Reviews (page 5 of 7)
Love the name of the band and the album but unfortunately not so much the music...
I appreciate the experimental side of this, but it's just not very listenable.
Good moments. Bad moments. Mostly just f-ing weird.
weird ass album, couldn't really get into it. some of the songs are great, but as an album it wasn't a great listen
An overall unpleasant listen. I could see it maybe being influential to Tom Waits but there’s nothing to grab onto and it is 70 minutes. Light 2.
okay, look - i'm glad that music like this exists. i am heartened that we live in a world where anyone can make whatever kind of art they want, especially art that pushes the boundaries of good taste or enjoyment. this was clearly a very special and influential record for a lot of artists. but i think there's a different between acknowledging the influence something had and having to listen to it. i did not enjoy this at all. overstimulating, toneless, jumbled, weird for weird's sake. it never coalesced for me the way others have said. it was a struggle enough to just finish it. how did it sound like a band warming up, a 12 year old at guitar center, and squidward playing his clarinet all at once? a musical headache. a sonic nightmare. that's probably the point. i feel obligated to give this 2 stars, both by all the glowing reviews and my own personal habit of saving my 1 stars for rapists and criminals, but man. there was no enjoyment to be found here. i'm sorry, i have to be honest!
It's finally over, feel like I've been listening to this for a week. This was what I was expecting from beefheart, unlike the other album we had before. Every so often there was an interesting idea or things would come together in a decent way but these parts were given no precedence over the other 98% random noise and gibberish so it must be pure chance. Not boring I'd say, bit definitely not good.
Well this was something! Took me 2 goes to get through it. The first of which I was not feeling it at all. Second time I had prepared myself somewhat.... It's still a tough listen though. It's got a bit of the Tom waits about it. Bits of it made me think of slam poetry or some sort of hipster jazz scene in some underground smoky room. Other bits were more like actual music.... Others not so much! I do think it was interesting, but it's way too out there for me I think. 2
I don't know what to say. It is an album, and it's on this list. 2/5
TLDR: what the fuck? The longer version: what the fuck is this shit? As a disclaimer, I listened to a playlist on Spotify that includes most of the tracks from this album since it's not on Spotify as a standalone album. I might say "well, some of these are live tracks, so the true studio version of this album is probably better" except for the fact that I checked Wikipedia for the track listing and then read the rest of the Wikipedia article. My reaction after reading the article: holy batshit, Batman! If you haven't read the article, I highly recommend it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trout_Mask_Replica There are a number of great quotes in the "Reception and legacy" section such as "it was not even 'ahead' of its time in 1969. Then and now, it stands outside time, trends, fads, hypes, the rise and fall of whole genres eclectic as walking Christmas trees, constituting a genre unto itself: truly, a musical Monolith if ever there was one." I'll agree with that much: it is a singular album. I find it hard to agree with all the publications ranking it as one of the greatest albums of all time, but I think it goes back to my main criticism of critics: they have to listen to so much stuff that they lose their minds over something that's truly different and creative regardless of whether it's objectively good. That's how this album strikes me, but maybe I'm not enlightened or open-minded enough. Matt Groening (yes, the Simpsons guy) also hated it at first, but loved it after 6 or 7 listens. I didn't pay for this double album so it won't get that much time from me, but maybe I'd grow to appreciate it if I tried. Maybe once you get into the mindset of "if it's intentionally discordant and shitty then it's not actually shitty" it works, but I'm not willing to put that effort in. Anyway, given the critical reception and the absolute batshit nature of the album as a whole, I understand why it's on this list and I'm glad to have been exposed to it. I did not enjoy this, and I can't imagine I'll ever listen to this again, but it gets points for creativity and for spawning a great Wikipedia article full of apocryphal shit. 1.5
I feel like a single listen can't really let you form an opinion here. Will have to revisit, so, a neutral rating of 2.
The back story is pretty interesting, with the torture and starvation. And him sitting just bashing the piano to find his melody is again, something interesting to listen to. But, with a fan saying it takes 7 listens to really love it…I’m not ever doing that and I’ll go with my first impression, which is this is either too weird or too stupid.
Not one I'd play again. Chaos the whole time, almost a so bad it's good kinda thing
Trippy 60's music, need to be high or on mushrooms to really enjoy it.
Wow what a start on this journey. This album was made in the late 60s and you can tell. The drugs were strong back then. If “Ross” from “friends” put a band together. It would sound like this. I’m giving this a two and not 1 as it made me laugh!
On a technical level, what they are doing takes immense amount of skill and you can tell that all musicians involved are virtuosos in their own right. On the question of how enjoyable it is, it is unbridled creativity, a storm of brutal sound that can also be quite intriguing at times, like an LSD-infused dadaist poetry slam.
Listened to some CB but not TMR I’ll take Zappa
How do you even rate a trout mask replica? By how much it looks like a trout? By how well it works as a mask? How well it imitates the original (without ever seeing the original)? By what the sight of a person wearing a trout mask triggers in you? Is this art? Impossible. And probably all of the above.
Its like the band members did their parts in completely different places not knowing what the others were doing, then they just mashed it together.
I see so much of this album’s DNA in experimental music today. That said, this was an exhausting listen by the end of it. I think I’m not gonna revisit this one for a while.
I just did not get this album. I don't hate it actively, but I just would not listen to this normally.
I’m just not a fan of odd noises.
well…. it’s certainly an album
This album is chaotic, but in a way that feels almost too intentional. The songs stumble and clash, like they’re trying to be something they’re not. It’s like listening to Frank Zappa’s most experimental moments, but without the structure that makes them work. There's a raw energy, but it’s buried under layers of noise and confusion. It’s more of an endurance test than a musical experience.
I do like frown land
Hmm
Beautiful voice, pretty melodies, breathtaking textures, tear jerking lyrics. Only such magnificent music could be made in the 60s … NOTTT
2 stars simply for the audacity.
Gave this album 20 minutes but I didn't finish it. It felt avant garde, but not in a good way (for me). I didn't feel like the artist had anything interesting to say so I lost interest pretty fast. Also, I couldn't get over the name Captain Beefheart, that combined with the album art just rubbed me the wrong way.
This album makes me violently want a Pepsi.
Incredibly odd chord charts and almost atonal melodic intonations from both the instruments and the vocalists make this an odd album, but there is still some minor pop sensibilities. Not sure how i feel, but it was definitely an experience.
Not on Apple Music
I've always felt the same way about this album, and it's really no different after this listen -- if this is your favorite album, no it's not. I really do understand the background history and the appeal of a record like this. I understand the approach to a free jazz/blues/garage, wild rhythm, "fuck you" to the industry approach and all that. And it's great. But this is not a good album on a pure musical enjoyment level. I think other albums (and I'll give this one credit for starting it) have approached the same ethos with a better end result. I just son't revisit this one often because at best it's silly, and at worst it's downright hard to listen to.
So weird that this album is coming up when I just referenced it in another review days ago. I think I agree with most people that this is unlistenable drivel. It’s just too far out there. And I think people who say they like this are just being pretentious and contrarian. It sucks. Points for being prolifically terrible though
It takes real skill to play this. It takes a madman to come up with it. It takes a special person to like it. I can hear some snippets of genius in there, but the overall album is too jarring, I'd rather listen to clowncore.
Some of this, I feel like I can get to a place where I get it. It’s bluesy, political, forces you to deal with discordant sounds as a form of expression. But then other times, I felt like I just needed to be on mind altering substances to appreciate it. And then I got distracted by thinking about my father being the same man who loves this band and also voted for Trump. Again, the answer probably has to do with drugs (or lack of them).
A squid eating dough in a Polyethylene bag Is fast and bulbous, got me?
So this is album 1,080 for me and here's how the review would once have gone: Something about the unbridled creativity and free expression of the late 1960's, something about Frank Zappa, something about the blues, maybe, takes a while to "get it," listened three times, etc. etc. etc. The truth now, however, is that I was not in the mood for this long-ass noodly horseshit.
