A no-holds barred account of working with Beefheart drawing on new reminiscences and interviews with all the key players from inside and around the Magic Band and the cross pollinated Mothers of Invention (masterminded by Frank Zappa).
In the spring of 1969, the inauspicious release of Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band's Trout Mask Replica, a double-album featuring 28 stream-of-consciousness songs filled with abstract rhythms and guttural bellows, dramatically altered the pop landscape. Yet even if the album did cast its radical vision over the future of music, much of the record's artistic strength is actually drawn from the past. This book examines how Beefheart's incomparable opus, an album that divided (rather than) united a pop audience, is informed by a variety of diverse sources. Trout Mask Replica is a hybrid of poetic declarations inspired by both Walt Whitman and the beat poets, the field hollers of the Delta Blues, the urban blues of Howlin' Wolf, the gospel blues of Blind Willie Johnson, and the free jazz of Ornette Coleman. This book illustrates how Trout Mask Replica was not so much an arcane specimen of the avant-garde, but rather a defiantly original declaration of the American imagination.
"At last, the inside story of the best rock band of the 20th century. Zoot Horn Rollo tells all and opens the doorto the secret history of Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band."-Matt Groening, creator of The Simpsons.Rechristened as Zoot Horn Rollo, guitarist Harkleroad recalls what it was like to live, record and play with a temperamental genius such as Captain Beefheart on landmark albums such as Trout Mask Replica.
“Barnes gets the story, and with the full participation of those brave musicians who attempted to interpret Beefheart's sometimes otherworldly methodology” – The Times Through new interview material, and with reference to reports and eulogies that appeared in the media, Mike Barnes studies the star’s legacy – putting the last two decades into context with the revelation of Van Vliet’s battle with MS.
Herb Bermann was credited as co-writing eight of the songs on CAPTAIN BEEFHEART AND HIS MAGIC BAND's debut album Safe As Milk (1967); it would have been a completely different record without him. According to one observer:"[Captain Beefheart] called the guy 'The Poet.' For a while he was positively gagging us all out with it! 'The Poet said...' or 'The Poet is HEAVY, man!' I mean none of us could believe it.... You'd have thought Salvador Dali had walked in!"Yet Bermann kept silent about Captain Beefheart for almost 50 years -- so silent that some people said that Captain Beefheart had invented him. Now Bermann shares his story! Fans will be charmed by Bermann's descriptions of how his songs came to be written. They may also be surprised to learn just which songs he says he wrote. Included is a facsimile reproduction of his original lyric sheets, with dozens more songs that were never produced. Bermann's story reveals previously unpublished information about the early work of Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band, Neil Young and Steven Spielberg. It also introduces us to an artist whose work and influence have been generally overlooked.
With his trademark growl, carnival-madman persona, haunting music, and unforgettable lyrics, Tom Waits is one of the most revered and critically acclaimed singer-songwriters alive today. After beginning his career on the margins of the 1970s Los Angeles rock scene, Waits has spent the last thirty years carving out a place for himself among such greats as Bob Dylan and Neil Young. Like them, he is a chameleonic survivor who has achieved long-term success while retaining cult credibility and outsider mystique. But although his songs can seem deeply personal and somewhat autobiographical, fans still know very little about the man himself. Notoriously private, Waits has consistently and deliberately blurred the line between fact and fiction, public and private personas, until it has become impossible to delineate between truth and self-fabricated legend. Lowside of the Road is the first serious biography to cut through the myths and make sense of the life and career of this beloved icon. Barney Hoskyns has gained unprecedented access to Waits’s inner circle and also draws on interviews he has done with Waits over the years. Spanning his extraordinary forty-year career from Closing Time to Orphans, from his perilous “jazzbo” years in 1970s LA to such shape-shifting albums as Swordfishtrombones and Rain Dogs to the Grammy Award winners of recent years, this definitive biography charts Waits’s life and art step by step, album by album. Barney Hoskyns has written a rock biography—much like the subject himself—unlike any other. It is a unique take on one of rock’s great enigmas.
Outsider musicians can be the product of damaged DNA, alien abduction, drug fry, demonic possession, or simply sheer obliviousness. This book profiles dozens of outsider musicians, both prominent and obscure—figures such as The Shaggs, Syd Barrett, Tiny Tim, Jandek, Captain Beefheart, Daniel Johnston, Harry Partch, and The Legendary Stardust Cowboy—and presents their strange life stories along with photographs, interviews, cartoons, and discographies. About the only things these self-taught artists have in common are an utter lack of conventional tunefulness and an overabundance of earnestness and passion. But, believe it or not, they're worth listening to, often outmatching all contenders for inventiveness and originality. A CD featuring songs by artists profiled in the book is also available.
"Suddenly, this skinny, longhaired kid who had been lounging against the wall inside sprang forward to confront me, rolling and popping his eyes, intensely vibing me with his own personal voodoo. He looked electric, on fire--as if he was about to jump out of his own skin. He was the very image of the young Tim Buckley--same sensual, red-lipped mouth, same sensitive, haunted, blazing eyes. He was a beautiful boy: so charismatic, so handsome, his chiseled face both angelic and demonic. This was obviously Jeff Buckley." Touched By Grace is a revealing account of the time Gary spent working with Jeff Buckley during Jeff's early days in New York City. It describes their magical first performance together at the Greetings From Tim Buckley concert in 1991, the creation of their landmark songs 'Grace' and 'Mojo Pin,' their plan to take on the world together in Gary's band Gods and Monsters--and then the moment when Jeff pulled the plug, opting instead to pursue a solo deal with Columbia Records, the very label that had recently cut short its contract with the original incarnation Gods and Monsters. In this fascinating and revelatory book, Gary writes with heartfelt honesty about the highs and lows of this unique creative collaboration, providing an eye-opening insight into a world of music, passion, betrayal, and more.
The Incredible String Band evoke love and devotion to all those who fall under their spell. Their world is not ours, but a land of mythical creatures and fey beings. This book looks at all their recorded output from the first album which saw the turning point from the mix of old time American music and Scottish dance tunes to the first steps in songwriting, through albums which still maintain a legendary reputation, 5000 Spirits and Hangman's Beautiful Daughter. It looks at their increasingly eclectic instrumentation and fantastical songwriting. There is a fresh look at the slightly lesser known albums that followed and the later version of the band that moved steadily towards the rock mainstream before imploding in 1974. There is also a look at the albums that appeared when the band briefly reformed in the 21st century and a run through the best of the posthumous live albums and compilations of unreleased material. The band went from major success to cult status, and then via mockery in the punk period to finally becoming a highly respected band, whose albums still sell steadily to this day. This book will follow that journey and examine every stop on the way.