Capt. Beefheart dies: ‘complex, influential’
December 18, 2010
Don Van Vliet, the musician and painter widely known as Captain Beefheart, has died at age 69.
While Van Vliet long enjoyed the respect of musicians and a cult of hardcore fans, he remained a fringe recording artist throughout his music career, which stretched from the mid-1960s until 1982.
Upon hearing of his friend’s death, Tom Waits compared his legacy with those of Ornette Coleman, Miles David and Sun Ra.
“Don Van Vliet was a complex and influential figure in the visual and performing arts,” according to the gallery that sold his abstract artworks and announced his death.
“Trout Mask Replica,” the noisy 1969 album from Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band, was produced by Van Vliet’s pal Frank Zappa. That strange brew of psychedelic rock, avant garde jazz and gritty blues remains Van Vliet’s best-known work. The debut album “Safe As Milk” also found some early success. His signature song, the blues rocker “Electricity,” came from that album.
Frank Zappa and Don Van Vliet were childhood friends in Lancaster, Calif., on the edge of the Mohave Desert. As teens, they bonded over free jazz and Delta blues. Van Vliet’s singing often has been compared to Howlin’ Wolf’s, and that growl filtered down to Tom Waits.
“He was the one who goes ahead and shows the way,” Waits told the L.A. Times after hearing of the Dec. 17 death. “He drew in the air with a burnt stick. He described the indescribable. He’s an underground stream and a big yellow blimp.”
Enshrining “Trout Mask Replica” as No. 58 on its Greatest Albums of All Time list, the magazine wrote: “On first listen, (it) sounds like raw Delta blues: Don Van Vliet (a.k.a. Captain Beefheart) singing and ranting and reciting poetry over fractured guitar licks. But the seeming sonic chaos is an illusion — to construct the songs, the Magic Band rehearsed twelve hours a day for months on end in a house with the windows blacked out.”
At the time of “Trout Mask Replica’s” release, Rolling Stone described the music as “a strange cacophonous sound — fragmented, often irritating, but always natural, penetrating and true.”
Update: In April 2011, “Trout Mask Replica” was added to the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress. “This unclassifiable melding of country, blues, folk and free jazz filtered through Captain Beefheart’s feverishly inventive imagination remains without precedent in its striking sonic and lyrical originality,” the Registry noted.
Van Vliet’s death was attributed to complications resulting from multiple sclerosis. He had struggled with the disease for years and had been confined to a wheelchair.
Van Vliet long claimed he was a child prodigy in the visual arts, painting and working in sculpture. He continued to paint abstracts throughout his life. His works are repped by the Michael Werner Gallery, which confirmed his death. Werner reportedly was key in Van Vliet’s decision to quit music and focus on art.
As Captain Beefheart, Van Vliet proved a domineering bandleader, with one of his Magic Bands quitting en masse in the mid-’70s. Ry Cooder was an early backing musician who eventually decided he could not work with Van Vliet.
Zappa and Van Vliet reportedly clashed early and often in their musical affiliations, with Zappa saying he produced Van Vliet by giving up and letting him do what he wanted.
“When it comes to art, I have a real streak of fascism,” Van Vliet said a few years after abandoning music.
Further reading: The 2010 book “Beefheart: Through the Eyes of Magic” by John French, which covers the making of “Trout Mouth Replica.”
Iron Butterfly sues; Pink Floyd wins
December 17, 2010
The surviving members of Iron Butterfly who recorded “In-a-Dadda-Da-Vida” have sued Warner Music Group over royalties from their psychedelic recordings of the late 1960s.
Doug Ingle, Lee Dorman and Ron Bushy filed the suit against several WMG entities Tuesday in New York state Supreme Court. They’re seeking almost a quarter million dollars in payments, according to Bloomberg News. The “In-a-Gadda-Da-Vida” song 
Dorman v. Atlantic Recording Corp. pits the 1960s band against the record label that made them famous. Atlantic is now part of WMG, along with Elektra Entertainment Group and Warner/Chappell Music, also named in the complaint.
Guitarist Erik Brann, the fourth member of that incarnation of the band, died in 2003. (Iron Butterfly underwent numerous personnel changes, both before and after “In-a-Gadda-Da-Vida.”)
Atlantic, under founder Ahmet Ertegun, released “In-a-Dadda-Da-Vida” the album in June 1968. The 17-minute title track became a sensation, and an edited version appeared as a single a month later.
The “In-a-Dadda-Da-Vida” lineup of Iron Butterfly (that is now suing) participated in Atlantic’s 40th anniversary concert in the late 1980s. Dorman and Bushy have kept the band going over the decades, but Iron Butterfly was widely considered Ingle’s band. The singer/organist wrote “In-a-Dadda-Da-Vida.”
Meanwhile, Pink Floyd’s recent legal victory over EMI was affirmed by a British appeals court on Tuesday. The band sued longtime label EMI over its online sales of individual tracks from albums such as “The Wall” and “Dark Side of the Moon.”
