'' captain beefheart & his magic band '' - t.v.documentary 1997.
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- čas přidán 6. 09. 2024
- a wonderful and probably best beefheart documentary i've ever seen...i've followed the great man and the band since buying the first album 'safe as milk' (in mono) '68....the band features my all time fave drummer john french (aka drumbo) as well....this is a re-upload as just two days ago this was deleted by youtube because of a copyright issue over a clip from 'beatclub' ...the new owners of the beatclub archive are stopping everyone from uploading any of their content and i also got a copyright strike!... so i have edited out the offending clip.....i taped this on 19/8/1997 and my copy is excellent quality with just a very small blip at the introduction by d.j. john peel and then no other problems that often blight old tapes....
I saw this documentary as it was first broadcast. It was John Peel's 60th birthday in 1999 and the BBC (in UK) 'gave him' the channel BBC2 for the evening as a birthday present. He decided to devote it to The Captain, whom John had promoted heavily in UK. I'm relying on my ageing memory so could be wrong on this. It stands up as much today as it did then.
It's over 52 years since I first saw Don and Magic Band at Liverpool Stadium. The first of numerous of his concerts that I went to. At the first gig I hadn't heard anything by him before the gig. I went because of articles about him in Melody Maker (as UK music paper) and I was curious. I was captivated from the first moment.
Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band are to your ears what Salvador Dali is to your eyes.
In days of woe, I just think of his music and then everything is fine............
Started with ‘Safe as Milk’ loved his eclectic music. Favourite album with Zappa ‘Bongo Fury’. I ran a mobile disco and used ‘Bat Chain Puller’ to clear the the gig out when the teenies wouldn’t fuck off. I loved it, they didn’t.
We used Sister Ray to clear our parties
Bat Chain kills!
Wow, what a hip dude you were. I bet all those teenies were in awe at your sheer avantism.
hehe
@@haxichoz I wouldn’t leave…..
" Mr. Zoot Horn Rollo hit that long leanin' note...and let it float."
*Lunar, not leanin
@@Juan-wo7zu Thanks. Yeah, I was corrected on that. I'd been hearing it in my head as long leanin' note for so long I forget. thanks.
leanin' ain't bad either
@@govchal I thought so for years. It fits so well when Zoot hits that slide note. "...that long leanin' note..."
@@olddoggeleventy2718 So did I!!! Until someone laughed at me. I was still not convinced but about 10 years ago I met John French (Drumbo) and Rockette Morton (Mark Boston) who confirmed it was 'Lunar' (although Drumbo wasn't on that album but Mark was).
When things get a little too weird and unsyncopated, I always reach for my machined crossbow.
hahahahah
8:20 - Diddy Wah Diddy was recorded for A&M Records in 1966 and released as a single that was played on certain hip radio stations in LA. I taped it on a small reel to reel tape deck of my mother's and became a big fan the same summer (of `66) that I became aware of the Mothers of Invention. When 'Safe as Milk' was released on Buddha Records in 1967, the songs were completely different in sound. I was mildly disappointed but became an even bigger fan. Fast forward to 1975 when I met both musical heroes. I chatted with Beefheart and Zappa backstage at the Winterland during the Bongo Fury tour. (I met both men a number of times in the `70's as Denny Walley was a friend of mine)
I like all that! Captain Beefheart appeared on that show on the docu (is that 9th Street West?) as I remember I was in the green room on that day for the show (was a teen just going to see the show, 'Diddy Wah Diddy' just released; where they had a beef heart in formaldehyde in a glass jar for promotion.
“Diddy Wah Diddy” appears in a Mr. Natural comic.
@@909One92 I knew Crumb when he was in the Cheap Suit Serenaders, a band which only played music from vintage 78's. (I live in SF and worked in the Underground Comix industry for seven years.) Crumb was not quoting Beefheart, it is an old blues tune. From the web:
"Diddy Wah Diddy" is a song written by Willie Dixon and Ellas McDaniel, known as Bo Diddley, and recorded by the latter in 1956. The song shares only its title with Blind Blake's song "Diddie Wah Diddie" recorded in 1929.
Blind Blake 's earlier, same-titled song "Diddie Wah Diddie" is referenced on the first issue cover of Robert Crumb 's Zap Comix, where a woman quotes the song's racy chorus "I wish somebody would tell me what diddy-wah-diddy means" to Crumb's Mr. Natural, who responds, "If you don't know by now, lady, don't MESS with it!"
