It Comes To You In A Plain Brown Wrapper was intended to be the name of the second Captain Beefheart album, a double album recorded late in 1967. This album never saw the light of day, which has given rise to not a little speculation and discussion among fans of Captain Beefheart.

Tracks from the original sessions have been used on several re-release and compilation albums, but until now no record company has attempted to reconstruct It Comes To You In A Plain Brown Wrapper as an album in its own right.

On July 22nd, Sundazed Records will do just that, when they release a Captain Beefheart double album called It Comes To You In A Plain Brown Wrapper featuring what they say is, "a wealth of unedited takes never before on vinyl".

There are thirteen tracks, including two takes of Moody Liz of which one doesn't seem to have been released before. John French has written the sleeve notes and Cal Schenkel has designed the cover (which is presently under wraps).

Sundazed Records has an enviable reputation for their catalogue of re-releases, but this seems to be the first time that they have ventured into the business of reconstructing an album which was never released. I'm sure that the finished product will be a talking point for some time to come.

There is more information at Sundazed Records website.

Update: 23 July 2008

A review of this release is now available on the Radar Station:-
http://www.beefheart.com/datharp/albums/official/wrapper.htm

Posted by derek@beefheart.com at 8:35 PM  - 12 comments - post a comment

John French, the legendary Magic Band drummer, has bought a new set of drums and hopes soon to be playing them on tour.
We await an announcement about the name and line-up of John's new band (this will not be a Magic Band tour).

In the meantime John has let us know that after over twenty years of musical partnership with his Rogers Holiday drums he has decided that now is the time to let them go.

Here is your chance to become the proud possessor of a genuine piece of Magic Band / O Solo Drumbo / Crazy Backwards Alphabet / French, Frith, Kaiser, Thompson history. Simply click on this link for eBay, read all about the drumkit and place your bid before the auction closes on June 18th.

Can the lucky winner then expect a visit from John French delivering the drums in the shovel of his JCB (pictured)?

Posted by derek@beefheart.com at 10:20 AM  - 0 comments - post a comment

Rhino release a downloadable Beefheart sampler

In a flurry of no publicity at all, Rhino Records have released their first scratchproof Captain Beefheart album. It is available only as a download.

Rhino Hi-Five: Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band is a compilation of five tracks recorded between 1969 and 1978. It includes two live cuts and what Rhino describe as a remastered LP version of the song Bat Chain Puller.

Bat Chain Puller was remastered to its sonic advantage for Virgin/EMI's 2006 Captain Beefheart re-release CDs. The live tracks are from Rhino's limited edition Beefheart CD, My Father's Place. The other two tracks are taken from Trout Mask Replica and Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller).

As all of these tracks are already issued on vinyl and/or CD, some may wonder whether the "lossy" WMA file format of Rhino's album is the most suitable on which to listen to this material.

This curiosity is available for money at Rhino's Digital Store but in some territories it can be downloaded under license, without charge.

Crazy Backwards Alphabet II

Henry Kaiser is known here as a fine guitarist and composer who has often demonstrated a keen interest in the music of Captain Beefheart. He has recorded several cover versions of Don Van Vliet compositions, has researched Captain Beefheart recordings and other material in the Warner vaults, and has worked on various musical projects with John 'Drumbo' French. The 1987 album Crazy Backwards Alphabet, which Henry Kaiser recorded with John French, Michael Maksymenko and Andy West, among others, is a splendid realisation of post-Beefheart musical possibilities.

Crazy Backwards Alphabet II, consisting of previously unheard tracks taken from the original sessions, was released in September 2007 on Henry Kaiser's new digital label There Records / A Train. A good many other Henry Kaiser albums have also been compressed for that label.

There Records / A Train have kept very quiet about their "lossy" product, and there does not seem to be a vinyl or CD version of Crazy Backwards Alphabet II.

As far as I know, just one track from Crazy Backwards Alphabet II is available in a non-scratchproof format. Ten Year Anniversary is on Michael Maksymenko's 2008 retrospective CD from ReR Megacorp, Businesscide - MP3 and WMA samples at Juno Records. The Kräldjursanstalten MySpace page gives a taste of some of Michael's other recordings.

And while I'm mentioning Swedish musicians with a Beefheart bent, erstwhile Beefheart cover guitarist Jimmy Ågren has a new album called Various Phobias. His MySpace page should point the way.

