Pepperland
San Rafael
CA,
18 September 1970
01 - When Big Joan Sets Up
02 - Bellerin Plain
03 - I Wanna Find A Woman…
04 - Peon
05 - I Love You, You Big Dummy
06 - The Clouds Are Full of Wine
07 - Woe Is Uh Me Bop
08 - One Red Rose …
09 - Bass Solo
10 - Doctor Dark
11 - Space Age Couple
12 - Earth Angel (sax improvisation w/drum solo, dedicated to Jimi Hendrix
https://mega.nz/file/Ar93DaiJ#qPZnKraf3Oa5cTmKSVim3szffDcML7U5BVadE7Nqujk
Festival Actuel
Captain Beefheart
Amougies (Belgium)
Festival Actuel
October 28,1969
source: audience recording (mono)
Captain Beefheart's set from the last day of the Amougies festival.
1. introduction (4:45)
2. She's Too Much For My Mirror - My Human Gets Me Blues (Video Source)
3. Wild Life (3:54)
4. Hobo Chang Ba (2:23)
5. When Big Joan Sets Up (w. Zappa) (20:16)
Don Van Vliet (Captain Beefheart) vocals, tenor & soprano sax, bass clarinet
Victor Hayden (The Mascara Snake) - bass clarinet
Bill Harkleroad (Zoot Horn Rollo) - guitars
Mark Boston (Rockette Morton) - bass
Jeff Burchell (The Imposter Drumbo) - drums & percussion
with Frank Zappa - guitar (1/3/5)
https://mega.nz/file/uR90ECCQ#KzivonMWkcrb2n6d_NBlEpkcsxRSdRQcPKvbGWV2KbY
https://mega.nz/file/n2JGTYDJ#kTAkysgqk-Gu5v8w5a6Rh52SCMnHvQaHgJ5ZW4MaBUg
Tracklist:
1 Boogler Risin'
2 Dirty Blue Gene I
3 Dirty Blue Gene II
4 Clear Spot (instrumental)
5 Harry Irene
6 Happy Blue Pumpkin
7 Kiss me my love
8 Little Scratch
9 Your Love Brought Me To Life
10 Pompadour Swamp
11 Funeral Hill I
12 Frying Pan
13 Dual And Abdul
14 Best Batch Yet (instrumental)
15 Suzy Murder Wrist
16 I Can't Do This Unless I Can Do This
17 Obenso Cinquo
18 Funeral Hill II
19 Flaming Autograph
20 Scratch My Back
A review:
"The 1972 sessions that produced the Spotlight Kid and Clear Spot LPs marked a new era in the recording career of Captain Beefheart and The Magic Band. With the Captain appearing to have loosened the structural death grip he imposed on his musicians since the Trout Mask Replica LP, the tracks that make up the Brown Star Sessions illustrate the band exploring some new turf by stretching out the tunes and taking their polyrhythmic mayhem to new heights. The results are similar in feel to the officially released Mirror Man Sessions, but more relaxed and varied in style and instrumentation. A number of the tracks here are either instrumental or wildly different versions than those that would appear on Spotlight Kid, Clear Spot and subsequent LPs. Check out the rubbery "Boogler Risin'", which later became "I'm Gonna Booglarize You Baby" and the slower than molasses take on "Clear Spot." The fidelity here is better in some points than others (some sound like studio masters, others contain a little tape hiss) but this is easy to overlook when the music is as potent as this stuff. Enjoy a good freak out." (the Heat Warps Archive)
https://mega.nz/file/2n4zVCSK#7TKa4OBIDrrwLrZOrdu1FmhWOUXpkglUBRJJwH3Alg0
Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band
Unconditionally Guaranteed Backing Tracks
Not as bad as most people think.
Advice: Hear the instrumentals at least twice. You will miss Don's vocals wondering about the music without any! edges. Then switch to the original album and enjoy the songs with some overdubbed gimmicks and Don singing about love and gold. Afterwards you will sing the melodies for the rest of the day.
If that doesn't help, delete the whole thing. Thanks.