In some previous albums in the project, I have felt bad because I thought that I just didn't get it and couldn't connect. I don't feel bad about feeling this way about this listening experience...although, I suppose it could have been worse...
Open mind open mind open mind. Nope. Irritating, long, and really really boring. Next!
It took some effort to listen to this as the album wasn’t on Apple Music in the United States. After being surprised at Captain Beefheart’s Safe As Milk album that wasn’t nearly as weird as I had anticipated, I had thought that maybe this one would also surprise. Nope. It was weird in a borderline-annoying way that overstayed its welcome. Kind of like some drugged-out coffeehouse performances by some really talented musicians. There were some ok moments here, but I won’t be tempted to return to this.
Ett väldigt underligt album, kanske de mest underliga albumet på den här listan. Konstigt nog så gillade jag det mycket mera nu på min andra lyssning än när jag lyssnade det för första gången. Kräver alltså fler lyssningar. Stark 2
I think previous attempts at forcing myself to like Zappa have desensitised me... This wasn't as jarring as I thought it might have - some good tracks but don't feel as though the quality I listened to it at did it justice. Need to get my hands on the record to make a valid judgement - 2.5 for now.
Well this is annoying. The album is not carried on Spotify. So I listened on YouTube. Listening was even more annoying. I have no idea who this artist is - I am guessing Tom Waits? Also I see some Zappa references on Spotify so there’s that. This does not seem genius to me. I am proud of myself for making it through. Basically it is one of those cool to get records. If not liking this is wrong I don’t wanna be right.
Not on Spotify so can’t really rate 2** based on some Spotify album that had this in its name
Je comprends toutes les mauvaises reviews de cet album qu'il y a sur ce site. Autant c'est unique, chaotique tout en étant tellement complexe, très humoristique, très marquant, mais c'est horriblement mixé, difficile à écouter d'un trait, très énnervant. C'est autant admirable que détestable. 4/10
That's not my taste in musik.
Honestly thought this was just a /mu/core gem, didn't realize real humans knew it. Very funny that this isn't my least favorite listen thus far.
Rock experimental. Bastante inaguantable. Un 2.
Menudo rollo.
mica capito
I’ll admit when something intimidates me. I’m not going to put up a front, especially not when it comes to music. There have been artists I’ve just avoided, no matter how open I want to be, because I just don’t see it going well. I’ve heard Captain Beefheart before. But Safe as Milk did not break any new ground for me. I felt it lied in that same category of mostly forgettable psychedelic rock that haunts the 60s. But I made the note that the album was still weird. Don always had the capacity to make unique and unusual music. But that debut doesn’t even compare in the slightest to Trout Mask Replica. An album better known for why people don’t like it than vice versa. But even with its reputation, this has still garnered a very strong cult following of people who adore it. And that’s simply because it was, and still is, unlike anything another band has ever released. And I’m able to say that as someone who doesn’t enjoy this in much of any capacity. And I don’t think you can argue that this hasn’t influenced a huge amount of experimental rock. This is like the fucked up baby brother to The Velvet Underground & Nico. It’s not hard to understand where this album has gained its reputation from. If you are able to put this on, and not end up disturbed or confused at least once during the listen, you are either trying too hard or already pretty messed up yourself. This sounds like the ramblings and creative outlets of a madman. There is not one fraction of context that could be added to make these lyrics understandable. You can’t convince me otherwise. The actual performances are indeed impressive, and written in a purposefully confusing and technical manner. But I think fans of this lean on that fact too much. Because even so, the music itself still doesn’t sound that good. If you are going to go for complex songwriting, you have to make it sound at least decent. You can’t choose one or the other. But I’m aware, “That’s the point”, and “You’re just not getting it”. I’m assuming that’s what I would be told by some people. And that’s great. To each their own. But this album is not for me, and likely never will be for me. Rating: 4/10
A hard listen, but I don't hate it, I don't know.
Pachuco Cadaver Ant Man Bee Wild Life Old Fart At Play
The version on Amazon is no bueno
Not sure what to think after listening to that. Absolutely bizarre album. Interesting to listen to, but not sure I will relisten.
Interesting
I've liked some Captain Beefheart stuff over the years, but this album just doesn't stick the landing.
This one wasn’t available, listened to their hits. Alright.
A bit too much for me. At times, this was difficult to listen to. I like other albums by this group, but this one was too out there for me. while you could say this is technically impressive, but that does mean it's enjoyable.
An album made by fish, for fish. Not for human consumption.
intriguing and wtf at the same time
Album not available on iTunes. Found the songs…most of them at least. Strange cross between bluegrass, rock, and jazz?
I can't listen to this anywhere and based on the reviews that appears to be a blessing.
The lore behind it is like an always sunny episode but the album is bad.
Quite possibly the greatest accomplishment from the Chordates since their breakthrough with The Incredible Mr. Limpet. Only possibly arrival by finding Nemo this may be peak Pisces achievement. Now, I suppose it is possible that I’ve been duped, and that these are really humans masquerading as fish for the shock value of an album cover. Well, crap. I just looked on Wikipedia, and it turns out that this is indeed only the creation of strange humans. I should have known. I would have held the fish to a higher standard. It all seemed a bit fishy from the get go.
It lived up to its hype
Produced by Frank Zappa. Experimental. I'm reading the wikipedia article because. this makes no sense to me. I was suspicious of this from the start because this is an iconic album cover and a well-known album, but I can't name any songs from it. Which is usually an indication that it fucking weird I hate this Checking my watch after each song to see when it ends It's like they had to figure out what music isn't before they could figure out what it is and just recorded all of their attempts Oh thank god. it's over Rating 2 stars because I recognize that this did a lot of cool stuff that hadn’t been done before but man was it insufferable to listen to
After trying to listen to this album for the first few minutes, I was ready to give it a 1. But after deciding to stick it out and I'm gonna bump it up to a 2. This thing is wildly unlistenable but occasionally, there are some moments of interesting music. Most of the credit I'm giving this album comes from the fact that it came out in 1969 and actually managed to garner success while being so unprecedented and out there. It feels more like performance art to me rather than music. Maybe I'd feel differently if I gave it more time to sit with me and settle in but I can't imagine wanting to spend more time and patience on this album.
Album #364. Wasn't streaming and then randomly showed up in Apple Music when I searched for the other Captain Beefheart album (#657), so I guess I'm listening to these back to back. I had no idea what this was going to sound like, only that it was going to be weird, of course. Yeah, I get what they are doing. Purposely out of tune, out of time, random nonsensical lyrics, etc. It's a shtick that entertaining for very short while, not the length of a double album. I suppose if you're stoned, this would be highly captivating all the way through. To me, it sounds like a self-aware Shaggs featuring Wolfman Jack, but you can tell these guys could play right if they wanted to. I didn't enjoy it, but I'm glad I finally got to hear it. Favorite track: Moonlight on Vermont, I guess. Now I get to see how their two years earlier album compares.
This is creative, but hurts my ears
Wild life was wel vet. Pena goeie dialoog als intro. Well mooi acapella. Reclames tussendoor werden gevierde pauzes tijdens de lijdensweg waar we ons aan onderworpen hebben.
