Beautiful Moments with Trout Mask Replica

[@TonyPrower]

My friend gave me a recording of Trout Mask Replica over 25 years ago. He was astonished that I listened to the whole album in one go. Joyous memories. The Captain's is the only voice I could listen to all day... a true creative enigma.

[@kicksyyarosh5708]

Netflix Pitch: A 6 part Documentary on Trout Mask Replica *each episode to be 1 hour long -Ep/1=The History of the Band members and Beefheart -Ep/2=The house, the Piano and composing TMR -Ep3=The rehearsing of TMR ,the lifestyle at the house, the Ghosts -Ep4=The recording of TMR ,Zappa, the comedown -Ep5=the Release of TMR ,the live shows,road life/post the house -Ep6=The legacy,the legend of TMR

[@zoinkiezz]

I would watch this!

[@bubbabubberson2702]

I'd watch the shit out of that

[@andercoyote4170]

The world is just no longer that cool. Thank Satan you’re all alive. Or maybe you’re bots…

[@jamescerone]

Would be unbearably depressing, distressing, and just terrible to watch. Beefheart was an abusive maniac who developed a bunch of unlistenable music that people pretend to enjoy at the expense of peoples mental stability.

[@f-ingstupid4408]

The person who should play Don is Matt Berry

[@satchice9102]

I love the part in 'Moonlight On Vermont' where they go into the more traditional gospel "Gimme that old time religion, don't need no afflction ..." - because the contrast is like the sun coming out between dark clouds.

[@wmg1958]

Back in college I used to know a car mechanic who was also getting his Masters in ceramic sculpture, specifically in the "California Funk" style. He had this album and listened to it so casually. Youd hear it in his stuio, over at his house, in the cacophony of the auto shop. It all makes sense now, not just the music, or his sculptures but who certain people are and how they process the world. The order in the chaos. Very enlightening.

[@psychedelicpiper999]

Interesting enough, Captain Beefheart was a sculptor as a child.

[@underwoodvoice9077]

I only came to appreciate the genius of TMR after listening closely on headphones. This is some tight music.

[@DavidJohnson-io9pl]

I was enjoying this video from the start, but you completely won me over when you said that Blind Willie Johnson was your favorite. He and Skip James are my two heroes.

[@gp205]

This is so well done. Now granted I don't have little to no music theory knowledge so your dissection and descriptions, comparisons to other traditional forms of music really worked! Thanks for taking the time to present this.

[@andrewtrovato1828]

I always am urged to write comments against all those fools who make that argument that if you dont like something, (usually modern classical), its just because its complex and you just "dont get it". Very nice to hear you mention and speak against this tendency around min 3 as well, it is very dumb, and rather infuriating.

[@addyd.3140]

Yeah! Does it sound good to you? does it make you feel something? That's all that really matters.

[@PEGGLORE]

I remember back at university listening to the album on repeat until I liked it, after reading it's one of the most rewarding albums that exists, if getting into it. Saw them play live there not long after as well, and got the album signed by them. Rockette Morton had to sign it twice, front and back, cuz he messed his one up.

[@sleepjar7013]

Thank you so much for this. Outstanding work! I can’t wait to share it with the two other people I know who will appreciate it.

[@girllloyd1214]

very glad youtube put this in my feed. such a refreshing approach to this sort of analysis that makes this gem feel more accessible and relatable. finding the beauty in the chaos resonates with my experience listening to experimental music, your enthusiasm and genuineness in doing so was very validating, and exciting to listen to! your analysis makes me want to make music, which i think is one of the coolest things that music / music analysis can strive to do. thanks for the cool vid :)

[@addyd.3140]

aww that's the best thing to possibly hear. Thank you for writing!

[@stickpictures]

Groening's experience totally mirrors my own. That moment when it clicked and I realized it was absolutely, thoroughly worked out. I must have listened to it a thousand times while working on my HS senior thesis back in 1974. The lyrics are crystalline and vivid too. Fast and bulbous!

