Captain Beefheart - Chorus TV 1980 (DVD)
Captain Beefheart - The Artist Formerly Known as…/The Late Show Beefheart (DVD)
The music of Don Van Vliet and co is probably some of the most difficult out there, but music that rewards the effort put into untangling the puzzle. These two DVDs went a long way into opening up the albums a bit, and I do feel a revisit jag coming on, a short concert from French TV in the band’s later, revived years and a documentary from British TV.
I watched the concert first and was extremely impressed. It’s often hard to get past the Captain’s intense delivery to hear what is some of the most complex blues-based music I’ve ever heard, but it’s easier to see what’s happening live. No doubt about it, this band rocks. It helps not only to hear the band but also to hear Van Vliet’s astonishing lyrics clearly.
The world may have gained a painter, but it lost a conssumate lyricist when Van Vliet hung the band up in the 80s. This story, told by musicians and others, is related on the documentary, which is really well put together. Extremely funny are the segments with Ry Cooder, who seems so traumatized by his experience with the early band that you can see it in his eyes almost 30 years since he quit. And then there’s Simpsons creator Matt Groening, who seems to be there mostly as a “famous fan.” Other than not getting Van Vliet’s side of the story, it seems a pretty balanced undertaking, covering all facets of the man’s musical career and featuring some pretty nice video clips. When Van Vliet decides he’s going to stick to painting, there’s a palpable loss.
There’s also a second video on the DVD but it seems to be something of an alternate version of the bio and after about 25 minutes, I decided to take it off.
Don Cabellero - Chicago aud (DVD)
Audience videos aren’t too bad when there’s a trio and you can get them in one frame, and despite the camera doing some ocassional meandering, this isn’t bad, it’s a small room and the crowd is digging it. In short bursts, Don C. are pretty fun to listen to, but nobody alters their tones for the entire gig, so after about 10 or 20 minutes the music starts to sound samey. It doesn’t help that the compositions seem more an exercise in mathematics than songs, but the talent tends to make them an interesting listen at times, particularly the guitarist who often sounds like two at times.
Grant Green - Live at Mozambique
Grant Green - Ain’t That Funky Now
Grant Green - Grantstand
Live at Mozambique is the neat new archive of Green’s sould band years, a concert from 1971. Given a familiarity with the Lighthouse and Live albums, one knows what to expect here, a melange of chopping and grooving that makes the booty march to its own drummer. I look forward to more listens to this baby, it’s a smoker.
Ain’t That Funky Now is the first of three recent complilations of the same period. I usually hate comps, but given the somewhat inconsistent tracking from the era, having most of the man’s best material as comps is more a godsend, particularly with the ramp up in sound quality. I know about half of this from the aforementioned live albums, but having great tracks from some of the ones I don’t is really nice. It’s a great comp, well worth having, even if you’ve got everything here.
Grantstand is much earlier and in hard bop mode but it’s a record that grabs the ears with the great soloing and sound. I’m telling ya, this is one musician I’m having a hard time not digging.