Trout Mask Replica

I have tried to like this album for decades.

Oh man, Trout Mask Replica. With its cult status on Reddit, I was thinking that it would be at least something interesting. It's not. It's like some kind of torture. Most of the songs are just them banging on instruments. Moving on. Candidate for worst song. Best song: Orange Claw Hammer

This album is an audio representation of a person throwing paint at a wall and making a Dali masterpiece. Punk in its attitude, and blues in its playing, Trout Mask Replica is an album with a set goal of representing the underbelly of the art crème by mashing and cramming a lot of things into itself and puking out a magical rainbow of lyrics that sound like a religious preacher, instrumentation that sound like what falling down the stairs, high on drugs of all kinds while having an aneurysm. In a good kind. Don Vliet, of course, succeeded in his endeavour, whatever that might've been. You can say he wanted to express himself as an artist, giving a middle finger to the mainstream, make a pop album, which is a serious take, as there are some really catchy and progressive moments that would find themselves in music of 2023, but you can also interpret this album is an attempt to break apart whatever you deem that is music. And that's the beauty of it. It's like taking a Rubik's Cube and trying your hardest to solve it by throwing it against the wall, breaking it, and using the pieces and making a sculpture. It's probably stupid and cliché to say, but this album is hard to get at first, but once you connect that mainline, it's a trip to Neverland where the cool kids hang out.

Some weird music. I think Zappa liked this.

I listened to this full album, just so I could post a sincere 1 rating. This type of music enrages me as it inevitably leads to wankers declaring it a masterpiece, avant-garde, a piece of art, etc. You need to really listen to it a few times to appreciate the musicianship, they say. No you don't, I say. This is crappy music. This is complicated for the sake of being complicated, it strips all the fun out of music leaving a barely functional purely technical pile of slop. "Oh wow polyrhythms and polytonality, these musicians are so great" no they aren't, fuck off, it sounds like shit and just because you heard someone call this experimental and you want to attach yourself to it because you think it makes you seem complex is bullshit.

If I’m being honest, I love this. But I also feel like there isn’t a true rating I could give it besides the 1-5 one on this site. This is a masterpiece that I don’t feel like hearing in full again. It is insane, it is brilliant, it is absolute garbage. This album deserves to be here as a challenge to the average listener. I’m glad I got through it, but as for a rating, I honestly have no clue. For this site, I’m gonna give it a 4, but my true feelings are reflected elsewhere (WTF/10, 4/5 on this scale)

Very intense, difficult to do in one sitting. Also great.

This is honestly one of the worst things I've heard in my life. What the actual f*ck.

So hard to find this album. Found it on youtube I think and it was super funky. I was not a fan

This is how you break me. 1/5

Ah man, it's already so shit and I haven't even hit the 20 second mark yet. It's just utter, utter bullshit. There's such little artistic merit to this. It's just a bunch of people fucking about between themselves, and, I suspect, with us the audience. Many of these people are also in 'The Mothers of Invention', another band that supremely grates on me. These guys think they're well funny. Well how's *THIS* for funny Captain Beefheart and your Tragic Band? How's *THIS* for funny!? 1 star. And you can thank me for it. Oh wait you can't, because you're dead.

I love Zappa. I have every official release and have listened to his living discography many times over. Wanna get that out there... That having been said, I hate this album so much. I've read the articles. Influence, challenge, etc... I get it. I just don't want to listen to it.

That is quite possibly the worst album on here. I mean......why ???????

I didn’t hate it, but I was glad when it was over.

Koji je ovo kurac. Opet neko konceptualno izdrkavanje, nemrem. 1/5, 1/10

This is a tough hang

Really weird. As a YouTube comment put it - sounded like the band fell down a flight of stairs and continued playing. 4/5.

145/1001 Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band - Trout Mask Replica Heard before? ❎ Revisit? ❎ If the previous entry was a bit too experimental for me, this was even more so. At an hour and 18, this was far too much. There are elements that I do like, but too few and far between...

Not a vibe

This encapsulates hair cake tbh. Only one song is available on Spotify so that's all I'm listening to

Musically interesting. Tastefully - not for me

I think this one I couldn't find on streaming + didn't want to look for it on YT (so this is for me to go back & listen later, but more likely never)

What even was this?!

I wouldn’t call it conventionally good, but it is just so special that I can’t help but give it 5 stars

I’ve always found the name Captain Beefheart to be pretty repulsive so I wasn’t thrilled for this. Anyway, for some reason it’s not on Apple Music, and I had a super hard time getting it to play on YouTube. Maybe it’s my phone, maybe it’s the universe protecting me.

Prioir to this day, my only two experiences with this album were: buying Trout Fishing in America by Richard Brautigan, and looking at a picture of Frank Zappa sitting in a toilet in an old neighbours house. That's a convoluted and kind of biographical way to say that I had never heard this record before and, at best, my experience of it was pretty much tangential. At first, it's certainly challenging. It's weird in both charming and violent ways, defying conventions and tastes. The artists are no amateurs and you can tell that behind all the noise are tons of experienced musicians. I can appreciate all that and still not like the album. I don't like this album.

I have finished Trout Mask Replica and survived with my sanity intact. Critics love this album because it's weird, and it must be weird for a purpose, so they write 2,000 word essays about the weirdness and what it all means and why it MUST be a reflection on drug culture or consumerism or why their great-auntie smelled funny. Well... sometimes the wall simply is green, and sometimes a cigar is simply a cigar, and sometimes an album is weird because someone thinks differently. Critics didn't decode this album or understand it; they projected onto it, thinking that the weird must have purpose instead of Captain Beefheart just being weird for fun and to troll the critics. The music is weird, and that's putting it mildly. It honestly sounds like you threw an improv jazz band on a stage with Fisher-Price instruments intentionally out of tune, and told them to jam. It's rough and edgy and interesting, but it's not a bop. It’s not music you dance to. It’s music you endure, and somehow feel better afterward. You're sitting down and letting it wash over you, and letting it take the chaos of your day with you. When you get through it, you'll feel better, because your day could not possibly have been more chaotic than the music. The lyrics sounds like a beat poet in training, with less rhythm and meter. They make no sense, and do not follow any rules about poetry or lyrics. I've heard more cohesive lyrics on open mic night. But there's magic in there. Just don't make me quote it. The lyrics sound like beat poetry written during a fever dream, but every now and then Beefheart drops a line that hits like accidental genius. Captain Beefheart has a carny barker aspect to his voice that makes it interesting to listen to. One of the wildest parts of this album’s production is that the band played this chaos with military precision, and performed it live. With no chemistry involved. That's the mind blower. There were NO DRUGS involved in the production. In short, you don't need to hear this album. But your life will be richer if you do. My Rating: 4/5

Wat

This list is called 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. Silly me for thinking it meant that these were things you had to listen to because they were supposed to be good. This is one you must hear because it's SO colossally bad. Or maybe it's like fashion shows -- not meant for most audiences, kind of weird, and is meant to move the industry forward. Either way, woof.

This album defies star ratings. I'm just gonna paste the comments on the youtube playlist of this album. This sounds like an entire band falling down stairs, but they keep playing. If this is the replica, imagine the real thing. This album sounds like a dementia patient trying to recall what their favorite song was. Of all the albums that I've listened to, this is certainly one of them.

I neither have enough masochistic energy nor time to listen to it 7 times and then maybe like it. Today I have a headache and want this to be over.

I understand the polarizing responses to this album, however, I lie somewhere in between. I can appreciate the influence this had shaping avant-garde/experimental music and I applaud Beefheart's originality. There weren't any tracks I would relisten to on their own, but I do think that one day when I'm smoking up I will give the album another go because it intrigues me. Until then, I will stick to the Mothers and Zappa :p

An academic listen

Well only one track from this is on Spotify. and it is weird af! 1 star.

Fast an bulbous.

Trout Mask Replica - Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band 1/5 - Just over an hour of random bullshit (which i know is on purpose) the funny and genuinely good parts of the albums are ruined by it's oversized length Frownland - 2/5 The Dust Blow Forward 'n the Dust Blows Back - 2/5 Dachau Blues - 2/5 Ella Guru - 3/5 Hair Pie: Bake 1 - 2/5 Moonlight on Vermont - 3/5 Pachuco Cavalier - 2/5 Bills Corpse - 2/5 Sweet Sweet Bulbs - 2/5 Nean Meate Dream of A Octafish - 2/5 China Pig - 2/5 My Human Gets Me Blues - 2/5 Dali's Car - 1/5 Hair Pie Bake 2 - 1/5 Pena - 2/5 Well - 3/5 When Big Joan Sets Up - 2/5 Fallin' Ditch - 2/5 Sugar n' Spikes - 3/5 Ant Man Bee - 2/5 Orange Claw Hammer - 1/5 Wild Life - 1/5 She's Too Much For My Mirror - 2/5 Hobo Chang Ba - 2/5 The Blimp - 2/5 Steely Softly Thru Snow - 2/5 Old fart at Play - 3/5 Veteran's Day Poppy - 2/5

Tom Waits if he were actually drunk instead of just pretending to be.

weird frank zappa-like, but not very interesting

#767. This is not the greatest Trout Mask in the world, this is just a replica. 2/5: wtf

Bad. But 2nd half is better than the 1st time I heard it.