Beginnen aan dit album voelt een beetje aan als het drinken van een bedorven pak melk. Het is direct een klap in je gezicht. Spuug het uit en gooi het weg. Ik heb nog nooit zulke rare muziek gehoord. Of is dit de enige normale muziek die er bestaat en de rest is vreemd? Wie zal het zeggen.. Ik heb de hele tijd dat ik me maar probeer te focussen op 1 instrument tegelijkertijd, maar zelfs dat is echt onmogelijk. Wat ik vet vind is dat je een beetje proto-indierock kan terughoren bij sommige nummers. Bijvoorbeeld bij Hair Pie: Bake 1. Ze zitten er echt tegenaan, een iets gestructureerde opbouw en je hebt gewoon een Arctic Monkeys hit. Zo kan je dat waarschijnlijk nog wel van andere proto-genres zeggen. En dat in 1969. Het album was duidelijk 'voor zijn tijd', alleen wanneer begon dan de tijd dat dit soort muziek gemaakt begon te worden? Die tijd is er nooit gekomen. Beefheart en Zappa zijn de enigen die zo gek zijn dat ze zulke muziek kunnen maken. Er zijn vrijwel geen volledige nummers waarbij je kan denken: dit nummer is écht chill, een highlight. Het zit er elke keer net, (of vaak compleet) naast. Alle instrumenten lijken een verschillend nummer te spelen. Ik moet toch toegeven dat het een beetje op me begint te groeien. Rating: 6,5/10. Muziek moet ook plezierig zijn om te luisteren. Dat is het bij lange na niet altijd. Het album is ook te lang. Één highlightje dan: Sugar and Spikes: bizarre drumsolo van Drumbo (aardige naam voor een drummer) en kloppende(?!?!) falsetto
De dag waarvan je wist dat die ging komen... Het viel me niet tegen maar eerlijkheidshalve; ik heb het einde van de plaat niet gehaald. Door al het gerommel heen hoor de heerlijke Beefheart-sound die op Safe as Milk zo geniaal ten gehore wordt gebracht. Waar deze muziek bewust uit de maat gespeeld wordt, verlies je mij als luisteraar. Ik krijg dat niet positief doorvertaald. Dat roept bij mij ook de fascinatie op wat vanVliet, Zappa en the Magic Band hier nou mee hebben willen bereiken. Dit is niet in één middagje in elkaar gerommeld maar een jaar lang aan geschreven, geoefend en bijgeschaafd. 6,5/10 Highlights Ella Guru Moonlight on Vermont
Too interesting to be boring, too bad to be good. A strenuous endeavor that offends most who decide to partake in it. This album is an abyss that makes you question your understanding of ... well anything and everything. Best Song: None of them Worst Song: All of them PS: FAST AND BULBOUS!
I enjoyed "Safe as Milk" well enough, but this didn't do a thing for me. I am disappoint.
Ok, I tried, and I tried again. Then I saw that it was produced by Frank Zappa, and yeah, that tracks. I just can't get through this. Diamanda Galas albums are more accessible than this album. I'm not saying it has no value, but who the hell is this even for?
Gteat cover photo. This album takes a number of listens to get used to.
Fake Fish Facade! Foul Formidable Fog!
I enjoyed reading about the artist rather than actually listening to the artist. Not my bag.
It is an album.
Too janky
Couldn't get through it. 2 because I loved reading the reviews.
Well this was an interesting listen.
multiple beats overtop each other. Lyrics are exclusively non-sense. Can see why this is important for music but isnt amazing to listen to. 2
Well I can say I've listened to it You can hear snatches of things that came in its wake and remembered to write the tunes but good lord I'll never listen to it again
Punky psychedelic, schizo noise. ...I think they might be on drugs! Another Zappa production in disguise. It's ART!!! It's far out, man. In this vein I would prefer Zappa's zany energy and vocals to Beefheart's constricted ravings and crappy beat poetry. The most cohesive aspect of this album is in its percussion. The play jumps between tight, complex music, and chaos. Shout out to "Hair Pie: Bake 1" for capturing the sound of a group of 6th graders honking on clarinets for the first time with wild abandon. I really don't understand why people laud this album as a stroke of genius, though it is certainly creative. Beefheart takes the kind of unbridled creativity that novices not yet boxed in by canon and method have, and reintroduces it to listeners via talented musicians who do actually know how to play "real" music - but don't. Other standouts? - Moonlight On Vermont (Live) - Sweet Sweet Bulbs - China Pig
Hard to listen to, but I get it
This wasn't necessarily bad, but it was pretty weird. Not something I'll likely return to. 2.5/5
I thought I was open minded but it was too much for me
#MAMITA 6/10
I have never wanted to both turn off an album but also keep listening at the same time. I can't say I enjoyed this album but I was so interested in what was coming next. The wikipedia article to this album is a must read with this being rehearesed for 8 months where none of the band members left a single small house. Please tell me where Captain Beefheart gets his drugs so I know never to go there.
If you put talented musicians in a room and they are all tuning their instruments or playing a few moments of a tune they just made up, this is what it would sound like. I was able to enjoy some of the songs that had words and melodies. The honks, jingles, and brongs don't do anything for me though. Many of the reviewers could not tolerate those chaotic parts of the album but I was able to deal with it. At times it seemed like a poetry slam with music accompaniment but the musicians were possessed by their instruments, like a Pentecostal says they get possessed by the holy spirit. It's kind of like the musician was being played by the instrument. I can feel such arrogance when they speak. It's edgy, noisy, raw, and chaotic. For me, albums need to be enjoyable to listen to if I'm going to consider it good. This was not enjoyable.
*sigh* Ah, Christ, I've been dreading this day. What's there to say about one of the most controversial albums of all time? A coworker, who likes this record, said to me one time, "Just so you know, every note on that record is where it's supposed to be." And that's... fine, I guess? I keep going back to the definition of music as "something enjoyable to listen to", and this just felt like a slog. For the record: I listened to the entire fucking thing. It inspired some feelings, and had some jams, but it mostly sounds like a massively talented band cosplaying as people who had never seen an instrument nor heard of the concept of "music". It's... definitely something.
Never really Understood the Captain. Just noise to me.
Not on spotify and not inclined to go out of my way to listen to this. I am guessing I would have given this 2* so that is what I will do
- This is a powerful album, no doubt about it. But it is incredibly annoying. It digs in your brain and it's really impossible to do anything else. - I do understand that people say that you should power through it, and be strong and that it will be worth it. Maybe someday I will. But right now, that feels more like an inside joke than anything. - Don't recommend.
So so so difficult to listen to.
Can we trade this one out for 'Safe As Milk'?
Not sure how I got through that.....
Sorry, no.
- Nun... schon häufig habe ich mich an avantgarde-musik, freejazz, zwölftonmusik o.ä. versucht - selten mit Erfolg aber manchmal hatte ich das Gefühl, das Konzept oder die Herangehensweise der Künstler*innen verstanden zu haben. Ähnlich wie bei abstrakter Kunst, bei der man in den meisten Fällen davor steht und sich denkt: "Was ist das für ein belangloser Schrott". Aber auch dort habe ich Momente, wo es *Klick* macht und ich Zugang zu der Kunst finde. Das bedeutet nicht automatisch, dass ich das gut finde, aber ich entwickle ein Gefühl des "Verstehens". - Ich habe den Eindruck, bei diesem Werk auf der Kippe zu stehen. Der erste Impuls ist natürlich, dass die Musik viel zu abstrakt und willkürlich ist, um einem Menschen bei gesundem Verstand in irgendeiner Form zu gefallen. Es entwickelte sich aber im Laufe des Albums bei mir tatsächlich ein "Draht", der einen Ausblick darauf gibt, dass sich meine Haltung zu diesem Album vielleicht etwas ändern könnte. - Es ist die ewige Diskussion um moderne/abstrake Kunst. Was ist gewollt? Wie viel Talent und Handwerk muss vorhanden sein? Sie wichtig ist die Absicht? Muss Kunst per se "gut" sein und gefallen? - Nach einem mal hören bleibe ich jedoch erstmal bei einer schlechten Bewertung. Interessant war die Erfahren wider erwarten jedoch absolut - 2/5
Everything you read about this album is correct. Everything. Halfway through while I was laughing I thought to read the reviews here amongst our greater-1001-group and from 1 (many) to 5 (few) I can't and won't argue a thing. Beefheart/someone had a lot of balls recording this and then just even releasing it. It's so off-the-hook that I can't give it a 1 on sheer chutzpah alone (plus the Zappa connection wins a point). I won't be putting this on at my kids' weddings but for shits and giggles I might leave instructions to play it at my funeral. I think I can sum this up in one word...: Beware. 3/10 2 stars.