Frank and Don: "envy, admiration, jealousy, arrogance and paranoia"

July's Mojo magazine has a long article by Dave di Martino about the long and troubled relationship between Frank Zappa and Don Van Vliet. Drawing heavily on old music press stories, including his own 1993 interview with Bill Harkleroad, Martino supplements his research with fresh quotations from Pamela des Barres, Cal Schenkel and Gary Lucas. Gary's story about the final meeting between Don and Frank is fleshed out in great detail, while Pamela des Barres and Cal Schenkel provide historical context. Several rarely seen photographs complete the piece.

Captain Beefheart album reviewed in Record Collector

The cover of the June issue of Record Collector magazine suggests that it contains an piece about Captain Beefheart. Well ..... yes and no.

The promised article turns out to be not much more than a review by Alan Clayson of a re-issue of the compilation CD, Electricity. Clayson roundly plugs fellow Record Collector contributor, Harry Shapiro, who, Clayson says, has written an "engrossing and informative essay" for the CD's sleeve notes. An extremely short Q&A between Grahame Bent and John French completes the less than half page piece.

The revisited Electricity compilation contains three 'bonus' tracks which were not included on the original: Safe As Milk (Take 5) , 25th Century Quaker, and Korn Ring Finger.

There is an extract from Clayson's review at Record Collector's website.


Alton Kelley

The death of graphic designer Alton Kelley has been announced. With collaborator Stanley Mouse, Kelley helped to define the face of west coast rock 'n' roll. Mouse and Kelley's iconic images were used on hundreds of posters, albums, fliers and logos from the sixties onwards.

The Mouse and Kelley artwork pictured here advertises a Captain Beefheart two-night residence at San Francisco's Avalon Ballroom in 1966.

and finally.....

Hello to Manchester band Beep Seals, named after the Don Van Vliet poem and thanks to Trond Einar Garmo for mentioning the new Swedish CD releases to me.

Posted by derek@beefheart.com at 12:24 PM  - 1 comments - post a comment

It has been a while since we last had news of a performance from Big Eyed Beans from Venus, the Athens, GA based Captain Beefheart tribute band. This week there are two.

This Thursday, May 22nd, sees them play at Lenny's in Atlanta, "This we be the most awesome show yet heard by man or woman alike," as Lenny's website informs us.

On Friday, May 23rd, Big Eyed Beans from Venus turn up at their old floppy boot stomping ground in Athens, Caledonia Lounge. I'm told that the set list will be mainly compositions from Trout Mask Replica and earlier.

At Southern Shelter you can hear recordings of the band in action in 2006, including on-stage contributions from Rockette Morton and Denny Walley.

Posted by derek@beefheart.com at 9:17 PM  - 1 comments - post a comment

Alex Waterhouse-Hayward took this photograph of Don Van Vliet wearing a Harris Tweed jacket in Vancouver during the last days of the final Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band tour in January 1981.


Two more of Alex's photographs of Don can be seen at Alex's website. I particularly like the concert shot which shows Don in eyeball to eyeball contact with a member of the audience who had had too much to think.

Many thanks to Alex Waterhouse-Hayward for allowing us to reproduce his photograph here.




Hot Head at the High School Talent Show


A spirited rendition of Hot Head was recently performed at Daphne High School Talent Show by Safe in a Ditch, a trio of 15 and 16 year olds.

Despite evident appreciation from one sector of the audience, Safe in a Ditch failed to be placed by the Daphne judges. Nothing daunted, a video of their performance was then put up at YouTube where real connoisseurs can come to their own conclusions about whether these boys have talent.


I asked Bradley Bittinger, one of the two guitarists with Safe in a Ditch, to tell me about their choice of material.


We chose Hot Head mainly because we all liked it, and it seems to "rock" a bit more than the other Beefheart songs we thought we were capable of playing. Another factor that influenced the song choice was the 3 minute time limit for our performance. We all figured out our parts to the song by ear.


Bradley and James Wamble (who sings and also plays guitar on Hot Head) get together regularly to play music. Among other recordings at their MySpace page are a spontaneous jam to China Pig, and a version of Poofter's Froth, Wyoming, Plans Ahead.

Time's runnin' out

This still is from Bernd Hansen's stylish video for Captain Beefheart's Click Clack. Catch this now before Mrs Grundy finds out about it. There is more from Bernd at his website.

