Track Listing

Side One
 1. Frownland
 2. The Dust Blows Forward 'n the Dust Blows Back
 3. Dachau Blues
 4. Ella Guru
 5. Hair Pie: Bake 1
 6. Moonlight on Vermont
Side Two
 1. Pachuco Cadaver
 2. Bills Corpse
 3. Sweet Sweet Bulbs
 4. Neon Meate Dream of a Octafish
 5. China Pig
 6. My Human Gets Me Blues
 7. Dali's Car

Side Three
 1. Hair Pie: Bake 2
 2. Pena
 3. Well
 4. When Big Joan Sets Up
 5. Fallin' Ditch
 6. Sugar 'n Spikes
 7. Ant Man Bee
Side Four
 1. Orange Claw Hammer
 2. Wild Life
 3. She's Too Much for My Mirror
 4. Hobo Chang Ba
 5. The Blimp (Mousetrapreplica)
 6. Steal Softly Thru Snow
 7. Old Fart at Play
 8. Veteran's Day Poppy



"People like music to be in tune because they've heard it in tune all the time. I really tried to break that down."

--Don Van Vliet, a.k.a. Captain Beefheart

Legend has it that Trout Mask Replica was written, composed, and recorded by Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band within a single eight and one half hour spurt. The truth, however, is that every note was ground out of the magic band over a period of eight months. During this time cash was scarce. Van Vliet remembers sneaking down to the kitchen in their bungalow in the Woodland Hills one night to steal a piece of bread, and on at least one occasion, drinking pancake syrup.
The band rehearsed for months under these conditions, until Frank Zappa agreed to give them six hours in a real studio to record the album. Trout Mask's instrumental portions were recorded within five hours.
Trout Mask Replica was released in the fall of 1969, to the praise of the late, legendary rock critic Lester Bangs. Everyone else called it complete dog shit. The original band broke up soon afterward. Captain Beefheart formed various other Magic Bands and recorded other albums that were a bit more accessible.
To this day Trout Mask Replica remains the benchmark for sonic weirdness, and has influenced a few contemporary somebodies: Beck, whose earlier works on Stereopathetic Soul Manure much resemble the twisted and broken melodies on Trout Mask Replica; and Matt Groening, the creator of "The Simpsons", who had this to say about Trout Mask Replica:

"I took it home and put it on. It was the worst dreck I'd ever heard in my life. Then I thought, 'Well, Frank Zappa produced it; maybe I better give it another play.' So I played it again, and I thought, 'It sounds horrible, but they mean it to sound this way.' About the third or fourth time it started to grow on me. The fifth or sixth time I loved it. The seventh or eighth time I thought it was the greatest album ever made. I still do."

Log in or register to write something here or to contact authors.