SHINY BEAST BAT CHAIN PULLER...CAPTAIN BEEFHEART..........

The result of a short-lived late 70's association with a major label, reviewers at the time didn't give "Shiny Beast" a lot of sympathy. Too bad, 'cause this is clearly one of the Captain's most accessible albums, managing to be exquisitely tuneful while sacrificing none of his unique brand of home-grown American Surrealism. It's also one of the best incarnations of the Magic Band, mixing all of the threads evident from "Trout Mask Replica" on -- fast meter shifts, slashing guitar, octave-spanning blues hollers, strange lyrics -- with the tender, even (dare I say it?) mellow influences of Bruce Fowler's trombone and Art Tripp's marimba. "Owed T'Alex" wonderfully evokes the San Berdoo/Lancaster California desert Biker world the Captain grew up in, while "Suction Prints" could have come straight off "Trout Mask" (if that album had had better production). The title tune is sheer over-the-top Beefheart madness, a blistering fever-dream of environmental disaster that will leave welts on your mind. If you liked "Doc at the Radar Station", you _must_ have this. William. Michael Brown