 |  | i mAY bE hUNGRY bUT i sURE aIN'T wIERD |  |
tHIS WAS THE FIRST bEEFHEART tHAT ME AND MY BOYS EVER HEARD.There was no question, it was the most important music we ever heard.
This was our aesthete standard which cradled our creativity and world view for years to come.
The extraneous effects, have no affect on the impact of the presentation.
This is green rubber candy for a poppin black mouth in daddy's cartoon bowl.
Glide out an gitcha one!
April 22, 2008| | | The music shines through like a diamond in the mud | |
Although buried in psychedelic bromo-seltzer, the music shines through like a diamond in the mud. The takes on this album are better than those on the new versions of Safe As Milk and Mirror Man Sessions. According to [..] (one of the best fan sites of all time-check it out!), the un-phased tapes of the album have been found! I would be the first to buy the CD if it were released. If I knew who owned the tapes or the rights to them I would lobby them to release it. But like many Beefheart projects (e.g. the original Bat Chain Puller), it may be entangled in a legal spiderweb.
February 5, 2008Though they got quite a bit of press, CAPTAIN BEEFHEART AND HIS MAGIC BAND was dropped by their label Buddha after their first album tanked. I have to say that the Buddha Records' decades-buried out-take of "Safe As Milk" included as a bonus track on the CAPTAIN's recently remastered release of the band's first album SAFE AS MILK (1967) is wonderful, and, ironically, the original SAFE AS MILK album did not include that title track! That track, and a few others also recorded for Buddha (particularly "On Tomorrow" and "Trust Us") are far superior to the "studio enhanced" over-phased muck on this record (including heavily over-dubbed vocals and corny special effects, such as the heartbeat at the end of "Ah Feel Like Ahcid"). The band's second album, released on Blue Thumb Records late in 1968, was ill-received for these various reasons (long story, who cares but buffs?) Nonetheless, this record has some very amusing, compelling parts ("Beatle Bones And Smokin' Stones" which alienated early supporter JOHN LENNON) unique blues, and what can only be described as "Acid Rock." The liner notes (by Mark Paytress of Record Collector magazine) scoff at the notion that the first track, "Ah Feel Like Ahcid," is "Acid Rock" and he's right it's certainly more SON HOUSE Blues influenced than by the surfeit of Acid Rock groups then in the mainstream. However, the lyrics betray clear references to dropping acid "...licked a stamp...dropped a stamp..." So, sure, it references the original idea of a double album intended to be packaged to look like a postally used package (that album idea was shelved by Buddha and was intended to be entitled IT COMES TO YOU IN A PLAIN BROWN WRAPPER) but one cannot ignore the lyrics and the year in which STRICTLY PERSONAL was released.
I think it is a mistake to assume that LENNON didn't listen to this record quite a bit; though he was reportedly insulted by "Beatle Bones And Smokin' Stones" (which is disappointingly suggestive of LENNON's lack of humor about himself). I hear the CAPTAIN's "Kandy Korn" influence on LENNON's ABBEY ROAD track "I Want You (She's So Heavy)." It is my opinion that "Beatle Bones" is historically the most interesting track on STRICTLY PERSONAL, and that track alone is worth the price of admission. I also think it is a terribly misunderstood song. The last line is "...strawberry FEELS forever," a typically clever pun by the CAPTAIN. Considering the care the CAPTAIN used in selecting words for his lyrics, that line seems a declarative statement of the unending influence of LENNON's extremely important, far-reaching, and eternal single "Strawberry Fields Forever." I think LENNON just didn't get it.
Certainly enjoyable, but also annoyingly cloudy, I must dock STRICTLY PERSONAL a point because of the muddy production, which obscures the percussion and charging guitars, and can recommend it only to diehard fans of the CAPTAIN or of BLUES influenced ACID ROCK. Nonetheless, "Son Of Mirrorman" is still powerful, "Gimme Dat Harp Boy" is such scorching raw and insightful blues it's impossible to obscure, and "Kandy Korn" (my own favorite) has stunning moments. Long out of print stateside, this album is now only available as an import.
September 13, 2007I had this album on vinyl years ago. I had been searching for it for a long time hoping that it would be on CD. I really did not remember too much about it only that I liked it. I know it has been criticized by others as being overcommercialized by it's producer, and that might be true, but I still like and enjoy this record very much. It was good to hear after so many years. Ooh la light, Ooh la dark.
June 10, 2007Unless you are a devout captain beefheart fan, I suggest not getting this album. But instead just get SAFE AS MILK and MIRROR MAN, they have all the songs this has but better versions. As an album compared to all other music it is amazing, but compared to the captains other out put it is only sub-par. I dont feel like the psycedelic phazing gets in the way, its just that all but one of these songs appears on Safe As Milk and Mirror Man and those versions are much better.
August 4, 2006More reviews at Amazon.com ...
(17 reviews)