Before starting this list, I'd seen this album cover around, but I didn't know anything about it. Since starting this list, I've heard a lot chatter about it, and I can't say that any of that chatter was good. Listening to this was certainly an adventure, and I'm happy to say that I survived the trip. Subjectively, I didn't like this album at all. It was a chore to get through, it wasn't particularly pleasant to listen to, and it was just really bizarre and nonsensical. I'll admit that I kinda liked "Ella Guru" and "Pachuco Cadaver" though. But from a critical standpoint, I think it takes a certain kind of musicianship to go out and intentionally create something as arhythmic, experimental, and and discordant as this album. I think that this is about as avant garde as you can get, and Captain Beefheart deserves some credit for taking a change and making something like this. Or maybe it was all a big joke to him, and he just wanted to see what people would buy and listen to. Whatever the case may be, I think this album earned its place on this list, even though it's not going to get a lot of love.
I've always liked this album in theory, but not so much in reality.
Madness
I didn't hate this as much as Yes.
This was one crazy trip!
I know it takes several listens for people to enjoy this one but I am not sure I want to do that. I don't even really like Frank Zappa.
I guess i didn't understand it. The lead singer sounded too much like Tom Waits for my taste. I just don't think i have the patience to listen to this to the point where I like it.
Wow what an experience. Not necessarily a good one, but one that I will remember for a long time. It's certainly original, especially for its time. I think the album is too long and has too much going on. I struggled to tell if I was liking what I was hearing or if I felt that way because the previous 3 songs sounded like a plane crash. I'll try to revisit it someday to try and re evaluate it, but I ain't got the energy to do it anytime soon.
je sais pas trop quoi en penser, c'est tellement inégale comme album. mon dieu des bouts je détestait et d'autres j'aimais la saveur blues. Mais en générale 1h00 de ca c'est beauocup trop. 2.5
So chaotic
Appreciate the artistic vision but it wouldn’t be something I play very often. By conventional means it’s not pleasant sounding but actually if you isolate certain parts you can hear good tunes.
Was going to give this the one star treatment before I realized not many albums made me think as much as this. The songs all had memorable quirks, and were all very versatile, which is very useful when this thing is about two years long. Overall a very memorable, exciting experience and one I hope I can one day say I enjoy listening to.
yngh... vmp...
It's not horrible, it has moments. Never again though.
There is something inherently appealing about a rogue artist daring to do something wildly different. In that way, "Trout Mask Replica" is something worth exploring. It is a decidedly, purposefully different, album that tries to blend an array of musical genres and experiments. It just doesn't completely work. It has moments or tracks that are more interesting or compelling than others, but on the whole, it falters. All of the raves about it seem overblown. It certainly will appeal to some but it will never appeal to many and seemingly has no desire to do so anyway.
Doesn't sound great but there is some very troll poetry/lyricism in this one "A squid eating dough in a polyethylene bag is fast and bulbous". Sounds like the fellas just took a bunch of LSD together and had fun at the studio making weird ass music
Whew! I found this one hard to listen to. I prefer the bluesy tracks to the more avant-garde ones. This is one of those albums that it might be better to read about than listen to.
This is one of those really polarizing albums that people like me, with no musical training but with a deep love and appreciation for music struggle to understand and appreciate. Kinda like Bitches Brew or Ornette Coleman's improvised free jazz. I've read how this very talented band rehearsed for 8 months(!) in order to get these very difficult polyrhythms, avante garde jazz/rock/blues notes just right and how its produced by the illustrious Frank Zappa. Matt Groening said he thought it was awful after his first listen, but since a double record cost so much and he couldn't believe that Zappa would do him so wrong, he gave it a few more chances. It didn't click until the 6th or 7th listening whereupon he thought it was the best album he had ever heard. Well I've listened to it maybe 4-5 times and I still don't love it, and I don't think I have it in me for a couple more listens because frankly it ain't a fun listen. Bitches Brew took a few tries before it finally clicked, but I don't think Trout Mask Replica ever will.
- Before even listening to this album everything about this is peak - Nevermind it's not on Spotify, L - This is weird and I don't understand it - It does get better as it goes along but maybe it's just me getting used to the weirdness - I'd give it a 2.5 because I can't say it's either good or bad
Legendarily difficult album. Too difficult for my small and non-drug addled brain. Can just about appreciate its out-thereness and that's about it.
This is the second album of theirs that I have received. I thought the first one was fun and quirky. This album dialed that up to 11. I felt some Tom Waits vibes throughout this record. Overall I didn't enjoy this one as much as the first. A little too weird and over the top for me. Not something that I would ever be able to listen to over and over again.
Almost 300 days late.... really wanted to have time with this. Read a bunch of the back story and denoting that this is one of the most challenging records. A lot of it is pretty weird, and makes me think of some crazy art students on a weekend project, but then there are some doozies.... Hobo Chang Ba comes to mind. I can imagine this best as a sound recording of some live stage production performance art performed by nutters. The strange dialog and music seems like there must be people on stage under psychedelic lights popping out of shadows, flailing uncontrollably. The music does drift into many places where i you wonder how you can tell anything is being played incorrectly (even though the history of the album seems to indicate and inordinate amount of practice to craft this piece). I'll give it a little bonus because if definitely challenges assumptions and makes you think differently about what music is.
That was a weird one. I mean I didn’t hate parts of it, but also it gave me a headache by the end. My boyfriend warned me, “despite his influence, he may sound like a 8 piece band falling down a long flight of stairs” and well….yeah.
Im not sure what just happened lol
3/10. They paired an experimental and off-putting sound with equally experimental and off-putting lyrical style, with an awful singing voice and a 78 minute runtime. I will say that I did kind of like some of the instrumental segments, but not enough to put up with the rest of the album.
I'll admit I wasn't really in the mood this morning to listen to something so experimental, but that doesn't stop me from appreciating its place in the story of popular music. This band has some incredibly talented performers, too. I might come back to this for a re-listen when I'm more in the frame of mind for this style of exploration.
There were lots of drugs kicking about in '69 if I'd joined in I'd probably have enjoyed it more
Absolutely bizarre – not for me
wtf trouta?
I just... couldn't.
I reckon I’ve owned this vinyl for at least 30 years. It’s still in pristine condition. Mainly because I’ve only ever played it a handful of times. I still find it hard work. I’ve always found Beefheart interesting. And there are a couple of his albums that I really enjoy - his debut album, Safe As Milk & his 7th release, Clear Spot. One had Ry Cooder all over it & the other, Little Feat. What’s not to like there? But this is a discordant double album. Back in the day I shared houses with guys who loved it. They usually had mental health problems. I know it’s supposedly very influential & all that, but I really don’t rate it that highly.
Some of the late 60's and early 70's elude me. This is one of those bands. Captain Beefheart is...interesting. To each their own.