Studio Sessions
Hollywood Sound Recorders, Hollywood, California
Early 1974
Lineage: Studio->tape unknown gen->Wavelab->WAV->sound edits->Trader's Little Helper->FLAC Level 8
Tracklist:
01. Magic Be (2:53)
02. Full Moon, Hot Sun (2:19)
03. Sugar Bowl (2:06)
04. Peaches (3:21)
05. I Got Love On My Mind (3:06)
06. New Electric Ride (3:01)
07. This Is The Day (4:46)
08. Upon The My-O-My (2:39)
09. Happy Love Song (3:35)
10. Lazy Music (2:48)
Total length: 30:38.09
Sound quality: lots of hiss.
Line-Up:
Don Van Vliet: vocals, harmonica
Mark Boston: bass guitar, guitar
Bill Harkleroad: guitar, slide guitar
Alex Snouffer: guitar, slide guitar
Art Tripp: drums, percussion
Mark Marcellino: keyboards
Andy DiMartino: acoustic guitar (studio guest)
Del Simmons: tenor sax, flute (studio guest)
Producer: Andy DiMartino
Engineers: John Guess, Jim Callon
Comments:
Barry Alfonso: Parting company with Reprise, Beefheart entered an odd phase of his career that linked him with some unlikely company. By some chain of events, he began working with manager Andy DiMartino, a Hollywood music biz veteran best known for producing Rhythm Of The Rain, a 1965 Top 5 hit by The Cascades.
Several band members remember Andy and his attorney-brother Augie less than favorably. Tripp, however, felt encouraged by their involvement at first: "When I met Andy, he seemed like a no-nonsense kind of a guy, a scrappy little Italian. To me, he was a breath of fresh air. He told the band, "I'll handle Don; you guys just do the music." Don would actually sing with us at rehearsals sometimes, but in general we tried to keep him out of things - it was a new situation now." Part of this 'new situation' was the addition of keyboardist Mark Marcellino to The Magic Band at DiMartino's suggestion.
Beefheart secured a new record deal in the U.S. on Mercury (and signed with Virgin in Europe), then went into Hollywood Sound with DiMartino to make Unconditionally Guaranteed. At first, The Magic Band was excited about how the tracks were turning out. As Tripp remembers it, "We were practically backslapping each other - the tracks were tight, and we were delighted. Everything went great, we finished up, and we all left to go back to up north. But when we finally heard the album, it was a tremendous disappointment. There (was) all this sweetening, and it was just terrible."
(The Dust Blows Forward booklet)
Roger Ames: The DiMartino influence is obvious, and though the drums sound as if they were recorded underwater, the album still kicks and invites you to hum along. And that is different for a Beefheart album. DiMartino worked Don hard - sometimes recording from seven in the evening till the next morning and Don says he loved it.
Don Van Vliet: DiMartino demands tremendous energy. He's the right producer, the cosmic mitt. Get it the way it really is and get it down, is what I've always wanted to do, no fooling around and we can do that now. He got my voice better than anyone before. I'm happy with the elpee. The other was the other and this is this. I like the other but I like this too.
(Roger Ames: Captain Beefheart. People Weekly. September 1974)
Bill Harkleroad: The recording sessions for Unconditionally Guaranteed were at Hollywood Sound, LA and were actually pretty easy. Go in there - one or two takes - done - good enough. I wasn't there for the vocals and some of the overdubs. I didn't give a shit - I didn't want to be part of it. By the time we were actually recording the album it was "Fuck you, I'm out of here!!! I'm not going to put up with any shit. Maybe if you give me a big check I'll stay." But after realizing that I was never going to get any credit for the tunes, the break up was already in progress.
(Bill Harkleroad: Lunar Notes)
Bill Harkleroad: Personally, I didn't really care about the direction the music was taking so long as I didn't have to put up with anymore bullshit. I'm not sure that the tunes were necessarily non-Beefheartish, but they certainly weren't like Trout Mask. I think they had that 'Beefheart' element, but during the recording process it changed a lot. However, unlike other people, if you just listen to the tunes, I really don't see this album as being that big a radical change in musical direction. As the songs were put together, they ended up being real 'verse-chorus' orientated and I really don't like admitting this, but a lot of the guitar parts came from me.
