THE
OUTSIDE
thanks to other recent mass products
like
computers, the modern bootleg from home machines can be
mistaken for an
official release. in this case - two blue-green ceedees in a
flat box -
the outside got halfway. the left part of the white front
bears lettering
compiled from his hand-writings in the book 'stand up to be
discontinued',
and the right half contains a cut from the publicity shot for
his liverpool
art exhibition - held eight years béfore the concert: don,
leaning
on a trellis work in his 'spotlight kid' jacket, slanting away
cooler as
einstein (but different). very nice work, but the black &
white lay-out
and the photo pixels show that it wasn't done in a printing
office...
the back cover - in b&w too, and
with
a 1982 picture - also upholds the tradition of the good old
bootlegs: beside
typing faults in the titles they overlooked that pop bands
usually have
a drummer (complain, robert!)... inside the package we
discover that the
front inlay is made of plain paper instead of the glossy sort.
the back
of the front sheet has a small picture and a poem, both copied
from 'stand
up to be discontinued'.
a part of that art book was also
used for
the rest of the make-up - in colour! for instance for a tiny
reproduction
of one of the paintings on the flipside of the back cover. and
for the
fake 'picture plates'! because, instead of being imprinted,
the discs are
lábeled: with half-moon outcuts of two works from 1969.
anyhow,
together with the mint green lettering for the notes they lóok
great...
THE MUSIC
in between the jingling of crockery,
and
the unrest of the audience - which rather is nervous and
enthusiast than
frightening - DISC ONE starts
with the bass
solo 'toaster' 4.09, the
traditional
opening with some 'hair pie' variations, here in the version
with eric
feldman wearing a toaster (just what i say). after a false
start with don
forgetting to blow his harmonica on time, the full band makes
a good start
with the concert by means of nowadays a
woman's gotta
hit a man 4.26. they continue with beefheart's
long-time live favourite
on almost every gig abba zaba 3.41 and
present
a triptych of songs from their newest release doc
at the radar station - material they're more familiar
with. so no wonder
that hot head 4.10 really cools
the audience
down, and when beefheart announces "one from 'trout mask
replica'" and
instead performs dirty blue gene 4.43 the
public
is definitely turned on. and after that best
batch
yet 5.55 is their best song yet.
then comes the usual theatrical side
leap
- which always divides the audience into listeners and not
interested people
- as gary lucas recites the poem one
man sentence 1.06 (a text originally published in
1970). the group
returns to music with a good performance of safe
as milk 3.50, but somehow don seems to have lost the
right track.
for, after gary has played flavor bud
living 1.16
to an again divided public, he shows slight troubles with the
feeling of
the song and the vocal scales needed for her eyes
are a blue million miles 3.59 (with gary on guitar).
and when jeff
tepper has performed the guitar interlude one red
rose that i mean 2.52 - in honour of his recent
marriage? - don
really gets out of tune and even begins to rap during doctor
dark 3.23. judging from some irritated remarks
towards the audience
he must have been glad to finish the first set...
after the pause, wherein we get
ready for DISC
TWO, captain beefheart and the magic band first bring
a nice bat
chain puller 5.23 - but which doesn't sound as tight
as could be
(don thinks it's because it is 'too damn hot' in the club). it
is the preamble
to a packet of 'trout mask replica' songs, starting with one
of the tracks
they played most on their tours: my
human gets me
blues 3.34. everything - finally! - falls back in
place in that
number, and the band even exceeds that in sugar 'n'
spikes 3.11 and the following veteran's
day
poppy 5.13. then they continue the show with a cool
performance
of another 'golden oldie': dropout
boogie 3.40.
of course they had to promote 'doc
at the
radar station', so next they give a precise sheriff
of hong kong 7.01 from that album. but again they
return to captain
beefheart's early years, by using kandy
korn 5.00 from
'strictly personal' to bring everybody out of their minds. to
close it
off - in what must have been the encore - the musicians
perform at their
best in suction prints 5.18 -
the collection
of instrumental sounds which is their pièce de résistance
- and the inevitable...: big eyed beans
from venus
5.09 of course!