Total mad lad
God, I've been loathing this moment. This is one of those albums that I'm supposed to like because I'm weird and I like weird things, and this is a landmark album in the history of weirdness. I've tried with this album, I really have. Multiple times .Every time I put it on, I want nothing so much as for it to end. This album is the equivalent to a person who confuses having an unusual pet for having a personality. "I'm glad you were able to buy a kimono dragon, Captain Beefheart. Can I get the fuck out of here now?" If I'm being serious, I can see why people were influenced by this album. There's little bits and pieces of things that would become much more prominent in music in the decades to follow. That's my problem with it, though. It's all just bits and pieces of things, with no actual coherent expression of a whole idea. Every time I find something that I like, it ends quickly, and moves on to something else that is the musical analogy of someone putting their finger and inch from your face and saying "I'm not touching you" Anyway, I've been dreading this moment. I'm going to give this album a bad grade because I don't like it, but I have to actually listen to it to see how bad of a grade it will be. And, of course, it's a double album because they couldn't shovel this much garbage onto just one disk. I feel the same way about this album that I feel about all of David Lynch's movies. I know that I'm supposed to like it. Tons of people whose opinions I really respect love this album and think it's brilliant (also, it's David Lynch's favorite album because of course it is). However, when I listen to it, I don't enjoy it, and then I feel stupid because I'm supposed to enjoy it, and maybe I'm just too stupid to understand it. Fuck you, Captain Beefheart. I'm not stupid, you are. If you're so much smarter than me, how come I'm alive and you're dead? 2/5 This album has an incredible legacy, but so does Michael Jackson's dad. Legacy isn't everything
This makes me uncomfortable but not in the good way
I had heard so much of this album, but I tried to go in without reading the Wikipedia as I usually do. I...don't really know what was happening and I feel like I forgot who I was by the end of it. But! Did I enjoy it? Not really. I did at 5 songs to my library (out of 18), so uh. Could have been worse, I suppose.
Oh God please don't make me listen to this again. I've just had Pet Sounds and I'm all chilled out. I've tried this twice in the past and it just annoys me. Ok here we go. Avant garde and chaotic and pretty much unlistenable. Hardest album to rate.
I probably just didn't get it
Best Song: My Human Gets Me Blues. Just a great blues track. You can really hear how Beefheart's vocal stylings will go on to influence so many others. Worst Song: Hair Pie: Bake 1. Seemingly intentionally a-musical. Also, weird Blair Witch vibes at the end. Wonder if that woman survived the encounter. Overall: An album that somehow manages to be neither as good nor as bad as I expected, it alternates between refreshingly weird and stubbornly opaque. I like the abstract poetry rambled over gritty blue, but I don't like the intentionally atonal and weirdly polyrhythmic stuff that seems to exist just to be different. There's clearly a core of something brilliant here, but it seems mostly obscured by Captain Beefheart's ego and resistance to editing. Everything that is introduced on this album has subsequently been better channeled and refined by Tom Waits, including the voice.
Well this is a chore. 28 tracks of what mostly sounds like three albums playing concurrently. I mean, each individual element seems to be if not pleasant then at least competent. This might - eventually - form itself into coherence. Free form jazz did that, just pinged from being godawful noise to transcendentally beautiful in the space of a couple of seconds. It hasn't done it yet, though. When the most accessible part of your music is cacophonic sax, you might have a problem engaging with new audiences.
I've heard of Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band, and I recognize the cover of Trout Mask Replica, but I probably haven't listened to a full track from the band. I was fine with working my way through the album. It was ¿good? to listen to an album that so many people consider as culturally significant. I'm not sure that I would want to try and listen to this album often enough to gain the acquired taste that this album seems to be. The album felt shorter (less of a burden to listen to) than I thought it was going to be, but still lands at 2 stars.
This is a hard listen but they say after 6 or 7 times, you get it and it’s a masterpiece. I don’t see myself listening to this again so I’ll take their word for it. I do see flashes here and there but I also feel like he’s just trying to be weird instead of just being weird.
I don't understand what is happening here. This seems to be fairly contentious with some people loving it but it's not my jam.
Mad one but not for me.
Woah nelly, this is a doozy. Struggled until Pachuco Cadaver, and struggled afterwards. Clearly some talent and and inventiveness, but just don't like the whole package. I think there must have been a lot of drugs sacrificed to make this album.
Oh no, my bete noir, extremely challenging avant-garde “piece”. There is a valuable place for experimental music, but did this have to be so long? However, it’s easier to listen to and more amusing than Marylyn Manson and other awful 1 star garbage. They rehearsed for 8 months!
I love beefhearts first album and even I thought this was a tough listen
not an easy listen
Legit definition of WTF. Just sounds like each member of the band wrote and recorded their own separate songs and then overlayed them together. Tah dah done. There's skill here but it's odd for odd's sake. "Story" songs are like Zappa but not nearly as good or entertaining.
Way too deep for me - I may try to listen to it a few times to see if it grows on me, but I doubt that my rating will change...
Wow. This was so weird. But for all its weirdness I didn't find myself reaching for the next button. I was a bit intrigued. Kind of felt like a 2 though after first listen - just a lot to deal with, with all its deliberate mayhem and disconnectedness. And then I read about the album and decided I should give it at least one more listen. Especially because I hated the first Tom Waits album I heard but he has grown on me (and Beefheart surely gave birth to Waits' weird music and tortured vocal stylings). I listened to it a second time and I didn't hate it. But I didn't like it either. If it's David Lynch's favorite album, you know it is out of this world strange. Kudos to the creativity but not for me, and probably not for most. Deserved to be on this list for it's eccentricity but not sure what else after that.
Kantensa kuuloinen levy. Jotenkin viehättää laulutyyli ja meininki. Mutta onhan tää ihan liian raskasta kuultavaa.
Alkaa hyvin ja toimii muutenkin paikoitellen (eli sisältää myös kappaleita eikä ainoastaan äkkiväärää jammailua), mutta lopulta äkkiväärä jammailu alkaa tuntua levyn itseisarvolta - mitä sen EI ole tarkoitus olla (väitän). En myöskään usko, että kukaan olisi ikinä kuunnellut tätä loppuun.
Lijkt wel een trollband, wat een herrie
i have a t shirt for Neon Meate Dream of an Octafish which was sent by mistake when buying an alan partridge shirt and they said keep it. presumably they knew not really anyone would want it as there can't be that many people in to this brand of madness. i wear that t shirt because i listened to the album and decided that wearing a t shirt for an insane song on an album you don't listen to that gets you absolutely no kudos points or recognition from anyone you will meet wearing the shirt is the type of surreal shit captain beefheart would do. i get why they would put trout mask replica on the list but it is incredibly hard work even for someone who knows captain beefheart and has seen the magic band play (once the captain had popped his clogs). he does have some albums that are listenable, i quite like ice cream for crow but this album is so far into the realms of art/jazz that it flies over my head. i would probably understand it better if i was wearing a black turtle neck and a beret.
Trout Mask
A shitshow, but an authentic shitshow. Without question essential listening.
goofy ahh
I'm happy for the people that get this, but I am not one of them.
An important Record. Certainly Revolutionary for some. Captain Beefheart is the Lewis Carroll of rock. But for me at this time in my life it's a bit extra in a way that I'm less interested in now than I was in my more avant garde hungry days. The rest of this review will now be written in how the music feels: Skronkly and woggly time and word a disheveled stumble bumble of nonsense no sense make sense fake sense in this wild life — needle notes and conscripted toots. Stop. Go! Time to be brave! Hit record. Drive a ford across a fjord. Clever boi.
Rock experimental. Bastante inaguantable. Un 2.
I know the good captain was a friend of Frank Zappa, and Zappa's influence on this is unmistakable, but Beefheart was no Zappa. I can listen to something like Sheik Yerbouti over and over, but not this one. That said, I understand its place on the list.
I can think of 4 other Beefheart records I’d rather listen to than this one.
What the fuck was dit
This album is literally too much by all means. It sounds like every single member of the band is doing a different song. I got really confused by all the sounds and couldn't really focus. But I think it's essential for this album and if it was the effect they were going for, then they achieved it. Although, listening to this for more than an hour is truly tiring. I think the music is great, the guitars do a really good job of shaping the sound of the album. The thing I found the hardest to assimilate is the weird vocals, which just drive me crazy. The artist really went for oddity and strangeness all the way and did a good job sticking to that theme. I strongly believe this album has its own loyal followers. This type of music is not for everyone, and not for me either, at least not every day or I'll go crazy. Sometimes I found the music just unlistenable. Favourite track: "The Blimp (Mousetrapreplica)", least favourite track: too many
op zen willy organs: doe toch normaal man
Dit voelt echt als een taak om naar te luisteren. Het is zoveel zowel in aantal als gewoon in geluid. Geef me wat rust jong.