[@michaelbouwman]

Always great to marvel how the ideas from Don were conveyed and translated by his musicians, by ear. I like that you observed the two guitars together would do 'pianistic' things. Probably why your demonstration works so well. Thanks!

[@addyd.3140]

Yeah!

[@benmcdonnell4167]

Beautifully done, many thanks, I too bought this album on first day of release in UK and went through exactly the same process as you and Matt Groening, although I had also 2 years before went through this process with the section of Zappa's "Help I'm A Rock" , repeated 3 0r 4 times, that sounds like a flock of large screaming birds interspersed with heavy breathing

[@tmatentrtainer]

The most brilliant and concise analysis of Trout Mask Replica yet!

[@genlob]

The latter part of Pachuco Cadaver. So infectious and uplifting.

[@jaymichaelhardenmusicpage8226]

This is great, thank you. I made a piano thing, inspired by what you did. Fun ! threw out the theory, played some shapes and then overdubbed a second thing on top of it, just following my ear....opened up a whole different world, so again thanks for that.....

[@zivkovicable]

Visiting my friend the other day, his 7 year old daughter was dancing around the house with headphones on...I asked her what she was listening to, in the patronising tone of voice stupid adults sometimes use when talking to kids. "Trout Mask Replica, it's my favourite, it speaks to me.", was her unexpectedly precocious reply.

[@addyd.3140]

On the path to greatness I see!

[@mikerophone7805]

What a nice dedication for your uncle! Thanks for sharing this cool video. Best from Germany

[@tallismaryward]

Sounds like Monk when played on piano

[@samuel_andreyev]

This is great :)

[@addyd.3140]

omg Thanks, Samuel!! Your work was undeniably an inspiration for pursuing this.

[@apian29]

Great job on this!!

[@addyd.3140]

thanks!

[@drevildick]

I'm so looking forward to the piano reduction album of Trout Mask Replica; an album I've only just realised I need!

[@dawsonescott8428]

Thoroughly enjoyed this video, and the album isn’t totally my thing. Will approach it with new ears, thanks for making this!

[@DrillForAbsentee]

Addy, your work on this is fantastic! The part where you break into jazz led to an idea: Vince Guaraldi made "Jazz Impressions on Black Orpheus" -- why don't you put a trio or quartet together and record "Jazz Impressions on Trout Mask Replica?" Yes, it would have a niche audience, but that niche would be excited. I'd buy it!

[@cheeseheadfiddle]

Brilliant work. So worth every moment you put into it. Thank you.

[@petekostakis8339]

Addy, thanks for this necessary slant. Wonderful transcriptions! Your labor of love enhances appreciation of a classic album.

[@Emlizardo]

I once worked out Beefheart's solo guitar piece "Flavor Bud Living." With all the subtle colors and piquant dissonances, and knowing that Van Vliet was unschooled in music theory, I didn't expect to find any pattern tonality-wise. I was surprised to find that this piece uses only notes from C major throughout, with not a single accidental anywhere. I know now that Don often devised parts while playing only on the piano's white keys, so even in some pieces where there isn't functional harmony per se, there's often a diatonic flavor.

[@1974ted]

It is an amazing album. Anyone who wants to get it, play it all day over and over and it becomes familiar like any other music. Lick my decals off also needs a day over and over and it magically turns into normal music when you know it. Great video by the way

[@warp9988]

What if first time Matt Groening actually understood the album better than 7th or 25th Time Matt Groening? What if the genius of this album is merely that anything, given enough serious attention, can be found beautiful, or found terrible, and the lesson is that it's all in your head, either way?

[@MrGreggerypeccary]

Why doesn't this video have four million likes? What's wrong with people?

