Trout Mask Replica

; Artist
*Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band
; Label
*Straight
; Release date
*1969
;Format
*2xLP
; Comments
"If there has been anything in the history of popular music which could be described as a work of art in a way that people who are involved in other areas of art would understand, then Trout Mask Replica is probably that work." John Peel, 1995 interview with Mike Barnes, quoted in the author's 1999 biography of Captain Beefheart.
Trout Mask Replica is the third studio album by American rock band Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band, released as a double album on June 16, 1969, by Straight Records. Combining elements of R&B, garage rock, and blues with free jazz, avant-garde approaches, and other genres of American music, the album is regarded as an important work of experimental music and art rock. It sold poorly upon its initial release in the United States, where it failed to appear in any charts. It was more successful in the United Kingdom, where it spent a week at number 21 on the UK Albums Chart. In recent years, however, Trout Mask Replica has been widely regarded as the masterpiece of Van Vliet's musical career, as well as an important influence on many subsequent artists. Its highly unconventional musical style, which includes polyrhythm, multi-octave vocals, and polytonality, continues to polarize audiences and has given the album a reputation as one of the most challenging recordings in the 20th century musical canon....(Read more)
Sheila commented that "John's admiration for Beefheart's masterpiece...never palled over the course of more than thirty years," Margrave Of The Marshes, Bantam Press 2005, p.226. a fact readily observed from the prodigious list of plays (in 1969, 1978 and 1993 in particular). John Walters, in his preamble to the third edition of Peeling Back The Years, span Pachuco Cadaver and added that TMR came from Beefheart's more extreme period: "now clearly Beefheart has been an influential but sort of extreme artist and he still sounds extreme." He also mentioned that in one show (28 March 1972) John featured a staggering 18 (by all accounts actually 17) tracks by Beefheart, three of these coming from TMR.
In an article from an early 1970 Irish magazine called The New Spotlight, Peel mentioned he had two favourite albums in his 1969 LPs Of The Year, naming Van Morrison's Astral Weeks, but not disclosing the other, which was more likely to have been Trout Mask Replica. In November 1987, JP placed the record at number 4 in a list published in OOR magazine; in 1992 it was third best album in Jocks Choice; and in 1997, the LP topped Peel's list of his Top 20 Albums, a feature of the Guardian that ran in tandem with Music Of The Millennium (on which TMR came in 41st position).
== Tracklisting ==
;Side One
#Frownland
#The Dust Blows Forward n' The Dust Blows Back
#Dachau Bluesright|335 px
#Ella Guru
#Hair Pie: Bake 1 (instrumental)
#Moonlight On Vermont
;Side Two
#Pachuco Cadaver
#Bill's Corpse
#Sweet Sweet Bulbs
#Neon Meate Dream Of A Octafish
#China Pig
#My Human Gets Me Blues
#Dali's Car (instrumental)
;Side Three
#Hair Pie: Bake 2 (instrumental)
#Pena
#Well
#When Big Joan Sets Up
#Fallin' Ditch
#Sugar N' Spikes
#Ant Man Bee
;Side Four
#Orange Claw Hammer
#Wild Life
#She's Too Much For My Mirror
#Hobo Chang Ba
#The Blimp (Mousetrapreplica)
#Steal Softly Thru Snow
#Old Fart At Play
#Veteran's Day Poppy
== Plays ==
;1969
*22 June 1969: Hair Pie: Bake 2
*22 June 1969: Pena (Fast And Bulbous intro only)
*29 June 1969: Neon Meate Dream of A Octofish
*20 July 1969: Moonlight On Vermont 
*27 July 1969: Pachuco Cadaver; Pachuco Cadaver (brief reprise)
*24 August 1969: When Big Joan Sets Up 
*31 August 1969: My Human Gets Me Blues 
*31 August 1969: Dali's Car
*21 September 1969: Fallin’ Ditch
*27 September 1969: Wild Life
*11 October 1969: She’s Too Much For My Mirror
*18 October 1969: Steal Softly Thru Snow
*25 October 1969: Sweet Sweet Bulbs
*01 November 1969: Bill's Corpse
*15 November 1969: Pachuco Cadaver
*20 December 1969: Veteran’s Day Poppy
*27 December 1969: Orange Claw Hammer; Wild Life
;1970
*17 January 1970: Neon Meate Dream Of A Octafish
;1972
*28 March 1972: When Big Joan Sets Up
*28 March 1972: Ella Guru
*28 March 1972: The Blimp (Mousetrapreplica)
;1978
*17 February 1978: Hair Pie: Bake
*17 February 1978: Moonlight On Vermont
*29 March 1978: Neon Meate Dream Of A Octafish
*29 March 1978: China Pig
*29 March 1978: My Human Gets Me Blues
*29 March 1978: Dali's Car
*27 July 1978: Orange Claw Hammer
;1980
*08 March 1980 (BFBS): China Pig
;1984
*21 March 1984: Pachuco Cadaver
*31 March 1984 (BFBS): Pachuco Cadaver
;1986
*21 April 1986: Pachuco Cadaver
;1988
*14 June 1988: Steal Softly Thru Snow
*28 June 1988: Hobo Chang Ba
*12 July 1988: Veteran's Day Poppy
*02 August 1988: Hair Pie: Bake 2 
*17 August 1988: Pena
*07 September 1988: Fallin' Ditch
*13 September 1988: When Big Joan Set Up
;1989
*20 February 1989: Moonlight On Vermont 
;1990
*15 January 1990: The Blimp (Mousetrapreplica)
;1993
*17 September 1993: Frownland
*18 September 1993: The Dust Blows Forward n' The Dust Blows Back
*24 September 1993: Dachau Blues
*24 September 1993 (BFBS): Frownland
*01 October 1993: Hair Pie: Bake 1
*02 October 1993: Moonlight On Vermont
*08 October 1993: Pachuco Cadaver
*09 October 1993: Bill's Corpse
*15 October 1993: Sweet Sweet Bulbs
*16 October 1993: Neon Meate Dream of A Octofish
*22 October 1993: China Pig
*23 October 1993: My Human Gets Me Blues
*29 October 1993: Dali’s Car
*30 October 1993: Hair Pie: Bake 2
*05 November 1993: Pena
*06 November 1993: Well
*12 November 1993: When Big Joan Sets Up
*13 November 1993: Fallin' Ditch
*19 November 1993: Sugar 'N Spikes
*20 November 1993: Ant Man Bee
*26 November 1993: Orange Claw Hammer
*27 November 1993: Wild Life
*03 December 1993: She's Too Much For My Mirror
*04 December 1993: Hobo Chang Ba
*10 December 1993: The Blimp (Mousetrapreplica)
*11 December 1993: Steal Softly Thru Snow
*17 December 1993: Old Fart At Play
*18 December 1993: Veteran's Day Poppy
;1997
*13 August 1997: Pachuco Cadaver
*20 November 1997: Pachuco Cadaver
;Other
*Where It's At, Programme 2: She's Too Much For My Mirror
*Peeling Back The Years: Pachuco Cadaver
== Covered ==
(The list below was compiled only from the Cover Versions page of this site. Please add more information if known.)
Artist | Track | First Known Play
*Claw Hammer: 'Moonlight On Vermont' 19 July 1992 (BFBS)
*Nectarine No. 9: 'Frownland' (session) 24 April 1993
*Primevals: 'China Pig' 18 May 1988
*White Stripes: 'China Pig' 08 March 2001
== Links ==
*Wikipedia
*AllMusic
*Discogs
;Footnotes
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