At the beginning thought people were living in different time zones our jamming over zoom with a lot of lag but later on some bits actually sounded sort of okay
Reminds me of Frank Zappa, and I dislike it for the same reasons I dislike Frank Zappa. It’s like if you do something random and bizarre enough, but do it confidently, people will think you’re a genius. But in reality it’s just random, bizarre crap. Yes, there are flashes of interesting musical bits in here, but overall it’s a big thumbs down for me. 2 stars.
An extra star for originality but it isn't pleasant on the ears. Basically took all the criteria on how to make a song, teared it up and made their own rules, which is commendable but personally don't like the end product.
Nah. Sometimes it taps into an inexplicably satisfying and deeply hidden groove - but beyond this it's annoying and contrived weirdness
It's tough to get through it because it's just so random.
Going to be honest here, this is a discount version of Frank Zappa and not nearly as smart, artistic or funny.
I am not sure what I just listened to, but I wouldn't qualify it as music. Technically arranged chaos is still chaos. Just because you can, doesn't mean you should.
Wow, that was...interesting. I was working while listening to this, not recommended.
This is a pure chaotic mess yet it’s weirdly fun and hard to stop listening. I probably won’t come back to it but I definitely had fun while it was on!
If you like avant garde music this is for you, for the the rest, no.
Mayhem.
I feel like it’s actually brave to sound good?
Eerste 5 nummers: Alsof iemand een muziekwinkel van de trap gooit Moonlight on Vermont best leuk Klinkt een beetje als pre-alpha-Zappa geen fan, maar ook niet heel erg om het een keer gehoord te hebben
Als je hem aanzet en iets gaat doen is het alleen maar soms heel kut, meestal best oké en heel soms best vet
I bet this was an influence on Victim's Family.
Just shy of 79 minutes of musical discord with few redeeming features. Any interest I had in the album had dissipated by the time of side three's "Well". Great album art though. One star. Side one 1 "Frownland" (2/5) 2 "The Dust Blows Forward 'n the Dust Blows Back" (2/5) 3 "Dachau Blues" (2/5) 4 "Ella Guru" (1/5) 5 "Hair Pie: Bake 1" (instrumental) (1/5) 6 "Moonlight on Vermont" (2/5) Side two 1 "Pachuco Cadaver" (2/5) 2 "Bill's Corpse" (1/5) 3 "Sweet Sweet Bulbs" (1/5) 4 "Neon Meate Dream of a Octafish" (1/5) 5 "China Pig" (2/5) 6 "My Human Gets Me Blues" (2/5) 7 "Dali's Car" (instrumental) (1/5) Side three 1 "Hair Pie: Bake 2" (instrumental) (1/5) 2 "Pena" (1/5) 3 "Well" (1/5) 4 "When Big Joan Sets Up" (1/5) 5 "Fallin' Ditch" (1/5) 6 "Sugar'n Spikes" (1/5) 7 "Ant Man Bee" (1/5) Side four 1 "Orange Claw Hammer" (1/5) 2 "Wild Life" (1/5) 3 "She's Too Much for My Mirror" (1/5) 4 "Hobo Chang Ba" (1/5) 5 "The Blimp (Mousetrapreplica)" (1/5) 6 "Steal Softly thru Snow" (1/5) 7 "Old Fart at Play" (1/5) 8 "Veteran's Day Poppy" (1/5) Total - 35 Average - 1.3 368/1001 195/368 albums reviewed were new to me.
Just because you can, doesn't necessarily mean that you should. Also, if an album requires SEVEN LISTENS for you to 'get it', that sounds more reminiscent of being tortured to the point of confessing to something you didn't do.
Overall Rating - 1.41/5 (2.82/10). Whiskey. Tango. Alpha. Foxtrot. Over. Crazy, experimental, and, at times an assault on the ears.
To me, *Trout Mask Replica* by Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band is a bit crazy. It’s not an album you can just listen to casually; perhaps you need to hear it several times to grasp the music. But that requires time—something I didn't have yesterday. Sorry, just one star.
I just don’t understand how you even come across this album. Like did this guy just have that deep of music knowledge to know about this shit? Or did he actively listen to this shit and enjoy it? Or is the criteria just throwing shit (this album) at a wall (us) and hoping it sticks? This genuinely has confused me and simultaneously pissed me tf off.
Robert Wyatt, you can rest now; you’ve been dethroned The only thing I can say that’s positive about this album is that it’s not boring and when it wants to, it can sorta kinda throw together some blues pieces (Moonlight on Vermont would be ok if someone else sang it) The rest is just…beyond garbage. Half of the tracks on here I wouldn’t even call music. I hate the almost insistence to play off rhythm and off key to make songs clash with themselves. I hate the vocals that intentionally sound bad to show you “music ain’t all that beautiful”. I hate the subject matter of half of these songs, it really does feel like it was specifically appealing to the fart sniffing “high art” intellectuals who think because it’s challenging it’s automatically good. I hated the snippets of blues, one of my favorite genres, which would immediately transform into disgusting abominations of something that could once be considered good. Also this being a double album made it all the more insulting, as if I didn’t get enough of this garbage. I could go on for hours about how much I didn’t like this album. I think it’s kinda crazy this came out in the 60s, and definitely does stand out as pretty unique, but from a “do I want to listen to this” perspective I think this might be the single worst album we’ve had. I listened to Rock Bottom again and although it sucked it’s so much less painful than some of the other awful records we’ve gotten (Pere Ubu, White Light/White Heat come to mind). This is worse because not only is it mind numbingly awful, but it took a significant portion of my day and wasted it. This is an affront to music as a medium
its like 2 different songs being played over each other at the same time. complete nonsense noise; i just happen to find it amusing at how unapologetically bad it sounds. a loving 1 star
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 those who declare 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, shut up, it sounds like garbage 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 ridiculous.
The app link only gave me the Trout Mask Replica Replica single which is horrible. Hence the rating otherwise I really 'rate' the Captain
This was painful all the way long
An album that demands your attention and then has no idea what to do with it. I hate it.
Well, this finally popped up. I’m not sure you could make an EP of what I enjoyed here. This was mostly a driving listen via YouTube since it’s not on streamers. Doubt I’ll ever want to revisit it.
I think some of the overly-pretentious enjoy calling it a masterpiece—or, again, maybe it’s for the meme—but, in all honestly, it’s completely unlistenable noise.
Como carajo puede un disco que suena a ninos jugando con instrumentos musicales puede ser uno de los mejores 1001 álbumes? Pero si es una reverenda mierda
I ain’t listening to all dat
vad i hela friden 0/10 låter som en musiklektion på lågstadiet
What the fuck is this?
The thing about Trout Mask Replica is that it's such an unpleasant, punishing experience for the most part, that if you just persevere with it through a sense of obligation, of duty there are fleeting moments where it sounds something... something like music, and it's such sweet, sweet relief you start to think maybe you misunderstood it, maybe the problem was you all along, and maybe you're developing into someone who can appreciate it, maybe one day...love it. After all, you only get one album a day, and there's no guarantee there will be another one tomorrow. Maybe this is the best you can get. Maybe those brief breaks from the chaos, the noise, the madness are worth the pain. Who did you think you are thinking you might get a Sgt Pepper or Rumours? You don't deserve them. They don't even know you exist. This is the album you deserve, so be grateful for it. So what if your friends and family don't like it? What do they know? They still haven't gotten over your split with your last album with its "melodies" and "choruses" and all the musicians agreeing on what "time signature" to use. They didn't even try to like it. They don't know it like I do. Oh shit...am I in an abusive relationship with this album?
Uh, no. Some days I roll with it, other days, what the actual f*ck? I scream for all the albums and artists in my vinyl, cassette tapes, 8tracks, cds, mp3 playlists that are not included in this list of 1001 albums. Like, why this and not ANY of those others 🤬
Fun.
