Friday, December 17, 2010

RIP Don van Vliet a.k.a. Captain Beefheart

1941-2010

Captain Beefheart was one of the true originals in music. Like many, I discovered his music via that of Frank Zappa. While Beefheart is probably best known for the Zappa-produced Trout Mask Replica, his ouvre goes well beyond the scope of the Zappa-esque tunes on that album. While he retained elements of the Trout Mask sound, Beefheart might be best described as a blues man first, but one with his own unique style. I always liked to think of him as a demented Howlin' Wolf.

From the great Safe as Milk LP, here's "Sure 'Nuff 'n Yes I Do" -



And another favorite from that album, "Electricty" -



There's also a great documentary from a few years ago titled simply Captain Beefheart: Under Review. Well worth checking out - a very in depth look at his career.



As someone put it on Twitter, "Live fast, die bulbous." RIP, Captain.



1 comment:

WIUP's The Sunday Sampler with Marc Morrison said...

Very sad news. I had no idea. In a world of carbon copy music, he was a true original.