Oh no, who let crazy Uncle Peter near the microphone?
If you go by the words of most rock critics, Captain Beefheart is a “seminal” artist – one of the greatest singers of the last 50 years. He’s namechecked by anyone wanting to prove their serious muso credentials.
But (for me anyway) its a serious case of “emperor’s new clothes” regarding the Captain. To me, he sounds like some kind of lunatic who, in a weird twist of fate, has been granted the opportunity to, inexplicably, have a major recording career.
One time would have been fine – “well done Captain, great comedy album – now back to your day job as a school janitor“. But amazingly, this gibbering loon recorded 12 albums in his career.
Maybe it’s all some kind of elaborate joke – on our choice for Worst Songs Ever – “Ice Cream for Crow” – Beefheart shouts imcomprehensibe lyrics like a man trying to convince you that the CIA have implanted a radio into his teeth – while a bunch of earnest looking sidemen flail away at their instruments. The musicians are so good, you see, that they don’t have to play a tune – tunes are for squares, man.
All in all, a lod of old drivel that should never have seen the light of day.
Our Opinion: The moment of dread when an earnest student asks you if “you have ever heard Beefheart”
