Customer Reviews

Lunar Notes: Zoot Horn Rollo's Captain Beefheart Experience (Music)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

While Captain Beefheart fans will eat up the song-by-song dissection of the group's most important albums, this short volume is a brutal read. There is no vision or point of view here beyond Harkleroad's gentle attempt to reclaim some musical contributions that have been credited to the Captain. Is he disillusioned? Proud? Philosphical? Bored? You never really find out as he vaccilates between light bitterness and grudging admiration for Beefheart, a.k.a. Don Van Vliet --- a man whose personality is so poorly conveyed that you never get a sense of what he was really like. For example, Harkleroad talks about Van Vliet's brainwashing and manipulation without ever really explaining what those tactics involved. Shockingly, Harkleroad had a collaborator who supposedly put the whole thing together. Clearly, this collaborator is no editor: grammatical mistakes and sloppy errors pop up way too often. The best way to approach it is to imagine you are buying Zoot a few rounds at the local bar, Beefheart collection in hand, and asking him to reminisce.

Bill aka Zoot Horn Rollo may sound bitter regarding his days with Captain Beefheart but it in many ways is typical in the Music Business. The money goes to who set themselves up to get it with contracts and the like. Zoot signed a bad deal and in retrospect is bitter. That being said this book is very insightful on the real persona of Don Van Vliet(Capt Beefheart)Like most successful people he got there by using others to his advantage. A nice easy read that is less than flattering at times to the beef but the truth is kinda funny that way.

Zoot Horn Rollo,aka Bill Harkleroad fills the gaps in Captain Beefheart's murky history without the worshipful reverence of the Captain's followers or the dismissive smugness of his detractors. As guitarist in a 'cult of personality' band,Bill was forced to render his leader's artistic vision into musical form. This process seems to have been full of struggle,and a bitter tone creeps in from time to time,despite his obvious affection and respect for Beefheart's huge talent(and ego). A good insider's account of an enigmatic group. Most readers,however,will be put off by the conversational tone of the book,which seems to have been poorly ghostwritten. The thoughts and feelings of the author come through clearly,but I was left feeling more like I'd heard an interview than read a personal account. I am a fan of Harkleroad's guitar playing,and interested in his musical history,so I found it interesting and it did fill in many unknowns for me. Those not familiar with Captain Beefheart will be bored. A cult book for a cult band.

After reading Captain Beefheart interviews for decades it's refreshing to hear what the other guys in the Magic Band have to say about creating their innovative music.
This book is a very rare glimpse into the Magic Band by one of their most talented members. Beefheart prefers to shroud his work in mystery, but Zoot Horn Rollo is here to tell the tale. I enjoyed his book a lot.

The "Trout Mask Replica" era Magic Band were an amazing group of people that did amazing things during an amazing time. This wonderful book takes us into that central place. Harkleroad has a weird way of expressing himself, like he's so involved in his music that he has all these strange shorthand terms he's had to coin. It's great. I also got a big kick out of Harkleroad's put down of guitar "god" Jimmy Page. Great book for anyone interested in Beefheart and his music, and experimental music in general.

This is a fascinating glimpse into Planet Beefheart. Bill Harkleroad was Beefheart's guitarist (and quite possibly co-composer), and he's written something that will be enjoyed by all of us Beefheart fans. Zoot's attitude towards the music varies a bit: he loves Lick My Decals Off (rightly), has a guarded respect for Trout Mask, loathes The Spotlight Kid (have to disagree with him on that one), really likes Clear Spot, and utterly dismisses Unconditionally Guaranteed (quite rightly).

As a writer, Zoot is a great slide-guitarist. The anecdotes and discussion about the music are mostly enjoyable, and sometimes very disturbing. Unfortunately, the book lacks real cohesion. As a previous reviewer stated, this book is more of a conversation with Zoot than a literary work. Bill Harkleroad seems awfully bitter about the Captain after all these years (probably justifiably), and I feel that this book was written in order to, at least partially, close a chapter in Bill's life. In any event, thanks to both Zoot and the Captain for creating some of the greatest music of the twentieth century.

This is a very worthwhile book if you want to know what REALLY happened during the time that the CB band was first formed. At least, according to Zoot Horn Rollo, this is how it was...

Not that I doubt Zoot, you understand. I just think that he has his view, and the Captain has his, and everyone has their own...

Nevertheless, I imagine most of what Zoot says here is a fairly accurate portrayal of those early Beefheartian times... and for that, it is very enjoyable, very interesting reading...

If you're a fan of Beefheart and his music, you've got to read this. It's the only book in town, for the time being.

"There are only 40 people in the world, and 5 of them are hamburgers." - Don Van Vliet

-Dr. Whitestein was here on 05/26/00

The Beefheart fan should not expect too much from this book.It is very readable(you can finish it in a couple of hours) but it reads like no more than an extended magazine article- a chat with ZHR. There is little solid factual stuff here and no use made of contemporary interviews and reviews.No discography.It is a pleasant read and is as much as you would expect from someone who was 19 at the time and is a musician not a writer. It is good to have the insiders view of the Beefheart band but the more I find out about the creation of great pieces of music the more amazed I am that the thing ever got done-particularly by these people in those circumstances. A spark started the fire and the spark was Beefheart.

Zoot Horn Rollo gives a fairly objective view of life within the Magic Band. More informative for debunking of myths than new insights, it will none the less get Beefheart fans replaying the songs and listening to them in a a new light. Ignore ZHR's bitterness and concentrate on the positive observations.

Since we grew up in Palmdale and both graduated from Palmdale High (me two years later), I've always had an vague hometown kinship with Bill, even though we may have only passed each other in the hallway once or twice. I didn't even know he was Zoot Horn Rollo until the mid-90's, when I read this book. The Magic Band came mostly from the Antelope Valley, and we all had similar backgrounds and experiences. That being said, my path diverged in an entirely different direction from Bill!

There has always been an air of mystery surrounding the Magic Band, partially because they were so bizarre, but also because they were not all that popular in their heyday. They are more of a band that has come to be appreciated long after they disbanded. When I found this book, I couldn't wait to read it as it was the first glimpses inside the workings of probably the strangest band on the planet.

Unlike others, I enjoyed the conversational style of the book. It shows the bizarre cult-like inner workings during the making of Trout Mask Replica and then Lick My Decals Off. I was fascinated from page one right until the end. It also includes other albums and times, but the making of those two albums provide the best parts.

The book is short and can be read in one evening, but it is a real treasure as it gives a side of things that has never been told before. Sure there are obvious editing problems, but when I read it the first time, I was not as heavy into writing and editing as I am now and didn't notice the typos and grammar errors. I don't hold that against him, especially since it was ghost written.

If you are a fan of the Beefheart saga, this is an essential book. It tells things from the inside like no other book has done until now, when John French's Through The Eyes of Magic comes out.

Bill is quite bitter about some things, and given the nature of his relationship with Don, I'm not a bit surprised. He, as well as the other Magic Band members, all got screwed financially, and to make it worse, the lack of popularity in their heyday didn't lead to much financial security. With virtually no rights beyond their time in the band, as their legacy has gained popularity, they are not getting a thing for it from the sale of CD's or just about anything else that they participated in at the time.

Despite its flaws, this is an essential part of the story and I highly recommend it to Beefheart fans and anyone just curious as to how such weird music was invented.