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Captain Beefheart: The Biography (2010)

by Mike Barnes(Favorite Author)

4.01 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

0857122347 (ISBN13: 9780857122346)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Music Sales Corporation

review 1: This is the book to begin with if you want to find out anything about Don Van Vliet / Captain Beefheart, and it's also the place where you end. Barnes' well-researched and illuminating portrait of the man behind the trout mask is always engaging, fun, and informative, and offers new ways into what can appear to be a considerably dense and difficult body of work. What emerges is a simple image of an artist reflecting the world as he sees it, through sculpture, words, paint, and, most famously, sounds, trying to capture a tiny bit of the wonder in the most everyday things. The book makes you want to return to the music with fresh ears, hearing the attempt to capture the sound and rhythm of windscreen wipers and rain in the drum track for "Bat Chain Puller", or to get a great... moreer appreciation of the glorious train of images that spill out of Beefheart during "Neon Meate Dream of A Octafish". The book doesn't tell you things to nail them down, but more as a way of hinting at the unshackling of the mind and heart possible when engaging with such fiercely creative self-expression. Though the work of the Captain and his Magic Band is dealt with sympathetically, Barnes has no qualms about tearing into the series of dud albums made in the mid-70s (humourously dubbed by fans as the "Tragic Band" era), his complete lack of understanding of the business side of music that led to his career being hamstrung on many occasions, or the psychological warfare that the bandleader subjected his charges to. Nor does he mind debunking the most common myths (including ones about teaching his musicians how to play from scratch, or "Trout Mask Replica" being composed, start to finish, in eight hours on a piano), mainly because the things that are true are simply way more interesting and just as unbelievable. One of my favourite passages in the book comes towards the end, when Barnes gives an idea where the music comes from, and how you begin to describe how it makes you feel:"Van Vliet...himself was the sand that irritated the oyster, forcing a number of pearls to pop out. The biggest, "Trout Mask Replica", will always stand as an index of possibilities in the unfettering of self-expression. He has claimed that the freest harmonica playing he heard was when as a child he held the instrument out of the window of his parents' car and the rushing wind brought it to life. Listening to his best music feels as if you are driving close behind, hyperventilating in his slipstream". Thanks for the music and rest in peace, Don.
review 2: A comprehensive and balanced overview of a twisted, compassionate, and contradictory man whose creative endeavours have left formidable footprints in the art and music world. UK music hack Mike Barnes tells the story with professional ebullience, his talents dipping slightly when trying to bring the music and art to life (which is understandable – it's BEEFHEART!)This book runs the gamut of Don (Van) Vliet's life: artful dropout, blues weirdo, countercultural icon, money-grubbing sellout, crotchety genius, successful painter, hostile recluse. Barnes deals with his subject admirably: he is neither gushing nor apologetic to this fundamentally unpleasant and egocentric man, taking care to separate the art from the artist.It is disheartening to know that he's turned into a quiet, palsied hermit, and his relationship with his wife Jan would have made for an interesting analysis. Her story is equally relevant yet she is largely absent throughout.You might also be shocked by Van Vliet's thoroughly reprehensible attempts to diddle his band members out of money (see Herb Bermann postscript). This greed and arrogance is a very disturbing element of his character, and might put the squeamish off his music.Otherwise, for rubber dolphins with gold yawning mouths everywhere. less

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