All the discordant chaos of free jazz. While I respect how hard it must be to sound this…cacophonous, I’m also amazed that anyone would ever want to listen to it. Knowing how many great musicians were influenced by Captain Beefheart, I tried, but man it was rough.

I wasn't sure what to make of this, so I just asked the guy on the album cover how.many stars I should give it.

I’d rather listen to my parents fuck for a month non-stop than listen to that again. Normally my reviews feature some form of unhinged attempt at prose in which I try to explain a scenario that captures the same vibe than the album in question elicits. But this album doesn’t deserve that degree of effort. This sounds like a homeless crack addict shoved a one-man-band up his arse and jumped on a trampoline, while rambling incoherent nonsense. It is terrible. Anyone who claims to like this ‘music’ is a pretentious fuckwit that is just trying to paint themselves as a deep thinker. If that album is one of the 1001 albums I’m meant to listen to before I die, I think maybe I’m done with life. I hate it, and I hate everyone involved in its creation.

OK here is the plan. I'm going to go to a music school, where kids are first learning to play. Im going to hide a microphone in each room and record these students as they attempt to play their instruments. Im then going to mix it together and occasionally speak over it. I'll call it high art, polyrythmic music. If people don't like it, its because they are not smart enough to "get it". This is maybe the worst music I've ever heard, and this is coming from someone who use to go to crustpunk gigs. Negative 5 stars, an absolute waste of time and resources.

Initial impression: this is an insane cacophony. Terrorism with musical instruments Impression after reading the Wikipedia article: "[Beefheart] once told drummer John French that he had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia." Oh, this makes complete sense now. This is absolutely what I imagine schizophrenia would sound like. I have dealt with numerous severely mentally ill, manic, and people in crisis, and this word salad nonsense is exactly what they sound like. It's impossible to replicate for someone who isn't in one of these states, but an instantly recognizable hallmark of the condition. Now, apply the word salad concept to musical instruments and you get this garbled nonsense with actual word salad stacked on top. This is more an accidental distress signal than it is music. I made it halfway without skipping a song, but I gave up at Pena. This album was an assault. ⭐

Not on Spotify I enjoyed the YouTube ads more

Yeah I'm probably not gonna listen to this again but I have to give it credit for existing.

uhhh... It was.. something.

Weird album but it wasnt horrible

Bruh... wtf is this?!

I tried. Couldn’t get through it. 2 stars.

Cool but weird :shrug:

Full disclosure, I only listened to part of this. Enough to conclude that it's worth two stars, in my own personal system, for its wild levels of rhythmic experimentation.

Favorite Track: Ella Guru

Love weird experimental stuff, and this one isn’t my favorite, but hey, it’s a classic.

Always an absolutely unhinged listen.

The infamous album has finally come... If something is to turn me insane, that would be it

One of the greatest ever

You know when modern artist painters take a white canvass and throw three squiggles of paint on it - and try (and often do) sell it for millions. Yea, not buying it...the difference between schizophrenic and creative might be pretty thin....but i know which one this one lines up on.

Hmm. Weird bluesy album. Not too bad but too much music that just sounded off.

Can’t convince me anyone genuinely enjoys this shite.

Not surprised this comes out of Zappa’s camp since this is everything I dislike about his music turned to 11. You can be talented. You can be weird. You can be funny. Just because you are these things does not make it good music. Insisting it is makes you sound like a pretentious fuck

probably the most well known record from captain beefheart and his pals. i want to say that this is the abbey road of avant garde recorded music. it's produced by frank zappa, so you already know how weird it's going to get right off the bad. i guess there's a bit of rock, blues, jazz, some hints of genres throughout the record, but this album is really a test of how willing you are to subject yourself to strange, outsider music. the band rehearsed in a house for almost a year. what you're hearing isn't just weird, messy and surreal songs. all this stuff is planned out. you won't get it the first listen. or second. or twentieth. hell, many listeners won't probably get it for as long as they live. i still don't fully get it! but this album is iconic in its own right. nonsense. nonsense. everything is nonsense. hubba bubba dooble plooble baba yaya boom bang brap! it's the best worst album up there, up with the shaggs. a glorified, complex and fascinating shitpost from the late 60s. fast and bulbous! a tin teardrop, bulbous also tapered!

Trop énervant

“Dang, I left the recorder on while we were tuning up… again.” I’m all for experimentation. But you don’t get credit from me for not being able to discern that your experiment didn’t work. I don’t know why this is on the list. But I most definitely did not *need* to hear it before I died. 1 of 1.

Still don’t get it

"Fast and Bulbous!" Ha ha. This thing is nutty. It took me about 20 minutes to figure out what was going on. It's not music as far as I can tell. That's not to say it's not entertaining. It felt more like a poetry slam. I have no idea why they decided on making it a double record. 45 minutes would have more than sufficed. Obviously, a lot of work went into this. But, I'm not gonna be pretentious and pretend I think this is a masterpiece or that it's an "important album" just because it shows up on lists like this. It may be those things but my mind isn't currently calibrated for this. Today, it's getting one star from me but not because it didn't have entertaining moments. I'd have actually given it two stars had it been a single disk, not a double.

Am I being punked?

This one was bad, I understand why the album isn’t available to stream in the US. No favorite songs.

Definitely anticipating this one. Found myself bopping along with the first few songs, but boy did it lose me by the end. Not the worst album on the list.

having a laugh! bold to release this publicly. most certainly shouldn't be on this list

This reminds me of Miles' 70s period of shifting patterns and grooves developing organically. I loved it!

Definitely belongs on the list. Definitely won’t choose to listen to it again.

Listening to this made me feel something. That something often felt like being poked in the eye but I’ll take that over the feeling of nothingness from a dozen other albums the generator has given me. Does this album belong on this list? Definitely. Every music nerd should listen to Trout Mask Replica before they die. Does that make it a good album? Absolutely not.

Bloody hell.

When your album is cited as one of David Lynch’s favorite, you’re already starting from a placed called WTF. And just because certain polytonal sounds are possible when combined, doesn’t mean they actually sound good.

I mean…. Fucking what? This was CHALLENGING.

What in the holy hell. Not on Spotify so I found it on YouTube. Didn’t get it at all.

Call me crazy, but I like music that sounds good. 1/5

I loved it. Super experimental jazzy blues. Always been meaning to check out Captain Beefheart. I've heard bits and pieces through the years. But this was an experience to be sure.

Weird as hellt Not on Spotify or tidal

Absolutamente diez mierdas

I love Zappa, but this a much harder listen that the usual Zappa stuff. I'm missing those virtuouso guitar and xylophone solos that became the jewel in later years...Middle of the road for me.

Well...mh...don't know what to say...maybe another state of mind would help?

Frownland 3 The Dust Blows Forward 'n the Dust Blows Back 1.3 Dachau Blues 2.8 Ella Guru 3 Hair Pie: Bake 1 (instrumental) 2.4 Moonlight on Vermont 2.8 Pachuco Cadaver 3 Bills Corpse 2.9 Sweet Sweet Bulbs 3 Neon Meate Dream of a Octafish 2.7 China Pig 2.8 My Human Gets Me Blues 2.6 Dali's Car (instrumental) 2.4 Hair Pie: Bake 2 (instrumental) 2.5 Pena 2.2 Well 2.4 When Big Joan Sets Up 3 Fallin' Ditch 2.5 Sugar 'n Spikes 2.3 Ant Man Bee 2.4 Orange Claw Hammer 1.8 Wild Life 2.4 She's Too Much for My Mirror 2.2 Hobo Chang Ba 1.8 The Blimp (Mousetrapreplica) 2.1 Steal Softly thru Snow 2.4 Old Fart at Play 2.4 Veteran's Day Poppy 2.8 Score: 2.496428571

I love Frank Zappa who produced this album but this guy is unlistenable.

Sadly I was unable to find the full album anywhere but out of the few songs I heard I can give this album a solid 3 stars

God this was bad.

It sounds like Tom Waits backed by a more folk rock Contortions. The discordant guitars keep it very interesting and I can hear how this influenced many others who were able to use the style in a more traditional way. It’s cool to compare this to the debut to see how much further off the rails they’ve gone. I like Zappa’s idea of treating it like a field recording of a foreign civilization. After reading about how they were living while making this, it might as well be foreign to me. Rating: 3.8

Kinda grew on me by the end but just... Yeah never gonna be my favorite

Different

Can’t find it on any streaming service.

I do not like music that makes me feel stupid because I do not get it.

