The album begins in typical Beefheart fashion. “Mascara Snake” is a bass solo piece. Mark Boston can really play the bass as his fingers virtually fly over the strings. There are two takes of “Clich Clach," and the longer of the two demonstrates what a tight sound The Magic Band had at the time. There is also a short track of band introductions.
There are three takes of “I’m Gonna Booglarize You Baby.” The third is the most professional of the set and is the track that has been readily available. The Captain had one of the more powerful voices in rock and here he struts his stuff. One of the throwaway tracks is the most interesting as the performance was interrupted by a technician, which caused Beefheart to walk off the stage. While he is gone the band really cooks until he reappears to finish the vocals.
The DVD is augmented by two filler tracks. “Steal Softly Thru Snow” dated back to Trout Mask Replica, while “Golden Birdies” looked ahead to Clear Spot.
The sound and picture quality are excellent considering the equipment of the day and the number of years that have passed.
Watching Captain Beefheart is a different experience than listening to him, as there is less room for the mind to wander. Still, The Lost Broadcasts is a nice introduction to the stage act of one of rock’s madmen. A must for any fan of The Captain or for anyone who wants to travel a musical journey rarely taken.
Article comments
1 - cartridge
Every so often my husband sneaks off to listen to Trout Mask Replica alone because he knows that the music terrifies our children!
2 - Christopher Rose
I think it is just lazy to refer to Captain Beefheart's music as "difficult to write about", don't think it is really accurate to say that he "used used Frank Zappa’s early material as a jumping off place" and simply wrong to call him "crazy".
What he was is simply one of the 20th Century's most compelling and exciting artists who created some simply wonderful psychedelic blues laced rock art that still sounds fresh today and someone whose work is still far too under-rated.