(Bill Harkleroad: Lunar Notes)
Art Tripp: We truly had fun working up the songs on [Unconditionally Guarateed]. Alex St. Clair had joined us since the recent tour, and he was delightful to work with. Because most of the cuts were pretty simple, I doubt whether the fans would have really got behind us doing more commercial music. However, we'll never know. The voice was pumped up to the point of obliterating the band. When we left the Hollywood studio after laying down the tracks, I recall thinking that those tracks were just about the best thing we'd ever done-- in terms of both time and feel. I especially enjoyed a song called "Peaches". However, when the band finally got our album copies, we were horrified. As we listened, it was as though each song was worse than the one which preceded it. The mixing was terrible, and all you could hear was the voice. We were speechless. I think at that point we started realizing that we'd either have to get a lot more dough to continue on, or get ourselves another singer. Soon after, we started work on what would become "Mallard".
(Art Tripp: Art Tripp is Ed Marimba is Ted Cactus. Radar Station)
https://mega.nz/file/2n4zVCSK#7TKa4OBIDrrwLrZOrdu1FmhWOUXpkglUBRJJwH3Alg0
Studio Sessions
Warner Bros. Recording Studios, North Hollywood, California
June-July 1982
The last Beefheart rarity I got lately from a friend who wants to stay anonymous. I didn't know about these instrumental versions before, these tracks are not the rehearsal tape form ICFC sessions, hre the tracks are nearly finished, several tracks starts with somebody counting.
Otherwise the same story as with the other outtakes: the tapes were made for a former band member in order to learn the tunes. Our guy got his tape directly from him, transferred the tapes to CDR using a stand alone CD burner.
Track 13 was damaged by maybe 65 diginoise scratches. It took some time but the problem could be solved by editing the track with Wavelab pencil.
Thank you very much again to Mr. Anonymous!
Lineage: Studio->1st gen tape->2nd gen tape->Fostex X-1 Portastudio->CDR->CDR->Wavelab->WAV->Trader's Little Helper->FLAC Level 8
Tracklist:
01. The Host, The Ghost The Most Holy-O (2:25)
02. Ice Cream For Crow (5:35)
03. Cardboard Cutout Sundown (2:38)
04. Witch Doctor Life (2:43)
05. The Past Sure Is Tense (3:05)
06. Hey Garland, I Dig Your Tweed Coat (4:48)
07. Semi-Multicoloured Caucasian (6:02)
08. Witch Doctor Life (2:38)
09. Ice Cream For Crow (4:43)
10. Semi-Multicoloured Caucasian (5:08)
11. The Past Sure Is Tense (3:28)
12. Hey Garland, I Dig Your Tweed Coat (4:54)
13. Witch Doctor Life (2:43)
Total length: 50:57.40
Line-up:
Don Van Vliet: vocals, harmonica, bass clarinet, soprano saxophone, chinese gongs, prop horn/kazoo
Gary Lucas: guitar, steel-appendage guitar, glass finger guitar, national steel dualion
Cliff Martinez: drums, percussion, shake bouquet, glass washboard, metal drums
Richard Snyder: bass guitar, marimba, viola
Jeff Moris Tepper: guitar, slide-guitar, steel-appendage guitar, acoustic guitar
Producer: Don Van Vliet
Engineer: Phil Brown
Comments:
Cliff Martinez: Yeah! I've tried to think about the logic behind it all, the feeling, the emotion that was created, and what effect all at tension had on the music. When we went into the studio, I felt very much like I was in tune with the spirit of the music. The music always struck me as being, well, brilliant, melodic, angry, incomprehensible, with an undercurrent of humor. That was sort of the pressure, the tension that there was to play the part. You never really had the feeling of confidence. Everything had this real raw edge to it. You played every note like it was the last note you were ever going to play. lt demanded this kind of superhuman intensity, and that got on the record. We always discussed playing with this superhuman energy and the almost angry feeling that came across in the music. Maybe that's deliberate or maybe it's just a by-product of the way you feel after working with this man. The mindset you were in translated into the music. I never played anything with more energy, I mean, I played in a bunch of punk rock bands which was supposed to be high energy and angry. But that was never quite as close as the Beefheart thing. lt was always played with a spirit of anger and extreme high tension energy. lt seemed to benefit the music. bather that was intentional or not, I don't know.