Trout Mask Replica (YT listen) I have given this a few listens over the years. I’ve never really got into it in the way I have with Safe as Milk, but equally I’ve never really disliked it. It is of course deliberately idiosyncratic, and the polytonality and abrasiveness of the sound is certainly grating on occasion, but I always felt it had a sense of sincerity to it, that the obtuseness isn’t performative and the music is a genuine artistic expression. Even if it can sometimes feel like they are all playing different songs at the same time in different sensory deprivation chambers. Obviously it's not an album to kick back and listen to on a busy commute or after a stressful day, but it definitely has its own unique charm, even if as a full 80 minute listening experience it does feel pretty long and uneven. And it’s tricky to pick out individual songs listening on YT, apart from Moonlight in Vermont and maybe Hobo Chang Ba or Veteran’s Day Poppy, and there isn’t always a recognisable difference to many of the tracks, but I do like the bass tone, and there some excellent guitar parts strewn about, when at times they pick up a memorable hook (before invariably hammering it into submission with clarinets that sound like pigs). There are loads of great ideas too, although they are often followed up by things that sound like bad ideas too, but I think that is part of the singular, unpretentious charm. Overall I’m very glad this exists as a distillation of someone’s musical vision, and there is some high class playing. I’ll definitely come back if I’m in the right mood, so I think it is a 3. 🎣🎣🎣 Playlist submission: Moonlight on Vermont

Weird but not like in a fun way. I appreciate how eclectic it is, but aside from one or two bits of one or two songs (I recall a fun sequence of free-associated sort of words, and something about God not being allowed to play with dolls as as child), not really my thing. A lot of it is like a knockoff Tom Waits.

This is so weird I can't even think of how to grade/eval this. Well, let's give it a shot: 1/5 for the result (one listening is enough for a lifetime) 5/5 for the bravery in creating this; althgough I think it's not original, it still needs a lot of courage to go and publish such work. It's one of those things "it's so bad it's actually great" 3/5 for getting into this list - yes, I get it, why not to be open minded and experience this? One time? Yeah, I get it 0/5 for the cover art, horrible and I guess it works as a warning for what is inside (which, on the other hand, might worth a 5 fot it's honesty?!?!?) 0/5 for the talent that, aparently, these musicians wasted on this! Everyone tells they're genius, I would love to listen to something great from them, not this :-D Oh God, I'm so divided... nah, I'll give it 1/5! No one should suffer with this

Gear: 64 Audio Duo Artwork: 🐟🎩🧥 Production: 🕰️🎵🔍 Music: 🤔🎨🤯 Ratinng: 🫀🫀🫀(🫀)/5

Weird 8

1 track nur auf spotify - und das reicht dann auch.

Etwas speziell.

This was bonkers but I did listen to the whole thing

It's not that serious...

Not for me.

If this is the replica, imagine the real thing. Best Tracks: Moonlight In Vermont; China Pig; Hobo Chang Ba

I couldn't find the actual album on spotify, instead someones playlist that tried to recreate the album. This album should remain lost forever. Attempting to recover it should be at least a misdemeanor.

I know there's some kind of cult following of these guys, but one has to wonder if it's because of the music itself or something else, because the music itself seems intentionally off-putting, making itself as unpalatable as possible to troll the squares. This album was made in a similarly turbulent, chaotic, and frightening time for our democracy to the present, but I didn't feel the music was emerging from or even naming the chaos so much as adding to it. Was it the 6-7 of its day? The joke is that it's a joke? All that said, there are a couple moments when folksy or bluesy melodies peek out, and I'd start to think I could get on board, but then it'd go away. I don't like Meatloaf, either. Is the listen to beware of bovine-themed music?

I don't really buy into many conspiracies. But people *revere* this album so much that you wouldn't have to work very hard to convince me it's part of an intergenerational prank, and at some point you're given the secret password like some kind of Stonecutters ritual where you're let in on the joke and then you too get to participate in the prank forever. Every review might as well be copypasta. And listen, I've tried so many times to find my way into this. My understanding was that this is heavily arranged, heavily rehearsed, and simply challenging to the ears on purpose, and for the life of me I can't understand: a) why? b) how someone gets on the right wavelength to appreciate it, let alone enjoy it c) again, why? Recommended ear cleansing: "The Deer's Cry" by Arvo Pärt; "The Tired Sounds of Stars of the Lid" by Stars of the Lid; "Getz/Gilberto" by Stan Getz and João Gilberto

No.

I knew this wasn’t on Spotify from before and I knew people are against Spotify I know, but it’s all I have and I’m not sitting through YouTube ads so I’m listening to a strange mix of demos studio versions and live versions mixed and recovered like it was an old episode of doctor who. Then I decided to switch to YouTube cuz I’m not a coward even though (as of now I’ve only heard side one) 2 adverts including 1 double advert popped up. The Dust Blows Forward 'n the Dust Blows Back was much better on the live version I heard, Ik it’s just an acapella track but he had so much more charisma live. With the rest of the tracks Ella Guru was probably the toughest, it’s just so strange vocally. Moonlight in Vermont has quite a cool riff, but it lives among the chaos of this album perfectly. Hair pie 1 I was thinking- wow I can hear it probably inspired some post punk and later the gnarlienes of the holy bible- but comparatively that’s polished. (Trust me I will revisit it) current score 2/5

Painfully awful. 0 should be an option.

This made me anxious. Points for doing that I guess? But also not really the vibe for a workday...

*This album is some of the craziest stuff I've ever heard, but it intrigues me to listen more times to understand it better.

Unfortunately I was unable to find this streaming anywhere outside of a low quality youtube rip so I can't really speak to the quality of the production. But I can say this really wasn't for me at all. I get that this is supposed to be somewhat experimental avant rock but this was just... not good. Kinda felt like most of the people involved didn't know how to play their instruments or know how to sing. Maybe that's the point? But can't say I liked it.

If someone tells you they dig this album then they are lying to you and shouldn't be trusted. If they tell you that you just don't get it and this is an influential album then they are pretentious fucks. Shite from start to finish.

Капитан велик, но альбом невыносим

Every now and again, a glimmer of genius emerges from the murk. A wonderful little hook, a guitar twiddle, a fragment of bassline. Sometimes even Beefheart himself sings with a bit of melody and you think 'maybe there's music here'. And then the aural terrorism returns. It was just so totally unnecessary to take all this musical talent and use it for evil. I refuse to accept that people enjoy this at face value rather than as an attempt to lord it over lesser listeners who just never had the musical or intellectual courage to 'get it'.

???

People on this website are so darn dramatic. I was expecting a pure cacophony, like 5 saxophones playing quarter-tones apart in 57/16. It wasn't that crazy. If I hadn't known the reputation of the album, maybe I would have had a different experience... but I had such a good time listening to this. Doesn't feel like 80 minutes at all.

Well, that certainly was… something. During a time in music when people were singing about holding hands and electric guitars were still controversial, this band was like, “How about some schizophrenic math-rock and abrasive gypsy vocals?” Thanks! It’s very well crafted and deserves respect. I hate it.

There’s only one song on Spotify and it’s pretty weird

Weird

Oh shoot. Only one song from the album is available on Spotify...

Artsy hot garbage. Drugs are bad Mmm kay.

Sure, I get it. Be intentionally weird and annoying. We used to do this in high school. It's fun and funny, and you get to feel like your smarter than the normies. As an adult, I'm not going to spend my time listening to it again, but I get it. At least it's interesting enough to not be 1-star. What is interesting though is the obvious influence on Tom Waits. Waits clearly took a lot of these same sounds and styles into his own music. The difference is that Waits was able to find the balance where its actually listenable.

Experimental

Talent???

If Malört were an album

It's getting a 5 for the absurdity, I think I can get down with this Will I listen to again: 100%

Simply not for me. Some parts were relatively enjoyable, but the moment you begin to ease in, a cacophony of incoherent noises disturb your peace. The polyrhythms and polytones and all that wankfest doesn't justify calling this music. Its only saving grace is the creative risk it took - pity points for that.

I was definitely confused. Then went back in time to new York city! Even tho I have never been, definitely gave vintage sad cinematic movie. I was at work while listening to it and it was just a matter of time before I rolled down the stairs while taking the thrash out. Definitely a perfect song, for a chaotic day. Aka not chaotic love the jazz.

I used to think TMR was just a shibboleth for hipster cred. You have to pretend to like this album to be in the club, just like you have to pretend trump won 2020 to work in his administration. Jumping in fresh, it is quite a beating, what with the harsh hillbilly vocals and semi-musical horn wailing and string plucking. But like a benign carbuncle, it grew on me over the years. Harsh vocals? I listen to Meshuggah, Amon Amarath, Miley Cyrus. Challenging, even adversarial aesthetics? I listen to Autechre, Gwar, Radiohead. And now I actually appreciate TMR a lot more since getting into Tom Waits, Primus, and other impenetrable rabble. So from me, an initiated weirdo, it gets a 3.

Could only listen to the one song. This a a band I would want to see live but can't listen to recorded. The song was full of energy for sure but was all over the place.

A hometown hero! Man, could you imagine a Britisher lineup of Captain Beefheart and Frank Zappa? Can you believe that was our scene 50 years ago? We’re not making weird enough music. Petition to make the A.V.’s music WEIRDER. I didn’t make mine weird enough the first time out. Funny enough, my History of Jazz professor at AVC had one of Captain Beefheart’s old bandmates come and do a lecture on his legacy years ago. It was awesome. Could I listen to this album all the time? Hell nah, but when I do, I always just sit and giggle. This is true freedom. What a reminder to just create. Some people think this is the worst album ever made, some people think he’s taking the piss, and some people think he’s unlocked a level of genius not yet known to this earth. I don’t know about all that. I know Hair Pie reminds me of high school band kids fucking around and that’s probably as much thought as he intended I put into it.

