NOTES

despite the fact that most of the enormous country is made up of his favourite landscape (desert), captain beefheart never visited australia on his foreign journeys. nevertheless, his magic reached far enough to create local pressings of all his albums and an audience of old and new admirers.

one of the representatives of the media over there that gave attention to the captain's painted music is the radio station jjj. not only during don van vliet's musical activities but even in the later decades. like in the week when he became 60 years old, when it put together a three hours show as part of their 'j files' series.

as the broadcasting company also makes use of the modern technologies available in cyber space the program even could be followed by fans on the other side of god's golfball. an opportunity no beefheart addict should have missed, for it turned out that the special was a special one.

REVIEW

because, except for a cheap trick like having listeners (a lot of them being musicians themselves) calling the studio quasi-live to drop requests for songs, the station had done its homework in an excellent way. a good part of the expert information originated from the bbc documentary the artist formerly known as captain beefheart and the notes to the grow fins box set, for example.

on the other hand, the choice for some of the songs from that box wasn't too lucky as all the chosen live versions are notorious for the dubious sound quality - and playing one of the artistically bad songs from 'merseytrout (live in liverpool)' was a mistake too. and i totally don't get it why the radio show broadcasted excerpts of spoken utterances from the teevee documentary, including the (in this case) annoying snatches of background music.

so it was a pity for me there was none of the early 'lancaster demos' from the box set. but then, the 'birthday tribute' wasn't meant as a precise retrospection on beefheart's achievements and qualities. as a result, the broadcast contained none of his famous poetry, a cappellas or instrumentals (beside a short harmonica solo during a radio interview). it also led to an unbalanced attention to the albums: 'doc at the radar station' and 'ice cream for crow' nearly were forgotten, while 'shiny beast' and 'strictly personal (including the 'i may be hungry but i sure ain't weird' outtakes)' were very popular.

moreover, the makers of the program appeared to be overtly charmed by don's 'counterpart' frank zappa. i even suspect them of playing the two van vliet compositions 'sam with the showing scalp flat top' and 'man with the woman head' from the 'bongo fury' album because of the chance for some sneaky promotion!

however, it also was an ádvantage they are into beefheart's artistical mother (just a word play, don actually never wanted to have one) for a long time. because it turned out that this australian station still possesses a master tape of the one hour 'bongo fury' radio promo they aired in late 1975, which - in its entirety - we know as the bootleg 'an evening with frank zappa and captain beefheart'.

and of course it was no wonder it re-aired the fabulous 'orange claw hammer' duet! and of course it was no wonder (nor is) that this version was (and is) sounding a lot better than the xth generation tape recording picked out for 'grow fins'. and of course it is no wonder this bizarre rarity was one of the definite highlights of this broadcast.

óne of...? yes, because - as the music contained no surprises - what mainly made this tribute show so special were the interviews with beefheart and some other people. for, besides some integral fragments from 'the artist etc' you are supposed to know (zappa, ry cooder, matt groening), did you ever hear bill harkleroad speak?

or heard don's 'bongo fury' lecture (kind of zappa item again)? and what about his autumn 1980 chat with capitol radio in england? or, even weirder, his visit to dr. demento in which he confesses how he first really met frank by offering him a lift (i admit: kind of zappa item again)? well, not me...

but that wasn't all: the radio station brought us two more interesting topics. first it had had contact with the writer of the most complete book on captain beefheart till now, mike barnes, for some nutshell summaries on don's 'bully level', the myths around 'trout mask replica' and don's present (health) circumstances, to honour his request for 'doctor dark', and to let him explain his five years wrestle with the beefmatter.

and last but not least, the research team of the program dug up a '78 interview from their own jjj archives with ry cooder in which he recalls the way the 'blue collar' soundtrack crew forced poor don to sing 'hard workin' (fucked over) man'. i know, this inside story is known from the liner notes to the ceedee rerelease, but as ry had to go back in time twenty years then, it is no shadow of the fresh memory he told a few month after the happening!

*

the AFTER-SHOCK

like many traditional radio stations which also are active on the web nowadays, triple j has stored information from their broadcasts in an archive. in this case: the most interesting parts of the show, which are that alternate 'orange claw hammer', the 'hard workin' man' story and those other interviews!

while the live broadcast had some cyber disturbances (i got disconnected twice) you can listen to those fragments of the radio show without trouble now! and: ány time of day...

*

[210101, with many thanks to craig jones for announcing this wonderful radio show to the beefheart world]