Customer Reviews

Doc at the Radar Station

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The Captain is a strange & eccentric man, and not all of you will like this album. He's one of those I-don't-give-a-damn-what-you-think artists that we thought died out in the Beat era, and he's not afraid to throw in whatever suits him, lumps & all. This is why he scares many, but endears himself to those of us who dig him.

That being said, this is my absolute favorite Beefheart album, even more so than the infamous "Trout Mask Replica". Why? I think it's because this is the closest the Captain got to a punk/new wave album, but then again, everything he does is his own kinda' wave. There's more modern electric guitar upgrade on this than TMR which delves heavily into a puposely dirtied up Delta blues & folk setting instead. A new, younger Magic Band helps drive this into Pere Ubu territory & pull it off as cleanly as a Motown backing band behind Syd Barrett.

"Making Love To A Vampire With A Monkey On My Knee" is the acid test of listening to this album. In it, the Captain rants about a [messed] up hallucinatory situation that sounds to be Tom Waits on acid trying to describe that the monkey on his back has now crawled around to the front to look right in his eyes. Sound weird? Then Beefheart isn't for you. I get a kick out of it because whatever bad situation I'm in it couldn't possibly be as bad as this guy's, yet it's funny because it's so absurd you know it's not real. The cacophonous ending has to be heard ("DEATH BE DAMNED!...LIFE!")to be believed.

My favorite here is "Run Paint Run" another bittersweet piece of primal scream therapy. The Captain & the Magic Band make a frat house chant by way of Fellini out of an ode to dripping paint. It seems to say that letting it run naturally will give way to new insights that will free you like Jackson Pollock's tears or something.

Wild women muses show up here: The tempermental mistress in "Hot Head", the cruel hearted femme fatale that stubs out her cares on Beef's "Ashtray Heart", and the exotic "Sue Egypt", one of the album's best.

The tripping verse of "A Carrot Is As Close As A Rabbit Gets To A Diamond" is a great ditty about humility.

"Best Batch Yet" seems to be about the opposite of "Run Paint Run". The artist is now satisfied with his work and has his technique under control.

All Beefheart albums are batches of riddles that are stetched on a canvas that echoes the likes of Salvador Dali or Francis Bacon. He's surreal, and sometimes this mode helps us
deal with aspects of existence that we hadn't considered.
Consider "Doc At The Radar Station" next time you're stuck in a rut.

This album is my favorite Beefheart cut. This is him at his most assured. The production is perfect and the band is right there making this difficult music easy. With Trout Mask Beefheart had to mutate his blues musicians to get what he wanted. These guys grew up on Trout Mask and there is an easy joy in their playing. The use of mellotron is startling. Beefheart is very painterly with his music and once you get past the initial shock of his supreme originality you find an invigorating life affirming beauty. The sleeve art by the Captain will give some indication of what is inside, if you see something in it then try the album. Favorite tracks: "Sheriff of Hong Kong", "Sue Egypt" and "Brickbats". Has to be one of the greatest recording artists of the century.

The Ex and I happened to catch the good Captain on SNL (back when it was funny) when punk was new to the scene and this album was newly released. Her previous experience with the Captain was to catch a small piece of Trout Mask, then buy me a headset for my stereo. The band came on doin' Hot Head. "This guy created punk," she said. "Yup. Lots more, very bulbous." Later on Cap performed Ash Tray Heart. We were dancing, and her eyes teared. I pulled out Trout Mask, and she still loathed it. By the time I got this record home, she'd left. I still think we'd be together today had she stayed and danced to Ash Tray Heart again. I still dance to it. This music is immortal.

I was in 1980, & that was when this stunning album came out [alongside Devo's Freedom of Choice & 'Totally Wired' single by the Fall]. A lot of the album is grunty/grungy riffs & Don's voice is as stronger as it ever was, unfortunately now it seems to be gone [check his 1994 poetry readings @ beefheart.com]. Hot Head starts it, & Making love to a Vampire... ends it w/ the best musical ending ever [I use it on my computer when i shut down]. It's not Trout but is still necessary. If you like this get Ice Cream For Crow too.

When you think Beefheart, you think fractured, challenging, jerky, hoarse. Doc at the Radar Station is all that, but it's also exhilarating, rhythmic, passionate, exciting, and accessible. There's an energy and focus here that no other Beefheart album quite comes up to. Odd instruments are used for flavour, not simply to throw the listener off balance -- check the way the mellotron in "Sue Egypt" takes over and seems to throw the entire song off, and yet the strong pulse of the song is still pulling it onwards underneath. Then there's the tribal stomp of "Run Paint Run Run", the petulant sneer of "Best Batch Yet", the infectious party rock of "Dirty Blue Gene". "Dirty Blue Gene", of course, also shows off Beefheart's love of puns and wordplay. There's the obvious pun in the title; there's also the wry observation that all of Beefheart's music is mutant blues, with its own dirty blue gene. It's just an example of the layers of meaning that make this album so worth coming back to. If only it was available in the US!