When i was in high school, i remember stumbling upon this album in a Barnes and Noble and being immediately intrigued. I couldn't afford to buy it, but when I went home, my sister and i read about Captain Beefheart's whole life story and how meticulously planned every note on this album is even though it sounds random and everything was so weird and interesting, i told myself "I'm about to listen to this and make it my WHOLE personality" so i downloaded it and started listening and i wasn't disappointed in the music, i was disappointed in MYSELF. I wasn't cool enough or weird enough to enjoy this album. So i was hopeful that now after so much time and experience I'd grown enough to hear what i couldn't hear before and it's still a no for me. I appreciate what it took to make this album and i love that there's space in people's hearts for something this unique and experimental but i don't have what it takes to listen to it. I'm giving myself 2 stars

Not feeling well mixed with the Spotify rights issue means I listened to the one Spotify song. I did watch his letterman interview. Homie is mad weird and I respect that.

National Anthem by Radiohead from the record Amnesiac has arguably the greatest outro of any Radiohead song and therefore arguably the greatest outro of all songs. It’s a crescendo of cacophony and controlled chaos. For every sound you hear there is another sounds waiting to be discovered. It’s beautiful and I will listen to the whole record just to reach that moment. This album is not that. BUT. I feel like Beefheart would listen to it while painting and tip his cap to it.

It might be a masterpiece, or it might be one of the most abrasive albums I've ever heard - not easy on the ears: but there's undeniably something going on here.

Weird

This is ugly and nearly impossible to listen to. But I can just feel that it's GOOD. I would rate it higher if I liked it.

I imagine I'm in a fairly rare category of people who listens to this and mostly feels pretty neutral. It's chaotic. I guess I sort of appreciate the art of it. Beefheart often has a pleasant voice, but maybe "Willie the Pimp" just led me to have a soft spot for it. I can't imagine choosing to listen to this as a regular casual thing, but hey. Whatever floats your boat.

Cover 7 Maybe this is what Leonard Cohen / Jeff Buckley were singing about in Hallelujah. That chord! It's in there somewhere! Imagine hating this and God's like "You don't get it, Bro. I'm unknowable." And then walking away convinced this was a classic worthy of a top 500 albums list, much less (more?) 1001. Maybe this is why there are atheist. Seriously, calling intentionally playing poorly "polyrhythmic, multi-octave, and polytonal" doesn't make it good. It's not genius either. I mean we can literally all do that. I can karaoke and if no one likes it, just say "it's polytonal, shit stick!" Or go to Alaska with the the intention of listening to walruses "sing." People say that shit about Jackson Pollack paintings, as if it's so easy they can also do it but do you have paint? Well, even the "unhoused" have shopping carts and cardboard boxes, so Pollack is literally that much harder than Beefheart, so shut your bitch ass up. Yeah this is anti-establishmentarianism at its most absurd. Don't want to play the same pop crap you hear on the radio? Then don't. Hate talent also? Check. What does talent and conformity have to do with art? That's the statement here. Want to be artistic because you're not? Then piss on a wall and have you and your friends stare at it for an hour. No talent with the guitar or triangle? Slam your face into the kitchen counter and your friend can "listen" for five minutes as you slowly regain consciousness and then tell them it's a song with a five minute interlude. It's art. It's subjective. They're are no boundaries. There are no rules. Keep an open mind! If it pleased the Lord, then what the fuck is wrong with you?

From the YouTube comments: "I have never experienced such a strong desire to keep listening and stop listening at the same time." Indeed. Sonically unpleasant, but it oddly and often piqued my ADHD-addled ears. I'd love to watch a documentary about this album, but I won't be tripping over myself to listen to it again anytime soon.

Captain Beefheart & His Self Indulgent Wank Band

Musical masturbation - the kind of thing people pretend to like to show how interesting their musical taste is.

This ranks up there as one of the worst auditory experiences of my life, right behind that time I went on a tour of some caverns in North Carolina and some moron brought their screaming baby along. Trapped in a cave with a screaming baby is how I would describe this sound, or nails on a chalkboard, or worse than 20 9/11s, or its how Hell would sound, but not the cool Hell, the shitty one.

2.2

Probably the best argument I’ve heard for why drugs are bad. Most of the album sounded like a middle school band class when everyone’s warming up before the teacher comes in. Good recommendation if you hated someone.

What the actual fuck is that? I feel like we’re getting punked on this one. I don’t think you can call this music. It’s a bunch of sounds that do t fit together, made by instruments that have never been tuned. AWFUL. 1 star because they won’t allow 0.

Would have given it 1.5 if possible, only after learning that Captain Beefheart wrote the entire thing note for note on a piano, and then made a bunch of actual musicians (which he is not) figure out how to play this nonsense on their given instruments. The fact that it's intentional makes it an ounce better but not enough to justify two stars.

*1969 *Yikes. Just poorly played brass instruments for the sake of making noise. *Definitely a lot of drugs involved in this concept. RATING - 0/10

The trout has balls. Also sounds like raw fish.

So strange, but it grows on you like a fungus. 5/5

One of the worst on the list. 1.

So this was a little hard to listen to. But when my brain broke out all the pieces separately, and listened to every line separately but simultaneously, it was kind of brilliant? Personal enjoyment: 3/5 Relevance to this list: 5/5

How the fuck...and I mean HOW THE FUCK...is this on here? And the fish on the album cover isn't even a god damn trout.

Wow

imagine the year 5242. the world is only a barren wasteland of ice or poisonous sand. people live in shanty towns with intermittent electricity harvested from poorly constructed dams. no one has ever heard music, it has been lost over generations. but stories of wonderful tunes that no one remembers are also passed on, generation after generation. one day a malnutritious child plays in the dangerous dust and digs with its bare hands. the child feels something flat and hard, digs it up to reveal the sleeve with a picture of a man on a red background wearing a hat and with a heinous creature as his face. and within the sleeve is a black plastic disc. after a few years the townsfolk finally figures it out. they by a miracle come across a machine on which the black disc fits just perfectly. they get it to spin by sheer will and for the first time in millennia the people hear music. the child who found the record, now an adolescent, dies instantly upon the first chords of the first song. since it's absolute garbage

BRABO no início eu já tava completamente desorientado das ideia imagina vc fazer uma loucura dessa propositalmente e PIOR ficar interessante

assustador que os manos realmente compuseram essa porra toda na base do piano (que ngm sabia tocar) e do assobio. bizarríssimo. no início parecia que todos os instrumentos tavam saindo na porrada. aí meu ouvido acostumou e percebi só que eles tavam """"dançando"""" no próprio ritmo, se encontrando em alguns momentos com o vozerão do captain beefheart balbuciando abobrinha pós-modernista é por conta de albuns assim que eu quis participar desse site aqui. é um absurdo, maluco, doido, quase o equivalente musical a dar moral pra um viciado em crack que te pediu um cigarro sexta-feira 22h na praça rio branco depois que vc pegou o 4034, parou na rua curitiba c/ afonso pena e tá tendo que andar até a rodoviária. ele só queria um cigarro e um isqueiro, mas acaba dialogando sobre os 300 mil pensamentos que tão passando na mente dele no auge da droga. muitas vezes, nada faz sentido e vc fica assustado. mas, as vezes, ele faz um pouco de sentido sim e isso alivia um pouco a tensão de estar ali. esse album é bem assim. (assustador como isso foi feito 1969 e nada parece que chegou perto da sonoridade desse aqui. doideira demais, curti muito)

1.5

This is like the more non sequetor bits of Firesign Theater and/or Monty Python filtered through a Frank Zappa *Freak Out* experimental vibe. In done ways I get it.. But just because I get it doesn't mean I have to like it I must say the chordal choices of this album are both intriging and disjointed. Definitely this is in "three make jazz" theory of music. Again I think I get it, even if I don't like it. A constant theme of this listening experience. (Experience is a good word for this) I have a sneaky feeling this may be one of those albums that will hit me one day. This is not the day. "Hair Pie (Bake 1)", "China Pig", and "Ant Man Bee" I noted as tracks I actually enjoyed. Still... 78 min orchestrated chaos it a bit much for me to ingest. And side 4 feels a bit less orginized than the first three. I'm keeping it at two stars... But much higher two stars than last time. (4.8) ★★

In the midst of the chaos, there is an interesting and melodic album. 4 stars

I don't really see the genius in this album, but I don't quite think it's the worst thing ever either. There's a few songs here that lean into Beefheart's wild experimentalism, but still sound pretty cool -- like "Moonlight on Vermont" and "Frownland", but unfortunately, there's also stuff like "Dali's Car" and "Hobo Chain Ba", that are just stupid. 3 stars.

Kinda crap (or should that be ‘carp’). Also complete madcap genius. A mad mixture of Howlin Wolf, acid jazz, Dadaist poetry and mid-20th century YouTube poop. A lot of ugly, squawking, ear-grinding songs but also cool slamming tracks like Frownland, Moonlight In Vermont and Ella Guru and fast lots of bulbously quotable lyrics. I like American Graffiti anyway but it would be even better if the radio DJ was Beefheart instead of Wolfman Jack.

klinkt alsof de plaat vierkant was ipv rond... geweldig!