@@FeatnikSF Hey, thanks for taking the time to respond. Fascinating.
Summer of ‘66 I was 15 years old on Long Island when a friend played “Freak Out” for me. After “Absolutely Free” I was hooked. 22 albums later… It wasn’t until ‘69 Trout Mask in College that I was introduced to CB. My dorm mates almost threw me out of my 4th floor window. MC5 was all the rage then. I wanted to throw them out of the same window…
I found Trout Mask on You Tube four or five years ago. My wife wants to throw me out the window but I don’t care.
Now, where does Mangred Mann’s DO Wah Diddy fit in here?
Like Brian Eno , Frank was going to put out anything that tight ass folk could not comprehend ever . No pussyfooting !
fifteen stars for ry cooder for his spot-on impersonation of CB......
Totally. Dead one
I saw Beefheart and the Magic Band in Portland in January of 1981. I wonder if Matt Groening was there too. I used to hang out at the same coffee place that Matt Groening hung out in back around 1984. We chatted a few times. Nice guy. This was around the time he had begun publishing a comic locally, and before The Simpsons.
Legend , nothing more nothing less , great doc.
I still remember walking out of school because I had to listen again to my latest LP, Trout Mask Replica. Who needed school when I had this, was my thinking. I decision I never regret. So lucky to have lived when Don took root on our planet.
Sometimes the stars align just right. Either you love Don or hate him with a passion, there's no middle ground.
I have always loved him but wish I had heard him in my teens,I was a little late to the party.
We love Him♥️♥️♥️
Thanks for putting this up again. This is one of the funniest, driest documentaries ever but fascinating - you are doing a public service - this is now probably the fifth time I've seen it. John Peel's narration is great (hints of Spinal Tap) . I struggled with a lot of his music as i did with Frank's but always loved who they were
glad you enjoyed it...i had the channel taken down by youtube just a couple of month's back with over 2miliion hits and thousands of subscribers and 5years hard work gone in a flash!...lucky i have stuff like this tranfered to dvd now so it was easy to put back up and lucky too i taped it back when broadcast!...david.
@@puresandoz2598 why did they take your channel down? Copyright bullshit?
@@_Adam_- oh yes!..years of work down the drain...and no explaining who the copyright owners were who complained...david..
@@puresandoz2598 So ridiculous. You're like a history preserver if you ask me. They should be nurturing people like you who put up content with some substance. Films like this should be available. I look forward to watching the Zappa doco from 93 you put up also. Thanks for the content man, I'm Gunna subscribe now.
This is available to download at the Zappateers.com website, so if it’s taken down again you know where to go. It’s a torrent site with quite a bit of Beefheart and Magic Band stuff but with practically every Zappa set ever, well worth a visit.
I saw Beefheart with Zappa and mothers in summer of 1975 at the celebrity theater in phoenix az. Kick ass show!
Ain't nothin' like Captain Beef heart and his magic band. Look all you wanna, but there ain't nothin' or nobody like them they wish.
What about The Shaggs?
@@billking8843 they are different gotta agree.
Like shaving with a rusty straight razor with nicks in it, handle this music with care. Legendary, yes.
indeed...capt beefhearts music needa to be listened to if ya got ears to listen!?
Thanks for posting this, I haven't seen it in a few years. I got introduced to Beefheart through Zappa (who my weird uncle introduced me to). I'll always remember the first time I heard Trout Mask Replica. It was '91 or '92 and I was 17 or 18, attending Berklee College of Music. On Hallowe'en night I decided to not go out and party with my friends. Instead, I went into the Berklee archives and found a reel to reel copy of Trout Mask Replica. I threaded the tape into the playback machine, put on some headphones, and my mind was blown (forever). I'd never heard anything like it then or since. God bless Captain Beefheart aka Don Van Vliet.
I first heard it when it was released. I was 17 and it was a life-changer.
Medicine Path - were you able to catch any Phish shows back then when you at college b
@@rickbruneau3590 no, but went to a Dead show once in Boston. I was more into small club shows and indie rock though.
Never be another like him. Never be another Zappa either. That kind of creativity is moot now unfortunately
Listening to 'Pena' more than once in a blue moon is enough for me. Hats of to Drumbo and the rest.
Drumbo posts fairly often on Facebook and he's one brilliant dude.
Thankfully I got to meet and know Don and FZ.My life was changed...sorry for those who never got to see them in the flesh!!
