So here we have two items with opposing but related characteristics: Radiohead's OK Computer, which I never "got," and Captain Beefheart's Trout Mask Replica, which most people don't "get." The reason I bring this up today is that I've been reading Kevin Courrier's excellent book, Captain Beefheart's Trout Mask Replica (yet another winner in Continuum's 33 1/3 series).
Trout Mask is one of those records that I can listen to just about every day. New details seem to pop out at me even after the 20 or so years that I've owned it. But...I can see how most of this stuff would turn off the average listener. Much of Trout Mask is not pretty. The band, having rehearsed the material to death, was just about as tight as could be. But...the rhythms are jagged, the guitar is harsh, the vocals are scary, the lyrics are bizarre (my absolute favorite: "...I took off my pants 'n felt free"). Beefheart started his career as a blues singer of sorts, and while you can hear those roots here, it's clear that something strange had happened. What, I do not know. So honestly, this music is not for everybody. That is quite obvious. Heck, I loaned it to my officemate once several years back (because he was curious about the cover art) and the CD came back the following day with a Post-It note affixed: "This Is Not Music."
OK Computer received tons of press when it came out. I didn't know much about them at the time. Maybe I'd heard "Creep," maybe not. I read lots of fan commentary on the Internet, with Radiohead being anointed as one of the best rock bands of all time. Hmmmm. Then I listened to an interview with Thom Yorke on Terry Gross' Fresh Air. Yorke seemed like quite the interesting character and the bits of music I heard piqued my interest. Looking back at it, I really wish I had never read all of the fan spew. My first impressions of OK Computer coalesced into the snarky description of: "Low Rent King Crimson." The description is neither fair nor accurate, though I still do wonder if the uber-fans had ever heard In The Court Of The Crimson King or Larks Tongues In Aspic — there's a lot of common ground there.
Article comments
1 - JC Mosquito
I only recently heard (yeah, about a month ago!) Trout Mask Replica, after having hunted it down fo about twenty five years. And... I'm not gettin' it - yet. It's like when I first heard The Shaggs' Philosophy of the World - do I laugh? do I cry? Do I care? Except with TMR I know there's people who can actually play their instruments, while the Shaggs... could use a few lessons. Or maybe not, and maybe that's their charm. But in some ways The Shaggs and Captain Beefheart seem to have ended up in the same place via two entirely different routes. Maybe I'll reach a different conclusion if I ever "get it"... after all, I eventually got the Shaggs (I think) as well as Metal Machine Music (umm... yeah, I got that one too, I think).
2 - Christopher Rose
How funny the world of co-incidence is. Only yesterday we were disagreeing over TWS and today we're agreeing about Captain Beefheart. I consider him one of the greatest US artists of the 20th Century.
3 - Mark Saleski
that's good christopher...'cus otherwise i'd have to fly to spain and shove your piehole fulla olives.
;-)
Beefheart: too bad he kind of 'lost it'. i suppose it's tough (if not impossible) to keep up that sort of creativity for a long time.
4 - Pico
that's good christopher...'cus otherwise i'd have to fly to spain and shove your piehole fulla olives.
Put down that hatorade!
But seriously, I think we're all in agreement about Trout Mask. IMO, this is the rock equivalent of what Ornette did to jazz with his Atlantic recordings.
5 - Tom Johnson
I'm ashamed to say I've never heard Trout Mask Replica OR Captain Beefheart. The 30 second clips on Amazon aren't really give me much of an idea about this weird dude, either. But it sure sounds like Tom Waits borrowed some of his vocal delivery from him.
6 - JC Mosquito
So far the best moment I can find on TMR is, "Dachau blues... those poor Jews." Kinda sums it up in a nutshell in some way - or else misses the point entirely - or maybe it's supposed to be intentionally ambiguous and/or inflammatory.
Yeah, a very strange record - I'm still workin' on it.
7 - Brian aka Guppusmaximus
Great Article..
I'd have to say that Mr. Bungle's s/t release was the same for me & truly opened my mind. They could really play their instruments and had a way of breaking boundaries. But, then I also liked Atom & his package. There's just this true catchiness & genius in the simplicity(though, I don't find it simple.)