So many analogies that I could make but really this album isn’t even worth the time I’d put into that. Some dudes did way too many drugs decades ago and now I have to listen to this shit. You can argue all day long that it’s groundbreaking or influential, but you can’t polish a turd.
I think I heard the guitarist accidentally start to play a melody, but don't worry, the drummer smashed a snare drum over his head before it could become enjoyable.
Not on Amazon Music
Holy FUCK this is BAD! Who made this list, Helen Keller? This is the sort of music that results when you let a music classroom full of 10-year-olds all press a different demo button on the keyboards at slightly different times and let them fuck around for an hour and twenty minutes.
All songs sounded alike, even the non-sensical interludes. I know this shit’s supposed to be experimental but there’s a science behind that, a coherent logical order, an artistic sensibility. Not this arrhythmic, anti-melodious bullshit.
Nope
The confidence to release this and call it music
Complete and utter shit
1/10 - a crappy 60s album that tries to be endearing with bad jazz skits
yeah great that
Are you kidding me? And almost an hour and a half of this. Just no. It's like a teenager trying to be "random". Zany lyrics, good music I could manage. Experimental music and good lyrics I could probably cope with. Zany lyrics and experimental music is a hard no. love and waffles, *~t3h PeNgU1N oF d00m~*
HOLY COW what am I listening to? I went all the way to YouTube to listen to what MIGHT be the worst album of all time. You need to read the Wikipedia for this album because the environments in which this album was created might be the only environment possible to come up with this...1/5
Nup
The one nice thing I'll say about this album is that it I detect some similarities between it and Beck's 1994 gem, Stereopathetic Soulmanure, an album I really enjoy. But where Stereopathetic Soulmanure has Satan Gave Me A Taco, Trout Mask Replica does not. One review I read said this album "sounds like a band falling down a staircase but they don't stop playing" and that seems right. Maybe in a different place or a different time I would have appreciated this one. But probably not.
Missed the opportunity to select did not listen, but based on the rest of my group not approving either…
Nope, not for me
Not al all my style.
1/5 Unbearable
I don’t know why this isn’t available on many streaming services, but I assume it’s some kind of public health measure to protect people from the toxins this garbage produces. This isn’t music, it’s just noise. I read that this was meant to have a bluesy sound, which could be true if it was blues performed whilst drunk at a karaoke party. But don’t let that get the instrumentation off the hook, which is even worse- I’ve never heard professional musicians perform so badly. In all, there’s nothing here that is even a cohesive song (‘Moonlight on Vermont’ probably as close as we get). It absolutely baffles me that so many ‘experts’ rated this as some kind of great artistic statement. The claim of some that this takes *6-7* listens to appreciate is probably more a sunk-cost fallacy than evidence of any deeper greatness to be found.
To say this is a challenging listen would be an understatement. To it's credit, it is certainly an interesting album and you can hear in some of the guitar work how it influenced later post-punk bands (though most of them would take it in a much more melodic direction). However, by and large, this is a cacophonous mess with each band member seemingly playing a different song to everyone else. A lot of times when I've read people singing this album's praises they've talked about it taking four or five listens before they have a 'road to Damascus' moment and it all suddenly clicks into place. But frankly life is too short for me to want to test that theory out.
It’s experimental, it’s avant-garde, it’s… atrocious. Captain Beefheart here almost totally failed to create anything listenable or even recognisable as a proper song. I say almost, because just occasionally a track did have some sense of structure, melody, rhythm, etc. and was even vaguely enjoyable, e.g. ‘Moonlight in Vermont’. Nonetheless, it’s got to be 1 star; if this isn’t, then what is? Perhaps it would grow on me (like mould?) if I heard it several times, but I’m not masochistic enough to inflict it on myself again. Some say it’s a ‘masterpiece’. I say the emperor has no clothes.
I take issue with the idea that challenging music needs to be torturous, both to create and to consume. There's this fucked up notion that Captain Beefheart was a misunderstood genius because he made an impenetrable record that requires 7 listens to "get" and did it by physically and emotionally abusing his band. Fuck that. No art is worth that kind of torment. There is clear talent within this group, and Captain Beefheart himself—it's not easy to make music that sucks this hard. But there are all these assholes who romanticize the REAL suffering of the band, and have decided to suffer alongside them to enjoy art that they are uniquely troubled enough to understand. It's stupid and self-centered.
It pisses me off that shit like this makes the list when there’s so many good albums left out, especially more modern albums. Now I’m forced to listen to it because some old white fuck thinks he’s funny for including it,,, go. fuck. yourself.
nope
this was genuinely one of the worst things i've ever heard in my life. tapped out halfway through, first 1001 album i couldn't finish. would give a 0 if i could
blink-182-wtf-reaction.gif
No. Just weird.
This may be the single shittest album I have ever had the misfortune of hearing. I couldn't even get through it all, and I listen to experimental music that's basically just construction sounds sometimes. If it is all insane bangers past track #10, I don't think that could even pull this album out of 1 star hell. Terrible, heinous, awful.
Lyrics seem to be the only anchoring element, dense, but also Dadaist. Van Vliet's vocal delivery reminds me of Wolfman Jack. Not sure it would be worth listening to on headphones to try to get an idea of what he's talking about. Has samples of spoken word. I guess it makes perfect sense that it was produced by Zappa. Much of it seems like random noise interspersed with fleeting one-off riffs, a whirling maelstrom always dancing on the edge of something intriguing but never lasting long enough to grab onto. Like a 78-minute long attempt at a musical representation of a Jackson Pollock painting. Pachuco Cadaver and Moonlight On Vermont approach actual conventional song form for a while. This is one of those records that seems impossible to enjoy, but demands "appreciation". More provocative than evocative. You can argue that music is art, and any art is good but I prefer my music to be something that moves body and/or soul and this doesn't. The Wikipedia article makes a point of mentioning that the band members were submitted to a tortuous cult-like environment rehearsing for eight months, and that doesn't sound very fun either.
TMR wasn’t available on Spotify so listed to a Beefheart playlist. I get the art of the method but musically, it just sounded like 3 or 4 guys who never once rehearsed as a band. Or ever played an instrument before. At times, they’d catch a rhythm together and run with it but it’d inevitably divulge into individual, chaotic improvisation. I literally could not focus for the whole day at work after listening to this on my drive in, it fucked with me that much. Save yourself and avoid this.
meth vomit music
gave me headaches
Little to far out there for my tastes. 1.0
Kan antagligen skrivas hur mycket som helst om detta, vrida vända och analyera. Någon skrev att detta är den enda skiva som skulle kunna få 1/10 och 10/10 på samma gång. Får nog ses som ett konstprojekt och inte ett musikalbum. Som skiva betraktat så blir det såklart en 1:a...
I appreciate that Spotify only made available “Hair Pie - Bake 1”. Instead of 78 minutes of torment, I only had five. Five. Long. Minutes.
Piss poor guitar playing, songs that go out of tempo, songs that go out of tune, songs that were never IN tune, nonsensical lyrics, random dialogue in between songs, and some of the worst vocals I’ve ever heard. When they said it had polyrhythm and polytonality what they meant was “these guys can’t fucking play”
album raro malos audios no me gustó
Too much, too weird, too difficult. Another review says you need 7 listens to appreciate its genius and i barely made it through 1. I may be a fan if this in about 100 years.
One track made me feel like someone slipped a huge bout of mdma into my drink- the wave of anxiety was so palpable, suffice to say I didn’t not complete the listen. Not my jam, excellent fucking name however lol
Sometimes I give experimental stuff points for being different but this is just fresh bull****.
This is my first 1/5 (and hopefully my only). I didn't know what I was getting into prior, but after the first song I had an idea of what the listening experience would be. I think this project is too cerebral and quite removed from the ideas of conventional music - it's clear that this project was created to be difficult to listen to. This frustrated me throughout, as I caught bits of arrangements where the music sounded great... only for them to change the entire sound to something bizarre and awkward sounding. Good for them to have the desire to make something like this and show where you can go with instruments - this wasn't music to me, it was an essay using sounds.