(Grow Fins booklet)
Scott McFarland: I talked to someone who was there at the sessions and they described how Don basically ignored all advice from the engineers and gave the record a flat 2-dimensional (Don's conception of it) sound. It only makes sense that it would be a source of frustration for the engineers. I mean, let's face it, Ice Cream is exceedingly flat in sound, and Doc is too. Had Don ceded some of the reins in the studio, these recordings might be even more amazing. Personally, I think one of the reasons that Trout Mask stands out as such a masterpiece has to do with Zappa & his team's efforts to capture the sound of the band accurately and crisply.
(alt.fan.capt-beefheart)
Robert Williams: Phil Brown was the engineer on Ice Cream For Crow. Cliff Martinez told me that on the first day of recording Phil took a baffle and placed it two inches in front of the kick drum. I guess Phil was more concerned with microphone leAKAge than giving the bass drum a chance to breath. Now he's trying to suffocate us all with his scathing remarks about Don. I'll tell you one thing, he was God damned lucky to have the chance to work with Don in the first place. He should be grateful. "Boo hoo! Don yelled at me!"
(alt.fan.capt-beefheart)
Rick Snyder: His lack of formal musical training was his own enemy and his greatest asset. It was his nemesis insofar as it presented him with little or no vocabluary with which to communicate to musicians on their terms (e.g., at one time he instructed the drummer, Cliff, to play a beat that he had just given him "as if (he) was juggling a plate full of B.B.'s". Don really meant for him to play it in free time, without concern to making the downbeats of the phrase occur at regular intervals -- but he couldn't say it that way!). At no time could Don request of any of us that we play a specific note by name (e.g., "play an E flat there") -- he would instead whistle it, play it on a harmonica or, in a fit of exasperation, grab the neck of your instrument and percussively hit the fretboard with his hands in search of the note he was looking for. He frequently assumed the responsibility for any difficulty we were having, apologizing for not being able to tell us, in musical terms, what he was asking us to do. Armed, as it were, with a distinct lack of musical convention or vocabulary, Don was conversely able to create some of the most remarkable artistic "compositions" (he never called them "songs"), as if the noises made by our instruments were little more than colors to be applied to a canvas of air -- nothing more, nothing less.
In fact, the only time that we had an outright disagreement was when he instructed me to cut my hair (which I was quite fond of at the time), stating that if I insisted on keeping it long that I would not be allowed on either the album cover shot or the video, saying that I looked like "somebody's old aunt" with hair of such length. I eventually yielded, but not without a certain amount of grief on my part. A small price to pay ...
(Justin C. Sherill: Interview With Rick Snyder)
Rick Snyder: Light Reflected Off The Oceands Of The Moon, to the discerning listener, is in fact the same backing track for Hey Garland, I Dig Your Tweed Coat, albeit with a bunch of Don's horns slapped on top of it and without the fade-out that brings "... Garland ..." to its close.
Ice Cream For Crow was, unfortunately, a bit of a rush job. The band, once again reshuffled, had to learn the material for this album and record it in a matter of months. There was little opportunity for the band that played on this record to acquire the intensity and volatile chemistry that the preceding band had attained through life together on the road, something which I view as a 'missed opportunity' of the highest order.
The only stuff that there might be would be alternate mixes and/or takes of Ice Cream For Crow tracks. A viola part which Don had asked me to dub on top of the title track was scrubbed in the final mix. There was, in my opinion, a better basic track for Witch Doctor Life than the one that was used. There are a few moments on the album that cry out for remixing, especially the last part of The Past Sure Is Tense where the guitar and harmonica parts seem to have been pushed just a little 'too' far over the edge. Oh, well ... if Don wanted it that way, then that way shall it be.
To anticipate the question, there were no recording sessions post-Ice Cream For Crow. That was the "swansong" -- or should I say, 'crowsong'?