Horrible.

Wow, this was a diverse and interesting listen. I'm glad I had the opportunity, as I've heard about this album for years, so thank you 1001 Generator! I dont mind experimental music, so I found that it was fine.

This album wasn’t available on Spotify so I just listened to another album of theirs. I was surprised by the diversity of genres they make and how original their sound is. Some of it being ahead of its time, some of it being very characteristic of the 60s/70s.

What the hell is this? Are all the musicians reading off of different music sheets?

que?

Yeah this is pretty awful sounding. It’s like the band members all made the most bizarre tracks independently and then they mixed them altogether later! Appreciate the experimentation just not the result!

É um álbum que eu nunca mais vou ouvir, mas nunca mais vou esquecer.

Well that was different...

Кек

Once you've heard it, you can't unhear it; a life-altering recording. I love and hate it in equal measure. Today, I loved it except for the repetitious acapella tracks Since this album isn't on Spotify, and I therefore can't save songs that I like to my playlist to prompt future reflections -here's my amateurish and hasty listening notes: Frownland - A baptism by fire, chainmail voice and dense atonality. Dust Flows Forward and Dust Blows Back - ominous to hear the isolated voice and natural vibrato, with a strange, somewhat pastoral poem Dachau Blues - the groaning of the industrial death machine is absolutely evident here Ella Guru - a more straightforward psychedelic rock number, comparatively with a jazzy drum part and chorus refrain Hair Pie Bake 1: cacophonous horns in the Ornette Coleman tradition. Moonlight on Vermont - a chainsaw and axe of bluesy treble-rich freakouts going through the bathroom door; my favourite track. Pachuco Cadaver - second mention of the fast and bulbous trope, a bouncy accented trip, enjoyable Bills Corpse - a more challenging polytonal drag with horrorshow lyrics, that bouncy feel remains, but feels like a carnival bungee cord starting to fail Sweet Sweet Bulbs - funky gunky and makes all kinds of pastoral/spring/sexual comparisons Neon Meate Dream of a Octafish - what am I actually listening to here? China Pig - the recording quality changes, aping old blues records and blues 78s, definitely the straightest composition here My Human Gets Me Blues - like a swamp witch doctor leading two bands at two different songs at once. When that bass comes in the last quarter it hits like a bowling ball Dalis Car - Is this Glenn Branca? Who invited Thurston Moore? Hair Pie Bake 2 - like all leftovers, better the second time when thoroughly warmed up Pena - fast and bulbous again, is this the point in which you realise they're kind of joking and having fun? Well - the best pure acapella track When Big Joan Sets Up - makes me feel like being on a rollercoaster, some of those little guitar motifs are brilliant. The horn cutting through is genuinely hilarious at first. Can would be proud Fallin' Ditch - lives up to it's name, sounds like a band falling down a slope Sugar N Spikes - lives up to it's name, sweet and jagged - another relatively straightforward one! Ant Man Bee - John Lewis Hooker(ISH) at the outset and by the end I've no idea what I'm listening to, maybe a semi-truck carrying a jazz band through LA traffic Orange Claw Hammer - a touchstone would be Richard Dawson, although far less folksy, or perhaps the melodies of Gregorian chant Wild Life - I hope to never feel as shitty as this song feels, it's like a migraine in a nursery She's too Much for my Mirror - it's only now I notice Zappa when I hear him, even though I know he was producing! The drumming here is chefs kiss. Hobo Chang Ba - is this a sensitive depiction of immigrant alienation or should we cancel Don Van Vliet? The Blimp (Mousetrapreplica) - how tight were the band? I bet they loved rehearsing together in harmony under no pressure Steal Softly Thru Snow - the band seem to get progressively tighter as the album wears on - is it intentional or my ears adjusting? Old Fart at Play - you can hear what he would do on Ice Cream for Crow, I think. Why the vocal take lasts so much longer I've no idea! Veterans Day Poppy - a seriously strong finish, I think - it's like 60s psych meets European Son meets One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest meets rockabilly

Day 28 If this album is ‘genius’, I’ll happily be dumb. Hated it 1/10

Unlistenable shit.

Det bliver en kedelig rating til et interessant, eksperimenterende album herfra. Tvivler ikke på at de er gode musikere, og der var nogle fede øjeblikke, men jeg havde a bad time men jeg lyttede

Tom Waits' mærkelige onkel. Ville have været lettere at overskue hvis det ikke var et dobbeltalbum, men fuck en sindssyg plade altså. Jeg elsker noget af det, men der er godt nok også noget af det der er for langt ude.

How many different words can you jam into a double record?

This shit sucks so good

Вот это экспириенс! Ради вот такого и стоит слушать все эти тыщу альбомов. Редкий случай, когда музыка не просто погружает тебя в атмосферу, но вызывает чувства сама по себе, причем очень разнообразные, в данном случае в основном дикий смех. Это реально гениальная запись, я даже не хочу рассказывать вам что это, чтобы вы сами это послушали. Но это стоит того чтобы прожить, от начала и до конца (и, возможно, поехать кукухой)

Absolute madness.

KINO

This is without question the hardest album to rate, due to it being so wildly different from most if not everything else in the list. With that being said, it's hard not to respect the fact that they made something they wanted to make, regardless of critical or commercial success. Add to that the fact that once you get over the initial shock of it all, and start listening to individual parts, you can clearly tell that it's not only a well rehearsed band, but one that has some good stuff hiding away amongst the chaos. That does not by any stretch make it an easy listen, and its reputation is well earned.

-the day has finally come -yeah. this is brutal and weird and terrifying and there is something seriously wrong with Captain Beefheart but damnn if it wasn’t really fun to listen to -i think i like the idea of (and backstory behind) the album more than the music itself, for obvious reasons. but it was so good to finally hear this, it’s one of the albums of all time -Favorites are Ella Guru and Hair Pie: Bake 1

Did not know what to expect going into this, but I think I actually enjoyed a lot of it. Chaotic, sure. Enjoyable, absolutely. I can absolutely understand why people are turned off by it, and I figured I’d be one of those people. Something about it however, just kept me engaged, and I’m still not sure what that thing was. The only parts of it that were weaker for me were the spoken word tracks (plus a couple of the others) - • The Dust Blows Forward ‘n the Dust Blows Back • Orange Claw Hammer • Well • China Pig Highlights - • Frownland • Ella Guru • Pachuco Cadaver • Bills Corpse • Sweet Sweet Bulbs • Neon Meate Dream of a Octafish • My Human Gets Me Blues • Sugar ‘n Spikes • Steal Softly Thru Snow • Old Fart at Play • Veteran’s Day Poppy I actually think this is getting a 4/5 Definitely planning to revisit it at some point.

WTF absolute nonsense!!!

Fire

Sometimes I think the author of this book hates us. Wtf is this. DNF. Get the fuck out of my face.

1.5

2.5

I don't know if it's some kind of a glitch, but i've got only one song on this album (which should last 1h and 18 minutes) but i don't really care bc it wasn't really good. Sounded like weird improvisation for me and didn't really stick to anything i would know. I didn't like it.

Yeah, I don't get it.

Experimentalismo experimental que experimenta. Interessante. CVJ Neko.

Its like listening to a train wreck fall up a staircase. Its awful and you want to get away but you stay out of morbid curiosity because a trainwreck falling up stairs makes no sense and youre hoping youll understand what youre witnessing

There are not many albums that sound like this one. I can say that much at the start. I greatly dislike the cover of the album because it creeps me out. I feel like there are a lot of songs about animals on here. I did not enjoy the jokes that were apparently inside studio jokes, which I can only assume were included because the drugs did in fact work. I won't judge anyone who pretends to like this album. I know you don't really like, because it's not good. Okay, I'm sure someone likes this album but can also admit it's not very good. As I have said a few times before, just because the sound on this album is different doesn't mean it needs to be in the book. There are worse albums in this book, though I have to admit this is one of the worst overall, but it's very clear the experimentation was the point and that doesn't mean it's good or worthy of inclusion. Drugs can sometimes help an artist make good music, but drugs can also cause an artist to make...this. Mr. Beefheart, what you've just recorded is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in this rambling, incoherent double albums were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational, put-together song. Everyone who listened Trout Mask Replica is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.

Well this brightened my day, one of my top ten albums of all time. Did I love it the first time I heard it? Hell no! I think, like most people, I gravitated to the "simpler" tracks like Moonlight on Vermont, and tried my best to endure some of the more "complex" tracks in between. After maybe six playthroughs (not the eight I was expecting), everything had clicked for me. There's humour, there's hooks, there's an unrelenting number of hooks, often two or more being played at once. Never a dull moment, with some tracks pivoting multiple times with little repetition. For me, there's many high points, the way the Cap'n says "Dig it", stumbles over "lipstick", instructions on how to do a "Fast and Bulbous" skit properly, "That's right!", "Tra La, tra la, tra la!", "Sitting with my girl called Bimbo", too many to list. One of the easiest five stars I've ever given.

If you told me Yoko Ono was this bands manager I would believe you.

2 stars only because I recognize the influence, but otherwise I found this unlistenable.