Actual garbage
It’s not common for me to feel completely exhausted after listening to an album, but this was one of the toughest I’ve ever had to get through. I had to stop four or five times just to regain the energy to continue. It felt like a fever dream with almost torturous intent. I am more than convinced that this is some sort of a sick joke that has a niche community of people that are on it and praise it as high art. The joke goes that this is a brilliant album but to understand it you have to give it multiple listens. I suppose that's when you receive your invitation and can start pushing others to endure what you had endured. It could also be "Finnegans Wake" of music - likely meaningful to some, but completely impenetrable to me. I highly doubt I will ever ever listen a single note from Mr. Beffheart and his entourage. The lack of structure isn't even the problem. The musicians are clearly talented and it shows but all of them are intentionally playing a completely different thing with no solder to keep it coherent. I am sure that this was done to piss people off. I don't have any favorite songs because nothing here can be classified as a song. I will pick the last one because it meant that I had endured and because the title resonated with the feat of my achievement - "Veteran's Day Poppy".
32 - Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band - Trout Mask Replica - Rating = 1 What the hell is this? A chaophony of noise and non-sense and unstructured making of sounds that do not go together… This is horrible. Why was this ever recorded? Who ever wanted to hear this? Wow… this is not music as much as an assault to the ear. Zero. Point. Zero.
Honestly is there a score less than one. One of the most awful sounding and over rated bands of all time.
An abomination, and easily one of the worst “classic” albums I’ve ever endured. Barely managed 3 tracks and gave up.
Was für eine grauenhafte Erfahrung. Meine Ohren weinten, mein leichtes Herz wurde schwer und meine Versuche, dieses Album manuell von YouTube zu löschen sorgte nur für blutende Finger. Kein Wunder, dass kein Streaming-Anbieter diese Perle der unmittelbaren Kunst des Folterns im Angebot hat. Bitte nie wieder und setzt dieses Album auf Platz 1002!
Fuck off, just fuck right off. Absolute dog shit. It’s not even on Apple Music it’s that bad. Had to listen to (some of) it on YouTube. Couldn’t finish it. The guy from the simpsons is just having a laugh at anyone who’s trying to listen to it 7 times
1 Star 2/15)
I gave it a try, but i really cannot say that i see the genius here. Slightly different rhythms accompanied by complete atonality just don’t do anything for me. I recognize it takes effort to be this bad.
If I were to come into music class and claim to have practiced every day all day and then play this, the teacher would beat me to death before the end of the first track.
wtf was this
huh
I like Captain Beefheart, I like the art concept of this album. Not great for Saturday night listening though
I bet this really freaked out the squares, man.
Step 1: See this is described as "challenging" Step 2: Start listing and realize that this is indeed very challenging Step 3: See that it's a double album Step 4: Survive listening to it in its entirety Step 5: Get the tiniest bit of solace by rating it 1 star
Not for me at all.
pleasantly not on spotify for me
Horrible
Worst music I have heard in my whole life. 0 stars.
It’s just noise???
perhaps these guys are geniuses at the top of their game but I didn't enjoy this at all
I’ve tried. It’s too weird for me.
The artwork kinda makes me sick. Also, only Hair Pie: Bake 1 is on Spotify and it's discordantly unfun. I will not be seeking out the rest of this album. I get it's a commentary on the mainstream, highly polished pop and rock music norms of the 1960s. I also get that it deconstructs the traditional conventions of blues, rock, and pop. I know that it has an anti-commercial statement. I don't care that John Peel and Lester Bangs think that this album is incredible. I don't and that's all that counts when it really comes down to it.
p157. 169. 1.5 stars Prime example of late 60s wankage. It's the musical equivalent of the curates egg, good in parts. When he sticks to southern blues, it's fine. When he doesn't, it's crap. Points deducted for being a double album, unavailable on Spotify, too much filler, and for weirdness above and beyond the call of duty.
.25 - I hate this so much and couldn't wait for it to be over.
# Album Name: Trout Mask Replica # Artist: Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band # Rating: 1/5 # Comments: Faaaaaaaarrrrrrrkkkkkkk MEEEEEEEEE Well i knew the album cover. Its quite iconic. Honestly, this was a train wreck of a record. Absolutely woeful. # Top Tunes: # Would I listen to it again? Fuck no
horrible wtf
Couldn’t listen too it
nein, das geht gar nicht!
Uhhhhhhh idk man
took me 5 mins to stop listening to it, which is probably longer than it took them to come up with the music for this album
Sadly the moments where the instruments stopped were just as bad.
Couldn't do it to myself. I tried listening to this awhile back... maybe one day I will build the courage to grit through this. I liken it to a blender, tolerable for a few seconds but you don't want to leave it on for longer than that
Frownland - 2.5/5 The Dust Blows Forward'n'the Dust Blows Back - 1/5 Dachau Blues - 2.5/5 Ella Guru - 2/5 Hair Pie: Bake 1 - 1.5/5 Pachuco Cadaver - 3/5 Sweet Sweet Bulbs - 3.5/5 Neon Meat - 3/5 China Pig - 2/5 My Human Gets Me Blue - 1/5 Dali's Car - 1.5/5 Hair Pie: Bake 2 - 2/5 Well, Well, Well - 1/5 When Big Joan Sets Up - 1.5/5 Sugar'n Spikes - 2.5/5 Orange Claw Hammer - 2.5/5 She's Too Much For My Mirror - 2/5 Hobo Chang Ba - 2/5 The Blimp - 2/5 Steal Softly Through Snow - 1.5/5 Old Fart At Play - 1.5/5 Veterans Day Poppy - 3/5
Worst thing I've ever heard
nope
I bought this years ago because someone told me it was “good”. I can’t remember who I need to “thank”. I understand that this album polarizes people. Personally, I think the issue is where I may mutter “keep to a time signature, you gits”, others will say “ahh polyrhythm” and while I may complain about whether this can actually be called music due to no good tunes, others may happily wax lyrical about polytonality. It worries me that the hype for this album is at such a high level that it reminds me of the old tale of the emperor’s new clothes. Is it good? or is that people think because it is challenging it must be arty? It has even been compared as eclectic as walking Christmas trees and, like this album, that is not something I need thanks.
Wow. Sært. Ikke hørt ordentligt. Kan man det? Jeg er nysgerrig på hvordan sådan et album kan eksistere. -- Fåk jeg skulle have anmeldt det den dag vi fik albummet... Den er svær at komme tilbage til! Jeg kan kun sige at den fortjener sin 1er for oplevelsen. Jeg piner nok lige mig selv igennem endnu et lyt....
Chaos-Schrepel-Blues, 1969 -> 1
Awful
Garbage sounds
Not technically on Spotify. People made a complication of the album - a playlist Could not find 1 song that was listenable I did have 1 liked song from another album by this band that I liked called 'm glad. I wish they had continued to make music like that song. This album was terrible
marto 1 simgera irtveboda da isic bushtis chyapunis xma qonda
This was garbage. Pure garbage.
1 - TERRIBLE
If you have to listen to something 7 times for it to be good. Its not good. I was waiting for this album to end and when I looked down and saw that I was only 30 minutes in, I had to call it.
I like a couple of Captain Beefheart songs but not this album
1/5 or can’t review. Sorry this is truly the first one I can’t listen to. I can’t even try more than I have. I am so sorry
Well, I hated this.
Festering bucket of wank.
I'm convinced this is what the US military forced torture victims to listen to at Guantanamo
First album I needed to pull up on Youtube since it's not on Spotify. I didn't like this album. This was a dud.
Looks like this album specifically isn’t on Spotify- But based on what Captain Beefheart there is on Spotify, I can only imagine this album is disgusting.
Does it sound "good" in the traditional sense? No. But I can I nevertheless appreciate its free-spirted, bold, adacious experimentation? Also no.