[@andercoyote4170]

Hahahahahaba 😆 Welcome to 2024.💩

[@switchdoctor2032]

Your vids are great. Slightly beyond my level of understanding, therefore something to aspire to. Love the aesthetic of the drawings and notation too. Also, hearing all those 'vertical' structures/chords and superb little melodies unleashed from the sonic sturm-und-drang of the original, suggests the potential of some kind of legit piano arrangement. A Trout Mask Replica Replica. Not that I'm suggesting you enter that world of pain! but it's a thought.

[@addyd.3140]

haha, love that. no, you're totally right, there's a whole world that opens up when you put this stuff to microscope!

[@pete2099]

I actually knew Bill Harkleroad (Zoot Horn Rollo) many years ago. I was just staring high school. He worked at a record store in town and would give guitar lessons from the shop as well. Super nice guy, very talented. I had a conversation with him about Suicide (the band) and The Velvets. He said they were both too commercial for his taste. Anyway, great record

[@manalive1985]

thank you for this my guy. what a swanky new video

[@alessandrorossini8704]

That's a very awesome job... 😮

[@LeeEisenstein]

Great presentation. Been a fan of this album, since it's release. My background is classical guitar and am comfortable with modern music. As an aside, I heard Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band at the Troubadour Club in around '70/'71 and they were the greatest live act I have ever seen to this day. They had Roy Estrada from The Mothers on bass and Rockette Morton (Mark Boston), also on bass, but strumming wild, Stravinisky-like progressions with Delta Blues-like rythms on his bass using metal fingerpicks. Mark himself, was one of the greatest stage performers, ever and Don had him open and close the show, playing solo and he rocked the place as much as the Magic Band did. Thanks so much for posting this.

[@addyd.3140]

Wow! friend, I'd KILL to have been there. Thanks for sharing.

[@LeeEisenstein]

@@addyd.3140 :)

[@mmmaudelynne3582]

really enjoy these selections. what a wild record.

[@McFutz]

wow, a lot of joy and love went into this (not to mention expertise), and it warmed my day. Exceptionally well done, sir.

[@addyd.3140]

THANKS

[@BorisBidjanSaberi11]

My favorite story behind any album

[@marissadraws]

Great job! Beautiful production & well thought out!

[@addyd.3140]

Thank you!

[@MrCase55]

Enjoyed the video. Had the album when it first came out. Saw the Captain live with my dad. Rye Cooder opened the show. I think.

[@psychedelicpiper999]

Ry Cooder played on Beefheart’s first album, funny enough. It was how he first started off his recording career.

[@bruce1947]

This is an absolutely excellent video! A much more fitting approach to talking about this album i feel.

[@stephenelkington4971]

Depressing to think that neither Don or Frank would get a sniff of a record contract today.

[@jameswestmoreland9717]

Saw the captain in the early 70's at Sports Arena in Atlanta. Wild show!! Difficult to understand but fun just the same. Guitarist wore a tux!

[@ptrisonic]

Winged Eel Fingerling?

[@daccrowell4776]

Cool beanz! Yep, you managed to crack a lot of the "Trout Mask Replica" code, but one thing that kept popping into my head during the piano reductions was "daaamn... sounds a helluva lot like post-revolutionary Soviet stuff"! It's interesting...chunks of what I was hearing seemed to have distinct influences from Prokofiev, Shostakovich (before Stalin put the clamps on him), Kabalevsky, etc al. Lots of deceptive leading, "wrong-note" harmony, skipping around in modes, etc. Opens up a whole new window on the album. But would he have known that music? Well...yeah. "Moonlight On Vermont" contains a big nod to Steve Reich, quoting the looped phrase from Reich's "Come Out". And we ALL know Frank knew that stuff, and the album dates from a less-prickly period between the two of them. Oh, yeah...the weird rhythmic changes and such. Yeah, odd stuff...but if you start looking carefully, you're gonna run across a lot of curiously-nested tuplet formations. These pop up when there's more of a narrative, where Don's trying to shift from spoken to sung cadences. Damn ODD tuplets, too...some of what you'd transcribed there might warrant a second peek at how and why it seems like it's one thing...until it isn't...and by then, it's what it was again. Definite fave, though...plus, I think you'd be surprised to know that c. 1980-85, the album was VERY familiar in Nashville producer and engineering circles. More than a little of the real "outlaw country" of the 1970s and early 80s dipped into Trout Mask Replica's intimate but in-your-face sound to arrive at the rougher aesthetic they were aiming for. Sort of an odd reference source to use, but it makes sense if you're aiming for a "shoutin' blues" sound with "extra" immediacy. But that's Nashville...it used to be a lot more entertainingly twisted back then.