Peak

Not my fav

2.0 Story time. I was introduced to this album quite young (and haven't heard it since) - in year 9 or 10 we were chatting about favourite albums in class (I'm guessing I said either Enema or the state or Take of your pants and jacket), and my maths teacher said this was his. Went home and asked my dad if we had Trout Mask Replica by Captain Beefheart. Should have seen his face. Turns out he did have it, on an old LP. We put it on and it took about 3 minutes to realise my maths teacher was taking the piss out of us. Looking back, there is a 90% chance that was the case, or a 10% chance he would drop acid every weekend and put on some avant-garde classics. Anyway, this experimental Avant Garde is to me the Mark Rothko equivalent of music. It's mostly shite, anyone without talent could pick up an instrument and produce something of similar quality, but yet it still exists and sells well. People pretend to enjoy and find something deep and meaningful in it, but deep down they know they're just pretentious bellends. The only thing that saves this from being a 1* on here is that surely this was the first example of this type of album, so you have to give them credit for that. What should have happened afterwards though was people said "that was interesting but the human species only needs one of them during its existence". Sadly it didn't pan out that way.

Not sure if I hated it or I loved it! And to quote an accurate comment on it from: @110jmartin011 on YouTube: "I have never experienced such a strong desire to keep listening and stop listening at the same time."

Not my style

1.5 - Bad

No joke, I broke my foot the day I listened to this. Listening to this was still more painful than that.

I can't imagine how this even got made, let alone made it to a list of albums I must hear....

This is what my brain sounds like on Friday nights after a long week of work, a bottle of wine and a joint that is starting to kick in... beautiful chaos

1/5 Best Track - "Pachuco Cadaver"

The weaponization of music in the 60s was dreadful. I am not openminded enough to get this or really even conceive of anyone getting it. It’s just noise for me

Wanted to like these absolute weirdos. Unfortunately found the audio to be interminable yelling, squeaking, squawking, etc

erm, lots of noise, don't think i'm built for that particular type of music. but i respect it.

jaaa idk..maybe I just dont get it

OK, this one is... a lot. This is probably the most unpleasant album to receive a 4 star rating from me. Nonetheless, there's something there, within the cacophony. Or rather, there's a lot there, seemingly at odds. That's the whole point. Or rather, the points. And angles. Lots of angles. Some jagged edges too. Some things are upside down. Others are sideways. Some are non-euclidean. Not sure where I'm going with this review. Sudden stop.

Great DJ, so-so lyrics

I've heard so much about this artist and was really disappointed with this album.

Encyclopedic album. An angular sonic labyrinth with so many different directions and innovative possibilities, new shapes forming and collapsing at the same time. Just like Velvet Underground and the Stooges, the only relevant, adventurous and cerebral music (punk and new wave) in the following decades comes from this. People like David Thomas, John Lydon, DJ Bonebrake and Stella Mozgawa prayed at this altar. Shout out to John “Drumbo” French for the arrangements.

Why are we doing this?

Such a huge fantastic interesting world of an album

One of the most unique albums of all time. And probably one of the weirdest. Love it.

impressively amazing. produced by Zappa so not that surprising but it pushes all the boundaries of what should be enjoyable while still being a great listen!

Christmas. That was awful

could i write poetry to this? n

I've long known that this album would appear on this list at some point. But to have it immediately (and allegedly randomly) follow Beefheart's "Safe as Milk" must be Mr. Dimery's idea of a joke. Not funny, dickhead.

I’ve tried listening to Trout Mask Replica multiple times and one thing I’ve never understood is if it’s so experimental and avant garde, why does it sound exactly the same for all of its interminable 78 minutes? The same guitar tone, the same awful blarts from the sax, the same okay-we-get-it-you-take-acid spoken word yelling. The gimmick wears out almost immediately but then never varies for over an hour. Experimental music should not be this boring. Trout Mask Replica is the essence of “I hate this, obviously, but I’m going to try to convince you/myself that I like it because I’ve been told that I should.” This is unlistenable noise made by drug addicted cult members who were being starved and beaten and abused. But it’s cool because it’s “art”. Fuck that and fuck this and fuck you.

A lot of chaos and god, the brass... but there's a few decent sounding songs. My favourite was Steal Softly Thru Snow.

Fish man play music good.

Eh you know what, why not just give it 3 stars

Im sure it sounded better in the 70's

Um. Watching my man's face was the highlight of this. Hair Pie gives off Zorn and Ono vibes. I kinda dig some of it though. Moonlight On Vermont was my favourite.

Obviously this is intended to be a little obtuse. I think on a different day I may have liked it more, but this was not that day

Feels like I’m having a stroke while high

No, I'm not being pretentious. People gotta stop accusing others of being pretentious for rating something highly that they don't understand. Different people see things differently. Who cares how others rate things And you know, I do really like stuff that sounds different. It is much more interesting than all the bland stuff out there

Sounds *exactly* like an album where the songs were composed one or two bars at a time and stitched together Frankenstein-style. Shifts gears within the songs faster than any prog band would ever dare. The net result is that there are barely any grooves or hooks to latch onto, because before the band can settle into any pattern, they've already moved onto something else. (The big exception here is album closer "Veteran's Day Poppy", with its repeating guitar figures - it's the least abstract and most effective cut on the album, made even more so because of its brutal lyrics.) This album is admirable in its intent and execution, but not particularly entertaining to listen to.

Only one song available on Spotify from the album. Unable to rate.

This feels like when I first listened to Tom Waits' Rain Dogs, but on steroids. Of course, Captain Beefheart was first. This album initially sounds like a bric-a-brac shop with random stuff piled up, except upon looking carefully it's not random but rather a very considerate construction by an intriguing mind and musician. Does that make it easier to listen to? Hell no, this is one of the hardest albums I know, not quite as hard as, say, a Christina Aguilera album, but for rather different reasons. This album makes me want to listen to it carefully... will buy (it seems very hard to find though). The songs are a blend of hard blues, free jazz, and much more that I can't name, the can get you so on edge that the odd recognisable chord or rhythm suddenly feels like a relief. Lots of tension in this album. Definitely a hugely influential album, definitely well made, definitely interesting, but does it sound good? Still making up my mind. Safe as Milk was definitely much easier. If it depended just on "does it sound pleasant" I'd give it a 2-3 for the moment. But I have the feeling that as I unpeel its layers, it will very much grow on me.

People: "This is brilliant!" "So ahead of its time!" "You have to listen to it more than once to get it." "You're just not smart enough to understand." Me: "Fuck your fish face."

I was just thinking i was getting less critical. I’ve had a string of twos lately. Thanks beefheart for reconnecting me to my favorite number.

A paradox. So incredibly difficult to listen to but I’ve seen so much love for this album, the boldness, the originality, the complexity. Still, it’s a hard listen

i’m on track 4 and i think my brain is too normal music theory convinced for ts. i’m done i’m done i’m done 0 stars.

No

Oh man, this song has a reputation surrounding it. Looking forward to hearing it! I love how immediately, 0.01 seconds into the first song, it sounds like they threw a bunch of musical instruments down a set of stairs, and that insanity doesnt let up....at all.... I can see how Tom Waits probably sweated this guy pretty hard. A lot of similarities. The Captain is just a lot more "out there" Apparently with the song China Pig, they decided to play it outside of the recording room where the microphones were, hence why it sounds like it's being played a mile away.....because it was lolol Overall, that was a wild album! It certainly lived up to its expectations! Fell off a bit at the end there with subsets of songs that felt unfinished, but I can see how Beefheart was trying to change the format of blues rock by injecting jazz into it. Not something I would listen to often, or probably ever again, but interesting album nonetheless Favorite songs: China Pig, Moonlight on Vermont, Dachau Blues, Pachuco Cadaver, My Human Gets Me Blues Least favorite songs: "Hair Pie: Bake 1", Neon Meate Dream of a Octafish 2/5

Look, im not going to listen to this again, but it was so batshit crazy that I came to like it by the end. This feels like an art rock album that is not caught up in smelling its own farts

I will admit that this album grew on me over time, but this was a bit too long and chaotic. Started off as a 1 star, was one of the worst I ever heard and then it finished off as 2 stars

Unlistenable

The one song of this album that was available was enough for me. I don’t know why, because I love so many artists that you can draw a straight line to from Captain Beefheart, but this was never a band that I could get into. So points for influence, but I won’t be listening to this group again until their next album pops up on this list.

The fact that Captain Beefheart was trying to make something unlistenable means that this is an incredibly interesting album, even if it is also simultaneously a talentless mess. Literally just throwing stuff on the wall and recording all of it. It sucks, but if it held my attention the entire time, does it really suck? To quote Roger Ebert, this album is a lot of things, but boring is not one of them. I cannot recommend the album, but … why the hell can’t I? Just because it’s godawful? What kind of reason is that for staying away from an album? Godawful and boring, that would be a reason.

Call me uncultured, but that's just noise.