Are! Straight outta Baltimore Maryland! I saw and recorded Zappa 11 times! Last show was in 1983 @ Merriweather Post Pavillion in Columbia Maryland! Greetings from Annapolis Maryland! 💙😇💜
American original, never to be matched.
R.I.P. Don.... great stuff. Thanks for posting.
Ry Cooder is hilarious
Thanks for posting.
Ry Cooder is a natural comedian.
We used to go to HMV and ask to listen to Trout Mask most Saturdays,over several weeks heard the whole double album as hadn't the money to buy it!
Ry Cooder is hysterical!!
Actually quite fascinating to see what everyone had to say about Don, who was definitely on the edge of the bell curve, but somehow had something to say to the rest of us. Such was the era of acid enlightened heads confronting Western Civilization. Offbeat inheritors of the beatnik discontent with standard american mores and myths. Avantguard disregard for middle american normality. Great to see Frank Zappa and hear his take on his time with Don. I still enjoy some of their work, but not all of it, but im glad they had a chance to define a boundary that few want to explore.
He added the van - his surname is simply Vliet - so he was playing around well before he came up with Captain Beefheart
They are the van Gogh and the Gaugin of rocknroll.
Yup, but I always said that Captain Beefheart and Magic Band were to your ears what Salvador Dali was to your eyes.
A true complete artist
Fascinating.
But not even one mention of 'Clear Spot, which many rate as his most accessible high quality record.
a whole 15 comments! Ol' Beefheart. Artiste. Smeared by commercialism and crap. I like the Cooder stuff. The Zappa and Carl Black stuff is probably the most funny. I remember "Doc at the Radar Station" as a memorable album. I remember the guy at the cash lighting up. Another Beefheart fan. We talked for a few minutes. It was like meeting a member of a secret society. Of music lovers.
That's funny. Good comment!
Me an' my girl named Bimbo....Limbo....Spam.
Thanks for keeping this up, and all your other great uploads. Appreciate your work.
I never liked the music, BUT I always found Captain Beefheart fascinating and I still do. I LOVE eccentrics and Don is clearly eccentric-on-steroids. The world is a more interesting place with such people doing their weird stuff. Edit: on reflection, I really do like "Click-Clack", it's wonderful Blues!
They say he had no formal music training. I'm wondering where he learned the harmonica, because he was pretty good.
How many people get taught the harmonica?
In fact, in the old days, how many people got 'taught' the guitar?
@@donvanvliet9477 Well, he grew up in the 50's. They had music class in school then.
......in step with the times, became authentically strange.
cap'n did the howlin' wolf in different languages...
SOULJAH ROCKER ♡
Pure genius.
sounds alot like R.L Burnside
27:41 LMAO
Saw them in the mid 70s with John Mayal. They ripped. A toaster on the gtr boy's head?
Panties on the drummers head!
⚪ "Clear Spot" .......not a mention ??????
Painter of the American landscape? Lol. More like painter of weird creatures and bizarre images.
I see your angle, but I think it's just because you dont get it. (No insult intended, after all beauty is in the eye of the beholder).
@@donvanvliet9477 Don't get what? Do you consider his paintings 'American landscape.'
🎶😏❤
Dig
This has a Monty Python mockumentary vibe to it but, this was reality! 😁
Americana we have seen nothing yet re Land Art connection California James Turell Blurring the Boundaries ?Book on Installation I was there at Millenium "On the Road Again ?"
lmao.
Well im just barley aware of him....and the track on the front of this vid is a straight up rip off of rollin and tumbling pt1.
But thats ok and ive heard diddy wah diddy too..
Im suprised zappa would be ok with playing that stuff tho
. Kind of simple for franks interests.
He sounds like howlin wolf obviously. Well a little anyway
He was different in an era when being different was normal. But genius? No.
OK boomer
@@sharonbodea7677 OK bigot.
Yes.
Hmmm I’m somewhat offended that John Peel has said Beefheart was a genius when clearly the genius was and alway will be Frank Zappa RIP 🖤
both, end of story.
Apples to oranges, both are genius
Frank Zappa is a genius, but beefheart had a full creative control over this album. Zappa only produced and edited the album. Zappa’s intelligence got nothing to do with this doc
No zappa album surpasses early beefheart. Period.
@@cinematicpassages8884 incomparable.. both are great in their own respective way. Both make way different music