Customer Reviews

Mama Kangaroos: Philly Women Sing Captain Beefheart

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

 

 

Mama Kangaroo's is no collection of basement tapes, but a very smoothly produced set of fully realized tracks. A well-thought out selection of Beefheart songs, performed with skill and commitment by a grab-bag of female (well, mostly, sort of) artists from Philadelphia's often underrated music scene.

In style, they range from folk to funk to straight blues, to the spooky spoken rhythms of Apes-Ma (my first favorite). The best of these covers take Beefheart's songs in new directions, revealing his beautiful songwriting in a way that's more accessible than the originals but takes nothing away from them. There are few weak spots. The songs are respected at the same time that they are used as artistic vehicles for a new generation of artists with their own visions and styles, and that's what makes a tribute album more than a bunch of covers.

This is an excellent collection that only fails to get a full five-star rating because it is, after all, a collection and not a single conceptual whole by one artist. Highly recommended for Beefheart aficionados and novices alike.

To the diehard Beefheart fan it would be easy to dismiss this set as travesty and pure novelty, however this misses the point. Most of the reworkings on this set bring out nuances of the originals that are easily overlooked. For me the delight has been listening back to the originals through the different perspective offered by these 'cover versions'

Inevitably some pieces are less inspired than others, but overall there are enough highlights to please all but the most rabid of Beefheart fanatics

'Plastic Factory' as THE seminal piece of garage rock anyone?

........to cap'n beefhart as well as to the philly music scene. The breadth of female talent in this city (and showcased on this album) is quite impressive.

well produced and very very good listening!