10 Influential Albums #6: Trout Mask Replica by Captain Beefheart

Really I can’t imagine a world without Trout Mask Replica in it. It would be so incredibly boring. Gritty, mad, and chaotic: it was love at first hearing. The harsh guitars, the amazing drumming, the polymeters and that unbelievable voice derived from Howlin’ Wolf at his growliest.

Recently, I listened to Trout Mask several times again and it has aged unbelievably well. Music that is much more traditionally “beautiful“ from this time - 1969 — sounds sappy, corny, cheesy, inauthentic. This record remains as knotty and fascinating as a string quartet by Schoenberg or the Grosse Fuge. And after I listen to it, the next piece of music I listen to, including my own music, sounds thin and incomplete.

I know the stories about how the band members were abused in the cult-like atmosphere that Don Vliet (Beefheart) created during the Trout Mask period. But despite that abuse, which was inexcusable on Vliet’s part, these guys, along with Don, pulled together one of the most extraordinary recordings, ever.

I should mention that I met Don and some of the band members in 1971 and participated in an interview with them. The recording is one of my most cherished possessions. I also heard every single show they did at Ungano’s in NYC. Two of the high points of my life were watching Don wail away and Bill Harkleroad nail, absolutely nail, One Red Rose That I Mean.