Kosmik Radiation Radio - Aug 24, 2012 Playlist

CLASSIC ALBUM OF THE WEEK
Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band "Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller)" 1978 (USA)

Captain Beefheart (aka Don Van Vliet) and the unsung group of musicians known as The Magic Band struggled their entire careers. None of their albums released on a half dozen different labels ever made the charts in the United States, tours were sporadic, they made almost no money. With a story like that, it's not so surprising that there has been a "lost album" in their discography. In 1975-76 old pal Frank Zappa hired Van Vliet to sing on tour with his band, as the Captain was without a label or a group at that point. One thing led to another, and soon The Magic Band was reassembled and they recorded Bat Chain Puller -- but it was not released as the Discreet record label they recorded it for imploded under a lawsuit between its two owners, Zappa and his manager Herbie Cohen (who was also Beefheart's manager at the time). Two years later Van Vliet assembled an entirely different group and recorded Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller) for Warner Brothers, remaking several of the tracks from BCP (remakes of other BCP tunes also appeared on Beefheart's last two albums from the 1980's). Over the generation that has passed since then, the legend of the unreleased album has only grown. Now that both Zappa and Vliet have passed on, in 2012 a remixed and remastered version of the original Bat Chain Puller has finally been commercially released (bootlegs of the original mix have also circulated for years). But at the end of the day -- I think Shiny Beast is a fine album, and actually still prefer it to the "original lost" version. Although I am judging a "remaster" completed without the input of most of the original artists, my sense is that Bat Chain Puller is somewhat disjointed and unfocused -- several tracks are great, but the diversity of the album makes it seem a little haphazard. Whereas the "remake" Shiny Beast seems like a much more coherent album stylistically -- one might say they just went with the most "commercial" tracks from BCP, although the titular tune "Bat Chain Puller" appears on both, and it's one of the top 5 kraziest Beefheart tracks of all time! (And I like the second Shiny Beast version best). In fact, I would recommend this week's classic album as a good entry point into the Beefheart universe for virgin ears: it's certainly strange enough, but also quite catchy and even danceable! In the context of this artist's career, Shiny Beast marks a return to form while setting out in a new direction and inaugurating the last great lineup of The Magic Band.
(Footnote: Magic Band drummer John French's excellent book Beefheart: Through The Eyes Of Magicgives a negative review of the sound of this album, but French acknowledges that he was listening to a CD remaster and scarcely listened to the original LP when it came out as it is one of the few Beefheart albums he didn't play on -- whereas I have always owned an original LP version, and think that the original mix sounds perfectly fine. Lots of CD reissues have inferior sound, and sadly a CB & MB album is not likely to get the most thorough attention from a megalabel like Warner Bros.)
Here's a version of Beefheart & The Magic Band from 1980 playing the song which contains the lyric "shiny beast": "Dirty Blue Gene" . And to give the brilliant musicians behind the infamous Van Vliet their due, here's the spinoff band Mallard (with sixties-era Magic Banders Mark "Rockette Morton" Boston and Bill "Zoot Horn Rollo" Harkleroad) in 1976: "One Day Once", and a 2003 Magic Band reunion concert featuring John "Drumbo" French on lead vocals.

(N) = New Release

Artist	Song	Album	Year (label)	Country
Neil Young & Crazy Horse	O Susannah (traditional arr. Neil Young)	Americana (N)	2012 (Reprise)	Canada/USA
Patti Smith	After The Goldrush (Neil Young)	Banga (N)	2012 (Columbia)	USA
Liars	Annual Moon Words	WIXIW (N)	2012 (Mute)	USA/Australia
Shonen Knife	Psychedelic Life	Pop Tune (N)	2012 (Good Charamel)	Japan
The Fuck Knights	Teenage Wasteland	Let It Bleed (N)	2011 (Boss Hoss)	USA
Ladyhawke	Gone Gone Gone	Anxiety (N)	2012 (Casablanca)	New Zealand

The Firesign Theatre	The Further Adventures Of Nick Danger	How Can You Be In Two Places At Once When You're Not Anywhere At All?	1969	USA

Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band	Suction Prints	Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller) CLASSIC ALBUM OF THE WEEK	1978	USA
Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band	Candle Mambo (original version)	Bat Chain Puller (N - previously unreleased "lost" album)	1976 (2012 Zappa Vaulternative)	USA
Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band	Bat Chain Puller	Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller) CLASSIC ALBUM OF THE WEEK	1978	USA
Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band	Odd Jobs	Bat Chain Puller (N - previously unreleased "lost" album)	1976 (2012 Zappa Vaulternative)	USA

Ty Segall Band	Diddy Wah (Bo Diddley)	Slaughterhouse (N)	2012 (In The Red)	USA
Melvins	Over From Under The Excrement	Gluey Porch Treatments	1987	USA
Mission of Burma	Secrets	Vs.	1982	USA
Mission of Burma	7's	UnSound (N)	2012 (Fire)	USA
Volcano Suns (Peter Prescott from Mission of Burma)	Needles In The Camel's Eye	Thing Of Beauty	1989	USA
Second Family Band	WAU	Unreleased track	rec. 2009	USA
Mickey Hart	Fletcher Carnaby	Rolling Thunder	1972	USA

Dr. John	You Lie	Locked Down (N)	2012 (Nonesuch)	USA
Bobby Conn	The Truth	Macaroni (N)	2012 (Fire)	USA
Peaking Lights	Beautiful Son	Lucifer (N)	2012 (Mexican Summer)	USA
Eric Copeland	Louie, Louie, Louie	Limbo (N)	2012 (Underwater Peoples)	USA
Heavy Tin	A Whole	MakeOver (N)	2012 (Concinnity)	USA

Karlheinz Stockhausen	Kontra-Punkte	Stockhausen Complete Edition #4	1953	Germany
Karlheinz Stockhausen	Hymnen (brief excerpt)	Stockhausen Complete Edition #10	1967	Germany