Trout Mask Replica

Oh boy I'm excited for this one. Besides an awesome cover I've heard this album is super controversial. You either love it or hate it. Pretty annoying need to listen on Youtube. First song in and I'm getting contrarian vibes. Angus probably fucking loves this album. Some parts remind me of Zappa, some parts remind me of really early Pink Floyd. All parts mostly bad. Ok I need to look up more about why this exists and yes it's certainly a Zappa produced album. It all makes sense now. There are some random moments that I like above all the weird bullshit. That being said it's mostly weird bullshit. Music shouldn't be made just because it CAN be made. It's also entirely too long. Floating between a 1-2 55 minutes in. Would give a 1.5 but I'm rounding down. Not for me.

- There is a reason this album isn't on any streaming services - Sounds like the whole album was freestyle in one take, by band members who have never met each other - The vocals are nothing to write home about, but does have some nice rasp it - The instrumentation may be so complex that they are actually a work of art, but are just a chore to listen to, and to the average ear nothing compliments each other, everything sounds out of time and unrehearsed - This may have been the hardest time I have ever had listening to an album - I would have preferred to listen to kidz bop renditions of diarrhoea - This may be unfair, but I had to stop this album after listening to 3 tracks. But can you really blame me? At the risk of sounding hyperbolic, this is one of the worst albums I have ever heard. This album isn't on streaming services to protect young children from being permanently scarred by listening to it. There is no synergy between any of the instruments, each plays in its own time scale and absolutely NOTHING compliments each other. The only (slight) redeeming quality of this album is its vocals, which are not as unpleasant to listen to as the instruments. This album may be musically complex and worthy of praise for its abstract absurdism, but it is not nice to listen to. I had to listen to another album directly after hearing this to cleanse my palate from the foul aftertaste it left me. I hope to forget this album, and if there was a 0 star option this album would receive it.

Oh wow, made my wife and I nauseous. We weren't sure why until we stopped this album halfway thru. Maybe we didn't get it, at one point I thought they just took a smoke break.

my first DNF of all the albums - couldn't find it on streaming and then once i did sit down to listen to it, it was too much for a quiet wednesday night. technically very interesting with all the polyrhythms but not for me

This shit is too experimental for me

It takes a lot of skill to make something this shit with a group of talented musicians

I’d rather wax my arse and balls than listen to this shite again.

Not too my tastes at all. I wish there was an "immediate skip and downvote" button in the app.

Haha tja... Wat is dit een bijzonder album 😂 Heb er wel om gelachen maar nou niet echt leuk om naar te luisteren Zou 'm puur kopen voor de cover want die is geinig, of om 'm op te zetten voor de grap als iemand langs komt om hun reactie te zien maar ja nee this ain't it.

??

It's not real music, they are just bruteforcing the instruments. The weirdness is certainly appealing, but it alone does not make for a good listening experience. The only sort of rating criteria I've developed at this point is "it's 1 star if I would hate to listen to it again". This album doesn't fit it, I probably will give it another go sometime in the future, but I can't rate it any higher. But I had a great time laughing at the youtube comments

So I don’t see any good parts to this. Weird from start to finish, and bad too. I don’t know, some people say this has genius to it but I just see freak. It honestly was funny, talking about tin things and others. Was numerous but not something I would consider influential at all.

Too much noise.

Maybe an album that is more fun to make and less fun to listen to

Wtf

This isn’t on Spotify so I probably won’t listen to it bc effort to keep YouTube open and listen but I will listen to a few. Didn't know what to expect but it wasn't this ! I don't think ... it's as bad as people make it out to be lol - compared to some things we listen to today I mean. My favorite part about this album is some songs will have little moments where it’s like “wait that’s actually really cool”. Thought Moonlight in Vermont was U2 starting again ahahah. This was a trip - a true journey - but alas, I would not relisten.

Do you remember that really avant garde guy back in college who was getting a BFA performance art? Everyone said that his art was incredible, groundbreaking, and thought provoking, but it reminded you of a fish flopping around gasping for air wishing death upon itself. You would often wonder how this guy was able to be so popular and coast through college with less than an ounce of talent. Here is that guy. Again you don't get it and even want to listen to it. It sucks and yet he is immortalized in this list.