[@addyd.3140]

Thanks for all your thoughts. It's an interesting point I think about a lot. Part of a larger dialogue that is humbling to us 'composer' types. That there are different ways of arriving at more-or-less the same result, often the academic vs. naive, and the whole spectrum in between. Like the way Zappa would marvel at the poly-metric feats of The Shaggs. Atonal improv sets that may as well be Webern, so on and so forth. And while there's little-to-no doubt that Don had those sounds in his ears, he arrived to his results by different means. I agree with you and invite you/anyone else watching this to take that 2nd peek and improve on my work! I tried to keep it light in mood, for myself as well, and go with my best guess without obsessing too hard, as you can see, I pretty much gave up on "Hair Pie" on the rhythmic front :)

[@marthabader77]

You have inspired me to listen to it long enough to give it a real chance. Your presentation made it seem beautiful.

[@I_am_nobody999]

Stumbled across this. Good video. I enjoyed your thoughts.

[@timmahoney7475]

excellent, thanks so much. such a cool way to hear into this.

[@Derm_video]

Very cool video!

[@elihyland4781]

🤘

[@maarzt]

thank you for making that. fantastic!!

[@Daddytang67]

Outstanding!

[@carlcruysberghs2298]

❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

[@ryanbuckley3314]

People seem to like to wear matching hats. "Look at that guy, it's ok, he's wearing the hat." Maybe we all need hats?

[@derekgreenwood9672]

This is too weird to get a sub. So i did. Oddly captivating.

[@addyd.3140]

Thanks for the compliment!

[@thomasspader6950]

Love the video keep it up!

[@spacerock2014]

great video. this deserves a million views

[@driz77]

The 180G's just a cappella covered the entire record (David Minnick)

[@addyd.3140]

Pinch me now, I must be dreaming

[@BorisBidjanSaberi11]

rip to your uncle, one darn good tribute id say

[@Rolandolamotta]

pretty impressive stuff homie 🙃

[@josephballerini3730]

Does anyone think Beefheart was like Jackson Pollack and afterwards folks are trying to put it into some sort of context?

[@itay1290]

Hey, very cool video! About that Hair Pie lick, just wanted to mention that it sounds like swung eighth notes in 5/4, at least to my ears... Very groovy nonetheless

[@addyd.3140]

Thank you! I will have to try that out. It honestly just started turning into a "feel thing" in my mind and the more I tried to quantize it , the further i slipped into insanity. I had to look out for number 1.

[@farsight0381]

amazing video thank you

[@DavidRamos-nz4bh]

Panic chord? I love it.

[@rickc777]

Quick comment. The Captain's surname is pronounced "Van Vleet" (just FYI).

[@addyd.3140]

Haha! Thank you, I tried to find footage of someone pronouncing his name and hit dead end. Now I know

[@DrillForAbsentee]

this is random, but do you know how Giles Martin has been re-mixing the old Beatles records using machine learning AI to separate out the instrument tracks? Who here thinks that Giles should remix trout mask replica in this manner? It badly needs a super Deluxe Edition.

[@addyd.3140]

A channel here called "Ant 2 Man Bee," which I discovered after making this video, has been doing just that! Some of it is really eye opening.

[@DrillForAbsentee]

@@addyd.3140 I will check it out. Many thanks!

