Captain Beefheart - Dirty Blue Gene

[RichJayL]

That intro just kicked my posterior. What a band.

[Honeysucklebommie]

I was with a real dirty blue Jean once, she wasn't bad.

[Jackinart]

This is one of my favorites of the captain...one of my favorites of all music actually. RIP Don, thanks for your stuff.

[billychuck59]

i can't believe how many insanely great incarnations of the magic band he put together.  he's my hero and i miss him.

[billychuck59]

i can't believe how many insanely great incarnations of the magic band he put together.

[bluzide1]

Thanks Captain

[kidmongo1]

insane

[bbcart1]

when can this be let out for the masses to enjoy?

[hamlanzon6]

This is just amazing. The band truly is magic on this one. All the stops and starts are so tight. This is what you call a well-rehearsed band. Fantastic. The Capt. is great as usual. He's missed already. RIP my Captain.

[tedpikul1]

a good soul, will be missed.

[KylieRamone]

A true master has gone and the world is a sadder place for his passing

[festilina]

I've been a professional musician all my life, but I still have no clue how you get to this.

[frediablo]

RIP Captain.

[superbeavo]

I hope Reagan dosen't start a fight! LOL

[petrabarbara]

rip

[willbond]

One of my very favorites. I'll miss him.

[Mungo10]

RIP, Don

[yurtseed]

she's swinging a sponge on the end of a string ......

[Guy4755]

"Old woman sweat, young girls glisten". Love what he says about Reagan at the end, "saddle soaps his hair".

[Guy4755]

Got to see this band live at Harpo's in Detroit back in 1980. Needless to say it was fantastic. The Captain had incredible stage presence, his voice was this cosmic bark that electrified the crowd, myself included. When they shut this band down they broke the mold. Sadly, Don aka The Captain has had multiple sclerosis for many years, he'll never be able to perform again. Still, he was able to launch a second career as a successful painter, back in the Eighties. We wish you well Sir Captain.

[KatieJoyV]

Ha! - "I hope Reagan doesn't start a fight" !! That's awesome!

Don Van Vliet was much more of an impromptu stream of consciousness poet. He seems to have a hard time remembering the words in a live setting.... although this is the best he did, out of the 3 from this concert I just viewed.

Love you Captain Beefheart! - the Magic Band is really rockin' at this gig!! :-)

[lagginswag]

its crazy realizing how popular this music would be now. its like a mixture of complete abstract expressionism, math rock, freak folk, indie. etc. shit would sell like hotcakes, CAPT COME BACK MAN WE LOVE YOU, one of the best

[Israfvel]

@lagginswag

Popularity was his aim till Bluejeans and Moonbeams, up to the point where all the things that made Beefheart Beefheart - the worldplay, the instrumentals, the everything - were thrown aside for a vain thrust at stardom.

Sensing the wide word would never love some people who were, are, and/or will be nonconformists, he went ahead and made his last three albums.

[Jackinart]

Amazing stuff, watched it so many times and I'm still overwhelmed. You gotta listen!

[godfreyhowatchin]

there aint no wrong, there aint no right, there aint no this, there aint no that

there aint no fight

[Blueslide]

Sometimes art has different meanings to different people. For me having some dirty blue genes in my family laundry tree, I can relate to wishing I had never met her. A friend rumored to me that the Capt. has a "wasting disease" and wonder if he has met her too?

[RRaquello]

This was the song got me into Cap Beefheart. It was on a sampler album & I listened to it over & over. My parents thot they'd heard everything, but they weren't prepared for this, LOL. Hearing it live, you appreciate it more coz you know these guys could really play it & it wasn't just studio engineers covering up, like with most R&R musicians. Most people just hate it, but if you get it you really get it.

[jackhillty1]

its so joyful

[freespeech4u2]

@blackjack777

although the music is more than DVD worthy. the picture really sucks and would not be good enough to put on dvd

[OfficialNeilGard]

@freespeech4u2 i'd watch it!

[Jackinart]

I love this song!

[bennyvega100]

Awesome! This is my favorite Beefheart song.

[Honeysucklebommie]

@bennyvega100

Me too.

[pyannaguy]

The last refuge of resistance is Art....

Beefheart is a mighty fortress...eternally

"There ain't no this, and there ain't no That!"  - What a wondrous characterization of Duality.

