My favorite Beefheart! It never fails to put a smile on my face, it sounds so good, and it's so full of groove... Great images in the sexy and/or hilarious lyrics... Sun Zoom Sparks is Don at his vocal peak, and that jumble of rhythms is electrifying... ...Did you guys ever noticed a problem with the original clear plastic sleeve? The first time I bought this album off ebay, it came in pristine looking, but the side which was against the plastic was almost unlistenable. It seemed to me then that it might have been exposed to sunlight, to the point where some chemical or other had leached from the plastic to the record surface. I'd be wary buying one (original) today, unless play-graded from a reputable seller.
My LP, which I bought soon after the album release, is OK, no sign of the damage you describe. However, I eventually put the record in a paper innersleeve, so it never spent much time in direct contact with the plastic outersleeve. I waited years for Clear Spot to be released on CD and was very happy when it finally was. Unfortunately, the CD somehow went bad over time. There are no visible scratches or discoloration, but the last third or so won't play and cannot be extracted. At the time I discovered the flaw, the disc seemed to be unavailable again. Finally, a few years after that, I found another copy. I have them both in the jewel case now, but I can't remember which one is the original. One disc is made in USA and has a bit of Don's colorful oil painting on it. The other is made in Germany and is silver with a small round picture of Don wearing a coolie hat.
The songs "Clear Spot" and "Big Eyed Beans From Venus" got airplay on our new local FM underground rock station KLAZ 98.6. That was my introduction to Beefheart in 1972.
I would assume a "fan boy" would be someone who liked everything, which is why I inferred the opposite. But your statement seems more defensible in this direction...
This might just be the best durn album-by-album thread on the Steve Hoffman Music Forum site. Seriously. Best. Batch. Yet.
My dad had the Spotlight Kid and Clear Spot on LP, and they were my introduction to Beefheart, so regardless of quality (not that either are bad!) they will always hold a special place for me. Clear Spot was a particular favourite though - from start to finish I think it's brilliant: accessible but perfectly Beefheart. I missed the chance to comment on Decals... but I think it is more accomplished than either of these two albums, and more accomplished than TMR. However, TMR blew my mind first time around, but then once I worked it out I actually think it's just very good, rather than excellent - wonderfully crafted but it some times feels to me like an exercise is craftsmanship at the expense of something I can't put my finger on. Anyway, both TMR and Decals are much bolder works and I love listening to them, but I have to be in the right mood. With Clear Spot, Shiny Beast and Ice Cream for Crow, I can be in any mood or frame of mind and put them on and be totally sucked into their worlds. I find that harder with TMR by a long way. Weirdly, I didn't think Beefheart was anything that strange. My dad has fairly conventional tastes for a man of his age - Zep, the Who, Stones, Deep Purple etc. I thought, at the naive age of about 13, that Beefheart must just be more fairly commonly listened to MOR road. Turns out that while he's well known, I have only one friend who's ever heard a song and most have never heard of the man himself! Anyway, this is a great thread and has made me listen to Decals again after some time and go through the four discs of outtakes from the Spotlight Kid era.
I like Clear Spot but I feel the production rounds off some of the angles and idiosyncrasies I look for in Beefheart’s albums, and I miss that swampy grittiness. Long Neck Bottles, Big Eyes Beans, and Golden Birdies are the standout tracks for me.
Can anyone tell me definitively whether or not the individual 2015 CD releases of Decals, Spotlight Kid, and Clear Spot have the same remastering as those in the Sun Zoom Spark box set? One or two people on this forum have suggested the later releases sound better to their ears, but I haven't seen any confirmation of this.
I know, I never clicked it until recently because of the title (which has since been changed), I didn't know it was ongoing. And I have been doing Gene Clark and Wire on other threads. So I've just been lurking around the edges sort of, I kind of wish I'd jumped in early and followed along with the albums.
Really diggin' the Wire thread as well. Ya'll do such a good job I can just be lazy and read and not feel the need to chime in!
