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"...Gimme Dat Harp Boy..."
The story behind Beefheart's
1971 "Mirror Man" LP and this 1999 CD reissue runs to a few pages of
convoluted shenanigans - but here goes at a potted explanation so that you know
what you're dealing with.
First up - when the US vinyl
LP Buddah BDS 5077 was released in May 1971 in a die-cut gatefold sleeve with
only 4-tracks (Buddah 2365 002 in the UK) - "Tarot Plane" (19:00) and
"Kandy Korn" (8:00) on Side 1 and "25th Century Quaker"
(8:59) and "Mirror Man" (19:00) on Side 2 - the liner notes
erroneously claimed that the album was live material 'recorded one night in Los
Angeles in 1965' – perhaps in some club - which just wasn't true.
Beefheart and his gang of
four (see band names below) had gone into TTG Studios in LA in October 1967 and
recorded three tracks 'live' in the studio with further rough studio sessions
taking place in November. Buddah didn't like what they heard and put the whole
project on indefinite hold. They then sent the Captain and his boys over to
England (where they were more popular) to be championed by a true fan - BBC
Radio 1's most famous DJ John Peel. Some of the songs and sessions were added
to, remixed and so on and came out on the second official album "Strictly
Personal" in October 1968.
Time passed and with the
November 1969 double-album "Trout Mask Replica" and a new LP on
Reprise Records in "Lick My Decals Off, Baby" from January 1971 all
gaining traction - someone went back into the vaults and chose the above four
mentioned tracks to clump together as a new album on Buddah Records -
"Mirror Man". Apparently Beefheart knew nothing of its release and as
the songs were 'unfinished' or 'crude' – he remained somewhat ambivalent
towards their merits - decrying it as some critics had initially done - then
being ok with it as the LPs heavy-blues-jam rep began to build over the
following years – some even saying it was as good as his blistering and
accessible "Safe As Milk" debut from November 1967.
Whilst researching a new
release in 1991 - England's Sequel Records went into the vaults once again and
subsequently found and reissued more of the previously unissued session tracks
- calling their 11-track January 1992 CD compilation "I May Be Hungry But
I'm Sure Not Weird – The Alternative Captain Beefheart" on Sequel NEX CD
215 (Barcode 5023224121523).
Which brings us via a
circuitous route and several mushroom pies to June 1999 and this new BMG
'Buddha Records' CD reissue of nine tracks (note the deliberately inverted
spelling on the last two letters of Buddah). Due to time constrictions - you
get the original four songs of the "Mirror Man" LP and five
additional outtakes - all stripped of unnecessary overdubs and as close as
Buddha feel they can get to the Captain's original vision. Here are the 1999 CD
reissue details...
UK released September 1999 (June 1999 in the USA) –
"The Mirror Man Sessions" by CAPTAIN BEEFHEART and HIS MAGIC BAND on
BMG/Buddha Records 74321 69174 2 (Barcode 743216917426) is an 'Expanded
Edition' CD Remaster of nine tracks that plays out as follows (76:23 minutes):
1. Tarotplane (19:08
minutes)
2. 25th Century Quaker (9:51
minutes)
3. Mirror Man (15:47
minutes)
4. Kandy Man (8:07 minutes)
5. Trust Us (Take 6) (7:06
minutes)
6. Safe As Milk (Take 12)
(5:01 minutes)
7. Beatle Bones N' Smokin'
Stones (3:11 minutes)
8. Moody Liz (Take 8) (4:34
minutes)
9. Gimme Dat Harp Boy (3:31
minutes)
Musicians:
CAPTAIN BEEFHEART (Don Van
Vliet) - Vocals, Harmonica and Shinei
JEFF COTTON - Guitar
ALEX St. CLAIR SNOUFFER -
Guitar
JERRY HANDLEY - Bass
JOHN FRENCH - Drums
In the 12-page liner notes
JOHN PLATT (with thanks to Mike Barnes) finally makes available the convoluted
history of these amazing recordings - the 'Wrapper' sessions as they're
sometimes called (Beefheart wanted the "Strictly Personal" album in a
plain brown wrapper envelope sleeve). There are some classy black and white
photos of the boys looking suitably Avant Garde and about to upset your Aunty
Mavis with some discordant meanderings. You get in-depth reissue credits and
the 'One Nest Rolls After Another', and the 'I Like The Way The Doo Dads Fly'
poems reproduced. The CD label and inlay beneath the see-through tray mirror
that shattered glass effect of the sleeve.
But while all that
explanation sorts things out somewhat - what I want to concentrate on is the
amazing new Audio brought to us by ELLIOTT FEDERMAN that was done over at New
York's SAJE Sound Studios. The LPs were always being accused of being 'muddy'
and some excuses were forthcoming because the takes were 'one' and 'live in the
studio'. Suddenly even that gruff harmonica warble that opens up the
nineteen-minute monster that is "Tarotplane" sounds unbelievably
'right' - like the power has been given back to the gruff. And as Beefheart
growls with his 'on your mind' string of consciousness - those vocals are so
damn good and those harmonica stretches punchy and mean. This sucker grooves -
the band digging into that chug - and even if the recordings are a bit rough
around the frothy gills - I'd argue this CD has made the performance feel alive
and better for it. Nice work done...
You could argue that the
three lengthy grooves here are merely Blues Jams with jerky Avant Garde Jazz
rhythms as a side-order that should have stayed in the can or even been refined
into something neater and better. Knob I say. When you listen to "25th
Century Quaker" and you're grooving to those clear as a bell cymbal and
drums crashes, those moaning notes as the Captain mumbles into his Harmonica -
I can't imagine any way these could have been 'edited' into something tighter
or better. Indulgent I know but it can also be argued that their very
expansiveness is their joy. And would we want that mad ending to
"Quaker" any other way. And don't get me started on the fantastic
groove his ensemble get on "Mirror Man" - the kind of sound no other
band could have achieved. I played it to my 22-year guitar-mad son the other
day and he was transfixed - and not that just with the 'sound' coming out of my
B&Ws - but at the playing and the sheer sonic wallop The Magic Band
achieved and seemingly without even trying.
Lean and mean and
unbelievably tight – Take 12 of "25th Century Quaker" hits you with a
wall of voices and that stabbing guitar beat and it has awesome remastered
sound. Don’t really like "Take Us" no matter what Take it is. We go
all ‘strawberry mouth and butterfly’ with the Japanese-sounding "Beatle
Bones N’ Smokin’ Stones" where the Captain seems to taking a sideways jab
at the Liverpudlians and their Forever Fields. The dark – the day – the light –
don’t you just love that voice and that sheer bat crazy mentality – and again
beautifully remastered. God help us all but "Moody Liz" even sounds
vaguely commercial (love those vocal harmonies). And "Gimme Dat Harp
Boy" sounds like a piece of harmonica genius that have should been
released as a single just to annoy the neighbours...
Hand me down a top hat, a
feather boa and a Shriner’s Fez – I can feel a Captain Beefheart moment looming
in my sequined ball gown and wraparound underpants. Of course "The Mirror
Man Sessions" is not going to be a sonic soundscape everyone wants to go
picnicking in. But if you’re down with the mighty hamburger – you’ll be loving
it like a guilty pleasure you need to hide from the wife...
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