I only made it 1/3 of the way through the album. It was so bad. It's not available on Spotify so I listened on YouTube. Every once in a while I thought "hey, that sounds like a song!", but then I realized it was just YouTube playing a commercial. Until now I wondered if it was a mistake that I held off on giving any 1-star ratings, but now I know it was the right call. This is my first 1-star.

The story behind the album would have appealed to earl 20s me, but -while I appreciate difficult art- this just played like freeform bad spoken word alternated with rough draft later day Tom Waits.

Oh no..

Just can't get into Frank Zappa

Not sure this set of sounds can be called music

This is utterly horrible. I might have figured that out from the artwork, but no, I had to start listening to the album. ... I have a hard time calling this music. I didn't last long. 0.5/5

Everyone says to listen an ungodly amount of times, but I just don't get it.

Фо рил?

This is the kind of album that I have been saving the 1 star rating for. This is an assault on the ears. It is so tough that I stopped midway through this album and didn't resume for several weeks. I have read that it is influential to a lot of popular artists yada yada. People not bound to the 1001 albums journey can safely skip this and listen to the artists it influenced. Perhaps it is an acquired taste, but there is enough music to fill a lifetime without having to labor through this again. It should come with a t-shirt that says "I survived Trout Mask Replica" so listeners get the recognition they deserve. Song going on my "1001 Songs" Playlist: Veteran's Day Poppy Songs Going On My "1001 Albums Savelist" Playlist: None

Что. Это. Блять. Такое. Такая же реакция у меня была, когда мы послушали нойз-рок. Но там я хоть что-то понял. Здесь пока абсолютно ничего. Это пытка. Местами отпускают, но базово - это какой-то пиздец. Интересный факт: В документальном фильме BBC 1993 года создатель «Симпсонов» Мэтт Грёнинг сказал, что ему потребовалось всего семь прослушиваний, чтобы перейти от ненависти к альбому к решению, что он был величайшим за все время. Я понимаю, что этот альбом невероятно сложный, креативный и оригинальный. Я позволю знатокам музыки петь дифирамбы этому альбому; для меня он звучал ужасно.

already heard it. would not have been able to get through it if i had not been high.

Honestly, fuck this album

Musique expérimentale et art rock. pas sur Spotify non plus. Pas sur Spotify non plus. Weird et pas tant mon affaire. Quelques riffs nice, sans plus.

Jepjep… humalaisille, soittotaidottomille apinoille annettu läjä instrumentreja ja päivän verran studioaikaa. Laulaja tais olla ainoa joka osas jotain. Kiinnostais tän levyn historian merkityksellisyys(?!?).

No

Sounds like the whole band fell down the stairs and then kept playing. Technically speaking, it might be impressive but I don't get it.

Well, the review said it was experimental and that certainly is the nicest word one could call it. This is what I imagine hallucinations would sound like if one decided to try LSD simultaneously with Meth.

Was a 1. Is will a 1. Will always be a 1. SHIT!

The worst thing I've ever listened to

First one I couldn't finish. This is a dud.

Now I know everyone is impressed at how much of a mess this is, but hear me out. Imagine creating music that is actually good or enjoyable to listen to. I know a wild concept.

This album is not for me. It's disjointed psychedelic rock/folk meandering is just not for me.

Aside from the cover, which is fantastic, this album is quite the piece of crap.

I liked that 1969 double album about the kid who couldn't see, had hearing  and vocal problems but nonetheless was good at pinball. That doesn't mean all double albums released in1969 should be on the list.

Jesus wtf was thus...

I’m sure someone would love to yell at me about how ‘avant-garde’ and ‘innovative’ this album is, but it’s a lot of racket and I did not enjoy it. Captain beefheart has made some good music, but this album in its entirety was not it.

Ok, I tried, but this eludes me completely. It is as if someone gave instruments to the deranged, fed them acid and recorded the outcome. The line between genius and insanity is a fine one, I guess?

The dust blows forward and the dust blows back. It's definitely art. Art that I do not understand. Defies description.