(Update: Pink Floyd and EMI settled their differences and announced a new five-year deal on Dec. 4, 2011.)
Pink Floyd argued successfully that under a 1999 contract, EMI had rights to bring the psychedelic rock group’s albums to market but not cut up as separate tracks, as is typically done on download music sites. Pink Floyd’s songs often flowed thematically into each other on their concept albums.
In March, the chancellor of Britain’s High Court said the had the right to defend “the artistic integrity” of its albums in both traditional and online media. EMI appealed the court’s decision at the time.
Both iTunes and Amazon had individual Pink Floyd tracks for sale several days after the latest ruling.
EMI and Pink Floyd remain at legal odds over royalties and other aspects of their longtime business relationship, which began in 1967.
(Hat tip to David McLaughlin of Bloomberg.)
Beatles for Christmas: iTunes, Amazon sales
December 11, 2010
For the original wave of Beatles fans, Christmas meant something new from the Fab Four.
Albums released for holiday buying in the ’60s included “With the Beatles,” “Beatles for Sale,” “Rubber Soul,” “The Beatles (White Album),” “Let It Be” and “Magical Mystery Tour.” Imagine finding those platters under the tree one golden morning.
The tradition continues in 2010 with the iTunes debut of Beatles songs and albums. The long-awaited downloads came to e-market after EMI’s rerelease of the group’s catalog on CD. iTunes gift cards featuring the Fabs became instant collectors items (pictured). Meanwhile, John Lennon
And so the Beatles once again loom large over music sales as we enter the final stretch of holiday gift shopping.
Here’s at how the Beatles
On iTunes’ rock album chart, the Beatles took half of the top 10, led by “Abbey Road” (#2), followed closely by the “1967-1970 (Blue)” compilation (#5), “The Beatles” aka White album (#6), “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” (#7) and the “1962-1966″ (Red) compilation (#9).
The new downloadable “Beatles Box Set” came in at #13, followed by “Rubber Soul” (#14) and “Revolver” (#17). Also charting high were “Let It Be” (#25), “Magical Mystery Tour” (#28) and “Help!” (#32). “Yellow Submarine” sailed in last, at #178.
On Amazon’s rock CD chart, “The Beatles Stereo Box Set”
By comparison, the “Elvis 30 #1 Hits” was the only charter for the King, while the Stones could only muster two spots — for the “Hot Rocks” collection and the new version of “Exile on Main Street.”
On iTunes’ overall album sales chart, “Abbey Road” was the best performer at #47. The Stereo box set ranked best on Amazon’s overall sales chart, at #37, tailed by the Blue and Red sets.
As for the singles, the iTunes rock chart was topped by John and Yoko’s holiday classic “Happy Xmas (War Is Over).” Lennon’s “Imagine” held #7 and “Let It Be” abided at #8.
Other Beatles singles in the top 25 of the iTunes rock chart: “Here Comes the Sun” (#11), “Yesterday” (#14), “Hey Jude” (#18), “In My Life” (#20), “Come Together” (#23) and “Twist and Shout” (#25).
“I am particularly glad to no longer be asked when the Beatles are coming to iTunes,” Ringo Starr said Nov. 16, when news of the Apple-Apple deal broke.
Amazon does not have rights to the Beatles’ singles as MP3s. The music on iTunes is all in stereo, while Amazon stocks the Mono box set.
Psychedelic albums of note on the iTunes rock chart:
- 19. The Wall (Pink Floyd)
- 46. Wish You Were Here (Pink Floyd)
- 111. Animals (Pink Floyd)
- 129. Experience Hendrix collection
- 143. Dark Side of the Moon (Pink Floyd)
- 194. The Doors
* Online sales charts are updated all day long, so these rankings are always in flux.
More free Dead: 30 tracks up for grabs
December 3, 2010
Saying “the music of The Grateful Dead is meant to be shared and enjoyed by everyone,” the twinkly-eyed elves at dead.net offer up 30 live tracks for free.
The good vibes last only through Wednesday (Dec. 8), so go get the free Grateful Dead downloads now if you want them. No catches, no bullshit, nothing to buy.
The live tracks were unveiled one-by-one in November as part of the “30 Days of the Dead” promo, but many users had issues downloading the tunes.
“We realize that it was sometimes a little tougher than it should have been for you to download the music (especially that first week — sorry!), so we thought it only right that we give everyone a second chance to get every minute of the music,” the download page explains. “It’s the kind thing to do.”
Copies of “Dark Star” (1969), “Cream Puff War” and “Alligator” (1967) downloaded without incident or delay, and the audio (320Kbps) was of relatively high quality, as usual with the Dead.
They’re mostly unreleased soundboard recordings, the Dead folk say. Archivist/Dead insider Dave Lemieux selected the songs.
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