Whereas not a collaboration, there’s no denying that Frank Zappa helped deliver Captain Beefheart’s game-changing Trout Masks Duplicate to fruition. But whereas each had been demanding bandleaders busy tearing up the rulebook and redefining the lexicon of rock – Zappa along with his satirical deconstructions of rock’n’roll, Beefheart along with his primal, blues-indebted exhortations – they had been additionally headed down divergent paths. Zappa left nothing to probability, planning all the things to the ultimate element. Beefheart, in the meantime, labored in a artistic hurricane that typically appeared as chaotic as his stream-of-consciousness lyrics. An acrimonious cut up between the 2 personalities would take a number of years to fix.
Within the mid-70s, nonetheless, each had been at a crossroads. Zappa was about to say goodbye to his long-time band The Moms Of Invention, whereas Beefheart, following his divisive foray into extra overtly industrial territory, discovered himself casting round for a brand new Magic Band. Burying the hatchet, the 2 hit the highway for a quick spring US jaunt in 1975, parts of which had been captured on tape for Zappa’s 1975 album Bongo Fury, half recorded within the studio, half recorded on the World Armadillo Headquarters in Austin, Texas.
Chatting with Rolling Stone journal early within the tour, Zappa revealed that Beefheart had made the preliminary contact, calling as much as reward his 1974 album Apostrophe (’) and likewise to make amends for issues as soon as stated. “He apologized for all the garbagio and asked for a job,” Zappa stated, including, “The Captain repented. He had been real confused.”
Not that Beefheart’s job was a given: he initially failed auditions, due to what Zappa termed “a problem with rhythm”; lastly, he “squeaked by” simply earlier than the tour kicked off. By the point they recorded Bongo Fury, nonetheless, the opposing forces had discovered a contented union. Beefheart emerged as an electrical preacher man poised someplace between haranguing the folks and producing visionary incantations. In the meantime, Zappa and the Moms flexed their reliably assured musicianship, pushed by newcomer Terry Bozzio on drums.
Launched on October 2, 1975, the album took three months to get discover in Rolling Stone, who panned it in a dismissive January 1, 1976 overview. However Bongo Fury has since risen in stature and continues to present followers a lot to chew over: Zappa acolytes can argue for the supremacy of their hero on an album that catches the final gasp of considered one of his most celebrated line-ups; Beefheart followers can assert the creative relevance of the Captain following the safe-playing outings Unconditionally Assured and Bluejeans & Moonbeams.
Certainly, it’s on considered one of two Beefheart showcases that either side arguably rise to their best moments on the file. “I usually played such things as roughneck and thug,” he says on “Sam With The Showing Scalp Flat Top.” With the Moms punctuating his phrasing, Beefheart continues: “Opaque melodies that would bug most people. Music from the other side of the fence. A black swan figurine lay on all color lily pads. On a little conglomeration table of pressed black felt.” By the point he begins bellowing the 2 phrases that gave the album its title, the Moms slide in line, seemingly out of nowhere settling into “Louie, Louie” – considered one of Zappa’s many reworks of the track.
A clutch of studio recordings additionally appeared on the album: “200 Years Old,” “Cucamonga” and the intro to “Muffin Man” courting again to the January 1975 classes for One Measurement Matches All. Although whereas these catch the Moms in wonderful kind, it’s the reside tracks that the majority followers return to.
Coming off the highway, Beefheart returned to the studio with a brand new band, recording the ill-fated Bat Chain Puller for Zappa’s DiscReet imprint. These tapes would stay in authorized limbo till 2012, inflicting one more rift between the 2 faculty buddies. Regardless of by no means fairly patching issues up once more, the Captain however understood Zappa’s artwork. “Frank is probably the most creative person on this planet,” he declared through the 1975 tour. “He writes things for instruments that haven’t even been invented… He’s another Harry Partch.”
Phrases which Beefheart followers may nicely deem appropriate for their very own hero.
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