j'avais posté ça chez le voisin Ben 1984
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After a semester at college, he and Zappa moved to Cucamonga, California, where they planned to shoot a film, Captain Beefheart Meets the Grunt People. As the project remained in limbo, Zappa finally moved to Los Angeles, where he founded the Mothers of Invention; Van Vliet later returned to the Mojave area, adopted the Beefheart name and formed the first line-up of his backing group the Magic Band with guitarists Alex St. Clair and Doug Moon, bassist Jerry Handley and drummer Paul Blakely in 1964.
In their original incarnation, the Magic Band was a blues-rock outfit which became staples of the teen-dance circuit; they quickly signed to A&M Records, where the success of the single "Diddy Wah Diddy" earned them the opportunity to record a full-length album. Comprised of Van Vliet compositions like "Frying Pan," "Electricity" and "Zig Zag Wanderer," label president Jerry Moss rejected the completed record as "too negative," and a crushed Beefheart went into seclusion. After replacing Moon and Blakely with guitarist Antennae Jimmy Semens (born Jeff Cotton) and drummer John "Drumbo" French, the group (fleshed out by guitarist Ry Cooder) recut the songs in 1967 as Safe as Milk.
After producer Bob Krasnow radically remixed 1968's hallucinatory Strictly Personal without Beefheart's approval, he again retired. At the same time, however, Zappa formed his own , Straight Records, and he soon approached Van Vliet with the promise of complete creative control; a deal was struck and after writing 28 songs in a nine-hour frenzy, Beefheart formed the definitive line-up of the Magic Band — made up of Semens, Drumbo, guitarist Zoot Horn Rollo (born Bill Harkleroad), bassist Rockette Morton (Mark Boston) and bass clarinetist the Mascara Snake (Victor Fleming) — to record the seminal 1969 double album Trout Mask Replica.
Following 1970's similarly outre Lick My Decals Off, Baby, Beefheart adopted an almost commercial sound for the 1972 releases The Spotlight Kid and Clear Spot. Shortly thereafter, the Magic Band broke off to form Mallard, and Beefheart was dropped by his label, Reprise. After a two-year layoff, he released a pair of pop-blues albums, Unconditionally Guaranteed and Bluejeans and Moonbeams, with a new, short-lived Magic Band; following another fallow period, 1978's Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller) marked a return to the eccentricities of his finest work.
After 1982's Ice Cream for Crow, Van Vliet again retired from music, this time for good; he returned to the desert, took up residence in a trailer and focused on painting. In 1985, he mounted the first major exhibit of his work, done in an abstract, primitive style reminiscent of Francis Bacon. Like his music, his art won wide acclaim, and some of his paintings sold for as much as $25,000. In the 1990s Van Vliet dropped completely from sight when he fell prey to multiple sclerosis; however, releases like 1999's five-disc Grow Fins box set and the two-disc anthology The Dust Blows Forward maintained his prominence.
related artists:
Similar Artists: Frank Zappa Tom Waits Pere Ubu Eugene Chadbourne Faust The Soft Machine Yoko Ono Henry Kaiser Can Silver Apples Nico John Cale Henry Cow The Residents Julian Cope Ween The Nuggets PJ Harvey Devo Public Image Ltd. Nick Cave
Roots and Influences: Howlin' Wolf Bo Diddley Ornette Coleman Bob Dylan
Followers: Robyn Hitchcock Human Switchboard Mark Mothersbaugh Plastic People of the Universe Spiritualized Gary Lucas dEUS Bob Drake Fred Frith John Lydon Public Image Ltd. Mike Watt Babe the Blue Ox The Flying Luttenbachers Five Horse Johnson Ant-Bee
Formal Connections: Mu Frank Zappa Robert Williams Moris Tepper Jeff Moris Tepper
Performed Songs By: Don Van Vliet Frank Zappa Willie Dixon Mark Gibbons
Worked With: Gary Lucas Denny Walley Captain Beefheart & the Magic Band Ian Underwood Rockette Morton
Member Of: Captain Beefheart & the Magic Band
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