Wow !, Much thanks to DM reader Ryan who in his comment on Marc’s Beefheart post yesterday hepped me to this book: Beefheart: Through the Eyes of Magic by the Magic Band’s long suffering drummer, John “Drumbo” French. My copy is flying toward me in the mail as I type but I already know to expect tales of tyrannical cruelty (bunch of dudes living in a run down house in Woodland Hills, practicing 12 hours a day, eating only a handful of soybeans per day) and sublime inspiration. In anticipation, here’s a miraculous clip of the Lick My Decals Off,Baby era Magic Band (including Drumbo) playing a suite of tunes live on Detroit TV in 1971.
 

Don’t forget Kevin Courrier’s book about Trout Mask Replica in the 33 1/3 series. It’s a real eye-opener

His liner notes to the “Grow Fins” box set probably tells me all I need to know, but fanatics like us will read the book to get more lurid details.

As dictatorial as he may have been, I still give Van Vliet as much credit for the music created as the musicians, since he was the catalyst and/or director for it all coming together; I know Drumbo gives most of the credit to the musicians involved for interpreting Don’s perhaps opaque directions, but they would never have created that stuff on their own, and the vast catalog of stuff under the “Beefheart” name has a clear continuity in sound and feel, despite the ever-changing Magic Band personnel.

agreed, and that voice ! and the lyrics !, etc, etc.

@Illich

With respect to the captain, I’m going to have to disagree.  The band and the captain were equally crucial elements.  Bluejeans and Moonbeams should be enough evidence.  And without the patience and indulgence of John French, Trout Mask Replica would never have happened.

No question that Don was the fount from which all this great music was created. However, from my POV as the last drummer for the Magic Band, I was able to maintain “the continuity of sound etc.” that you speak of with Don’s guidance coupled with a thorough study and role modeling of all the records that preceded “Ice Cream for Crow”. And my hunch is that Don did not re-invent the entire vocabulary of modern drumming without a fair degree of collaboration from the genius of John French. At the very least; it would have taken a drum set savant just to be be able to perform those parts. There has never been and never will be another Drumbo.

Ha! So much conjectural rhetoric from the peanut gallery

It is what it is, how it came to be, what came before or after… who gives a !@#$—after all, we are here to appreciate the results, which are (as far as I can tell from the consensus) just plain Artistic Genius. (Yes, capitalized.)

God bless.

Even Zappa dreamed in Beefheart. And dare I add that I hear this in Tom Waits as well…

Loooooove the Cpt!

Cliff Martinez !!!

Do you remember bringing the Ice Cream for Crow video to watch at my house along with Jeff Tepper ?

I wish I had some recordings of Two Balls and a Bat.

Brad,

I’m getting senile….I remember coming over but not much else. I do remember our infamous double bill at that little hole in the wall in Silverlake though when Tommy Gears’ underage “girlfriend” through herself off the balcony and landed on my drumset. At the hospital, Tommy asked “What ever possessed you to do such a crazy thing”, to which she replied “That guy (meaning me), had a loaf of bread on his head”. Sorry, I digress….here’s to the Captain and the new book!

glad i could be of service

I saw this clip when it originally aired in Detroit (don’t know if it was syndicated)- it was on WABX Tube Works, ABX being the main underground FM radio station in the D. I was never the same after seeing this; I thought about words and music differently from then on. Now John French is a good Facebook friend! Time, fate, karma, whatever - is weird like that.

He also had a big influence on “Henry Cow” who toured with him in the ‘70s I read in Wikipedia. A former “Henry Cow” member is an anthropologist, Georgina Born here at: http://dialogue.media-culture.org.au/node/21 in “M/C - A Journal of Media and Culture”. Reminds me a bit of “MC 5” who opened for Alvin Lee years ago at Stony Brook University a little late.

Great book, for we fanatics anyway. And thanks, Brad, for the great video! Indeed, I always felt that Drumbo played drums as though it were a lead instrument! That was a serious innovation.

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