Not on Amazon music couldn't listen to the album. So I listened to the only track I could find which was a poorly recorded live version. Not yo my taste at all if the rest of the 78minute album was similar I'd hate it anyway

Like a lot of bands around the 60s who were "complex" they tend to rely on people defending it with "you just don't understand" I listen to jazz where they in the heat of the moment can go in to frantic passionated solos. But often they can defend that by playing more calmly and focused on other parts. If you like the style but want more musicallity i would just go with Zappa

r/vinyljerk makes so much more sense now! I'd love to make my review a meme and give this a 5, but my love for accurate data can't do that to this website.

Just don’t make me listen again please

Previously rated Safe As Milk as 5 and also own a copy of Trout Mask Replica. Gave TMR another try, but just like many previous attempts, it still sounds like a bad Tom Waits record ..even though it should be the other way around.

This is asking too much of me.

So we meet again Captain Beefheart. I could smell you from a mile away. The foul stench of stale alcohol on your breath as you haphazardly speak words into microphone over chaotic asynchronous anti-melodies. You almost had me with your Ella guru, but then I heard the rest of the album

I'm hesitant to call this bad, because I think I just don't get it. That being said this was a real tough listen and not one that I'd hurry to repeat.

I'm glad this one isn't on Spotify so I'm not tempted into trying to listen to it again. Yeah, it's weird, but yeah, it's bad.

TURN IT OFF TURN IT OFF GET OUT OF MY HEAD 1/10

Music isn’t complicated. If it’s unlistenable, even if that was part of your intention when creating it, it’s bad music.

podría haber muerto sin escucharlo

NOPE

Gave it a few songs... Not my thing. 1/5

Didn't enjoy this at all, it was hard to listen to.

I tried to give this a chance but the multiple rhythms made my skin crawl and my anxiety spike so I had to turn it off after two songs. I'm sure it takes musical mastery to create this type of music but to me if it isn't "listenable" I don't care how ingenious it may be

Sounds like the vocal tracks and 'instrumentals', if you can call them that, we're recorded separately and then they just put it together and didn't listen to it. This album is a war crime.

There might be an audience for this but it’s not on this planet. What in the heck is this.

Tried it. Can't do it.

Zappa sacked him and for good reason. Overrated, undercooked. Not as clever as he thinks. A decent painter. A pretentious musician. A horrible human being. Horrible humans can make great art. But not in this case.

It's an experiment. Conceptual. A study. Collage. Moments. Observations. All smashed together. It is art and expression but horribly unlistenable. It serves as conceptual art... Ingredients to pull out and do something with later, like the junk drawer. Mostly it is rubbish when countenanced as such. Few will know what to do with it. DOES IT Belong on the kist.? Maybe so we can aste a bit and move on fast... Debatable if you only have 1001. A 2? Maybe there is a category for noise in musicology. If so maybe there are tigers than can sit noisy beside this one. Did I enjoy it even finish it? No. A 1 from me. 1

Right straight up, if you want to die Dimery devotees, pop this on and end your days listening to Veterans Day Poppy, then truly you'd appreciate in those last nanoseconds that there is no god, (not God). In Exodus the god of that story proclaims "I am an angry and jealous god", well yeah you got the angry part right brother when you bestowed upon the world this self indulgent hippy bullshit. Let me say, all of us who have suffered through being told that this is genius have a responsibility to warn off future generations. It is that bad (coming from a fan of Safe as Milk and Clear Spot).

It's the emperor's new album. I've tried, but nope.

If this is a masterpiece then I make a masterpiece every day after my morning coffee. Poop. It’s poop.

Look, I listened to the whole thing, okay? Did I listen to it the (apparently) requisite 6-7 times that it takes to appreciate it? Hell no. I'm not willingly inviting the Stockholm syndrome this album apparently requires in order to see it as anything but what it is: garbage. Also, there's a difference between "polyrhythmic" and "arhythmic" and this is the latter. Arhythmic garbage music with nonsensical, garbage lyrics sung in an atonal, garbage style. It's garbage is what I'm trying to say. Just... garbage.

