Captain Beefheart: Mirror Man

Captain Beefheat, also know as Don Van Vliet, was one of the strangest artists in the history of rock music. His music might be off-putting for those whose tastes are limited to the mainstream, but for the initiated, his quirky and often downright bizarre music is a source of infinite amusement. Beefheart has been critically-praised for decades for his highly original music which incorporates rock, blues, and avant-garde jazz. Beefheart was always supported on recordings by various versions of his “Magic Band.”

Born Don Glen Vliet, Beefheart started out with childhood friend Frank Zappa in local groups such as The Omens and The Blackouts. Around this time he added “Van” to his name and was thus named Don Van Vliet. His colorful moniker, “Captain Beefheart,” came from Zappa who observed that he sang as if he had a “beef in his heart.”

In 1965, the first Magic Band was formed. They played blues and R&B, both covers & original material, and scored a contract with A&M Records with whom they released two singles. The first, “Diddy Wah Diddy,” became a minor hit, but the label discarded them anyway.

In 1967, Beefheart and the Magic Band landed a contract with Buddah Records and recorded their brilliant debut, “Safe as Milk” (1967). The album was rooted in blues and R&B, and while containing moments of slight weirdness like the track, “Electricity,” the sound of the band was still palatable to mainstream listeners.

This changed with the release of the great and sometimes controversial, “Trout Mask Replica” (1969), Beefheart’s masterpiece. It is one of the strangest recordings in the history of popular music. The music is a synthesis of pure avant-garde jazz and rock almost devoid of melody and harmony, featuring songs not so much sung, as croaked by Beefheart, whose voice, at the best of times, could be described as grating. As such, the album is unlistenable for mainstream music fans, but it is over-flowing with creativity and humour.

Beefheart would continue to release albums for the next 15 years which followed in a similar vein. The best of Beefheart’s post-Sixties work is: “Lick My Decals Off, Baby” (1970), “Mirror Man” (1971), “Clear Spot” (1972), “Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller)” (1978), and “Doc at the Radar Station” (1980).

Beefheart, one of the true originals of rock music, died in 2010.