I had to post this. The soundtrack is "I'm Glad" by Captain Beefheart and His Magic band from his 1965 record, Safe As Milk. The images are from the early German Expressionist Film, The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari.
Micro, Thanks for the encouragement in my attempts to get to know Captain Beefheart. When I got into Zappa, two Zappadans ago, I started to look into Beefheart too. But, I have to admit his music is not as easy to get to like. I'm slowly making some progress and your opinion helps.
Throughout my life I've noticed that often the music that is most easily appreciated, is the first to be forgotten. Frank Zappa was not in the category for me and Captain Beefheart is even less so.
Interestingly, Frank Zappa and Don Van Vliet were very good friends as teens in the California Desert town they grew up in. They sort of encouraged each others strangeness. Van Vliet poseessed on of the great vocal instruments of all time. Once an while, in his catalogue, he dropped a bomb...he could really sing in a commercial sense. But, perhaps his art is an aquired taste. He is a painter, a dadaist. I believe he approached music from a very painterly sense. Aural Abstract Expressionism. Much more surreal in the sense of dadaism, but there is something that connects with the thread of the avant garde of the 20th century and stitches it into the fabric of American music forms.... He created a body of work totally unique and still vitally influential. He is still alive, in the desert and makes his living as an abstract impressionistic painter.
2 comments:
Micro, Thanks for the encouragement in my attempts to get to know Captain Beefheart. When I got into Zappa, two Zappadans ago, I started to look into Beefheart too. But, I have to admit his music is not as easy to get to like. I'm slowly making some progress and your opinion helps.
Throughout my life I've noticed that often the music that is most easily appreciated, is the first to be forgotten. Frank Zappa was not in the category for me and Captain Beefheart is even less so.
Interestingly, Frank Zappa and Don Van Vliet were very good friends as teens in the California Desert town they grew up in.
They sort of encouraged each others strangeness.
Van Vliet poseessed on of the great vocal instruments of all time. Once an while, in his catalogue, he dropped a bomb...he could really sing in a commercial sense.
But, perhaps his art is an aquired taste. He is a painter, a dadaist.
I believe he approached music from a very painterly sense. Aural Abstract Expressionism.
Much more surreal in the sense of dadaism, but there is something that connects with the thread of the avant garde of the 20th century and stitches it into the fabric of American music forms....
He created a body of work totally unique and still vitally influential.
He is still alive, in the desert and makes his living as an abstract impressionistic painter.
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