| Track: | Rating: | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 | | | | | |
| 7. Pachuco Cadaver | | | | | |
| 8. Bill's Corpse | | | | | |
| 9. Sweet Sweet Bulbs | | | | | |
| 10. Neon Meate Dream Of A Octofish | | | | | |
| 11. China Pig | | | | ||
| 12. My Human Gets Me Blues | | | | | |
| 13. Dali's Car | | | | | |
| 14. Hair Pie: Bake 2 | | | | | |
| 15. Pena | | | | | |
| 16. Well | | | | | |
| 17. When Big Joan Sets Up | | | | | |
| 18. Fallin' Ditch | | | | | |
| 19. Sugar'N'Spikes | | | | | |
| 20. Ant Man Bee | | | | | |
| 21. Orange Claw Hammer | | | | | |
| 22. Wild Life | | | | | |
| 23. She's Too Much For My Mirror | | | | | |
| 24. Hobo Chang Ba | | | | | |
| 25. The Blimp | | | | | |
| 26. Steal Softly Through Snow | | | | | |
| 27. Old F**t At Play | | | | ||
| 28. Veteran's Day Poppy | | | | | |
Trout Mask Replica holds an extremely unusual place in the history of progressive rock, and of rock music in general. Despite being consistently listed as one of the greatest albums of all time by professional American critics, it's nevertheless an album which was heard by few people when it was first released, and not terribly many more since then. Though indisputably a "classic", it seems doomed to being recognized as such only by the "educated elite" of music fandom.
By the standards of progressive rock, moreover, the album doesn't fit into most conventional categories. To begin with, it lacks keyboards. As disorientingly strange as the music on this album is, it has no correlation whatsoever to its contemporary developments in keyboard technology. Being American in nature, moreover, it draws its inspiration almost entirely from jazz and blues, with very little in the way of a "modern classical" approach (with "Dali's Car", "Hair Pie: Bake 2", and "Veteran's Day Poppy" being partial exceptions). It still deserves to be categorized as "progressive rock", but with the caution that many prog fans may find that it falls outside their standard definition of the genre.
If Trout Mask Replica doesn't sound quite as demented thirty years after it's release as it did originally, it stills comes extremely close. Thoroughly detached from the regular musical world at the time of its initial release, it remains so today -- and remains a relevant album for those interested in exploring the limits of (ahem) "popular" art. Besides which, most of the musicians on the albums (especially CB himself) are extremely skilled at their respective arts. In comparison to many others albums released in the same year, Trout Mask Replica has aged remarkably well.
One minor weakness should be noted though. Although most of the songs on TMR are capable of standing on their own as fully developed works, the trademark "Magic Band" sound becomes a bit tedious somewhere in the middle of the second disc. The musical stylings which appear novel at the beginning of the album lose some of their appeal by the time of "Ant Man Bee" and "Wild Life". Perhaps this album simply has to be taken in proper doses. One way or the other, though, the reviewer is eventually left to wonder if the freaked-out style in which the band plays is the only style that they know ...
As regards the songs ...
"Frownland" is an incredible, two-minute opener, a progressive track with blues-styling singing, both "real" and extremely creative. Most "ideal society" songs of the late '60s seem incredibly lame in this present age; the earnestness of this messianic call, however, makes the character seem believable even now.
"The Dust Blows Forward 'n The Dust Blows Back" is an a capella number, mixing clever record pops with late-beat/folkish recitations. It's perhaps a notch or two below the level of genius some have claimed for it, but still quite good (and the "authentic weirdness" of the work is undeniably strong).
In spite of the (in the eyes of some) questionable subject matter, "Dachau Blues" is another excellent track, showing CB's incredible vocal range at its most diverse. This is followed by the twisted novelty-pop song, "Ella Guru", one of the strangest variations on romantic desire to emerge in the time period (and with a positively winsome chorus). The guitar solo is recognizably American, and based in a blues structure ... but it still comes off as innovative. The bizarre "mascara snake" interpolation is also notable.
"Hair Pie: Bake 1" is, if CB is to be believed, a band jam session in a bush area. It begins with a demented brass duets, accompanied by way what seems to be someone shuffling through a pile of leaves (this eventually resolves into some semblance of order). The track has some excellent musical shifts, and some extremely interesting guitar licks. Of particular note is CB's brief conversation with two naive stoner passerbys at the end of the track.
"Moonlight On Vermont" is easily one of the highlights of the album, beginning with a great post-psychedelic guitar line and demented lyrics sung in a way that must have caused some vocal cord damage. The combination of "Old Time Religion" and Steven Reich's "Come Out" is a work of genius, albeit one which may have gone over the head of many listeners (who may have been more interested in the "Last Train To Clarksville"-esque guitar line). The cleverness of this track eventually pushes it over the top.
