Talk:Trout Mask Replica
Hi. Thought I'd have a go at syntaxing the Trout Mask Replica album page to wiki style.
Rather than face 'public humiliation' resulting from drastic editing on the page proper by those more knowledgeable than me, I thought I'd grab a bit of metaphorical 2x4 and shove it falteringly to center stage from the wings for discussion/edits/whatever. (Can you see the join, hear the roar of the greasepaint & smell the crowd?)
Maybe the uncredited players should have gone in notes at the foot, but I thought it relevant to 'clear up' who is actually who in the bandlist asap- identifying ALL the players at the start so that they can be sourced in the wiki (without discovering them later at the foot)?
To keep it wiki I've looped back to FZ interest at the foot with the cross-polinating band members. Probably more internal/external links needed too.
PS: I don't have CD reissue/haven't researched, just repeated album list for now. My page suggestion:
Trout Mask Replica
A Side Project in collaboration with FZ as executive producer, Trout Mask Replica is perhaps one of the best-known and most acclaimed of Captain Beefheart albums. An incredible mix of influences crammed into a double LP, with a sound that seems to exist outside of most musical styles.
Contents
Players
(From original liner information)
"ZOOT HORN ROLLO: glass finger guitar, flute
ANTENNAE JIMMY SEMENS: steel-appendage guitar CAPTAIN BEEFHEART: bass clarinet, tenor sax, soprano sax, vocal THE MASCARA SNAKE: bass clarinet & vocal ROCKETTE MORTON: bass & narration
CAPTAIN BEEFHEART plays tenor & soprano sax simultaneously on Ant Man Bee, simran horn & musette on Neon Meate Dream; ANTENNAE JIMMY SEMENS sing[sic] lead vocal on Pena & plays flesh horn on Ella Guru; special guest artist DOUG MOON plays guitar on China Pig."
Subsequent player information
Since the release of Trout Mask Replica further details regarding its production, together with anecdotal evidence from its Magic Band members (some uncredited on the album), has emerged. Much of this can be found in the booklets contained within the Captain Beefheart compilation CDs 'Grow Fins: Rarities 1965-1982' & 'The Dust Blows Forward: An Anthology', both released in 1999.
In the same ambiguous fashion that Don van Vliet gained his own title of Captain Beefheart, the members of the Trout Mask ensemble were also variously credited by the use of pseudonyms on the album.
Subsequent information on credited musicians
- Captain Beefheart (bass clarinet, tenor sax, soprano sax, simran horn, musette, 'walk-tape' machine, lead vocals)
- Bill Harkleroad (glass finger guitar, flute) aka Zoot Horn Rollo
- Jeff Cotton (steel-appendage guitar/flesh horn/lead vocals on Pena) aka Antennae Jimmy Semens
- Victor Hayden (bass clarinet, vocals) aka The Mascara Snake
- Mark Boston (bass guitar, vocal narration) aka Rockette Morten
- Doug Moon (guest guitar on China Pig)
Subsequent information on uncredited musicians
- John French (drums, [House track engineering & transcripts]) aka Drumbo
- Gary Marker (bass guitar on Moonlight & Veteran) aka Gary 'Magic' Marker
- FZ (comments on The Blimp)
Tracks
Double LP
Side One
Side Two
Side Three
Side Four
|
CD
|
Release Notes
Recorded at Whitney Studios, Los Angeles, CA; April 1969
Released 1969 (US Original) on Straight Records (STS 1053)
Produced by Frank Zappa
Arranged by Don van Vliet
Engineered by Dick Kunc
(Tracks 1:6 & 4:8 recorded & engineered by FZ at TTG Recorders, Los Angeles, CA; late 1968)
(Tracks 1:2, 1:5, 2:5, 3:3 & 4:1 recorded at Beefheart's House, Woodland Hills, CA)
(Track 2:5 produced & engineered by Don Van Vliet)
(Track 4:1 produced by Don Van Vliet & engineered by John French)
Album design: Cal Schenkel
Photography: Ed Caraeff/Cal Schenkel
Special electronic modifications on Captain Beefheart's band equipment by Dick Kunc
Most recent in a long series of contract negotiations leading to an actual signing: Neil C. Reshen
Reissue CD design and restoration: Tom Recchion
All songs written by Captain Beefheart © 1969 Words & music copyrighted for the world by Beefheart Music Co. BMI
Liner Notes
'Glass finger guitar' suggests the bottleneck style of playing, brought to prominence by early blues musicians who literally used the neck of a broken bottle on their finger to create sustained sound-effects by oscillating it on the strings.
Background Information
At the time of recording Gary Marker was the bass guitarist of The Rising Sons, fronted by Ry Cooder who had previously sessioned with the Magic Band.
Other than Captain Beefheart there is a lineage of Magic Band members who have also had a working relationship in FZ bands: Elliot Ingber (aka Winged Eel Fingerling), Art Tripp (aka Artie Tripp III/Ed Marimba/Ted Cactus), Roy Estrada (aka Orejon) & Denny Walley (aka Feelers Reebo).