[@bradrehn1007]

I personally prefer to hear lps in their original production (there are, of course, exceptions). Having grown up on the vinyl releases of Frank and Don, that's the way I want to hear them. Many of the CD re- issues of FZ sound very different than the originals... they were brilliant when first recorded, within the limitations of the eras technology.

[@BUSCUS012]

Trout Mask makes a lot more sense if you're already a fan of ornette coleman

[@MrDaraghkinch]

It is experimental, but who's experiment? I think Zappa, who basically gave Beefheart credibility and allowed him creative freedom. He had some great young musicians at his disposal, to make his ideas work. If you read about what he put those poor young hopefuls through, it adds a sinister dimension to this man. I don't discount the cultural merit of the records, but I think the man was not some farout musical visionary. His voice was amazing, his words were like James Joyce, but he wasn't a musical arranger. He abused those kids and they gave everything they could, and this complex difficult reality only cements Trout Mask Replica as a cultural icon.

[@addyd.3140]

These are all facts. I did not intend to allude full credit to Don for the musical results, however I found the methods of its genesis fascinating. It's understood that John and the band worked 100x harder than CB to make this work the way it did. I'm also well aware of the abusive nature Don had with his musicians and made a conscious choice put my focus on the music side, but I'm glad someone is mentioning it here.

[@jongawel4589]

​@@addyd.3140I think of Don as more of a catalyst for the creative achievement on the album. Not due to his abuse, but rather the bizarre musical ideas he threw out at the group. Something like this doesn't get made without Don, but the genius is in the collective.

[@Fangednoumena]

Zappa fans need to stop deifying him. Nobody could have wrote this record other than Don Glen Vliet. Him and Zappa were close collaborators and colleagues, but saying Zappa somehow made this record possible is simply ridiculous.

[@psychedelicpiper999]

Zappa didn’t do anything on this record, other than tell Beefheart to write new lyrics for “Old Fart At Play”, and having the Mothers record a backing track for “The Blimp”. John French aka Drumbo was the one who arranged all the music and taught all the musicians their parts, and this should be common knowledge for all Beefheart fans by now. Beefheart gathered and chose all the musicians, but John French deserves most of the credit for the music here.

[@MrDaraghkinch]

@@psychedelicpiper999 Cool, Thanks for the info. I

[@pedroberoes49]

Tex Crick

[@psychedelicpiper999]

This album has lots of haters, but they always come from people who are oblivious to free jazz, avant-garde classical music, musique concrète, and the like. It’s like the people who hate on The Beatles’ “Revolution 9”. They think it all comes from a vacuum of pretentiousness, but this music is carefully crafted from pre-existing influences. No one ever has to justify their taste in banal, talentless, autotuned, low-brow factory pop music, the kind that’s popular today created by non-musicians. But music like this has no right to exist apparently? 😂 If you get one extreme, then you’ll always get another. Music like “Trout Mask Replica” is very educational in learning how to balance melody with dissonance. It’s always worth noting that Beefheart and His Magic Band also recorded albums like “Safe As Milk”, “Strictly Personal”, “The Spotlight Kid”, and “Clear Spot”. He literally invented the modern indie blues rock sound. That’s why artists like Jack White worship him. And heck, “Strictly Personal” sounds like an alternative rock album decades before the fact. The Velvet Underground weren’t the only band to do it.

[@cihant5438]

Sounds like Erik Satie

[@aakkoin]

Why do people always have to mention Zappa even before Beefheart? Yea, there's a connection, but Don is an independent individual artist, and not some protege of Zappa, as if just the connection to Zappa is what makes Beef legitimate.

[@sleepjar7013]

Maybe because they were childhood friends, hung out together, toured and made an album together, and that Zappa produced TMR?

[@jimmythebold589]

7:10 that's a G6add9, no5

[@addyd.3140]

Yep! To be exact. I usually add the 9 and occasionally omit the 5th when I see 6 chords on lead sheet, so I'm used to just calling them 6 chords, in practice.

