Coming off of the liberating heels of 1970's "Trout Mask Replica", Don Van Vliet first changed the name of his band from "His Magic Band" to "The Magic Band" and proceeded to record another tight, vigorous, arrhythmic sonic landscape. Though this album doesn't have quite the free form feeling of its precedessor (which included tape recorder chants, false starts, off microphone chatter, and lots of interesting other random tidbits), it stretches the boundaries of rock music in much the same manner. "Lick My Decals Off, Baby" includes 15 autonomous and amazingly crafted songs. Almost as if someone took the "Trout Mask" sessions, applied a razor to the inbetweens and said "THERE! Those are the songs! Now stop it with all that other nonsense!" In this way "Lick My Decals Off, Baby" sounds like an "organized" and only slightly less spontaneous "Trout Mask". This more structured arrangement may have emerged from Van Vliet's alleged desire to actually start making money from The Magic Band. Apparently the previous drummer left after "Trout Mask" and was lured back by a promise of potential cash. In some ways Van Vliet succeeded. The album climbed to number 20 on the UK charts.01 - Lick My Decals Off, Baby
02 - Doctor Dark
03 - I Love You, You Big Dummy
04 - Peon
05 - Bellerin' Plain
06 - Woe-Is-Uh-Me-Bop
07 - Japan In A Dishpan
08 - I Wanna Find A Woman That'll Hold My Big Toe Till I Have To Go
09 - Petrified Forest
10 - One Red Rose That I Mean
11 - Buggy Boogie Woogie
12 - Smithsonian Institute Blues (Or The Big Dig)
13 - Space-Age Couple
14 - Clouds Are Full Of Wine (Not Whiskey Or Rye)
15 - Flash Gordon's Ape
1 comments:
Isn't Bellerin' Plain one of the best Beefheart songs, and THE best railroad song ever? I think so.
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