[calum66]

Beautifully put . I was just thinking ,before I read your comment , that what ever else rock aspires to be ..... this definitely is ART.

[pyannaguy]

Thanks, calum, Yes, you're (we're) right about this. The word 'artist' gets tossed around much too casually in Popular Culture, I think, but CB is the musical and lyrical Picasso (and then some) of our time.

I wondered, as I looked at what I just said, if that was not an apt metaphor, or at least a badly mixed one, but then I remembered how much i actually liked what I've seen of his painting. I also recall that he started out as a sculptor as a real young kid.

Peace...

[calum66]

He had what very fews artists posess but all true artists crave; a totally focused and independant vision.

John Peel reckoned he was rock musics only authentic genious.

I'm not sure I get his painting....... but on the other hand if I had the cash I would definitely buy one. So there you are!

[CaptainPillowMusic]

"The shiny beast of thought" - great line.

Captain Beefheart, so underrated.

Sick time changes in this song.

[SuperWoody69]

Nice to find a video record of this era of performance.

The French crowd reaction is telling. Remember: the jews in the Warsaw ghettio held of the Nazis for longer than the entire nation of France.

We all hoped Reagn didn't start a fight. Who woul;dn't? We also knew in our hearts he was right about the Evil Empire.

Doubts? Don;'t check the slime oozin' out from your TV set. Try Zappa's "Holiday In Berlin" (the blue street sign Frank Zappa Strasse).

[arobsec]

So freakin' awesome.... The Magic Band smokes!

[kyleronson1]

YES

[krysztoph]

GENIOUS!!!

[telegramsiam2]

im sittin here bubblin like an open cola in the sun

[babushkapal]

I see what you did there. (I too like the older bluesy version).

[telegramsiam2]

@babushkapal hahaha heck yeah. both are great though that weird Bagpipe Blues guitar in the old version is a trip

[Honeysucklebommie]

My favorite Magic band style.

[HamburgerMartyr]

Captain Beefheart will put hair on your chest.

[dylanfan1969]

Sweet.

[Brock2097]

I think licensing issues are a problem, as it probably always is for pre-VHS video footage. Whatever TV station holds the rights to this would probably charge an arm and leg for video-release permission.

[mcnowski]

LOVE LOVE LOVE!!!! If you like this, you should also check out Massacres first album called "killing Time" from 1980.

[unmegaface]

never heard of it, can't find it, please explain the 1980 magic band is my favourite, i need it

[pazzensutra]

I really dig the Captain, but I must say his musicians had to be really talented and dedicated to play this incredibly complex stuff of his (the same for Zappa's band.) I still can't believe this stuff came into existence. Sometimes I fear we've seen the last of this kind of truly adventurous music. .. "HELL HORN, HELL HORN, HELL HORN, HORN RIM GRIMP!!!"

[wheresthebeefheart]

Actually it was a combination of hero worship and manipulation. The musicians were younger than DVV and looked up to him as an icon (which he is) and DVV used this to his advantage. I'm sure it wasn't a pleasant experience dealing with his type of lunacy from what I have read over the years but genius always comes with strings attached. Kudos to all that played with him and interpreted his music so well. Especially John French and ZHR.

[unmegaface]

john french is a genius!!

[wheresthebeefheart]

He arranged Trout Mask Replica. Enough said.

[dylanfan1969]

This isn't John French though.

[unmegaface]

he worked on the album, but guitar i think not drums

[dylanfan1969]

He played on Ashtray Heart. I'm pretty sure it was the only song he played on Doc At The Radar Station.

[unmegaface]

he's credited to have played guitar, bass, drums and marimba on that album. Are you sure he only played on ashtray heart,? i really don't know, but the roots of this tune go back as far as french's first stint in the magic band, certainly not conclusive but it seems likely to me.

[hotbloodeddetectivej]

big thanks for posting these sir. i was beginning to think there wasn't actually any more live beefheart footage out there that i had not already seen, and that wasn't much to begin with!

[pazzensutra]

Oh yeah, Thanks for posting! This is what Youtube is for. This is the good stuff. "DON'T YOU WISH YOU NEVAH METTAHH !?!??"

[pazzensutra]

Man, the Captain's music is unreal. Or should I say surreal. I can't believe this stuff even came into existence, with all the crap that's out there. It's like a flower that grew through the concrete. I'm not trying to be deep or nothing, it's just true. I must say, I love the screams he did on the album version, he sounds like somebody's grandpa having a stroke or something! His band was always great, too. Long live the Captain.