(alt.fan.capt-beefheart. Posted by Ted Alvy)
https://mega.nz/file/fvATmBxC#mqs30SrQ8ysctRtJbnxdCSLfYeKAc5f3mBKT1C10zN0
song list ( as written by John "DRUMBO" French )
1. A Piece of Me -- (we changed it from Deja Vu) Harkleroad music / French Lyrics.
2. Let That Child Live -- Music and Lyrics French
3. Reign of Pain -- Dan Moore -- Lyrics / French, Harkleroad -- Music
4. One Day Once -- Harkleroad, Music / French, Lyrics
5. Hot Ice ( Instrumental) Harkleroad
6. Hot Ice (Vocal) Harkleroad, Music / French, Lyrics.
band members
Bill Harkleroad...Guitar
Alex Snouffer.....Guitar
Mark Boston.......Bass
John Thomas.......Keys
John French.......Drums & Vocals
total time approx . . 22:33
Maxell XLII > Sony TC-WE805S > TDK DA-3826 Stand Alone Burner > CD-R > PC > Wav > Traders Little Helper Flac level 8 > dimeadozen
transfer by mcchocchoc
Wow. This one is really special. . . . .
Digging through the Archives here I found this tape, which I had totally forgotten about. It was labeled " Mallard Demo ". I was soon to find out that it was not actually a Mallard
demo, but instead THE MAGIC BAND Demo ( ! ! ) . . . recorded shortly after the guys all left CAPTAIN BEEFHEART & THE MAGIC BAND in 1974. The music here is really great and I am thinking that it will be "new" to many folks. Enjoy !
*******************************************************************************************
The following notes about this tape were written by John French. August/September 2010.
**( This first paragraph was written after I sent an email to John asking about this tape.
I also asked about the riffs I heard on this demo that I knew were used on Captain Beefheart's " You Know You're A Man " ). . . .
That demo was recorded in two places. The instrumentals were recorded in Bill's "shed" house in Arcata. He had a loft bed, and the drums were underneath. That was the "drum booth." The vocals were added in Malibu at the beach house of some famous DJ ( can't recall which one, but it could have been Casey Kasem). Ted Alvy, as I recall, did the technical stuff using the DJ's tape decks. I think the shower was my vocal booth!
The personnel was Bill Harkleroad, Alex Snouffer, Mark Boston, John Thomas ( keys) and myself. We were planning on getting a drummer and I would just sing, but it never happened. BTW -- we were never called Mallard then. That was a name they chose after re-forming without me. We were "The Magic Band."
I noticed that "Hot Ice" riffs were later used on "You Know You're a Man." Probably, Don just used a riff of Bill's and claimed it as his own. I know Bill would never do that.
It must have been the Fall of 1974. We rapped it a couple of months later. I came back to Lancaster from Northern California on November 21. I was 26.
**( The following two paragraphs were written in two different messages after I sent John a copy of this tape ). . . .
I've never been much on lyrics and would have much rather played instrumental music, but I think that the music ( mostly Bill's) really was the shining moment in that music. I had been in theater for three years when they called me to play and so had to start over with the singing. I can't remember much about this, but will give a listen on my iPod while working and see what comes back.
We recorded this music in Bill's shed -- where he was living with his girlfriend at the time. We borrowed a Teac 3340 -four-track tape recorder and begged a bunch of mics and a mixer off some friends. Bill was the main impetus of the group when I showed up. The first thing I heard was "One Day Once" and I went outside and wrote lyrics in about 10 minutes. Art Tripp was still playing drums at that point but he left shortly after -- burned out from the music business. Most of the stuff was in the wrong key for me. All the stuff that says "Harkleroad, Music" was written before I arrived with the exception of "Reign Of Pain" which was a song I did with another band . Bill added the middle section.
Hot Ice may have been a collaboration on the lyrics.
That's about all I know. Just don't call it a "Mallard Demo." It was The Magic Band then. Mallard was something they came up with after I left.
*End of John's notes.
*******************************************************************************************
*******************************************************************************************
There is also a short paragraph about this tape on page 602 in John's recent book
" Beefheart : Through The Eyes Of Magic ". Copies of this amazing book can be purchased
directly from John. Find him on myspace.
Much thanks to John for taking the time to write some notes and provide the proper
track listing. I can not express how much I appreciate that. Much love and respect to
Mr. John " Drumbo " French.
. . . also thanks to "blackpage" for his ears & eyes.
upped at dimeadozen on September 04, 2010.