[@Watcher4111]

Yeah Dachau blues. What a nice, uplifting, feel good hit of a summer lol not

[@sharifmansour9678]

Hair Pie DOES induce nausea if you let it

[@davidmercer658]

Would a record label put this out today?

[@addyd.3140]

I'm gonna say no.. but maybe?... if for some reason it was popular enough.... The logic surrounding what music labels will put effort into has changed in so many ways in 50 years that I'm afraid we've opened another can of worms. What does everyone else think?

[@davelanciani-dimaensionx]

Where can we find any notation for this album? Or is there any actually available?

[@addyd.3140]

Look up "The Most Ever Company," they have done the best job I've seen, though a bit hard to follow in their video format IMO. Also Samuel Andreyev has a great vid on Frownland.

[@davelanciani-dimaensionx]

@@addyd.3140 OK - I'll check it out! ThanX!

[@_.._guillaume_._x_._.]

I'm not very familiar with this album, but it reminds me of Niandra Lades and Usually Just a T-shirt

[@psychedelicpiper999]

John Frusciante is a massive fan of this album, funny enough.

[@_.._guillaume_._x_._.]

@@psychedelicpiper999 Yeah, thats actually how I heard of captain beefheart, from interviews with John

[@psychedelicpiper999]

@@_.._guillaume_._x_._. Don’t forget to check out Syd Barrett. John is also obsessed with him. He’s still covering Syd’s songs live at Red Hot Chili Peppers shows.

[@_.._guillaume_._x_._.]

@@psychedelicpiper999 Oh yes, Syd Barrett has some great stuff, Octopus is my favourite

[@geinikan1kan]

Those hands were pulled over for driving too slow.

[@andercoyote4170]

🍕🍕🍕

[@addyd.3140]

nom nom,,, thank you I was hungry

[@zamplify]

And a lipstick kleenex hung on a pointed forked twig.

[@jamescerone]

Everyone here forgetting that Beefheart knew nothing about music theory to any extent and acting like this shitpile of an unlistenable album, created by abuse and pain, is “genius”. I can’t believe the amount of people unironically bragging about forcing themselves to listen to it over and over again until it supposedly sounds good

[@psychedelicpiper999]

Beefheart knew nothing about music theory, but his drummer did. John French aka Drumbo transcribed, arranged, and taught all the musicians their parts. Afterwards, guitarists Zoot Horn Rollo and other musicians would do the same for subsequent albums.

[@mattd8725]

Hey guys, it's me, professor music theorist, and I'm here to tell you why trout mask replicacaca by self-titled Captain Beefheart (stolen valor) is one of the most overrated inhumane albums ever and should never have been made. Like comment and subscribe.

[@SteveSpears-Kuhlah]

"Unlike the Blues, there aren't a lot of chord progressions going on." Huh??

[@YaoEspirito]

Words keep talking about "Bee fart" instead of "Beef heart". Do bees even fart?

[@addyd.3140]

Bee farts are the worst! Lol I tried to fix those captions, I guess it didn't save.

[@DannyHood-j]

Soft machine lmao. Free style improvisation noise ‘care’

[@NickWeissMusic]

I find the most offensive thing about the album is the CARP on the cover. Not cool. At all. And you fell for it, tried to draw a speckled trout body with barbels on it's chin... BRUH. FELL FOR THE OLDEST TRICK IN THE BOOK. Terrible content. Subbed.

[@michaelkittler9104]

It's just poor contrapuntal music

[@37BopCity]

??? WTF? Are you serious? I remember buying "Trout Mask Replica" when it first came out. I was a teenager who was interested in all the latest new albums. I remember thinking when I first played through it "This is the WORST record I have ever heard" and "What a ripoff". All these years later I see your video and I still think it's the WORST album I've ever heard. They only got away with that crap back then because there was so many people doing acid and drugs who would buy it.

[@addyd.3140]

Thanks for writing! Without your opinion and others alike, this record would not remain the polarizing legend it is.