INTRO

anyone who thinks that all beefheart vinyl bootlegs have been traced by now, about twenty years after most of them had been brought out, better should be cautious with that thought. for you never know which hidden treasures escaped the attention of the fan(atic)s. of course it's an almost indescribable thrill if such an old item pops up, and here you have a genuine example! i..., i..., (like don van vliet once said:) i'm going out of my mind - and i don't wanna go back....

this elpee, titled after the great 14 may 1970 rolling stone feature, stayed unknown for two decades, and just was spotted before disappearing into obscurity again.... so we have to be tremendous grateful to ginger bredham for his alert reaction when he was two days too late to buy the only copy ever offered for sale (till now). thanks to his efforts - and the kind collaboration of the seller - it was possible to get more details like...: the picture below.

THE OUTSIDE

the photograph shows that the record comes in the usual plain white cardboard sleeve with coloured insert typical for the late '70s / early '80s bootlegs manufactured in the usa. the orange sheet of paper with the notes probably is just one of several colour variations, and the letter size of it is a clear clue to its origin. as is the picture of don van vliet which appears on it: it's a black and white reproduction taken from the front page of a quire of the 'sunday supplement' of the 'west magazine' of the 'los angeles times' from 30 may 1971 (much better but still b&w version here).

the quite charming lay-out of the notes sheet is a bit out of balance because the mentioning of 'and his magic band' led to printing the title of the bootleg in a small font, while the much shorter subtitle outtakes & odd bits is relatively over-sized. the track listing is followed by an overview of the sources and recording years. except for the remark 'c.b. on vocal, harp - zoot horn rollo on guitar' to the 'jam session 1971' there are given no line-ups or other details which could be useful.

of course, the most eye-catching text on the sheet is the super slogan: limited collectors edition colored vinyl... (as if the plastic is more important than the music!)

THE RECORD

ah, great, on coloured vinyl! who wouldn't like to have this item for thát reason alone! but which colour? and are there different versions? i don't know. anyway, pressing their first editions on swirled plastic was a common habit in bootleg-land, as well as manufacturing repeats on plain black plastic. which has happened - someone emailed me he once owned this record and later saw another copy, and both of them were black (despite the unedited slogan).

photograph of upright record in plastic bag
(the plastic deforms the 'outsert' - sorry)

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THE MUSIC

the main fault of this incomplete report is that i can't tell what the music sounds like. according to the seller the sound quality was a vague 'quite good'. so we must try to imagine the music by analysing their titles. then it occurs that four of the nine are familiar, because it are alternate versions of officially released tracks from lick my decals off, baby (twice) and the spotlight kid (too). as you can see in detlef's amazingly accurate studio sessions overview there exist several takes, so we can only guess which versions they are... - till the day the music turns up.

if you study detlef's list you'll also find a tremendous lot of 'untitled instrumentals' from the 1971 / early '72 rehearsals for the spotlight kid (although most of those '#'s' also have fantasy titles - for recognition?). one way or other all those instrumentals are known from tapes, so the two try-outs on this bootleg can't be a real surprise - but which ones they are is another guess, i guess.

for sure, the last track of the bootleg is the outsider of the album: HOBOISM is the only song from a different era than the other '70-'72 recordings. it is a studio track with beefheart really yelling out - a marvelous proof of his ability to perform spontaneously - accompanied by denny walley on guitar. and although the notes claiming it is a 'shiny beast session 1978' are close to the truth, it actually means the song was recorded between 1976's unreleased bat chain puller album and shiny beast (bat chain puller).

this great song has been bootlegged, but not many people may have heard it - simply because (till now) it only can be heard on two releases: the 2ceedee 'doodads', and the later hoboism ceedee (by the way: it wasn't even included in the 'grow fins' rarities, one of the reasons why the box set was so disappointing). ho, wait a minute! céedées, you said? then the recording on this piece of vinyl - which has been unnoticed for twenty years... - must be the absolute first one!

well, the over seven minutes long conclusion of this bootleg sure is a sensation in the sensation - something which also seems to go for the two remaining songs...: the ones from the jam session 1971, PORK CHOPS AND BEER and WALKIN' MUCH TOO SLOW. for these titles are unknown (till now)! but when the first version of this report still was warm, one of my visitors followed his intuition and listened to a specific part of the generally known '72 the spotlight kid outtakes and he found out that it actually are phrases don utters during SCRATCH MY BACK and KEY TO THE HIGHWAY respectively (thanks for the clever idea, ben)....

but then, the notes to those tracks are wrong. not only did an insider point out that it wasn't bill harkleroad aka zoot horn rollo who played the guitar during that blues(y) improvisation, but elliot ingber aka winged eel fingerling - when you know the meant tracks and come to think about it: given their musical backgrounds, it múst be hím.

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REMARKS

please, could the new owner get in touch with me?

many thanks to: ginger bredham,
and a record dealer from texas, usa
and his neighbour who lent him a camera,
and all later informants

[151102]

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click clack back to the bootlegs or return to the power station

captain beefheart electricity
as felt by teejo

^