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steveburnhamuk

Captain Beefheart And The Magic Band – Clear Spot (1972)



I'm waiting at Brussels Midi Station, my terror of being late getting me here two hours early for the Eurostar, but at least there's time for some lunch, a coffee and a revisit of an album I listened to a couple of weeks ago in the car. I think my CD version has Clear Spot paired with The Spotlight Kid in one album, but since I make the rules, I'm doing them separately.


Opening up with Low Yo Yo Stuff, a rough, stream-of-consciousness bluesy classic, at which the good Captain specialises, we're quickly into Nowadays A Woman's Gotta Hit A Man, sparse, blues harmonica, and while I can't work out how politically correct it is or isn't in 2021, it still sounds great, with some fine guitar from Zoot Horn Rollo. Too Much Time gets a bit more soulful, matching anything Motown might throw out, while Circumstances is more rocking and less memorable than anything preceding it, but it sets up My Head Is My Only House Unless It Rains, a stone cold Beefheart classic, a beautiful love song. Sun Zoom Spark is another listenable rocker, concluding the first half. it's very listenable, but one of the weaker moments so far.

The second half opens with the title track, Clear Spot, again decent enough without really exciting, similarly the upbeat Crazy Little Thing and the straight blues Long Neck Bottles. Her Eyes Are A Blue Million Miles is another of Beefheart's sweet, sweet love songs done only as the captain could, absolutely gorgeous and it's followed by the gloriously bonkers Big Eyed Beans From Venus, a great song, mayhem of which I'll never tire. Final track Golden Birdies is no classic - it's a spoken word piece with minimal intervention from the Magic Band, but it's a fitting odd little end.


I'd recommend this album as a starting point if you don't know Captain Beefheart, there's enough weird to get a true sense of the Captain, as well as some genuinely great songs.



4* - a great album, up there with any of Captain Beefheart's output


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