THE SOUND
AND NOISES
although the sound system of the
band sometimes
has a few imperfections, the recording is of an excellent
quality which
makes you hardly notice it's in móno and a bit shrill. and
then:
those unclear noises occasionally can come from the audience -
because
the visitors have been recorded as well. and throughout the
concert they
let know they're there (some people even seem to only have
come for 'big
eyed beans from venus')! or was there a much frequented bar on
the stage?
(UN)NECESSARY
COMMENT
this isn't a superb gig, but in
hindsight
that isn't quite strange. first: far out concerts must stay
exceptions.
and second: this was only beefheart's fifth gig on the first
tour since
almost two years of whatever-nothing-he-did. the band - which
included
the suddenly recruited richard snyder - sounds as if they're
not feeling
at home yet, especially in the musically seen 'old songs'. but
when they
get going after the somewhat uncomfortable start (caused by
the unrest
in the audience?), in the end they meet the high standards don
van vliet
sets for a good show.
and despite don's usual lack of
timing and
his temporary loss of vocal abilities (not such uncommon
habits of him)
the collaboration with the magic band passes off
satisfactorily. yes, altogether,
the performance is successful - or at least: the audience
clearly enjoys
it!
unfortunately this
pretty bootleg (as for package and sound, not the artistic
level of the
performance) is a bit expensive. instead of the current cd
price common
in former times - you must be prepared to pay something
between 75 dutch
guilders and 80 german marks (as there's no euro yet). that
is: if you
have the luck to find it...
don't get fooled: this
re-release
- also advertised as live 1980 and
liverpool
1980 - is a stripped off version of the complete
recording which
originally was spread over two ceedees due to the length of the
concert.
to achieve the more than fourteen minutes shorter result
practically all
the applause and pauses between the tracks have been cut away,
of course.
unfortunately quite a lot of those
cuts were
done amateuristic and considerably rough, mostly causing
totally unnatural
transitions - so the 'performance' races on without a decent
moment of
rest, especially in the second half. compressed that way, it
virtually
lacks the genuine atmosphere of a líve show... it also means
that
the interaction between the captain and the audience - one of
the essential
charms of a beefheart (or anyone's) concert - has been lost.
terrible and
ridiculous!
but what's left if you don't have
access
to the full version is a nice collection of live
interpretations of compositions
from several eras. as the sound quality is unchanged, so
excellent, and
the music is played well - dón regularly is the dissonant -
uncritical
listeners will think there's nothing to complain about. and as
this ceedee
is about the first official release of a concert ('london 1974' left aside:
that's not captain beefheart!), i'm sure it will satisfy the
ignorant fan.
hey, man, ófficial? come on! this
is as good a bootleg as the preceding 'the captain live in
liverpool'.
a close look at the package immediately makes clear this is an
illegal
product, beit disguised in a treacherously real outfit. for
contrary to
the blue-green recordable ceedees the plate is silver, and the
quality
of the liner booklet shows it was manufactured at a printer at
somebody's home. however, the illustration on the plate of
trouts circling
around isn't impressed but a sticker, and the liner notes
contain the usual
mistakes characteristic of unofficial releases.
the copyright of some songs is
credited to
unlikely owners, and drummer robert williams (again) fails
from the band
line-up while a paste-up presents his successor from 1982,
cliff martinez!
further, the notes are not written by an expert, and the
designer of the
booklet allowed himself mysterious fantasies about a phallus
like construction,
the river that runs through liverpool - yes, the mersey - and
trouts (which
probably haven't been spotted in it for a century due to the
pollution).
nevertheless, the professionally
looking
design of this 'safemilk production' - which name is another
clue that
there's something dubious going on - gives the impression of a
regular
release. and that must have been the reason why it slipped
past many credulous
purchasing agents of numerous (e-)shops that usually keep away
from unlicensed
stuff. although, in the end it gives us the opportunity to
purchase this
in several meanings not exactly correct live recording without
much trouble.
my CONCLUSION: reasonable
(so for stupid collectors only)
my ADVICE (in the
unlikely case): grab your easy chance