NEVER FOR SALE / FREE / TRADE ALWAYS AND ONLY ! Thank you.
https://mega.nz/file/LrwQnS5T#YCnfjIUro5shwC2Aal_-reGx7NNtdNbV37dL0PA8DOg
FORMATO FLAC
Studio Sessions
Record Plant, Los Angeles
Early Fall 1970
Tracklist:
01. Lick My Decals Off, Baby (2:46)
02. Doctor Dark (2:54)
03. I Love You, You Big Dummy (2:57)
04. Bellerin' Plain (3:35)
05. Woe-Is-Uh-Me-Bop (2:17)
06. Japan In A Dishpan #4 (3:04)
07. I Wanna Find A Woman That'll Hold My Big Toe Till I Have To Go (2:11)
08. Petrified Forest (1:46)
09. The Buggy Boogie Woogie (2:13)
10. The Smithsonian Institute Blues (Or The Big Dig) (2:11)
11. Space-Age Couple (2:33)
12. The Clouds Are Full Of Wine (Not Whiskey Or Rye) (2:51)
13. Flash Gordon's Ape (4:12)
14. Japan In A Dishpan #4 (3.15) instrumental, sax
15. Japan In A Dishpan #4 (3.10) instrumental, different sax
16. Japan In A Dishpan #4 (3.12) drums, bass
17. Flash Gordon's Ape (4.23) vocals, sax
18. Flash Gordon's Ape (4.19) vocals
19. Bellerin' Plain (3:31) no overdubs
20. The Buggy Boogie Woogie (2:06) vocals*3
21. Well Well Well (1:58)
Sources:
01-13,21: Where's The Beef? tape (Henry Kaiser Mixes)
14-18: Lick My Decals Off Baby Outtakes tape
19-20: Distant Cousins tape (mp3)
Lineage:
SBD 16-track tape->Henry Kaiser's tape->Zoogz Rift's tape->another tape copy->
my tape->transfer to WAV using Wavelab->Timeworks Mastering EQ/Freefilter->
transfer to FLAC using Trader's Little Helper (level 8)
Total length: 1:01:24
Quality: 9-10/10
Line-Up:
Captain Beefheart/Don Van Vliet: vocals, tenor sax, soprano sax, bass clarinet, harmonica
Rockette Morton/Mark Boston: bass guitar, guitar, vocals on Well Well Well
Drumbo/John French: drums, percussion, broom
Zoot Horn Rollo/Bill Harkleroad: guitar, slide 'glass finger' guitar
Ed Marimba/Art Tripp: marimba, drums, percussion, broom
Some Comments:
John French: The Decals session was at Record Plant. Despite the added pressure of having a gang of 'suits' standing around looking at their watches, we were done with the basics in less than a week, and then Don went into overdubs. Dick Kunc had been called in to engineer and stayed with Artie and me in Laurel Canyon. He was getting pressure from the business folks to hurry us along. He engineered all the instrumental tracks. However, a thoughtful suggestion on his part one evening put him immediately at enmity with Don, and he was fired. The assistant, Phil Schier, completed the engineer's role for the overdub and mixdown sessions.
(Grow Fins booklet)
Bill Harkleroad: As I remember it, the record was recorded over a 2-week period at the Record Plant in LA with Phil Schier as the engineer - who I think had worked previously with the Velvet Underground. I don't remember there being a lot of sessions, but definitely more than there had been for Trout Mask - there could hardly have been less!
(Bill Harkleroad: Lunar Notes)
Dave Lynch: The complete set of backing tracks remixed by Henry Kaiser to remove Beefheart's voice, harp, and sax.
Dave Lynch: In various stages of mixing, with bass and drums more prominent on some takes, and without the relentless sax skronking all over Flash Gordon's Ape, which makes this version far superior to the Decals version.
Michael H.: I think the point of it was to do a mix so that musicians could hear the parts better, and maybe try to learn them. I am very glad I have a copy of it now, because it is interesting to me, in the same way it is interesting to me to know that they played mostly Fender guitars. It was a behind-the-scenes thing that Kaiser allegedly did behind Don's back, without his permission.
