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| Cover Art by A Dave @ Kinko |
Decals hasn't, for me, gained as much over the decades as other Beefheart albums. It sounds a little - thin? It doesn't have the soaked-in atmosphere of the Trout House recordings, and I've always been uncertain about exactly how necessary Ed Marimba/Art Tripp III was. Aaaand, there's maybe four or five songs on the album I love, but a lot of fiddly noodling and honking that never quite gets authentically weird. A lot of clear-thinking folks think it's Beefheart's masterpiece, but what do they know?
But I do enjoy this version, which you might think is exactly the same material where the vocals have been wiped by an astringent household cleanser, but it ain't. It sounds altogether punchier, and there's detail - like the grunted count-ins - not on the original album. So somebody got the raw master takes before Don did his thing. It sounds better, dammit.
In the unlikely event that you have a grail version of the album, do the right thing for once in your wretched so-called life and upload it.
This post funded in part by the Pork Bend Pumice Co.
LEAST favorite Beefheart album???
ReplyDeleteWell .."Decals" I s'pose!! Always found it very challenging to listen to!!
ReplyDeleteFor me it's got to be Ice Cream For Crow, although Doc At The Radar Station runs it close. They're basically spoken word albums, backed by academically "correct" Magic Bandisms. He sounds tired and uninterested (which, to be fair, he was), and his well of tunes had absolutely dried up. I'd listen to a Mallard album before I listened to either, and I'm not going to do that again in this lifetime.
DeleteHah! Roberta Christgau, the Amish Schoolma'am Of Rock Journalism, has this to say about "Crow":
Delete"... the Captain's sprung delta atonality still provides surprising and irreducible satisfactions" and gives it an A-, so I must be right.
OK, I'll say it: His 1974 output - Unconditionally & Moonbeams
DeleteIce Cream is pure genius.
Delete"Ice Cream is pure genius." I do think he and his art qualify as genius, but I'm not hearing it here. It's a collection of old lyrics he wasn't able to put a tune to, and a few rushed additions to make up album time - you know, filler.
DeleteWorst? It's a tie between Bluejeans and Moonbeams and Unconditionally Guaranteed. I thought it was obvious.
ReplyDeleteGotta be "Bluejeans and moonbeams" or "unconditionally Guaranteed". A bit generic. I like "Upon the my oh my", though.
ReplyDeletein theory i love the man got most of his output however i rarely listen to any of it anymore...which is worst ??? they're all bad in their own way or they're all good in their own way
ReplyDelete...woody
Gee whiz.
DeleteUnconditionally Guaranteed, the tea was noticeably weaker.
ReplyDeleteI would say Unconditionally Guaranteed and also Blue Jeans & Moonbeams although some may opine these are the only albums where the captain sings correctly but the songwriting is not that good.
ReplyDeleteJ from Europe.
Actually, Decals is probably my favourite CB album, just as "out" as Trout Mask but less sprawling. The "Tragic Band" albums are unlistenable, IMO, so they qualify for the POS Prize. The last time I saw the good Captain was on the Doc At The Radar Station tour, he certainly wasn't uninterested in a live setting, Farq.
ReplyDelete"Sprawling", you say? A double album?
DeleteIs there a download link for this?
ReplyDeleteHere is the link, the link is here, this here's the link:
ReplyDeletehttps://workupload.com/file/G6xyKgNteDy
Included at NO EXTRA COST to you, Music Lover, is a grand FREE GIFT! Yours to keep whatever you decide! Oboy!
Here's my edgy, controversial take on his "worst" albums:
ReplyDeletehttps://falsememoryfoam.blogspot.com/2022/07/the-tragic-band-horrible-and-vulgar-but.html