8 - Rodney Welch
Nice comparison, Mark. After many years, I'm still somewhat divided over Trout Mask Replica -- so much so that I can't really quarrel with any opinion about it. Brilliant? Oh yes. Unlistenable? You bet. Definitely not an everyday listen for me, but every time I hear it, a total surprise.
As you know, Frank Zappa produced it, and I tend to like what Zappa was doing at around the same time, like Uncle Meat, which is not only adventurous but oddly tuneful.
Both records have a lot of Ornette to them, to echo comments above -- speaking of which, Coleman's Free Jazz is another extraordinary listening challenge.
I've always liked OK Computer and thought both the lyrics and music were quite interesting, as well as the album's circular, snake-eating-itself structure. It's a very atmospheric, empty post-nuclear landscape kind of record: the kind of music the Burgess Meredith character in that old Twilight Zone episode probably listened to while reading Thackeray.
9 - JC Mosquito
Hmmm... but I get Ornette's Free Jazz, and Coltrane's Ascension, and I got both of them right off the bat. Trout Mask... phooey - I'll (try to) spin it again later tonight.
10 - Rodney Welch
I suppose you can "get" Free Jazz just by reading the liner notes.
11 - Mark Saleski
details of what i hear in Trout Mask are the unison runs: particularly between the horn and Beefhearts "howling"...there's really a lot of stuff going on.
and i highly recommend that 33 1/3 book.
12 - Rodney Welch
Mark, But can you defend it on an artistic level? Beyond pointing out it's technical complexity, what gives it value as a listening experience? What's it about? Does it have a theme or themes?
13 - Mark Saleski
theme? what, are you fuckin' kidding me?! ;-)
seriously, part of the reason i like the songs are that the lyrics are a bizarre form of poetry. "the dust blows forward 'n the dust blows back..." or the silly pair of: "i knew you were under duress/i knew you under yer dress"
i shouldn't have used the word "unison" because that makes it sound way too technical. what i should have said was that it cracks me up to hear a guy howl along with a horn.
shoot, you're gonna make me write up a full review.
14 - Rodney Welch
Do you think it's all just Dada nonsense or is he actually trying to communicate something specific?
15 - JC Mosquito
I suppose you "can."
16 - Mark Saleski
some of the tunes are about sex...though i'm not a lyrics guy so i have to admit that i found that out by reading the book.
17 - Rodney Welch
I'm not real sure if there are any lyrics on the disc that are superior to, say, "Lend me some sugar, I AM your neighbor."
Sounds like a good book, though. Maybe like a lot of works of art, Trout Mask Replica is more interesting to read about, discuss and argue than it is to actually hear.
18 - Mark Saleski
well, like i said, it's not for everybody. nothin' wrong with that.
19 - Mary K. Williams
yeah, but would I like it?
Isn't that what' its all about?
(i probably would)
20 - Al Barger
For those who haven't heard TMR, I might describe it as harsh avant garde blues. If the idea of that sounds appealing, you'll probably end up digging it.
On a related note, dig Marge Simpson's Trout Mask Replica.
21 - Josh
OK Computer resonates deeply with me on musical, lyrical, and personal levels. Themes of paranoia and isolation are brilliantly, artfully, and magically created. It is a stunning record and brilliant achievement. "Paranoid Android," one of several brilliant tracks on the record, is one of the finest audio sketches of a dissent into paranoia and madness. It's genius level work.
OK Computer is the album where they balance their ambitious, bizarre, no rules approach with more conventional songcraft and sharp lyrical insights. They made records that are more ambitious (the brilliant Kid A, which we both love) and they made more straightforward records like The Bends (which I still love). OK Computer balances their different talents and abilities and it hangs together in a cohesive and astonishing way. It really is one of the best albums of all time. So dense, so much to take from it even 10 years later.
I got a bit annoyed at some of the hype, although some of the hype encouraged me to check them out in the first place. I knew it was bad when resident airhead dumbass went around spouting off that Radiohead are "the Kafka and the Beckett of our generation." What an idiot. I bet he couldn't spell Kafka if you spotted him the "As" and "Ks." Anyway, the hype began to do them a disservice yet they deserved the acclaim. Go figure.