The second review was from David Stubbs, one of the better writers working on Melody Maker at the time. He'd studied at Oxford, where he'd been good friends with Simon Reynolds who went on to work with him for much of the late Eighties and Nineties at the paper before it folded in December 2000. They both favoured an intellectual approach to writing about music, namedropping Post Structuralists at the drop of the hat but both were highly readable at the same time. Since he moved on from The Maker Stubbs has worked for NME, The Wire, The Guardian and numerous others and branched off into books. He wrote the highly praised Future Days about the Seventies German Krautrock scene which was published in 2014.
His article here was about Captain Beefheart's 1972 album Clear Spot. It's a great example of Stubbs' writing style; compact, literate, humorous and informative. He makes the case for Beefheart's genius 'one of the few genuine rock mavericks of the last forty years' and the relevance of Clear Spot, 'the place to start'.
Critics are always writing about 'the place to start' with Beefheart. He's that kind of artist, as untamed and unruly a musician as Rock music has ever produced. But in this case I'd agree with Stubbs. This one and Safe as Milk are the ones I go to. Trout Mask Replica is generally thought of as his masterpiece, Stubbs writes that it remains 'one of the greatest rock albums ever made,' but it's a deeply forbidding record at the same time. Clear Spot offers a way in, while staying true to Beefheart and his band's essential deranged qualities.
It also has some of his very finest songs. Her Eyes are a Blue Million Miles, My Head Is my Only House Unless it Rains, the title track, Long Neck Bottles and of course Big Eyed Beans From Venus. It may not be coherent. Beefheart hardly makes sense at the best of times. But it is a great one.
No comments:
Post a Comment