One of the gems hidden inside Andrew Weatherall’s mix I posted last week was this Captain Beefheart song- cosmic, trippy, romantic and beautiful. Anto rates it as a hangover curer. It was on the Captain’s 1974 album Bluejeans And Moonbeams which disappointed many Beefheart fans when it was released- they thought it was too commercial, too mainstream. Listen to this to ease your way into Monday morning and reflect on that for a moment. Then click play again.
Mercury Rev recorded at the BBC’s Maida Vale studio in 1999 for a Peel Session, with a lovely laidback cover of Captain Beefheart’s Observatory Crest, perfect for this time on a Sunday when the light’s gone, and ‘Monday’s coming like a jail on wheels’.
Bagging Area has been zig-zagging all over the place recently, from 80s indie, to rock, to vintage hip hop to acid house, post punk, Irish punk and God knows wherever else. Eclecticism- we got it. Or randomitis.
Anyway – tenuous link ahoy!- here’s Zig Zag Wanderer from Captain Beefheart, a zippy piece of souped up r’n’b/fast electric blues. As everyone knows Beefheart’s Trout Mask Replica is a work of unparalleled genius. If I ever manage to listen to it all the way through I’ll let you know if I agree. This song is from the much more listenable Safe As Milk album, and let’s be honest, the man and his band at this point looked sharp. Very, very sharp.