What the hell

As soon as I saw that this was produced by Frank Zappa I knew that this was going to be a shit show. I'm sorry to have hit the nail right on the head with that assessment. 28 tracks? Seriously?? It's garbage like this that actually makes me look forward to reviewing an album by Britney F***ing Spears tomorrow.

This album demonstrates that anyone can record a 28 song album. Musical talent is not required.

No place in music should this exist. There's no innovation, invention, or irreverence. Just demented notions of what might qualify as music. Why why why why why

My head hurts

Personally offensive to me and my delicate brain

Just because you can, doesn't mean you should. A hard listen

F*cking Terrible

Good grief, that was hard work. Well done lads, you got someone to pay you for this. Joke's on them.

oof

I know some people love it but it is indulgent, hippy nonsense. Rubbish. 1 point for the sleeve.

Horrible

little janky and disjointed for me?

Wtf?

I am in physical pain listening to this. Dear god make it stop

I did not like this at all. Not one bit.

- wow really can’t stand this. 2 songs in and don’t think I can do an entire album - hate this. DNF (half way through hair pie)

Couldn’t finish it

Second Captain Beefheart album in a week and fuck, this one really dials up the stupid. An hour and 20 minutes of mostly improv (edit: apparently it's not! wtf?), anti-music jams. This is the sort of shit hipsters pretend to "get" to appear mysterious and aloof. 1/5.

"I gotta understand Beefheart, man." -- Marc Maron I tried. I really, really did. About 20 years ago or so, a friend dubbed this for me onto cassette (hey, remember those, kids?). I listened to it once, didn't get it. It was too chaotic, too... dada for me. Fast forward to now, and it comes up on the 1001 list. Maybe now that I'm 20 years older, listened to a lot more styles of music, I will be able to understand this more. I'm not going to say that I will _LIKE_ it, but that I'll understand it. Deep breath, here we go... First song comes on: "Frownland." And it's not looking good. As the next few songs come over me, it still just sounds like all the instruments are playing different songs ON PURPOSE. I mean, is that the point? It's just so nonsensical to me. Somewhere around "Moonlight Over Vermont," it feels like the band and CB are trying to coalesce to make one song together. But Beefheart is completely off tempo with the rest of the band. The instrumentals, which are as chaotic, work slightly better, though. I think of them like improvisational jazz. But at some point, you have to come back TOGETHER. And they don't seem to. I understand the uniqueness of this album. And I will say that I didn't hate it as much as I did 20 years ago, but it's still not something I'm going to go and listen to. Again. I think twice in 20 years is enough.

I don’t get the point of this music. This sounds like if bob seger removed all his musical talent and then tried to sing and play various instruments. All in all this album could’ve been okay if some of the random noises were removed but this was a weird collection of songs and I do not plan on revisiting it. 2.3/10

Awful

no tune to follow and weird sounds only listened to 2 songs

waste of time!!

I first heard of this album from Anthony fantano and I couldn't make it past dachau blues on first listen. This time around I somehow made it all the way through in one sitting and honestly, the actual music parts are pretty good. Moonlight in vermont is actually a solid track and it clearly takes a lot of talent to make music like this, but the rest of the album is just packed with random bullshit like orange claw hammer and skits that make it almost unbearable to listen to. It's already exhausting to listen to by its experimental polyrhythmic jazz nature and the unnecessary fat just sinks it. If it were a 30-minute album I might even give it a 3 but instead it gets a high 1

I tried, really really hard and managed to listen to the whole thing, just in case. Its shit, dont care what anyone else has to say, its drug induced drivel

I really wanted to like this but it was a chore and I looked forward to it being over. Like the cover art, but that’s the highlight. A confusing mess that is clearly a product of it’s time, but makes no sense today. 1.5/5 but rounding down.

Barely listenable double album that it is supposed to be extremely important, perhaps innfluential, though I don't here it and apparently his best. I night listen to it again to see if there was something I missed. 1.5 stars

Dit is heel rommelige muziek. Het leid me af in een niet zo plezierige manier. Telkens denk ik "wat is dit voor rommel" en daarmee denk ik dat het album een lage score verdient. *

Not really.