[musician4]

"I love the screams he did on the album version, he sounds like somebody's grandpa having a stroke or something!"

As postmodern as this observation may be, I find it very funny.

[samadhist]

"The rose that grew through concrete" -- Please fess up; you didn't write that line.

[bizzle1783]

i think tupac did...wtf lol!

[wheresthebeefheart]

If it weren't for a few adventurous souls it wouldn't have come into existence. Ninety-nine point nine percent of music listeners don't get it. But if you listen to the lyrics you can imagine several different inferences at once. That is truly putting music into art form. Like a mysterious painting. It's like watching a great movie and I'm not talkin' Batman.

[aakkoin]

@pazzensutra yep... the captain has a fascinating vision of music and life... he's like a perfectionist searching for controlled chaos. The lyrics sound brilliantly spontaneous but still very smart, deep, funny and/or frightening... it's like a perfect melting pot of human emotions... so very, very blues...

The Captain himself said that his music is trying brake the catatonic state that society and pop music creates. just.... fuckin..... GREAT

[0nyxBlackman]

Zappa is technically brilliant, but there is something missing from his work that I can't put my finger on. Sort of like, he's not creating art, he's giving us a technical demonstration. Beefheart on the other hand, it sounds all wrong, but it's all beautiful.

[Tabla461]

yea i know what you mean, I think zappa is serious and avant garde but at the same time hes trying to make you laugh, beefheart is serious but i dont think hes trying to get you to laugh, his lyrics and music are alot more surreal. zappas more like a comedian and beefhearts more like david lynch.

[gotears2listen]

Don said himself - everythings wrong but the same time it riiiight!

[slobbydag]

I know what you're saying, there's something primal about beefheart, it falls apart and hangs together at the same time. I like Zappa but compared to this it's like cabaret...

[unmegaface]

i don' think i'd go as far as cabaret, but his 70s "funnies" such as sheik yerbouti are only desperately funny, i prefer to think of zappa's 60s sattires and the better instrumentals though as opposed to the "cabaret" shit that came later

[MikeAdupont]

i think this is a well written statement and i highly agree with it ;)

[cabletim88]

Oh my...the sensitive type..

[cabletim88]

He's the poor-man's Frank Zappa...

[vollsticks]

fuk off i think its the other way round you daft cunt

[JanVanGalen]

Actually, he's the Art School-type Frank Zappa- epigon (you may want to look that up...). Still quite singular (look up as well)

[cabletim88]

I think they were childhood friends too...tbh

[MartijnHover]

Don't think the captain is anybody's epigon. Smartass! lol

[431516020205]

frank learned a lot from don--i love both of them, but if i had to choose-- i would choose the captain, the man is awesome!!!

[Manusturbo]

You are fucking stupid.

[paideianow]

Pretty much like you; only much better.

[shrn666]

HAA! i never noticed that the beginning is a lot like mission of burma's "ok, no way!"

[gotears2listen]

Old Woman Sweat, Young Girl Glisten

[propolispills]

Great Video! Thanks Hewish. I'd never heard this before. I am now a Captian Beefheart Fan!Very eclectic! I love it!!

[gotears2listen]

She swingin a sponge on the end of a string!

[Honeysucklebommie]

yep that too :-)

[Honeysucklebommie]

I actually thought Don was physic and had picked up on a relationship I was stuck in way back then with a Jean, my back ached and my work was never done,she was'nt bad she was just genetically mean and she did everything that song implies word for word.

[pinabot]

Standing there bubblin' like an open cola in the sun / Your back is achin' but your work is never done.

[TheOverseer4003]

ingenius song. the album version is even more impressive.

[nri1969]

Everyone's got their own favorite Beefheart song, and this is mine. Love the Reagan ad-libs, hilarious. Thanks for posting this. It's nice to see that CB & The Magic Band's concerts were professionally documented once in a while.

I looked at your other videos, too—either I stole your record collection, or you stole mine, I'm not sure which.

[sajorojas]

goddamn the drums are tight

[strawwoodclaw]

Thank God For Captain Beefheart / Don Van Vliet

[UndeadYakboy]

Amen!

[psiclick]

There aint no good and there aint no blame!!!!

