of artists or groups that people don't know much about. Like there is an album I uploaded on my channel by the group Skeletons. That album and some of their others are quite experimental as well, though perhaps a bit more palatable than something like Beefheart. Beefheart's story is an interesting one.
@@Golgito At least they have some albums that are a bit more digestible, I suppose you could say. lol But they have an awful lot of music and it gets quite experimental. Laurie Anderson would probably be my intro into avant-garde or even some of Tom Waits stuff kinda borders on it. I've seen The Residents live a couple of times and it was a lot of fun.
I'm sure some other joker already told you this, but my favourite part about this album is that it was meticulously and AGGRESSIVELY arranged and conducted by everyone's favourite MS Painter don van vliet - it sounds like a deranged jam session but it's all been written very precisely. I used to love this album as a young teen cus it was so stupid and cus I could annoy my friends with it, but safe as milk and ice cream for crow are actually genuinely excellent records, unironically. Interesting dude.
I have listened to so much avant-prog, no wave, noise rock and free jazz... and coming back to this doesnt really sound that weird. I think may be a bad thing as I have showed stuff to my into Ween, prog rock/post-punk friends thinking it was quite normal and not far out... and then they look at me with an "WTF" face. lol.
This album was rehearsed and performed by very talented musicians its sound it completely intentional this album was groundbreaking in its absurdity, this came out in the 60s and there are still very few albums as strange as it, with out it we don’t get so many other artists who draw from the absurdity, it’s in the library of congress for a reason not because it sounds good but because it changed music in a way few records have
ive heard that when they played these tracks live they were actually able to play them the exact same way as in the studio versions, i cant even fathom how you would be able to do that
I think a excelent version of an album of this type of "lo-fi" "disorganized" is "Hi, how are you?" by Daniel Johnston. It's a very heavy and emotional listening tho, but was also famously known for being a Kurt Cobain favorite(he always wore a shirt with the album cover in it). I think it's way more melodic than this album overall too
I see a lot of “Safe As Milk” and “Clear Spot” recommendations for an accessible Beefheart album, but I’d also strongly suggest “Strictly Personal”, which is Beefheart’s second album, the one after “Safe as Milk” but before “Trout Mask Replica”. It’s essentially a psychedelic blues rock album, and a lot of it sounds like alternative rock, like it could have been recorded in the 90’s. I don’t understand why no one talks about that one, because it’s such a fantastic primer for “Trout Mask”, but incredibly accessible as well. And far superior to “Safe As Milk”, and maybe tied with “Clear Spot”.
LOVE YOUR VIDEOS MY GUY a few recommendations: Process - Sampha (experimental r&b, great production) Nurture - Porter Robinson (light summer electric with fun production) Koi No Yokan - Deftones (very heavy, sexier and heavier radiohead imo) OIL OF EVERY PEARLS UN-INSIDES - SOPHIE (experimental electronic) Hypochondriac - Brakence (very experimental emo rap, glitch pop) Reading Writing And Arithmetic - The Sundays (the smiths ish, with beautiful female vocals)
Yeah TMR is a ride on every listen, would recommend giving it a second chance in the future (even if its in a few years). When i heard it the second time i couldn't stop laughing and enjoyed it a ton through the nonsense. Definitely listen to some of the recs the comments have given you, The Residents, Scott Walker ( the second half of his albums specially, although Scott 4 is one of my favorite albums of all time), and Foetus come to mind.
Love how you just ran head first into the insane maelstrom if Triut Mask Replica. Safe As Milk would've been, well, SAFER. Her Eyes Are A Blue Million Miles and Electricity are two of my favourite tracks.
6:47 now here comes an important lesson regarding art and media: your first impressions are NEVER really accurate, more so if they are NEGATIVE. Take your time, put this work to rest and maybe revisit some years in the future when your mental library is bigger and more diverse. That's how I fell in love with Trout Mask Replica and many more pieces from different media.
