On the 16th June 1969, Don Van Vliet, after a sustained period of mentally torturing his band mates during a period of abject poverty, released an album which, in my time, I have thought was both the best and the worst album ever made. Even now, there is generally at least one day in the year when the only music I can stand to hear is “Trout Mask Replica.”
I recently drunk ordered it on ebay one night when that happened and I discovered that it’s not on Spotify and my own copy had vanished; playing it again was the familiar odd experience. I genuinely think the line “My smile is stuck, I cannot go back to your frownland” is one of the greatest opening lines I have ever heard. I also think that “Dachau Blues” is almost up there in wretchedness alongside “Pride (In The Name Of Love.)”
Anyhow, whatever you may think of the album, it’s definately unique. Rock music’s “Tristam Shandy.”
Moose the Mooche says
I came to TMR well after getting my first taste of the Capo from my dad’s copy of Shiney Beast and, later, Safe As Milk taped off a mate, plus a few bits and bobs like Trust Us turning up on compos. I thought I kind of knew what to expect.
And yet… that first listen was pretty overwhelming and exhausting. Twenty-odd years on from that, it doesn’t challenge any less. It’s just……astonishing.
Vulpes Vulpes says
LIstening to this album is like opening a door into an unfamiliar part of your house that you realise you’ve never visited before. It’s a bit scary, what you might even call loopy, and it’s not immediately clear if you’d be happy in here. Certainly you aren’t sure at first if you dare take a few steps across the threshold. There are very peculiar people about, dressed oddly and behaving strangely, and it seems to be sunny and bright all the time, whereas the world you’ve come from is a proper frownland.
Arthur Cowslip says
I always thought the story of the Trout Mask sessions would make a great movie. In the style of that movie with Paul Dano playing Brian Wilson where it recreates the Pet Sounds sessions. Or Telstar, the Joe Meek film.
TRMagicWords says
If you watch the Frank movie (2014) it has elements in its plot, which I’m sure were inspired by the Trout Mask sessions – the bullying, psychological warfare and siege mentality, all driven by one person’t singular vision of art
Arthur Cowslip says
True, and yes, agreed! I’ve commented on that before on this site actually.
I love Frank and I’ve sung its praises a few times on here. Rock and roll movies (especially music biopics) are a much maligned art form, but I think the best of them can be mighty things. Frank and Telstar are two of my favourites, with Nowhere Boy and Stardust in close pursuit. That Brian Wilson one with Paul Dano (for the life of me I cannot remember the name of it and I refuse to Google it, dammit) is flawed – the recording studio scenes are magical but most of the rest of it is confused and skewed.
Vincent says
It took me years to get it, but now I see it as the closest a rock album can get to difficult visual art one can get. I still think picasso’s “demoisillies d’Avignon” is grotesque but compelling, and cubism can be challenging, and TMR is like that.
Mousey says
I have tried so hard with Captain Beefheart. Two of my best mates, in terms of being friends and having similar musical appreciation, just love him. Last year I bought the Third Man remastered vinly edish with accompanying poster and tote bag and sew-on logo thing and all the rest of it. I have listened to it two or three times, under sufferance. Will give it another listen tonight. I don’t expect light to suddenly dawn though.
Frank Zappa however (well, they’re lumped together, for good reason), I totally get, always have, from the moment I first heard WOIIFTM. Different folks, different tastes, celebrate diversity etc etc
Mike_H says
I love it all, but can’t listen to more than a few tracks at a time. Very glad it’s there, though.
Peanuts Molloy says
For those of us who found TMR a bit impenetrable after years of trying, the hugely talented recluse Lewis Taylor gave us a way in (and then took it away again!).
http://www.beefheart.com/lewis-taylor-trout-mask-reborn/
Peanuts Molloy says
Vulpes Vulpes says
Gosh I would love to have a copy of that recreation.