Another Captain Beefheart tribute with a short life-span is The Black Keys cover of I'm Glad. This is downloadable only until Friday 9th May at The Black Keys MySpace page or at Stereogum. A video of The Black Keys live broadcast for KCRW includes another outing for their cover of Here I Am I Always Am at about 22'30".

The Curable Interns (Special Beefheart Edition) announce another short shelf-life for their collection of covers and tributes at MySpace. On April 22nd they said that this material would only be available "for a week or two".

I've no idea how long video of five Mallard numbers from a 1976 German TV show will be available at Zapateers but from that broadcast One Day Once is now at YouTube.

Posted by derek@beefheart.com at 9:27 PM  - 1 comments - post a comment

Beefheart Night at New York's Knitting Factory on April 9th has prompted many eye-witness accounts, photographs, and audio and video files from the event. Here are links to some of them.

David Lynch reads Pena

Robyn Hitchcock & Gary Lucas perform Sure 'Nuff 'N' Yes I Do

Glenn Kenny's account

Photographs from Prefix Mag / Lori Baily

Gary Lucas's blog Monday April 14, 2008

'An Inspired Evening of Beefheartiana' by Steve Holtje

As soon as Culture Catch's film of the event is released, we'll link to it here.

Peter Warner wrote this review of the evening:

For the Love of Don…

And what a glorious night it was. After all the sub dude talking, which was all very charming and a bit of a revelation to hear the words spoken in a NYCity accent, Lucas cranked up the volume for the big payoff. The pulsing, shimmering KANDY KORN was certainly a highlight, sending shock waves through the audience. Building to its magisterial climax, I could not but help step closer to the stage as toupees flew by, pushing up into the corners of the room. Truly powerful sensory overload and deeply moving, this had to be one of the finest moments of live music I have ever experienced. At one point, Philip Johnston made a knob turning gesture, pleading with Gary to lower the volume, begging for tolerance, but a smirk declared the mission and there was no turning back. The crowd was a good mix of young and old (I guess we would call that middle-age these days), and a surprising number of fine ladies were in attendance, which is always a good sign. Of the new numbers, THE PAST SURE IS TENSE proved a natural (can’t you hear the horns on your head?) and the sheer oddity of BLABBER & SMOKE almost made it difficult to hear the music in this often overlooked, seemingly throwaway tune. It is safe to say it is an improvement on the original (sacrilege, I know). WOE-IS-UH-ME-BOP introduced a decidedly non-Beef clarinet (the most human of instruments). This was one curious arrangement and I desperately need to hear it again. YOU KNOW YOU’RE A MAN was a cool selection, having all the gusto, swagger, and playful testosterone-fueled flirtation of the original. Much appreciation goes to Mr. Holtje for his CultureCatch column, but I gotta pipe up and say I loved bassist Jesse Krakow’s A CARROT IS AS CLOSE AS A RABBIT GETS TO A DIAMOND. Oh, and EVENING BELL, anyone? At frickin’ Pete Townsend volume? Hooray! It was clear that Gary meant to rip the roof off the place, and all night long he let loose like the Old Mentor was off in the wings cracking the whip. Heavenly.

Hmmm, and as if this all was not enough, the hardcore got a special treat in the way of the Robyn Hitchcock/Gary Lucas Duo. Mr. Hitchcock has an obvious love for the material, and if he altered the words to SURE ‘NUFF, it probably had more to do with teenage memories than anything else. I even caught him singing CLICK CLACK for his own amusement long after he left the stage. What else? Oh yeah, the paintings! A real nice touch, these projections, many of which I have not seen and wish I owned. Don’t know why, but I like Don’s visual work more and more the older I get. I think it has something to do with being less frightened of silence and more at peace with Death. God Bless you, Don Van Vliet.

......and thank you Peter Warner. If anyone else has any further comments or contributions please add them to the comments box or send me a mail. Thanks. This post was updated on 21st April 2008.

Posted by derek@beefheart.com at 6:18 PM  - 3 comments - post a comment

Beefheart Night at The Knit, the April 9th tribute to Captain Beefheart in New York, promises to have even more treats and surprises than we listed at Up Sifter here on February 23rd.

