Wednesday 6 July 2011

Homophonic Blues

Years ago I was quite into tropical fish.
As well as being psychedelically mesmerizing, they were meditative, calming, friendly, and a darn sight more interesting to look at than anything on the television.

Anyway, went to score myself a fish one day; visiting a new shop in town to see what they had to offer.
I soon cast my eyes on a fine specimen: a Jack Dempsey; apparently, I found out later, named after an American boxer; so called because of the fish's aggressive behaviour and a visage that is said to resemble that of the 1920's heavyweight champion of the world (rather unfair on the fish I thought, as he was lovely; cute, even).

As the owner, a genial old dude grateful for my venturing into his new shop, filled the plastic bag containing the Jack Dempsey and six inches of water with air from an air line, he looked me straight in the eye and said, in a knowing, insightful way: 'He'll like a bit of beef heart.'
This was hard to take in straight away; my perplexity was obvious, so he went on: 'O yes, they like a bit of beef heart; all the large cichlids like a bit of beef heart'.

So I took my Jack Dempsey home, popped him in his new world, placed a speaker at each end of the tank and played through the whole of Trout Mask Replica, hoping the Jack Dempsey would appreciate this and soon settle in.

And you know what? The dude was right.
The Jack Dempsey, and all the other tank denizens, absolutely loved Beefheart!
And why not!

And if my old Jack Dempsey was still in the world of the floating I'm sure he'd really dig this: a slice of swampish blues from The Magic Band, circa '67.

Unfortunately it doesn't last very long - just over thirteen minutes - but it's really very cool indeed.

I have liberated this from a monster of a compilation called It Crawled Out From the Vaults of KSAN (1966-68). It's just so rare to have good quality live Magic Band from this period (any period in fact. Beefheart, for some reason, didn't attract bootlegging anoraks: merely opportunists.
So many Magic Band shows have I downloaded; so many have I deleted before reaching the end), I thought it was worth giving it a platform of its own; especially as it includes a glorious rendition of Howling Wolf's 'Evil', and concludes with an instrumental jam that's heading straight for Mirror Man.

This may only last thirteen minutes, but with so little of worth to choose from, the Beefheart head gets it where they can.

Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band - Live, Avalon Ballroom, 1967.
Extracted from It Crawled Out From the Vaults of KSAN (1966-68).

Tupelo
Old Folks Boogie
Evil
Instrumental

Quality rip @320kbs
Feed the fish here

9 comments:

teifidancer said...

ah, a lovely fishy tale, wonderfully written, you got me reeled in hook line and sinker, and some Beef heart too. greetings from Londons whirl. Laters.

Anonymous said...

cheers roy... looking fwd to hearing this, grow fins is worth hearing if you've not come across it already!!! :))) xx

Sage said...

Nice post Roy - not heard this before and your right about the short and sweetness.

Nik

roy rocket said...

'Grow Fins', Sure nuff n yes I do.
But the quality's a bit wanting.
The Brown Wrapper boot is a good one, although not live, and it's later than this THUG version of the Magic Band (which i think includes Ry Cooder. Gasp!)

@Nik, glad you like that Sielun Veljet album; I think it's a[nother] lost masterpiece.

roy

zigzagwanderer said...

Thanks Roy - always on the lookout for the Captain , I have a few decent/reasonable boots , let me know if your interested & I'll send you my links .

roy rocket said...

Always interested in GOOD Magic Band recordings.
If you think there's anything in particular I (& others) may like, please feel free to add links.
Regards, roy

Unknown said...

that KSAN set is awesome, eternal thanks to The Hell's Honkies Tape Club for liberating those FM masters..

roy rocket said...

Indeed.
Respect!

zigzagwanderer said...

More live Captain ;-
BBC Sessions 1968
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=J6NMZFDW

Booga Booga Music . LA '73
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=UB35XPPD

Amsterdam '74
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=GCINM2TR

Old Waldorf '81
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=50CXFJTJ

More available if anyone's interested .

Enjoy.