I loved this album when it came out in 1980 and I still do. "Best Batch Yet" is probably my favorite Beefheart song. It really kicks and the rhythm and structure of it I find totally unique and fascinating. "Sue Egypt" is lovely in a way only Don could make you appreciate. "Sheriff Of Hong Kong" is really wild and "Making Love To A Vampire..." is violent and nightmarish (dig that mellotron!) but ends with the affirmation, "Death be damned...LIFE!" DOC AT THE RADAR STATION is a real triumph, the last great album Beefheart made at a time when his influence was starting to be heard in groups like Gang Of Four, Pere Ubu, Tin Huey and others. Too bad he was so resentful of this (as heard in "Ashtray Heart"), but then maybe he was getting fed up with making records by this time anyway.

As a Unitarian, and a housewife, I often find myself wondering about the music my kids listen to these days. I am not "down" with many of the gangster-rap groups my 12-year-old likes, but I do try to keep up and guide him and my daughter down a good path. Back in my younger days, I used to live in San Francisco and there I heard many of the progressive rock groups of the late '60s and early '70s. Among those was the Grateful Dead, Country Joe and His Fish, Santana, the Flaming Groovies, Frank Zappa and many others, including Captain Beefheart. I have always liked Captain Beefheart, especially "Safe as Milk" and "The Spotlight Kid," as I have always thought the Blues have an element of religious feeling to them. When we moved away and I began a new life, I forgot about Captain Beefheart. Then one day a few months ago I bought this CD used in a small "independent" record shop, and I immediately fell in love with it. It does contain some harsh imagery and some swear words but it is just the right thing for those rushed and tense afternoons when I am trying to get ready for the kids' arrival from school, or preparing a meal. As you can imagine, many of my friends find this music frightening, but I think they are missing out on a wonderful and surrealistic experience. My husband Ben also likes it, as it fits in well with his time on the Stairmaster after work. From what I have been able to find out, Captain Beefheart is now a painter, and has suffered from a debilitating disease, and I would like to extend my hope that he is happy in his career now, and that he overcomes his disability. Now I am going to get "Abraxas" on CD and see how well it stands up to the new millenium.

This is Captain Beefheart's best album. Or "Lick My Decals Off, Baby," released ten years earlier, is. "Dirty Blue Gene" is the song that sums up what Beefheart did, I think--an incredible performance. By this point near the end of his career as a bandleader, Beefheart had changed his music. I think it was a case of having musicians who had digested the innovations of the work he did 1967-1970; some of the ideas on this classic album date from this fecund period. Not only is the music better played, more laid out for the listener--it's hard for me to understand how anyone could not grasp the rhythmic superstructure of this music--but there's a new (relative) simplicity and philosophical depth to the lyrics. "Best Batch Yet," for example, appears to be an examination of Beefheart's compositional method; it suggests that "overwhelming technique" creates false images because they're like "cardboard balls seamed in glue." There's a lot--a hell of a lot--of incredibly ingenious rhythmic ideas on "Doc" yet the album, tonally, is acrid. "Doc At The Radar Station" is one of those albums that attempts to be an examination of the conditions and cliches of music. Or you could look at it as a weird r & b album played with extremely heavy gauge guitar strings. It's a tossup, like I said, between this one and "Decals." And like I said, "Dirty Blue Gene" sums up Beefheart in under four minutes. And hey, don't forget "Safe As Milk" or "Clear Spot."

his best album since lick me decals off baby, it's back to 'hard to listen to music' . great musicianship of course. Bruce fowler on trombone is one of my faves. there is great rhythm on this album. standouts are 'sue egypt' 'run paint' 'dirty blue gene'

I remember the first time I heard this album I was simultaneously confused, and intrigued. My little stoned teenage brain couldn't comprehend the good Captain's music. Was this for real? Was it a joke? Yes to both questions. The music to be found on this album is absurd, polyrhythmic, complex, yet melodic and humorous. Its one of the only albums to make me laugh out loud with bemused joy.

Beefheart has a childlike delight in words for their own sake. The lyrics are very imagistic, "God please f--k my mind, for good" (as opposed to evil), sometimes nonsensical, and are delivered with all the styles in Beefhearts vocal arsenal. He moans, he screams, does his best Howling Wolf imitation, speaks his wickedly funny and clever lyrics and even sings a bit. Unlike much of his truly groundbreaking material like Trout Mask Replica or Lick My Decals Off Baby the music and lyrics are completely integrated. They compliment one another to a degree not found in any other Beefheart album. Enough praise can not be given The Magic Band for they are truly magically sympathetic to Beefhearts eccentric vision. This may well be Captain Beefhearts best album. Certainly its his funniest and most entertaining. As the Captain says "I think this is the best batch yet"

Here are some lyrics from "Ashtray Heart"

"Each pillow is counted out like a rock
The Mother-father figure
Somebody had too much to think!
Send your mother home your navel
Case of the punks!

Stood behind the curtain while they crushed me out
You used me like an ashtray heart"

With lyrics like that you know its gotta be good Beefheart.