[zanklwang09]

the opening seven seconds are amazing. the rest is even more amazing

[piperian396]

This has to be my favorite song on Doc at the Radar Station.

[Ramentastic]

I LOVE that bouncy rhythm from 1:20 to 1:54

[alargedog]

The shiny beast of thought

If you got ears

You gotta listen

Old woman sweat

Young girls glisten

The extract you thought

is the extract you got

[Intoyou00]

Hmmmmmmmm...I just simply love it, Full Stop.

[mathchadwick]

Such fascinating internal dynamics in this music. All the parts are pulling on each other, creating a living whole. It never gets boring; even after so many hearings there are new patterns and motions to see in it.

[vliet2]

good summing up of his music,after i saw them live everything else seemed predictable

[skinnydoggyz]

@mathchadwick word, the sharp rhythms are like picasso, i've tried to convince my brother to adopt some style from this drummer but he's one of those non believers.

[JoeKa9994]

its a shame most people dont understand this music-

if you got ears, you gotta listen

[THX10538]

@JoeKa9994 OOOOLD woman sweat...young girls GLISTEN!

[sanyivagyok]

@JoeKa9994  Well, I can understand them, you probably can explain here, why is this guy so big, can't sing, his band sounds like highschool amateurs, so what's the big deal here? There are so many snobs here

[vliet2]

@sanyivagyok What sublime Tartuffery! There are so many snobs here you say? Yeah, and you are one of them, or are you that sanctimonious that you assume you have some unassailable right to look down haughtily on other peoples tastes, but others don't? A snob is not simply someone who likes Captain Beefheart, you know? I'm a snob, you're a snob, okay? Oh, and stop being so bile-boilingly apodictic, that you are not the pre-eminent authority on this matter is evinced in your every word.

[sanyivagyok]

@JoeKa9994

high school amateurs, anti-art

[Brock2097]

Hope this art-drop glues you right! Drop by drop, bright by bright, day by day, night by night.

[kenttremma]

right on the brink, she spills the ink, DOWN THE SINK

[davidfuckinggogo]

This truly is a magic band ! Thanks Hewish !! When can I get the DVD ?!?

[Brock2097]

Love how Vliet simplifies the vocals for this one, letting The Magic Band's power shine along with him. So great, can't get tired of listening to it, no matter how many times I visit this page. Hewish can't get enough thanks for sharing this material with us.

[mg17]

interesting that from gertrude stein and before? to dexter gordon to hendrix up to ______ decided to leave the u.s. for Europe to get their rightful due (dvv must've liked the desert too much). our artists always get a much more thorough reading and appreciation in Europe while the "us" hastens its cultural (and ________) decline. do a sampling on youtube and see where most of the amazing clips of underappreciated american artists come from. oh well- we can watch other countries' artists here...

[mg17]

but has anyone anywhere on here thanked hewish for posting all these cb&tmb jaw droppers? thank you from the depth of my beef'd heart this is what you tube exists for.

[MANNY11RED]

Different class-we mere mortals can only guess what he`s getting at. Not putting myself down-just making an observation.

[Brock2097]

This burns like FIRE!!

[mattiebastardo]

I saw them in 1981 in a club in London and they were INCREDIBLE-so heavy,loud and powerful,not at all like this.

[tzleague]

Did he really say ........ If you have ears, you got to listen , old women sweat, young girls glisten ? God I love it !! ONLY The Captain can think up these things. Anyone ever hear That Buggy Boogie Woogie (swept me off my feet)? Love Live The Captain !!

[tubulard]

man they're tight

[yercheckmate]

Nice.

[cozarcade]

i still think "doc at the radar station is the first true post punk album". This is his best album

[slloyd1452]

Jeff Tepper is outrageous. That start is one of my fav bits. This art drop glued me right. Left me bubblin. And the world doesn't know what it missed.

[jordano45]

i was lucky enough 2 c him live. kool vid

[vliet2]

where u see him and when

[jordano45]

1974or5 in glasgow. greens playhouse

[horsetiziano]

My goodness, why was he never fully appreciated during his time? What an amazing performance. Wish I could have seen him live. Wow...this was one hell of a tight band.

Amazing

[SkopTeocratico]

Great Rhytm of Dirty Blue Captain Gene!

[nantucketsleighrider]

"don't you wish you never met her!"