Kaiser's opinions about Van Vliet seem, in my opinion, to go beyond a simple case of wanting to set the record straight. It strikes me as more of an obsession, and I think that he is a cult of one if he actually believes that the bands after Lick My Decals Off, Baby were not Magic. Anybody who believes such a thing must be deaf and simplistic, but in all fairness, I do not know if Kaiser actually did go so far as to say that. I found it strange that he would sneak in and re-mix Lick My Decals Off, Baby minus Van Vliet. I could see wanting to show how the instrumentals sounded as instrumentals, because a lot of brilliant playing is somewhat masked in the released mix by the vocals, but to also completely mute Don's harp and sax parts in those clandestine mixes suggests a personal vendetta of some kind, but it is difficult to know what it is. Given that Kaiser's guitar style is based on (mainly John French's) transcriptions of Van Vliet's ideas as adapted and played primarily by Bill Harkeroad, it can be safely said that Kaiser is riding Van Vliet's coat-tails, guitar-wise, because without Van Vliet, Trout Mask Replica and Lick My Decals Off, Baby would never have existed, and Kaiser would not have had the opportunity to build a career on mimicking that style. Why he is so bitter at Don is anyone's guess.
(Fire Party)
Robert Williams: I have been listening to a tape Zoogz sent me containing the backing tracks from Clear Spot and Lick My Decals Off, Baby. It's amazing! Don's vocals are so strong and take up so much sonic space on the records that it's difficult to hear all the incredible parts that the Magic Band were playing back then. Shit, those guys should be rich and famous for the parts they played. Instead they're just trying to get by. It's really sad when all those lame bands out there get to swim in money and the true American artists such as they are have to live a life bordering on poverty. Just imagine the amount of time it took for them to prepare that highly imaginative music.
(alt.fan.capt-beefheart)
Mike Barnes: I still can't find that original fax from Henry Kaiser but he had said that "Well Well Well" was the only thing from that Decals session which was mixed down for inclusion (onto 2 track from 8 I think) but was rejected. I don't know if this was a rough mix or finished mix but I'm wondering if it was the former. The reason being that there was often a big discrepancy between rough mixes and the finished ones which Don OK'd.
Just think of all the Spotlight Kid outtakes (none of which were properly mixed down) and how they differ from the sound of the finished album. They all sound sharper and less muddy and gloomy than the album. Don was notorious for going for a dry, flat sound with little or no reverb and, in my opinion, wasn't too good behind the mixing desk. And all the Decals instrumental dubs sound a lot different to the album, as we said.
The only two tracks mixed down for possible inclusion on SK were "Funeral Hill" (short) and an early version of "Harry Irene". Again this comes from Kaiser who I can't think would be anything less than ultra-diligent.
Who knows - could Kaiser be wrong? Heaven forbid!
(Fire Party)
Mike Barnes: There were reputedly the tracks Dual and Abdul and Open Pins but they are part of the SK sessions, which you seem to have although there is so much stuff that I had overloked these tracks till recently. Also "Ballerino", the prototype for "A Carrot...". They made use of their alloted studio time to just bash down masses of ideas, some half-formed. I'm just going by what Henry Kaiser said about "well Well Well" - he actually went into the Warners vaults and noted down all the information on the tapes/studio logs etc. Can't find Kaiser's fax but I can't remember any other outtakes off hand
I'll have to go back and listen to it again. Could "Well Well Well" it be a rough mix? Don's finished mix of Decals was a great disappointment to the group, Harkleroad especially.
There is an album's worth of vocal-less dubs and some weird mixes of the vocals and also the John Oswald Plunderphonics mix. I'm pretty sure this must have been something to do with Kaiser running off copies so he and others could hear the instrumentals some time in the late 70s/80s (?). Who from Warners would be interested in doing such a thing? Who else had access. He also covered some Decals stuff in his own music. The instrumental dub of the album sounds fantastic and sounds different production-wise, with everything generally boosted up. Flash Gordon's Ape sounds like a totally different track with all the saxes and voice removed.
(Fire Party)
https://mega.nz/file/evgmWZ6C#wGPcjdmz1Q0DyZdIU8SRd0_7hqo96wT7VYKSXAXNV9c
Grateful Dead 19780914 Giza, Egypt Sphinx Theatre Source: Soundboard Lineage: reel(m)(multitrack) > cass > DAT (48k) > Sony R500 ...