Kaisfatdad says
Lewis Taylor sounds like a thoroughly fascinating bloke.
https://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2008/feb/04/catchofthedaylewistaylors
I am not surprised that he drove his record company crazy. A soul man who wants to talk about Tangerine Dream!
Peanuts Molloy says
He was never just a “soul man” @kaisfatdad
Here he is as a Beach Boy!
Search out his albums – he is a true lost* talent.
( * maybe not totally “lost” – I believe that using the name Andrew Taylor he had been the musical director and bass player for Gnarls Barkley, and guitarist & backing vocalist for the Edgar Broughton Band of all people.)
Kaisfatdad says
Thanks Peanuts. Gnarls Barkley and Edgar Broughton! Now that is what I call eclectic.
I will investigate further.
Peanuts Molloy says
With a bit of luck @vulpes-vulpes, you do now.
Vulpes Vulpes says
Spiffing stuff! Ta, Peanuts!
MC Escher says
Me too @peanuts-molloy . Been a LT fan since way back.
Johnny99 says
50 years old and still completely unlistenable (to my ears anyway).
Perhaps this means I’m not intelligent enough to appreciate it but, as far as I’m concerned, it is completely unintelligible garbage. There are certain Captain Beefheart tracks I like and I do like the album that everyone is supposed to hate (Bluejeans and Moonbeams) but I can’t listen to “Trout Mask replica”. I’ve tried many times but it just passes me by. Yes I know that all the cacophony was carefully scripted and it’s not just the result of a bunch of people stoned and pissed up and creating merry hell in the studio but it does sound like that. Good for getting rid of unwanted guests though !
el hombre malo says
I bought the recent Third Man re-press, and listened to it in one sitting. I had not listened to the whole thing for years. It is relentless, oppressive, wonderful slab of din.
It may be some time before I listen to it again, but I certainly felt enriched by the experience.
(Clear Spot is a much more accessible entry point for people interested in the Captain)
Leicester Bangs says
Every five years or so, I try to get into this album. I love his other stuff, especially Safe As Milk, but this one just won’t click with me.
Arthur Cowslip says
Yeah, Safe As Milk is the one, isn’t it? I also love the compilations of the early and unreleased stuff – Diddy Wah Diddy and all that.
Troutmask – ultimately I’m glad it exists. And it’s sonically interesting, if a tad abrasive (you don’t say). It only clicked with me when I approached it as performance poetry instead of music. But even then, I can’t say I ever sit and listen to it. And I’ve never done it in one sitting.
deramdaze says
In the same boat … A&M Sessions, Safe as Milk, Strictly Personal, Mirror Man … might try and listen to Trout Mask Replica the other way around, Sides 3 and 4 first, over the next month or so.
Don’t dislike it, just never play it more than once (or half of once) at a time.
bogl says
Listened to this just the other day, and again on its anniversary. It’s great.
Had a bit of a thing for gingham, our Don, dinee?
Junior Wells says
Quite a few live sets on Spotify.
duco01 says
My favourite bit is when The Good Captain exclaims “No! It’s ‘Hair Pie”.
Moose the Mooche says
I wonder what happened to those poor sods he encountered on that cig-break. They probably never recovered.
bogl says
Just burned through the 33⅓ book about Trout Mask Replica by Kevin Courrier. Tells the story well and writes brilliantly about the music itself. Highly recommended.
Moose the Mooche says
You read it fast…. fast and bulbous??
deramdaze says
Good idea. I’ve got that one.
bogl says
That’s right, the Mascara Snake!
Moose the Mooche says
I’m glad he did the re-take, the breathless second version is funnier.
JQW says
I suspect the Captain heard this prior to recording the album – a strange mix of time signatures and the bass clarinet. The Captain himself denied it, but Zappa was certainly a fan, having a track named The Eric Dolphy Memorial Barbecue on Weasels Ripped My Flesh.
Mike_H says
Hat and Beard is Dolphy’s tribute to Thelonious Monk, of course.