I usually enjoy experimental music, and I appreciate its value as a force for innovation. However, not all experiments are successful. Sometimes their value lies not in themselves, but in what they opened the door to – which doesn’t mean they’re interesting to listen to. For me, this album falls in that this category. It may have had an impact on many musicians, but it feels too raw and transitionnal, and I find it really hard to listen to. The 60s were full of weird experiments ; some of them were even weirder than this album, and yet remain much more enjoyable to listen. Ummagumma came out the same year, and it’s infinitely stranger – and yet more haunting – than this. My main gripe is probably that the singer has a terrible, terrible voice. It’s harsh and grating and it got on my nerve so much that I had a hard time listening all the way through. I would maybe have liked it better if it had been an instrumental album. My knee-jerk reaction was to rate it a 1*, but after reflecting on it I'll still add an extra star for its sheer uncompromising madness. Despite being almost unlistenable, it's still more interesting than the heaps of radio-friendly, vanilla pop we got on this list. 3/10

Certainly one of the worst albums that I have ever listened to front to back. Well at least 70% of it. I had to fast forward through a few to not poke my eyes out.

Does not qualify as music. Awful

Fast and bulbous jams.

If I'm traveling on a highway at 70 miles per hour, how many brain cells can I pop in 1 hour, 18 minutes, and 38 seconds? Answer: Countless.

First track is mad, the rest aren't as bad as they're made out to be. It's not fun at all though, 3* for the dedication and back story.

Another album that I wish I'd known what to expect coming in. It seems like 6-10 playthroughs is needed to truly appreciate or enjoy this. I doubt I'll ever do that but I understand why it was so influential. Individual tracks I liked on first listen: "Ella Guru," "Hair Pie: Bake 1," "Moonlight on Vermont," "China Pig." Maybe a few others, I didn't catch all of them.

Dear Mr. Groening, creator of The Simpsons and many things, I do not have the 8+ hours available to listen to this album before it starts to make sense. However, I did manage to enjoy this (after finding it only on YT) more than I expected, and it was not as horrible experience as I was prepared for. So, if Matt Groening set me up for a five, and other reviewers and my memory of Captain Beefheart set me up for a one, I'll split the difference.

This was cacophonous and bizarre. I did not appreciate nor enjoy this. I fairly open minded with music but this felt like listening to 4 separate albums through one set of headphones. This felt Lind a anxiety attack

This was a hard listen given the combo of random musical approach and then it getting stuck in a loop and repeating endless parts of the song. For some songs I’d get into in because there was an interesting give and then it would repeat endlessly to the point of really tired and don’t want to hear it ever again. It got 2 stars because scattered in the mix there were a few catchy riffs then it would get ruined by a bizarre shift into noise or endless repeat. No standouts at all.

This album wasnt available through apple music so i had to listen through youtube with ads. Generally the album sounded worse thsn if they’d lined the instruments up at the top of a long staircase and pushed them down whilst recording the local drunk spouting nonsense. Dali’s car sounds like someone who cant play guitar trying to play a variety of tv theme tunes they only vaguely remember on an out of tune guitar. The colgate ad was by far and away the best track

Sometimes words are not enough to convey how truly bad something is. This is one such time.

Track 1 and every member of the band seems to be playing a different song at the same time. Track 2 fixed that by eliminating everything except the vocals and the crackle of vinyl but then we reverted back to type on Track 3 (which also featured a noise that sounded like a squealing pig). Did they ever try and play these songs a second time? Is this jazz but worse? The whole album sounds like something The Mighty Boosh might have written as a musical act for a 30 second bit in a longer sketch. But for what felt like forever. A little way through Hair Pie: Bake 1 and I realised what this really reminded me of: this is the noise that happens when you let a load of toddlers have access to a box of musical instruments and make no attempt to manage the cacophony of sound. My two main thoughts on finishing this album: 1) thank fuck that's over. 2) so that's on the list but you had no room for one of the 23 They Might Be Giants studio albums? What the fuck, Rob Dimery?! 1/5 (but I still hate that Liars album more)

I understand that this has a place for uniqueness but I legitimately struggled to find any kind of joy in this. The notes and how discordant it was, gave me a headache and made it very difficult to have it on without constant attention. That being said, because it's so different I will have to give it a couple stars just because I honestly have never heard anything like this before.

Polytonality, multi octave vocals, polyrhythms, challenging, chaos, pushing musical boundaries, blah blah blah. I hate it. I think it’s shit.

Oh dear lord I’m not sure what this is supposed to be, but what it ISN’T is BORING! Mix of blues, cacophony, chanting, what seems to be off-the-cuff ramblings of an institutional escapee… there HAD to be copious amounts of drugs involved in the making of this. I listened to the entire thing. The lyrics did make me laugh at times. I would never give anything this bodacious only one star, but it also isn’t going to get more than two!

Fun, avant-garde chaos. Not something I'd listen to again, but I get why it was a breath of fresh air back then. 7/10.

To get the full effects of this you would need to be on stimulants. There are interesting bits but a lot of quirky nonsense to wade through. A cult act enjoyed by a lot of cults I expect. I hope one day to catch up to how great a lot of beefheart fans think this album is. Its not today though.

This is how you use your Howlin' Wolf influence not that blood drained stuff 70s blues rock bands bored us all with. The intro to Pena is one of my favourite things ever. It is highly suspect that during this period Beefheart never looked bulkier than when his band were starving. I've just realised I've been singing the wordless tune at the start of When Big Joan Sets Up in my head quite a bit for the last few years. Beefheart deserves more credit for inspiring an entire genre of weird 80s spiky UK independent music - it wasn't all jangly Byrds chords and floppy fringes. It wasn't just Tom Waits ripping off this album at that point. I'm super happy in my 'naive', 'fake', 'pretentious' enjoyment of this. Some of you carry on being weirdly grumpy and aggressive towards people who like something you don't.

The fact people say you have to listen to it several times to understand it and the fact the musicians are all extremely talented is overshadowed by the fact a grade five classroom playing the recorder to Hot Cross Buns gives off quite a similar sound... 1 star.

A definite experience. I can't tell if the reviews and claims of influence are part of the joke or not. Is Andy Kaufman really Captain Beefheart? I feel like I've joined a cult by finishing this album. I don't think I have the strength left to rate it anything other than 5.

I wish I could like this album as it is regarded by a lot of my age contemporaries as a masterpiece and a must have album. I was 16 when it came out and was introduced to the album by John Peel on his radio show. He was very influential at the time and he had pointed me towards Bands who have become life long favourites. But this is where John Peel and me parted ways. As a double album it was never going to be an album I would buy given my meagre income and the riches of many classic Prog Rock albums around at the time. I’ve realised over the years that for an album to resonate it must have a fair proportion of good melodies within it. When I analyse my collection built up over 60 years the majority do reach this requirement. And that’s the trouble with this album. I struggled then as I did today to hear one teeny weeny melody. So like I said earlier many would walk around proudly displaying this album, talk at length expressing the many virtues this album had and that anyone not getting it was an imbecile. I on the other hand just scratched my head and accepted that I must be inadequate in some way and continued through life as if the album did not exist. That is until today when my faith was restored by my fellow 1001’s when reading their reviews. I was not alone after all. Thing is I can’t help but think whatever happened to all those who did think that this album was the best thing ever? Did they eventually see the light? Probably not. More likely they listen to it locked away in their room striving still to understand what the Captain was trying to communicate to them and reluctant to give up until they find the answer. And they are probably all Audiophiles! 1/5 22/7/25

This is not even music. Should not be on this list and you cannot even find it on Apple Music.

It felt endless and abysmal

Well this was certainly an experience. There is a lot of technical skill to play like they do, but the arrangements sound awful. The lyrics are nonsensical and weird and I know that's the point and it for sure takes cajones to make something like this and release it, but that doesn't make it good or a masterpiece. Only art critics who have sticks up their butts would listen to this and find it pleasant or profound.

WHY, WHY, WHYYYYYYYY is this taking up space on this list?????? the most "interesting" thing about this rambling mess of sound & noise is the album cover.

