Captain Beefheart: The Spotlight Kid (1972)
Beefheart and the band minus the magic.
Kronomyth 6.0: What we do in the overshadows.
Speak to me in small epiphanies beneath the sassafras tree where the beehive mumbles and the honey tumbles in turbid globs of gold. Captain Beefheart’s sixth expedition into the exotic lands of his own imagination is generally regarded as his least profitable venture to date. The captain blamed his crew, the crew their captain, and that mutinous mood pervades The Spotlight Kid. You can literally hear the band—which now featured Fraternity of Man’s Elliot Ingber (and former Mother) on second guitar—playing under the weight of Beefheart’s heavy anchor/albatross arrangements. Where once the spark of spontaneity ran rampant (Trout Mask Replica), The Spotlight Kid is a dampened powderkeg that never looks to ignite. Now, I would call this a misadventure with an asterisk—an asterisk glimpsed in an acid flashback that produces post-modern blues of a high order. I’m Gonna Booglarize You Baby, Grow Fins and Glider all deliver the goods. Throw in the abortive but beautiful White Jam and an unleashed Elliot Ingber on the instrumental Alice in Blunderland, and you have at least half a good album. Over the course of an entire album, however, it’s a bleak vision of the blues and the band feels forcibly restrained. Personally, I alternate between intrigue (during the musical possibilities introduced by the marimba, for example) and boredom (during the zombie rhythms). The record’s greatest sin is its predictability. With the best of Beefheart, you never knew what to expect. After the first few tracks on The Spotlight Kid, you’ll have a very good idea of what to expect. Clearly, captain and crew had entered the doldrums of their golden voyage, with Drumbo jumping ship to escape the captain’s ocean madness. But that’s another story, captured in the massive Beefheart: Through the Eyes of Magic.
Original elpee version
A1. I’m Gonna Booglarize You Baby (4:34)
A2. White Jam (2:57)
A3. Blabber ‘n Smoke (Don Van Vliet/Jan Van Vliet) (2:48)
A4. When It Blows Its Stacks (3:41)
A5. Alice in Blunderland (3:55)
B1. The Spotlight Kid (3:21)
B2. Click Clack (3:31)
B3. Grow Fins (3:31)
B4. There Ain’t No Santa Claus on the Evenin’ Stage (3:13)
B5. Glider (4:37)
All words and music written by Don Van Vliet unless noted.
Original 8-track version
A1. The Spotlight Kid
A2. White Jam
A3. Blabber ‘n Smoke
B1. I’m Gonna Booglarize You Baby
B2. Glider
C1. When It Blows Its Stacks
C2. Alice in Blunderland
C3. Click Clack (beginning)
D1. Click Clack (conclusion)
D2. Grow Fins
D3. There Ain’t No Santa Claus on the Evenin’ Stage
The Players
Captain Beefheart (vocals, harmonica, jingle bells), Drumbo (drums), Winged Eel Fingerling (guitar – featured on A5), Ed Marimba/Ted Cactus (marimba, piano, harpsichord, drums), Rockette Morton (bassus ophelius), Zoot Horn Rollo (glass finger and steel appendage guitar) with Rhys Clark (drums on B5). Produced and arranged by Don Van Vliet; co-produced and engineered by Phil Schier.
The Pictures
Art direction and photography by Ed Thrasher. Liner illustrations by Don Van Vliet.
The Plastic
Released on elpee, cassette and 8-track in January 1972* in the US (Reprise, MS/M5/M8 2050) and the UK (Reprise, K 44162) with lyrics innersleeve. Reached #44 on the UK charts. (*First appeared in 1/29/72 issue of Billboard.)
- Re-packaged with Clear Spot on 2-for-1 compact disc in the US (Reprise, 26249).
