Trout Mask Replica

[asthmaticeog]

I cry but I can't buy
Your Veteran's Day poppy
It don't get me high
It can only make me cry
It can never grow another
Son like the one who warmed me my days
After rain and warmed my breath
My life's blood
Screamin' empty she crys
It don't get me high
It can only make me cry
Your Veteran's Day poppy.

Discuss.

[Fenris]

1. Actually, discussing it might be a bad idea.

If you read too much into that song (or really, any of his songs), your eyes will roll back into your head.

[RandomKoolzip]

2. My smile is stuck.

I cannot go back to your frownland.


Have you read Zoot Horn Rollo's book about being in the Magic Band? ("Lunar Notes") It's amazing...supposedly, Beefheart and the band never used drugs, but Zoot says they smoked pot on occasion; supposedly, Beefheart wrote all the songs on piano in eight hours and taught everyone their parts, but Zoot says that a lot of the record was improvised; supposedly, they were the "freest" band of the 60's, but Zoot says that Beefheart kept them locked up in a house with only a ration of a cup of beans a day for a meal, and he wouldn't let them leave or have outside contact with their friends and family...y'know, like Manson or Jim Jones.

Very enlightening, myth-busting book. Still, the music's great, despite its dubious origins.

[asthmaticeog]

3. I haven't read it, but I will.

Sounds like a great read.

[Zomby Woof]

6. Damn good read

I found Zoot's ripping of John Popper satisfying too, if I may veer a bit off-topic.

I think Zappa's role in "Trout Mask" was just to make sure that sucker got on tape. It was no doubt a very controlled anarchy.

Do you have Zappa's "The Lost Episodes"? His early collaborations with Beefheart are pricelessly funny - reminds me of the tapes my friends and I used to make back in the day. It may be the earliest Beefheart on record - he is eager to display his vocal range on "Lost In A Whirlpool".

Wait 'til we get to Las Vegas!

[RandomKoolzip]

8. Yessir....

Long before I had "Lost Episodes," I had a four-CD bootleg called "Apocrypha," with that famous interview Zappa did in 88 with Bob Marshal printed on the inside booklet. The collection was a chronological raft of unrealeased Zappa material, which started off with "Lost in a Whirlpool," an' had shit like "Ned the Mumbler," the original version of "RDNZL" done with the Petit Wazoo, the stuff Zappa did on Saturday Night Live in 1976, "Falling in Love Is a Stupid Habit," all the way up to the Beatles Medley done by the 1988 band (Strawberry Fields Forever, I am the Walrus, etc). Fucking incredible.

In my opinion, this was a much superior collection for Zappaphiles like me than "Lost Episodes," if you can stomach some really poor-quality recordings (I can!)

[madrchsod]

4. i got a brand new 180 vinyl

of this album. my next purchase is this--------------

[Zomby Woof]

5. It's the blimp, Frank!

[Initech]

7. Beefheart rules.

Bongo Fury is one of my favorite albums ever made!