Sunday, April 23, 2017

Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band - LIve Somewhere Over Vancouver

Over the years I have gained a great appreciation for the fine Captain and have become pretty infatuated with his work. I know that there are some live releases around, but this is the first that I had come across so I picked it up, looking forward to hearing the band in action in 1973. Unfortunately, despite a great set list - "Low Yo Stuff", "Abba Zabba", "Nowadays a Woman's Gotta Hit a Man", "I'm Gonna Booglarize You Baby", "Mirror Man" and more - the sound (obviously from a cheap machine placed in the audience) is so atrocious that it's sometimes difficult to even tell what sound they are playing. In a way, this adds to the surrealism on Beefheart's work, but I was hoping for a legit recording. Hopefully, something exists and I will be searching for it, but in the meantime, this is for extreme fans only - and only if you mind hissy, muddy noise throughout. Disappointing...