Trout Mask Replica: Rock’s Roughest Diamond Turns 50 Fast and Bulbous!

By Eddie KosinskySometime near the end of the '60s, the once-fervent innocence and optimism known for exploding Rock music into popularity had begun to dwindle -- and for a moment, it seemed Rock n' Roll was sinking into an early grave. The Beatles split up, Dylan exiled himself after his motorcycle crash to write country songs, and the murder of Meredith Hunter brought a horrific end to The Rolling Stones’ 1969 US tour. Rock was in dire straits and hippies everywhere mourned. They lost their precious gem, the sacred six-string conduit of beatnik poetry was dying before it had even properly lived. The outlook seemed bleak. Yet, like a boxer against the ropes, Rock N’ Roll did not keel over and die, but stood up and struck back with a ferocious left hook. As Lennon and McCartney bickered with each other, Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin fused rock with a heaviness that crushed both record sales and eardrums. In the underground Iggy Pop’s whimpered yelps and Lou Reed’s deadpan prose would be the first kindling in the wild forest fire that would soon be Punk. King Crimson sought to ascend rock to a higher and more sophisticated plane with the apocalyptic birth of Prog. Yet no albums stood higher, nor as more undeniable proof that Rock would forever shake the musical world, than Captain Beefheart’s cacophonous masterpiece Trout Mask Replica."If there has been anything in the history of popular music which could be described as a work of art in a way that people who are involved in other areas of art would understand, then Trout Mask Replica is probably that work." -John Peel, BBC Disc JockeyTrout Mask Replica was released fifty years ago on June 16th 1969, published by Frank Zappa’s label Straight. Trout Mask Replica quickly garnered an infamous reputation and has been the fuel for countless musical debates. It stands as an album of extremes: those who listen either fall deeply in love, or down an Ibuprofen and vow to never listen again. Captain Beefheart, or Don Van Vilet, had just come off the release of his second album, Strictly Personal, and had nothing to show for it but empty pockets. Frustrated, Beefheart decided that there needed to be a change. He phoned up his old friend Frank Zappa and asked to make an album on Zappa’s label under one condition: complete artistic freedom. Zappa complied, and Beefheart and his “Magic Band” moved into a house in California to work tirelessly on practicing and mastering the insane compositions that would be created for this album. Eight months later, the band entered Zappa’s studio—six hours later, Trout Mask Replica was complete.“Like almost all of Beefheart's recorded work, it was not even "ahead" of its time in 1969. Then and now, it stands outside time, trends, fads, hypes, the rise and fall of whole genres eclectic as walking Christmas trees, constituting a genre unto itself: truly, a musical Monolith if ever there was one.” -Lester Bangs, Music Journalist.Listening to the first few seconds of Trout Mask Replica may be unbearable to some. One's first listen may be met with confusion, perhaps even repulsion, as the musicians' chaotic disharmony provides a track with no obvious attempt at coherence, melody or pleasantry. Over that chaos, Captain Beefheart, (whose voice is not exactly pleasant) raspily sings nonsensical lyrics asynchronous with the music. It's a lot to take in, but that’s because there is a lot to be taken in. Each of the songs were composed by Beeheart on piano (an instrument he did not know how to play). Beefheart constructed riffs on his piano—most of them in widely different keys, tempos and time signatures—and give them to his drummer, John French, to compose into songs. While this might all sound insane, in reality, it was deceptively calculated. Beefheart, inspired by the avant-garde approach that musicians like Steve Reich and Ornette Coleman employed in their music, decided his magnum opus must be made with a similar flair. In fact, Ornette Coleman’s Free Jazz was a massive inspiration to Beefheart and was an early template for the sound of Trout Mask Replica. Other templates for the sound of Trout Mask Replica were bluesmen such as Robert Johnson and Bo Diddley, the latter of whom Beefheart covered in his early career. Scattered throughout this album are hints of R&B, Free Jazz, Blues, Spoken Word and, of course, Rock N’ Roll. So while to some this album might at first sound like an affront to music itself, it is actually a tasteful and avant-garde love letter to all things music. This is one thing that makes Trout Mask Replica so wonderful: it is a culmination of a myriad of influences into a truly singular experience, which can not possibly be appreciated immediately.However, the influences are not the only great aspect about this album—the songs are fantastic too. Most of Trout Mask Replica’s songs composed on Beefheart’s piano are incredibly engrossing to listen to, especially since all of them are nearly impossible to play. Discovering unique riffs buried within each song and trying to understand the whacked-out sense of rhythm on this album are both challenging yet rewarding experiences. Evermore engrossing, is Beefheart’s voice. With a range rivaling Axl Rose, Beefheart hollers, yelps and growls through every song, bringing a distinctly wild presence to the album. These elements make Trout Mask Replica one of the most diverse listening experiences ever committed to record and it is incredible to see how widely the songs on this album vary. Some break through the cacophony with an undeniable groove like Ella Guru and Moonlight on Vermont, while others embrace the chaos and delve deeply into the absurd like Hobo Chang Ba and Pena. As well, within the album there are songs not constructed on Beefheart’s piano that act as crazy detours to the main ordeal. Songs like Orange Claw Hammer feature Beefheart simply reciting his dadaist poetry into a tape recorder and the song China Pig sounds incredibly similar to all the old blues songs that inspired this album. Various skits appearing on this album add to the album’s wild, absurd yet hilarious sense of humor. In essence, the music of this album is endlessly multifaceted and complex, which is part of the reason why the album is so polarizing. People may view this album as “sounding bad” because it is utterly unique; even more so, they may dislike it because the complex music is perceived as atonal and arrhythmic on first listen. Without a doubt, however, this album is one of the most impressive pieces of musicianship in the rock canon and is a quintessential example of music made with the sole intention of being art.“[I worked with Beefheart because] I saw that he had this incredible musical ability and I enjoyed the music” -John “Drumbo” French.I can’t possibly hope to describe this album in its entirety in words. As Frank Zappa once said, “Writing about Music is like Dancing about Architecture”. I find it difficult to put down my thoughts about an album that is itself difficult to listen to, but I find no difficulty in recommending this album to any serious fan of music. I obviously adore this record and have shown it to multiple friends. Each time I get a similar response, usually “This is terrible”. But with each of my friends I notice something special after I show them this album. And this, in my opinion, is what makes Trout Mask Replica so magical. Suddenly, my friends find that whatever music they previously found too strange or too abrasive to be palatable, becomes listenable. Their ears are opened to this new world of music and all because they listened to an album, that is now fifty years old! Rock might be long past its point of relevancy but the fact that this album can still remain so fresh and shocking after half a century proves that nothing rocked quite as hard as Rock N’ Roll.That's right the Mascara Snake, Fast and Bulbous!