Captain Beefheart-Trout Mask Replica
 

Since there are a lot of folks here who like the weirder, more experimental side of music, I was hoping someone could tell me why they like this. I have come back to it at various points over the years and I always come to the same conclusion: Piece of shit.

I like everything else I've ever heard by the Beefman but this is just ridiculous. Does ANYBODY find anything redeeming about this album?

BAM Adam strikes back

Trout Mask Replica rules and anyone who doesn't agree is a SUCKA.

call me a sucka then...its not an atrocius album, its not an album that deserves complete slagging but i find it o0k, no more no less... i think safe as milk is a damn finer album to be honest....

i find trout a diffcult album to argue my point because i know its listed as a classic album, its up there in the greatest albums ever but then so what, i mean i really hate dark side of the moon..... it certainly has great points, and moments of sheer musical genius but alas the full whack, for me at least, falls short of being great.....

thats only an opinion of course, ive owned it for the last 15 years i reckon now and it is still in my downstairs collection (accessible) and it does get listened to on occassion, maybe it needs to be listened to more......

im not saying its shit, im not saying its a great album...for me its ok, no more no less....... sorry!

Nah, it's a masterpiece. Not only is it an important album (possibly the most important rock record besides some Beatles shit, completely turning song form on its head in ways rock music never explored before; unbelievable riffs, some of the best and most creative drumming ever, etc. etc. etc.), it also has 28 BRILLIANT songs. I mean, seriously, the least boring double album ever! I love the spoken word songs so much. Any album isn't, in the words of the Tim and Eric and Modest Mouse lover who started this silly thread, "pure shit", if it has STEAL SOFTLY THRU SNOW, PACHUCO CADAVER, ELLA GURU, MOONLIGHT IN VERMONT, VETERAN'S DAY POPPY, etc. on it. Just an amazing album. Fuck. So perfect. But yeah, Pauly, your non-love for it is surprising, considering most the bands you love worships this record. I mean, seriously, Truman's Water are practically a Trout Mask tribute band!! Oh well, you don't care for it, you don't care for it. I think you should listen to the songs I specifically mentioned a few times...

It's not my favorite Beefheart record. His best is definitely Lick My Decals Off, Baby... but my favorite, for personal reasons, is Ice Cream for Crow. I also love Strictly Personal and Doc at the Radar Station (with my favorite song on it, "Sheriff of Hong Kong") more than life itself. Best musician of all time. A total genius.


Yeah, I negative repped him. This is a dumb thread. There are a thousand Beefheart, "overrated 'classic albums'", Trout Mask-related, etc etc etc threads he could've posted this on. I know there are people here who don't love this album (Rob Instigator for example). That's fine. The fact that the thread starter decided to create his own, unique thread solely for the purpose of calling one of the best albums of all time "pure shit" is why I neg-repped him. This is only the 3rd negative rep I've ever given anyone. He can do what he wants with his opinion, but the whole tone of his post is so ridiculous, "oh man this album is so weeeird an experimental so tell me why you like this PURE SHIT cuz i dont get it." It seems very troll-ish and jokey, really. Either way, pointless thread. I hope the OP doesn't take this personally, I'm not trying to insult him, his approach was just... weird.

it makes my gigantic indie rock penis larger if i name-drop it.

I don't frequent this board enough to know that this is an ongoing topic. I call it "pure shit" but still have it in my collection and I'm wondering why. This started for me when I was talking to a friend of mine who adores Beefheart the other day and he told me he didn't like TMR either.

I didn't start this thread to dump on the album. I started it to ask people why they DO like it. Sonic Youth is definitely an aquired taste for most people and if anyone would know how to approach it I figured it would be someone on here. Headphones? Altered state of consciousness? Long Road trip?

How to approach it?! Uh, just listen to it. I don't know what else to tell you.

you know, you really don't have to like it if you don't want to. I don't understand why you have to have people explain it to you to help you enjoy it if you simply don't.

nah, you just don't like it.

i like this album because
pachuco cadaver has one of the greatest riffs ever written. and its really cool when he starts singing Give me some of that old time relijun" (on moonlight on vermont")
and fast and bulbous sound really cool when said in a weird voice
and the line "her skin is as soft as a daisy, in the center where is the sun shines in" is such an utterly cute line that it makes me smile every time i hear it

and adam cooley told me to

enough reasons?

I don't have to have people explain it to me. The person who said they liked the spoken word parts of the album came the closest to describing what I was looking for. I just wanted to know why OTHER people liked the album and I get negative attention because I called it a piece of shit. I'm not making fun of anybody for liking it or trying to be hipper than thou by stomping on the sacred. I like Ella Guru, the noisy sax bits, and the riff from Big Joan but for the most part I find it disorienting. That's just my opinion and I was hoping to hear others as well. I'm happy you like it atsonicpark and thanks for a little info even though you got offended. I guess Beefheart's a touchy subject.

Indeed it is. This is EXACTLY the kind of reply I was hoping for. Thank you.

I like it. I always think it sounds like it was conceived mid-way through some really strange party filled with beat poets and assorted undescribables, picking up instruments or reciting poetry at just the point in the night where things began to get really random. I especially love the way, on Neon Meate Dreams of a Octafish, it sounds like DVV has just stood up with a scrap of paper and decided to read off what he wrote down moments before, as though it's the most important thing you'll ever hear.

As an aside, I've always found Rob's dislike of this album odd when considering how big a fan of the Buttholes he is.

yeah maybe i should give it more attention and adam i can see your trumans arguement alright........ (stomps foot in corner of room in a stubborn mini fury at being singled out music snobs!)

i hold the trout msk in my naked glove inners now, i will return to the elitist cool chamber soon mychildren!!!

i like this album because adam cooley told me to even though i liked it way before i knew who adam cooley was

I struggle to say anything about this record. I find the spoken word bits cloying. I really enjoy Frownland for about 30 seconds. I find the record more interesting for its position in the rock lexicon than I do find it interesting in itself. I don't believe it changes song structures, my musical understanding of the Captain is that he writes basic song structures then subtracts a few bits (whilst always keeping an eye on the pulse). So, not far away from the commercial end of glitch. It depends on your stance on rhythm really. I don't really follow Boulez, I'm pretty sure texture is a sub-species of rhythm (fabrics = pulse, horizontal/ vertical). Actually, that's probably my general take on TMR - it's probably the best record to measure a person's musical epistemic.

Call me crazy, but I've yet to pick up a Captain Beefheart album. Any recommendations for a first pick?

Safe As Milk is my recommendation. Great percussion, bluesy riffs, and the Captain's voice never sounded better.