Album recommendations: Waiting to Spill- The backseat lovers When we Were Friends- The backseat lovers Something you needed- Flipturn Shadowglow- Flipturn Songs- Adrianne Lenker Unreal Unearth- Hozier Close to Paradise- Patrick Watson Young Americans- David Bowie Everything so far- Pinegrove RMCM- Richy Mitch & The Coal Miners Good For You- Houndmouth The Land Is Inhospitable And So Are We- Mitski
COMMENT 2 Randon notes re music - bandmembers complain that a great rhythm-section performance is compressed into inaudibility on Neon Meate Dream [same goes for the even-wilder Flash Gordon's Ape which Smags will probably never hear) - and btw on that same track Don is playing simran horn (aka shenai) through the Leslie Cabinet while the solo at the end is on musette (similar instrument, different point of origin) / when he does the one man duet on Ant Man Bee you can def hear that, as these things go (!), he's less confident on tenor sax than on soprano sax (even though they're both keyed the same 'cause they're in B-flat) / on Hair Pie #1 there was originally another four-ish minutes of horn duetting by Don & Victor before the album track starts (most of which can be heard on the Grow Fins box set) / the bass-clarinet on Dachau Blues is def Don, 'cause he's (a little bit!) more able on the instrument than Victor who has struggling moments even on the album edit of HB1 / according to John French the first songs to be completed for the album (discounting the Bermann-ised ones, and Moonlight On Vermont, all of which were reworkings of older songs) were Dali's Car and Steal Softly Thru Snow, and at that point Don was actually able to play piano parts repeatedly and explain which guitars were supposed to play them - he soon stopped doing that and switched into "you know what to do, get on with it!" mode / ...and the last song to be completed was Frownland, the most polyrhythmically chaotic of the bunch / Pena is "recited" (sic) by Jeff Cotton who is also the voice of The Blimp, but the latter is relayed over a Frank Zappa backing-track (so the musicians are presumably Underwood, George, Tripp, Black and Estrada) / Don's solos on Dachau Blues, Ant Man Bee and Wild Life were overdubbed - of the ones played live during the take, only Big Joan comes from the "professional studio" sessions
COMMENT 1 Random notes re lyrics - Bill's Corpse sounds lile a mass-destruction scenario but it was written to wind-up Bill Harkleroad who'd just lost his pet goldfish / the China Pig is just a money box which he's mentally conflated with a real pig / the usual theory if that if there's a "trans" song on the album it's Big Joan - mismatched hands and feet are common to someone who's Had The Operation / Fallin' Ditch is the grave - it's a song about depression / it's almost certain that Herb Bermann contributed to the lyrics to Ant Man Bee as well as Sugar 'n Spikes / Wild Life's protagonist is a homeless fugitive in a war zone / the narrator of Orange Claw Hammer is either literally mad or he's a bigamous sailor who's been fathering bastards on several continents for thirty years / Too Much For My Mirror - "she" may possibly be cocaine / The Blimp is partly a sex-demon song and partly an imitation of the Hindenburg Disaster commentary / Veterans Day Poppy is a war-death song (some people manage to miss that)
I remember when I first listened to this it sounded like noise to me. Over time It started to rub off. I love Captain Beefheart. You should check out Frank zappa "One size fits all".
Have you listened to the band Primus yet? If not i highly recommend Pork Soda or Seas of cheese, some of my favourite albums ever. Love your videos man, keep up the amazing work 🙂
An album so strange people actually think it's good If you wanna hear something really weird that's technically amazing, check out Frank Zappa. He worked with Captain Beefheart but was a much better musician in my opinion. Apostrophe(') is a great album
1st listen is very hard. Each adjacent listen gets easier and feels shorter. If you get to the point that you actually like it then it feels like about 40 minutes from beginning to finish. Believe it or not every note played on Trout Mask Replica is intentional and played by talented musicians, with the exception of Captain Beefheart himself. Whatever wind/kazoo type instrument he is playing it is just random sh*t. I know that sounds ironic, if not stupid, because it all sounds random. It isn't. Beefheart basically held the whole band hostage in a shack for months, working them for hours on end, berating them, practically starving them and even physically abusing the drummer.The only time anyone was allowed to leave was to go to the local grocery store to shoplift food to survive. The rest of the time they only ate one tiny cup of some tofu type sh*t once a day that Beefheart's hippie girlfriend prepared for them. When the day finally came they went to the studio Frank Zappa provided them with and they cut the whole double album in one take to Franks astonishment. No retakes, no overdubs. Idk how many albums sold when it first came out, but it's likely that besides Beefheart the rest of the band never saw a dime for their work. For years to come some members of his "magic band" were on welfare and on some tours, Germany comes to mind, his band members were paid nothing. I like some of Captain Beefheart's work and maybe he was some kind of mad genius but he wasn't a great person by any means. If you look up Matt Groenig (the Simpsons) talking about Beefheart and Trout Mask Replica it's funny at times.Choice sample cuts if you dare: Ella Guru, When Big Joan Sets Up, The Blimp.