Interesting and influential album, but 78 minutes of this is asking a lot of the listener. 3.0/5.0: Good

the reviews on this album would make you think that captain beefheart killed their dog and ran off with their wife. this album is not nearly as bad as everyone is making it out to be. dont get me wrong, it is not one of my favorite albums on the list but it certainly is one of the most interesting. overall its kinda of like being trapped in a basement with a bunch of drunk jazz majors trying to tune their instruments over each other, which to my understanding is pretty close to how the album was recorded. its disjointed and borderline incoherent at times, but there are some great moments that remind me of the captains first album "safe as milk". theres also a lot of humor on this album. both lyrically and through the vocal stylings. if it werent for the fact that its 78 minutes long, it couldve gotten four stars

this is not on Spotify and I'm not arsed looking elsewhere

On first listen, I couldn't even finish a single song. This was 10 years ago. Now, I am loving it and hailing it as absolute pinnacle genius. The playing is quite possibly the most impressive of any album to ever come out. The lyrics are on the surface sounding like absolute nonsense, but more often than not an actual look into what's being said shows Captain Beefheart knows what he's talking about. "Dachau Blues" being the most prominent example. Usually I would get rid of a star for this albums length, which makes it seem way more bloated and impossible to listen to than it already should, but I think with this listen the entire thing has finally clicked for me. This is incredible. Even if you hate it, I doubt you could name even one song that sounds even halfway like this album. That alone should be worth 2 stars

A reputação deste disco o precede. Se você já visitou qualquer lugar no mundo que discute música, você já viu discussões a respeito deste álbum e você curiosamente foi lá o ouvir. Aí existem duas casas bem diferentes e separadas, a das pessoas que tiraram o disco ainda na primeira faixa, e os insanos que decidiram perseverar até o final dessa jornada homérica. Felizmente, eu me encontro na segunda casa. Mas mesmo assim, devo ter ouvido esse álbum apenas uma vez na vida, antes de agora. Hoje em dia, ao ouvir este disco, acredito que a maioria das pessoas acham que existe algum aspecto misterioso, um fantasma, um espírito, que está passando despercebido por seus sensos. E que assim que ele finalmente for sentido, o disco ‘clicará’ e você passará a gostar dele. Assim como pessoas famosas como Matt Groening vão dizer. Mas não é bem assim. Não tem nada aqui a ser entendido. Esse disco é o que é, e ou ele te agrada ou não. É algo genético, parece estar no DNA da pessoa… Eu brinco, mas provavelmente tem a ver com a sua relação com a criatividade como um todo. Se essa relação é positiva, neutra, ou negativa. Isso e com o “status-quo” do que se é esperado de um álbum musical de Rock. E o que ele é? Uma coleção inacreditável de músicos infinitamente talentosos sendo forçados a memorizar e tocar composições infinitamente complexas. Evidentemente, a energia vital psicodélica do fim da década de 1960 teve um dedo verde na produção do que ouvimos aqui, mesmo que as mentes por trás da obra neguem isso. Com todo esse talento exposto, você talvez coce a cabeça pensando em como eles chegaram a ISSO. Não é música para todos. E infelizmente temos esta percepção acerca de arte, onde se é esperado que pra algo ser verdadeiramente bom, precise ser totalmente acessível e agradável a todos os ouvidos, ou olhos… mentes. É tudo subjetivo… It's all in the mind. Eu tiro daqui um proveito imenso. A instrumentalização polirrítmica viaja e vai muito longe, criam-se muralhas de som impenetráveis, este disco está verdadeiramente vivo. Gosto quando os instrumentos de sopro parecem gritar, suplicando socorro. Os vocais são embriagados e as letras vão longe. Algumas das faixas deste álbum são gravadas em campo, algo que eu não particularmente gosto. Novamente, a instrumentalização do álbum é fantástica e o contraste com os vocais dessincronizados é alarmante demais. Captura sua atenção e te faz de refém, assim como os músicos foram feitos de refém para gravarem tudo isso. Algumas canções conseguem se transvestir de música popular, como em Ella Guru ou Moonlight On Vermont, ou talvez em My Human Gets Me Blues. Se você verdadeiramente odeia as faixas mais experimentais, pode experimentar só essas. Mas você estaria perdendo a jornada de ouvir este disco de capa a capa. Poucos LPs possuem essa capacidade de te fazer esquecer como música popular soa. E este é um daqueles discos que é, de fato, bem longo, mas sua duração é um de seus pontos fortes, ao meu ver, pois você verdadeiramente se perde dentro dele. Acho importante mencionar a influência que este disco teve nas diferentes vertentes do Rock experimental. Claro, esta obra específica é bem avant-garde, mas ainda assim inspirou gêneros mais concretos, como o Punk e Metal. Enfim, definitivamente é um disco que você DEVE ouvir antes de morrer. Disso não há dúvidas. Se você vai o amar ou o odiar depende de uma infinidade de fatores incompreensíveis. Então apenas ouça e tire sua conclusão. 5/5

What happens if you have no rhythm or talet.

If you've listened to - and ideally enjoyed - some of Tom Waits' more experimental output, this probably won't shock you THAT much. It's obviously not mainstream at all, and in 1968 it was a fairly groundbreaking record. Kind of still is. Found it enjoyable enough - compared to Björk's Medúlla, for instance - but it's not something I'll be putting on very frequently, or the next time the in-laws visit.

Para ser el primero que me ha tocado creo que es el peor album de musica que he escuchado en toda mi vida. Imposible escucharlo entero, una tortura. Ya puede compensarlo el siguiente o no sigo. En resumen... MALO, MALO, PEOR QUE QUE TE METAN POR EL CULO UN PALO

This album is so difficult to describe. It's completely unique, it's absolutely fucking mental. When you first hear it, it just sounds like directionless noise, a band where all members are playing different songs at the same time. When I first heard it I thought it was hilarious, the lyrics are out there as fuck and the vocals are wild. I still think it's hilarious but after hearing it multiple times you can actually begin to decipher grooves and melodies, as abstract as they are. When you realise that every note of this was actually written down and relentlessly rehearsed, it makes you realise the musicians are actually insanely fucking tight. The story of its recording is also fucking mental. The music was composed by Beefheart, who can't actually play an instrument and has no musical training. He would play a melody on piano and the band would transcribe it and turned it into a proper score. Beefheart then basically kept the band under house arrest and forced them to rehearse and record, facing endless abuse.

Couldn't listen to on Spotify, can't find it anywhere.

…I think I need to go lie down. I barely have the words to even describe this album, it’s incomprehensible. I haven’t seen anything like this throughout all the albums I’ve listened to, an experimental album, which felt like the longest hour and eighteen minutes of my life. Literally everything about this album felt fine tailored to make you lose your sanity. The vocals felt sounded like an old hillbilly being dragged down a gravel road behind a truck. The music would sound passable sometimes, and then sound like a fight between overly territorial turkeys on the next song. But, in all seriousness, it’s hard to rate an album like this because although it sounds bad, it’s the sound that they were setting out to achieve, so does that make it good? Or is the album bad simply because it sounds bad? I think that’s a philosophical debate for another time, so all I have left to say to those going to listen to this album is, good luck, and you’ll never be the same… Edit: After thinking it over, I’ve decided to give this a one, I rebuke this god foresaken album.

Actually I sort of tolerated this, strangely.

A playful romp through a wild variety of tracks.

I love some albums because of their attention to detail and the musicianship of the members; bands like Emerson, Lake and Palmer. Others because of the raw output, musical knowledge be damned; like Slayer. This goes so far to the detail that it wraps around to being devoid of music theory. When I first put this album on, the only thought running through my mind was "what the actual fuck am I listening to", and I don't think I've ever had as visceral a reaction listening to anything else before this. I understand that the atonal, polyrythmic style that dominated this album was intentional, I don't care. This album sounds like if you described jazz to someone completely unfamiliar with music. Some of the tracks like Pachuco Cadaver have some groove to them and sound kinda good, but good lord I can't for the life of me stand 95% of the tracks. I adore Frank Zappa to the utmost degree, but I don't understand what the hell he was thinking while producing this album. Maybe interesting to the right people, I am not one of them.

Love it or hate it, TMR grabs your attention. I got this cd when XTC did a cover of Ella Guru and put it on the BSide of the Mayor of Simpleton 12”. It was wild, so I bought the cd without knowing anything about it except that song. Which, turns out, is a fairly accurate cover of the song. I tried listening to the album a few times and rarely made it through the whole thing. Recently I’ve put it on and actually like it. Whether it’s my own Stockholm Syndrome of eventually liking the thing that’s torturing me or what, I don’t know. I do know that it still grabs my attention but now it doesn’t just sound like cacophony anymore and actually sounds like innovative music.

Interesting art album

Idk why I mess with this but I do (I’m way too pretentious)

Used to torture prisoners in Gitmo, I believe 0/10

put the acid down and back away slowly, Cap...

oh hell no. everytime i go to record store and see this album i always force my friends to listen frownland just to see their reaction. now actually gotta listen to the whole thing lowkey terrible but the story behind this album is so fascinating that circle around to kind of liking it. The band isn't shit, the songs are supposed to sound like this this is just how they're composed. The band was like pretty much tortured in the process of making. they like survived off a couple soy beans and were beat or trapped in a barrel if they fucked up their rehearsal its so fucked up. Its an insane listen and everyone should experience it once there really nothing like it (for better or for worse)

Sometimes too weird, but I couldn’t stop listening. The blues touches kept me in it.

Could not find a streaming source so I could not listen to it. I heard a bit of the first song and it was too experimental.

Interesting, but ultimately this is rubbish

Album 827 of 1089 Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band - Trout Mask Replica (1969) Rating : 1 / 5 I appreciate experimental and “different” as much as anyone, and I really wanted to find something redeeming in this album—but it just didn’t click for me. Trout Mask Replica is definitely unique, but it feels more like a chaotic art project than something I’d ever want to revisit. Maybe it meant more at the time. Maybe it broke ground that helped shape other things I do enjoy. Either way, this one just isn’t for me....and I like some weird stuff.

165/1089 - I admit I am biased with this album. I was sick when I first listened to this and a couple seconds in I started laughing and it put me in a good mood for the rest of the album. The music sucks (to listen to, they're playing everything competently!) but it sucks in a very intriguing way, more than any contemporary classical piece from Boulez on could do. It helps that there are hints of accessibility here and there for example the last track having a nice jazzy vamp. I sincerely enjoyed my first experience listening to this album.