Sounds like a weird art school project that wouldn't even get a good grade. Not music. Awful.

Sounded like the band talking to themselves, no communication to the audience. Worse than white noise

This is like if Picasso was a musician instead of a painter. I couldn't finish the album.

I can see what they’re going for… but it’s not fun to listen to at all

Ok, I am struggling here. I just finished John Coltrane's album and thought I didn't get that. No, I get THAT album now...but this? No. It's like the worst elements of Frank Zappa and Tom Waits and none of the good stuff. I am only five tracks in and really having a hard time with it. And a track named Dachau? A little unappealing without the brilliance to back up doing such a thing. This is just not for me. I tried. Honest.

Vitun sekavaa, ei jaxa

There was not a thing I liked about this album.

Nice! That's the most original album on the list so far, together with Miles Davis "Bitches Brew". Completely chaotic record, or at least posing as one. As with every avant-garde album, it's extremely hard to get into it, although in this case it's experimental rock, so it's a little bit easier to understand where is it coming from. Just listen to all the popular releases from sixties, then write down all the sounds, notes and melodies that you haven't heard, compile it into an album and et voila! We have a "Trout Mask Replica". Worth noting, that half the album is filled with Captain Beefhearts blues-like stories, basically a spoken-word at times. I have listened to the album twice since yesterday, but I would have to listen to it twenty more times before I could get anything meaningful from it. Well, I probably will try, over the course of years, but as of today, the album was a hot piece of garbage.

Genuinely difficult to listen to

Not a fan of this kind of “art.” I listened to the whole album, and there’s not enough acid in the world that would make me enjoy this.

Doorgaans ben ik een liefhebber van een zekere mate van 'gekte' in muziek, maar dit gaat alle perken te buiten.

Serieus? Dit is iets wat als een briljant album wordt gezien? Geen touw aan vast te knopen, volledig a-ritmische nummers en eigenlijk niet om aan te horen.

Bij liedje 4 dacht ik dat ik bij een uitvoering van The Muppets te zijn aangekomen.

Horrendous.

I knew exactly what this album was going to be after the first 20 seconds. The only nice thing I'll say about this record is that I love the cover. This album blows. Too much ridiculous guitar work, singing, and just general nonsense. Way too fucking long. Awful but not as bad as throbbing gristle. Booooo 0/10

I get why it’s long and dissonant and difficult, and I liked some parts of it, but overall this is a no for me.

I get that this is influential for like...Primus...and various other weird bands I love. But IMO pretty nearly unlistenable.

Pena was the moment when I finally knocked this turkey on the head. Fucking hate the cover too. Load of shite.

This album is going to be work. I hear Tom Waits in here. And there is no groove. its less songs and more every instrument floats in its own space and they sort of flex in and out of time with each other. It's anti-harmony. Wow Captain Beefheart was a terrible human. God this album is grating. She's Too Much For My Mirror is almost a song? There are several almost conventional songs but holy hannah is this an exercise in patience. The best part is when it ends.

Magical

I feel as though there must have been at least one CIA officer in the early 2000s whose father was with the CIA back in the day and worked on MKUltra. Perhaps they got a little too involved and got high on their own supply. Anyways, they obviously told stories to their child about their crazy life back in the day, and they once mentioned that even at their highest they couldn't get into Trout Mask Replica as it was just "too fucking weird, man". Their child would file this info away and go about life. Until one day they found themselves in Guantanamo Bay looking for a way to break the prisoners will to live. And that is how this album came to be played on repeat at a small military outpost on the island of Cuba.

weird collection of what feels like free-form, somewhat spoken-word, often oddly specific-to-topic and political

TRASH. 0/5

Ah fuck that.

Is this art?

What the the fuck is this shit? Made a bad mood a million times worse.

It's like you got a abstract jazz band, put them in the same room as blues band and told them to play different songs at the same time. I see moments of potential but it is a little too all over the place for me to enjoy this.

I don't like this style, sorry.

Nope. Definitely too much acid for these guys. There's a reason I've never heard of this.

wtf

That was rough.