7. Captain Beefheart & His Magic BandClear Spot
That was a bit later, wasn’t it? I remember at the time of Electric Ladyland and some of those other things listening to Safe As Milk, which was a terrifying record when you were tripping. I would be hanging on to wherever I was crashing, grinning, pretending I was enjoying it, but it was like, god! It’s ripping the universe apart! But coming out of the end of that period, Clear Spot was a bit later. Obviously the word genius has been used about this guy and probably quite rightly, and the musicianship: ridiculous. That song ‘Too Much Time’ is on here, and he’s showing it can be cool to write a good song that has girls singing backing vocals, and it was a soul song. But Beefheart has to ruin its chances of being a hit by going into a monologue in the middle about, sometimes, when I’m a little hungry, I heat up some old stale beans, eat some crackers and dream! Something like that, some crazy stuff! And you’d think, oh, he’s still mad, that’s good, it’s all good.