There are so many more treats and surprises in fact, that Fast 'N' Bulbous: The Captain Beefheart Project's performance of Don Van Vliet compositions has been put back from 10.00 to 11.00 to fit them all in. Fast 'N' Bulbous, incidentally, will be previewing some arrangements from a planned second CD, as well as playing material from their first CD.

Among the additional speakers to have been added to the already burgeoning line-up are:

Giorgio Gomelsky (Yardbirds producer and the Stones first manager) will reminisce (he knew both Don and Zappa).

Fred Perry, who was pictured on the "Safe as Milk" inner sleeve coming out of the baby's right ear dressed in shades and a pilot's helmet, will appear. His brother Richard was the producer of the album. It was Fred who first introduced the schoolboy Gary Lucas to the name of Captain Beefheart.

Roswell Rudd will now play a solo trombone tribute in lieu of reading a poem or reminiscence, which will be a special treat for jazz fans.

David Lynch, the film director, has sent a tape of himself reading Pena, in the Trout Mask Replica style. Gary Lucas tells me that this sounds "really cool".

An addition to the playlist of unreleased Captain Beefheart recordings may be a preview of part of a set of recently discovered master tapes which has been licensed for release as a double LP later this year. This material consists of previously unheard out-takes from the Mirror Man sessions. It was for this album that I requested photographs at Up Sifter back in January. As soon as we receive more definite information about this release we'll be posting it here. Meanwhile, Beefheart Night at The Knit offers the best chance to hear some of this album now, as I understand that the record company has sent along an advance copy.

Lastly, it is hoped that a very special guest will be joining the proceedings at some late hour, after Fast 'N' Bulbous's performance.

The evening will be recorded by Dusty Wright from Culture Catch, who will film and cover the event and post a podcast about it on his website a few days after the event.

Beefheart Night at The Knit, Wednesday 9th April at The Knitting Factory Main Space, 74 Leonard Street, New York City.

Posted by derek@beefheart.com at 9:15 PM  - 8 comments - post a comment

Recent music links

Here I Am I Always Am played by The Black Keys at SXSW 2008 in Houston on March 12th.

Andy Haas (former Martha and the Muffins saxophonist, now better known through his work and associations with the NY downtown music scene) offers an unusual and reflective version of Abba Zabba (two minute sample here) on Radio I-Ching's new CD, The Fire Keeps Burning, available from CD Baby.

Another Abba Zabba involving several other NY downtown musicians performing as Fast 'n Bulbous was recorded at WFMU in 2004. Here it is at YouTube.

Benjamin Horrendous has just put up 4 Beefheart covers, and another 5 tracks from his album 'Fourfathers Live' (2000), as streaming mp3s at his website.

Orange Claw Hammer performed by Eugene Chadborne and Stefan Neville was featured during a Pumice session on Dennis Tyfus' radio show, Radio Centraal. Orange Claw Hammer begins 30 minutes into the programme.

Phil Reavis recorded a long version of Trust Us sometime in the mid-eighties. It has recently surfaced as 7 separate mp3s at The Internet Archive and is also available at WMRecordings.


Liverpool and Captain Beefheart

It was good to read in The Daily Telegraph that The Bluecoat in Liverpool, the venue for Don Van Vliet's first art exhibition in 1972, goes from strength to strength.

Beatles Story press officer Jamie Bowman wrote at The Word that in Liverpool, " record collecting seems to take huge significance from an early age. I can't think of many other cities where you see Captain Beefheart grafitti on bus shelters."

Anyone with memories of Don Van Vliet's Bluecoat show, or photographs of vandalised Scouse bus shelters, please contact me.


What Was Lost

Catherine O'Flynn's first novel, 'What Was Lost', has been picking up all manner of nominations, prizes and sales. One of the characters seems to have a mission to educate people in music, so for the record here are two links to an extract involving 'Lick My Decals Off, Baby' - Costa Book Awards (page 55), British Book Awards (page 11).

Posted by derek@beefheart.com at 9:12 PM  - 0 comments - post a comment

Posted by derek@beefheart.com at 9:50 PM  - 2 comments - post a comment

The Times divided music fans into two camps in today's paper: critics who love music which nobody else likes (trouts, named after you know what) and those who love music which the critics don't like (bats, named after a multi-million selling album by Meatloaf).

Read the full article, Music critics love albums that the public hates, on the Times website, should you so desire.

Posted by Graham Johnston at 4:54 PM  - 4 comments - post a comment