looking at the data, i already get an idea of and thoughts on this product (the picture on the front is from an other time and space, for example). but i can't fully judge the production, for at the moment i don't have this just released bootleg in: the 'burning' record companies (you know what i mean?) nowadays selling 'genuine' beefhearts never send me samples. i fear they fear my reviews, because i want quality for my money and usually they don't provide it.

so, for now, you will have to do with the following quickies:

1
from mojo #115 010603 england
by mark paytress
rating: 1 star out of 5

Grow Fins, Revenant's 5-cd anthology of outtakes and live recordings, was a long overdue adjunct to Beefheart's official work. Unfortunately, the trickle of copyright-dodging material that has appeared since hasn't always best served the reputation, and - thrilling though it may be to aficionados - 'Railroadism' contains nothing that enhances the legacy. Had the sources been better than passable audience recordings, then the power of, say, I'm Gonna Booglarize You Baby from a surprisingly good 1975 Magic Band incarnation, or the half-dozen cuts from California in 1981 would be more convincing. Even the Captain's reverberating growl is occasionally reduced to that of a helium-quaffing dwarf, an indication of one or two tape-speed difficulties at the mastering stage. Why, my furtively taped recording (Southampton University, [england - t.t.], 1975) sounds no worse - and I expect some enterprising folk will be knocking that out on cd soon, too

2
from uncut #73 010603 england
by rob hughes
rating: 4 stars out of 5

Companion piece to last year's Magnetic Hands - live in the UK compilation. Includes San Francisco's 1966 add-on 'Avalon Blues'.

Dispelling once and for all the myth that Van Vliet was appreciated less in his native land than elsewhere, this excellent trawl through nearly a decade of US truck-stops is as much an opportunity to compare Magic Bands as it is to marvel at the Don. Plenty of high points (the Delta growl of 'Old Black Snake' from '72, a swampy 'Grow Fins' from NYC's Bottom Line in '77, a strangely tender 'Harry Irene' a year later), but on this evidence, the newly semi-reformed '81 line-up - six cuts from Reseda Country Club, California - takes some serious shifting.