Lick My Decals Off, baby

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Lick My Decals Off, baby
Studio album by Don Van Vliet

Publication
(s)

1970

Label (s) Straight records

Format (s)

CD, LP

Genre (s)

skirt

Title (number)

15th

running time

39:38

occupation
chronology
Trout Mask Replica
(1969) 		Lick My Decals Off, baby The Spotlight Kid
(1972)

Lick My Decals Off (German: Lick my decals off, baby ) is an experimental blues rock - album by Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band . It was released on Frank Zappa's record label Straight Records in 1970 .

occupation

The “Magic Band” consists of the singer Don Van Vliet alias “Captain Beefheart”, the electric guitarist Zoot Horn Rollo , two drummers and an electric bass player. Beefheart also plays wind instruments such as saxophone or bass clarinet on some tracks. The line-up differs slightly from the previous album Trout Mask Replica , which was recorded with two guitarists and an additional clarinetist instead of two drummers.

Captain Beefheart is named as the author of the entire album ("Written by").

music

Musically, the album follows on from the famous previous album Trout Mask Replica from 1969 and continues its style. As there, experimental, atonal playing styles in the spirit of free jazz take the place of classical melodies and song structures, but the basic musical orientation towards the blues is unmistakable.

Most of the pieces on the album begin with a fast, dense arrangement of percussion and electric guitar , to which the Dadaist- inspired, sometimes absurd singing of Don Van Vliet is added. The bumpy rhythm for inexperienced ears , the weird guitar sound and above all the distinctive vocals with the deep, smoky voice of Van Vliet characterize the sound of the album, which can be described as "a revolting chaos of anti-rhythms, breath dissonances and free declamations" .

backgrounds

In the pre-production phase of the album, Don Van Vliet first recorded some piano improvisations on a cassette recorder . Guitarist Bill Harkleroad alias Zoot Horn Rollo listened to the recordings, selected what he thought was the best parts and put them together into compositions [source?]

According to Van Vliet, the title of the album is to be understood as an encouragement to get rid of labels , which is primarily related to the difficult-to-define, avant-garde music style of the album on the borders between blues, rock and free jazz. The request to suck something from you also contains a sexual note.

On the reverse is a painting by Van Vliet, who was incidentally - and mainly in his later days - a painter .

reception

The music journalist Lester Bangs noted a maturation of the musical and lyrical style compared to Trout Mask Replica and wrote that Beefheart's music was "one of the most rewarding musical experiences available today."

Steve Huey writes:

"Lick My Decals Off, Baby was a further refining and exploration of the musical ideas posited on Trout Mask Replica. As such, the imaginative fervor of Trout Mask is toned down somewhat, but in its place is an increased self-assurance; the tone of decals is also a bit darker, examining environmental issues in some songs rather than simply concentrating on surreal wordplay. Whatever the differences, the jagged, complex rhythms and guitar interplay continue to amaze. "

- allmusic.com

Another author also certifies the album an “exceptional artistic stature” and sums it up: “In a way this is his most intellectual work, because the album takes the traditional topics of blues, eroticism, freedom, trains and nostalgia, and sets them in a modern context of city alienation . "

Not least because the influential English radio disc jockey John Peel played the album a lot on BBC Radio , Lick My Decals Off, Baby stayed in the British album charts for eleven weeks and reached number twenty there. This remained Beefheart's highest chart placement in the UK.

After the album was out of print for a few years, it is now available again in several new editions on compact disc (1989, 2006) and record (2000, 2009).

Track list

Page 1:

  1. Lick My Decals Off, Baby - 2:38
  2. Doctor Dark - 2:46
  3. I Love You, You Big Dummy - 2:54
  4. Peon - 2:24
  5. Bellerin 'Plain - 3:35
  6. Woe-is-uh-me-bop - 2:06
  7. Japan in a Dishpan - 3:00

Page 2:

  1. I Wanna Find a Woman That'll Hold My Big Toe Till I Have To Go - 1:53
  2. Petrified Forest - 1:40
  3. One Red Rose That I Mean - 1:52
  4. The Buggy Boogie Woogie - 2:19
  5. The Smithsonian Institute Blues (or the Big Dig) - 2:11
  6. Space-Age Couple - 2:32
  7. The Clouds Are Full of Wine (not Whiskey or Rye) - 2:50
  8. Flash Gordon's Ape - 4:15

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Pierro Scaruffi: Captain Beefheart. Retrieved February 8, 2015 .

Web links