"Pachuco Cadaver" continues the now-established musical dementia, strangely resolving into a catchy blues/prog-rock riff towards the ends. This is followed by "Bill's Corpse", a tragic lament for a drowned goldfish which sadly over half-fulfills its clever intentions. "Sweet Sweet Bulbs" is something much stranger; beginning as a double-entendre blues-based song, it eventually transforms into a much stranger lyric (a shift doubled by the musical development of the song from one not far removed from an average '60s pop song, to something closer to free-jazz).
"Neon Meate Dream Of A Octofish" is CB's ultimate automatic vocalizing work, a song which almost defies criticism of any sort. The music is fairly interesting, but is not the primary essence of the track (at least, not until the end) -- rather, CB's demented ravings are allowed to reach their logical fulfillment here.
"China Pig" may be a deliberate celebration of amateurishness, but it doesn't quite transcend its limits in the way it obviously intends to. The simple 12-bar blues riff and low-budget recording are obviously intentional novelties, but the joke goes on for a bit too long, and the the "grunting" noises don't really add much to the piece as a whole (though it must be admitted that CB's deadpan claim, "A lotta people like my pig", is worth a chuckle).
"My Human Gets Me Blues" is a tale of the human passion of Christ, sort of. The music wanders down its now-familiar route for the process.
At this juncture, the album seems briefly to shift in the direction of Frank Zappa's "serious" compositional style. "Dali's Car" is a guitar feature, cleverly written as a duet work which could easily have appeared on virtually any Zappa album. This is followed by "Hair Pie: Bake 2", a more tempered version of the earlier piece, making up in substance what it loses in novelty.
The dementia returns full-force with "Pena", perhaps the single most irritating piece of music written in the 1960s (in a good way, of course). The music, while solid, is again not the point as CB's high-pitched ravings careen in various directions.
"Well", another a capella number, features twisted lyrics transposed on a more conventional signing style (somewhere between WW1-era British popular songs and African American spirituals). An interesting change of pace, if nothing else.
"When Big Joan Sets Up" doesn't begin in a terribly interesting manner, but a sudden saxophone interpolation after the first minute changes everything. This is one of CB's weakest lyrics on the album, but the value of the music increases as the song developments (culminating in an extended closing section), and the song earns its high rating as such.
"Fallin' Ditch" (including the notorious "Rockett Morton" opening), is most notable for guitar/bass harmonies in the middle section of the work; otherwise, it's not terribly different from the rest of the material here.
"Sugar'N'Spikes" seems to be a companion piece to "Ella Guru"; aside from a terribly freaky free-jazz section (with a notable guitar melody), this one would seem a bit of a throwaway. "Ant Man Bee", likewise, is not really a distinctive track, despite eventually resolving into an interesting instrumental jam session.
"Orange Claw Hammer" is yet another a capella work, telling the tale of a railway hobo in search of his daughter. Beefheart actually gives a surprisingly realistic portrayal of the lost alcoholic protagonist, giving the song an edge it would have lacked in the hands of another.
"Wild Life" and "She's Too Much For My Mirror" continue the general trend of the album -- excellent musical works on their own, but not overly distinct for the rest of the album. "Hobo Chang Ba", aside from the unbelievably low vocals, essentially falls into the same category.
"The Blimp" is a Zappa-esque joke (aided by the presence of FZ himself, no doubt) with mind-numbingly simple music and an insane vocal development. It's a decent joke, but not much more. "Steal Softly Through Snow", though perhaps an underrated track on the album in general, returns to the general course of the album's musical basis.
"Old F**t At Play", despite its importance as regards the album's cover art, isn't really one of the better tracks here -- the music isn't terribly special, and even CB's twisted story of trout-mask seduction isn't quite a good as it could have been. It's clever, but doesn't have much else going for it.
"Veteran's Day Poppy", however, ends the album on a strong note (similar to "Frownland", in a sense). Good musical shifts dominate the song, and a partial reprise of "Dali's Car" at the end only adds to the value of the work as a whole. An easy highlight of the album.
It may be somewhat difficult to determine whether or not the album could have worked in a reduced form -- as per most double-albums with over 25 songs, there was clearly a bit of padding occurring in some places. They "filler" tracks are excuseable, though, and the work as a whole doesn't suffer from their presence.
An excellent album for those interested in discovering the promising roots of American progressive music (sadly left untapped in later years).
(review originally posted to alt.music.yes on 17 July 1997)