It's worthwhile to note that Bill was in charge of the band arrangements, of course with the usual input from Don and now Ted Templeton- who was allowed to make arrangement changes and additions that were actually listened to. Don really wanted to make a commercial hit record. Why wasn't Clear Spot a hit? It had everything - it rocked, great guitar work, commercial tunes, some soul music and some beautiful ballads. This record was also the end of the Magic Band - because Don had promised Bill participation in songwriting royalties. Bill came up with the chords and riffs to three songs - Low Yo Yo Stuff, Clear Spot, and one other - can't remember if it was Crazy Little Thing or Circumstances - and when the album came out and he wasn't credited, Bill lost interest in continuing with Don. Elliott of course had come up with the Booglarize You riff and it was his idea to take the Clouds are Full of Wine guitar/marimba solo and use it for Golden Birdies. Don always seem to listen to Elliott while he rarely took the advice of the other Magic Band members. Of course the bass sound is bigger and more conventional on this album as Mark Boston is on guitar and Roy Estrada on bass.
Since Clear Spot was for the longest time unceremoniously packaged on the backend of a “CD twofer” with The Spotlight Kid (which is how I came to it) I feel like that sacrificed some of its much-deserved identity for me initially. And while it was of a similar enough record, its glossy production following the looser, dirtier Spotlight Kid made it sound like less of an original record. Slightly less adventurous, on the surface mind you. But on its own and properly evaluated, these production values become one of the most significant benefits of this excellent album. Clearly (wink, wink) it is the best opportunity we have to hear the Captain’s mainstream potential in a fully realized top-notch, commercial-setting — and most importantly, without sacrificing his striking originality. And calling this mainstream isn’t really the right word either. It’s still an eccentric work. In a more perfect world, this partnership of originality and radio-friendliness, would have yielded more than one album. But it’s great that we have this one at all. The whole record is great. Every performance is tight and executed to perfection. And the production is crisp and perfectly polished. Not too lean, not too bloated. Everything is spot on. Lyrics, riffs, arrangements — all of it, spot on. Every idea is fun, clever, and then there’s the ballads. Some of the very best Beefheart ballads. I won’t go through every song, but they are all standouts. Recently, I feel like Clear Spot is in a lot of ways a relative of Safe As Milk — though probably not as groundbreakingly genius as that. But more in terms of its audience and scope. A sweet spot for the Captain. He made some really good music in that spot. I’ve really been into this record a lot lately. It’s an easy listen. Not a dull moment. The dude abides.
Yes it's interesting that in many ways Clear Spot is the logical successor to Safe as Milk. Commercial songs that can fit in the mainstream of the rock pop music of the day but still have that unique Beefheart spin.
Visited the trout house today since my buddy moved to Woodland Hills, about 3 miles from it. Looks basically the same as the recent videos off Beefheart.com. My first visit and won’t be my last, this thread prompted me to find out exactly where it is and go visit. Drove up from Santa Monica and got a little turned around (the neighborhood is confusing) so I had almost enough time to listen to the entire Grow Fins boxset. Which btw, that has to be included on here for review, a must for any CB fan! Love the ‘conventional’ Clear Spot too
Top Beef for sure. "Big Eyed Beans" is singularly mammoth in his discography. Really it's only "Crazy Little Thing" that trips me up here. The backing track is fine, but the lyric and backing vocals are supremely silly. "Little Scratch" shoulda taken its place on the album.
Had a problem with the horns and female vocals when it came out. Seemed a commercial play and against what Beefheart stood for. I still feel that way, but like it very much.
I find CLT very catchy as a pop song, and its lyrics tackle a most delicate subject (yet a typical trad blues/rock one, for the day) adroitly.
Same here! Due to that CD-twofer, I still feel like The Spotlight Kid is just a really long album. Clear Spot felt like Side 4. I still haven't bonded with it on its own merits. They were great live in this period, but these aren't my favorite albums of his. "Alice in Blunderland" may be my favorite thing. The Band had great instrumentals.
