Terrific swansong

On YouTube you can watch the video for the title track, with the major as understandable statement that what was then still quite young MTV had refused to broadcast the spots, reasoning: "too weird"! Well, since you should think that 13 years after "Trout Mask Replica" and at least 5 years New Wave - Pere Ubu (which were always related to Beefheart, and is a good reason!), Wire, The Residents, and many others more had been an enormous contribution to the change of rock-listening habits done - now the path for this band would have been free, but in spite of a good deal with Virgin Records the was not. And the video is fantastic, I recommend watching highly.

The same goes for this album. The Magic Band shined especially by the excellent guitarist Gary Lucas, whose game gives the right kick with every piece, the captain was vocal as a songwriter once again in top form, the song had a - for Beefheart ratios - more conventional touch that plate has more with the 1967 debut "Safe As Milk" in common than say with "Trout Mask Replica" and "Lick My Decals Off, Baby", which represent the culmination of the unconventional in this context, but also fit again fully in the early eighties where there were massive departures to new shores. Whether it was just the meager sales of the album or to other reasons, for the Captain was enough, he announced a year later retired from the music scene. When I look at the big geknipste from Anton Corbijn photo on the front cover, I have the impression that he was already somehow in his face that decision. For him personally, the decision was absolutely right, because he as a painter under his real name Don Van Vliet afterwards much more deserved than ever. And that he has as a musician left a huge work whose discovery will be worth it for a long time, each should be clear, the blues is preparing a feast for the ears with a personal touch and a healthy spirit of experimentation.