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J's Collection

Captain Beefheart   11/14/1975

New Victoria Theatre, London, England
Source AUD>Tape (unknown gen)>WAV (using Wavelab)>FLAC (Level 8/using FLAC Frontend)
Media CD-R&FLAC
Notes Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band
New Victoria Theatre
London
England
November 14, 1975

01-Moonlight On Vermont (3:54)
02-Band Intro (0:45)
03-Abba Zaba (4:24)
04-Orange Claw Hammer (4:53)
05-Dali's Car (1:24)
06-When It Blows Its Stacks (3:42)
07-My Human Gets Me Blues (2:58)
08-Alice In Blunderland (4:14)
09-Natchez Burning (6:01)
10-Beatle Bones 'n' Smokin' Stones (4:05)
11-Drumbo's Tap Dance/Improvisation (6:06)
12-Poofter's Froth Wyoming Plans Ahead (3:04)
13-Electricity (3:57)
14-Golden Birdies (1:09)
15-Big Eyed Beans From Venus (4:49)
Tech Notes Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band
New Victoria Theatre
London
England
November 14, 1975

Not as good as the Copenhagen gig I shared yesterday but still worth to be heard.

Lineage: AUD>Tape (unknown gen)>WAV (using Wavelab)>FLAC (Level 8/using FLAC Frontend)

01-Moonlight On Vermont (3:54)
02-Band Intro (0:45)
03-Abba Zaba (4:24)
04-Orange Claw Hammer (4:53)
05-Dali's Car (1:24)
06-When It Blows Its Stacks (3:42)
07-My Human Gets Me Blues (2:58)
08-Alice In Blunderland (4:14)
09-Natchez Burning (6:01)
10-Beatle Bones 'n' Smokin' Stones (4:05)
11-Drumbo's Tap Dance/Improvisation (6:06)
12-Poofter's Froth Wyoming Plans Ahead (3:04)
13-Electricity (3:57)
14-Golden Birdies (1:09)
15-Big Eyed Beans From Venus (4:49)

Total length: 55:25

Quality: 7/10
Quality issues: Some dropouts in Moonlight on Vermont and When It Blows Its Stacks. Source tape also has curious disrturbing
noises in Drumbo's Tap Dance/Improvisation, probably the microphone couldn't stand the sound.
Anybody with a tape without issues? Please share or send a message.

Line-Up:
Captain Beefheart/Don Van Vliet: vocals, saxophone, harmonica
Drumbo/John French: drums, percussion, guitar (on: Dali's Car)
Bruce 'Fossil' Fowler: air-bass, trombone
Winged Eel Fingerling/Elliot Ingber: guitar, slide guitar
Feeler's Reedo/Walla Walla/Denny Walley: guitar, slide guitar

Comments:
Chas De Whalley: Quiet, mild mannered, and sensitive he may be, but Don Van Vliet is also the Spotlight Kid and with Drumbo
and Winged Eel Fingerling he beamed down to London to save us. ... Clad in white, confident to the point of arrogance, the
Captain stalked, growled and purred across the stage in his finest voice, laying down that old time, Vermont Moonlight
religion like we haven't heard it in years - waving, gesticulating and haranguing the crowd, foot up on the monitor speakers,
eyes gleaming like an astral politician's.
The audience of a couple of thousand mere earthlings were transfixed, mesmerized by the envoys from a distant galaxy, with
Beefheart in complete and absolute control.
With a real magic band behind him Beefheart put paid to the ugly rumours that he'd gone soft and sentimental, as Winged Eel
Fingerling and slide guitar man Denny Wally put real iron back into the Beefheart stage show. Goodbye to the anaemic touring
outfit of 1974, and farewell to the hotchpotch band of gypsies we saw at Knebworth in the summer. This one was tight, well
rehearsed and, above all, determined to make the songs their own. No more experimentation with Zoot Horn soundalikes for the
good Captain. At last he is again interpreting his material according to the capabilities and the styles of each individual
in the Magic Band and the music was simply astounding. Moonlight On Vermont, My Human Gets Me Blues, Orange Claw Hammer,
Beatle Bones and Smokin' Stones, Electricity, and Abba Zaba - the pearls of wisdom dropped from the Captain's lips in an
eerie cavalcade of colour, rhythm and that Beefheart 'tincan' sound. Alice In Blunderland, with Bruce 'Fossil’ Fowler's
pumping air-bass, was dark and emotional, a fine foil to a country flavoured song from the new album which seemed to be all
about a peanut well somewhere in Texas.
And then Denny Walley played that long leading note and let it float, the New Victoria Theatre beamed together, and we were
sucked closer and closer to the stage, helpless like moths around an electric light. A crazy little thing, all of sixteen
years, climbed up there and embraced him ... and then the Spotlight Kid was gone.
We clapped, and the houselights came up. We clapped and the curtain came down. We clapped some more and the safety curtain
came down ... but the Captain did not reappear.
We missed the last bus home and had to walk.
(Chas De Whalley: Captain Beefheart, New Victoria. Sounds. November 22, 1975)
Trades Allowed Yes
Owned by J · Last Updated May 23, 2023