Five years ago, when I first began
Rocket Remnants, music blogging was cool.
Now it's really in the hands of those posting new releases.
The retro blogger, whether of shows, deleted albums or general rarities, well, they're all gone now: "blog no longer exists"; words all read up; links long dead.
I joined in thinking I had something to add; it looked like fun.
I was also about to digitize much of my own collection, the leap from ripping to sharing was short, so as long as it wasn't widely available I'd put it on here, adding a word or two.
That process has now come to an end, as does this blog.
So I'll finish with what has to be one of the greatest albums of all time, ripped from a cassette that has accompanied me for the majority of my life.
For many,
Trout Mask Replica is the one; the best; the magnum opus of Beefheart's oeuvre; perhaps of alternative music!
But I think
Decals is better.
From the immediate attention grabbing opening gallop, you know you're in for one hell of a ride; and once that slurring, booze soaked vocal kicks in, well, you're soon convinced the driver is one hell of a crazy motherfucker, and he could be leading us anywhere! Everywhere!
And he does.
From Mississippi to Ornette Coleman, from Boogie Woogie to classical pastiche, from the heartfelt to the truly absurd.
This is one hell of a journey!
And what! Never released on CD?
Good.
Proving that
Lick My Decals Off, Baby is the most anti-bourgeois album ever released.
The musicianship throughout
Decals is simply phenomenal; mainly co-written with guitarist Zoot Horn Rollo, many of the snazzy syncopations absent of conventional notation leave you breathless; they just sound so hard to play.
(Well worthy of becoming "The Magic Band", no longer "His".)
The mania is suitably juxtaposed with moments of calm, brief understated instrumentals, segueing into discordant beauty: Ed Marimba's marimbas, Drumbo's drums and Rockette Morton's impossible bass adding obliquely to the fabulous, unique melee.
There isn't a better album in which to bring this to an end.
BANG!
Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band -
Lick My Decals Off, Baby (1973)
Lick My Decals, Baby
Doctor Dark
I Love You, You Big Dummy
Peon
Bellerin' Plain
Woe-Is-Uh-Me-Bop
Japan in a Dishpan
I Wanna Find Me a Woman That'll Hold My Big Toe Till I Have to Go
Petrified Forest
One Rose that I Mean
The Buggy Boogie Woogie
The Smithsonian Institute Blues (or The Big Dig)
Space Age Couple
The Clouds are Full of Wine (Not Whiskey or Rye)
Flash Gordon's Ape
Excellent cassette rip @320kbs
Lick away
hereShanti