Lick My Decals Off Baby [IMPORT]

Captain Beefheart

Product Details

• Audio CD (January 23, 1997)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Wb
• ASIN: B000054A1M
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #398,400 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Space age couple, why don't you just do that?, February 16, 2003

By	Heavy Theta (Lorton, Va United States) - See all my reviews

I spent years hunting down the lp my first time around, so when the CD was first issued almost 20 years ago, I jumped on it before I even owned a player. There are few pieces of "popular music" that are unconditionally guaranteed to be the object of study a couple hundred years from now, but this album is a pretty safe bet. Simply brilliant. To say it is influential is practically ridiculous. Who else could play this stuff? Maybe Sun Ra, if his background was blues instead of jazz. Hard to recommend this, because I suspect (or at least kind of hope) that most people won't get more than a minute through the first song. Definitely designed for the few, the proud, and mainly, the adventurous. If you're into the Captain, spend anything to get this.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars We Love You, You Big Dummy, December 20, 2000

By	Sharon Daugherty "pookeez" (Denver) - See all my reviews

This is one of the best things Captain Beefheart ever did. More accomplished than "Trout Mask Replica" (which is a brilliant but messy blueprint), crazier than "Safe as Milk" and better-sung than "Doc at the Radar Station." Van Vliet was still at the peak of his powers on this one, and once you get past the apparent dissonance, "Decals" is actually a pretty easy record to take. "Woe-Is-A-Me-Bop" and "Bellerin' Plain" are both classics, as is the title track and "Doctor Dark," and the drumming and marimba playing are stellar. I understand Art Trip,percussionist on this landmark 1970 recording, now has his own chiropractic office in Mississippi, on the Gulf Coast. That's appropriate because what Beefheart did was take the irregular-metered blues of Mississippi guitarists like Skip James and rev it for the modern world; there is also a persistent hint of Latin music in much of what he does. Few people have ever made rhythms more repressive and more free, at the same time. It is an absolute crime that this record is only available in this very expensive import version. And "Flash Gordon's Ape" is absolutely nuts, one of the greatest things I have ever heard and just the thing to get you through heavy traffic in Atlanta, Los Angeles or any other place where the rhythm of everyday life is just too much.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lick My Decals Off, Baby, December 14, 2000

By	Wm B. Cundiff "a Lucky Pineapple" (Louisville, KY) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This follow-up to "Trout Mask Replica" had some deep shoes to fill... "Lick My Decals Off, Baby" proves, once again, that Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band was perhaps the ONLY band of their era to constantly strive for individuality, and produce a sound like no other. No pop-radio hits here. Just the off-the-wall, chaotic mix of jazz, blues, and avant-garde rock'n'roll that the world came to expect from the Captain and Crew. Songs like "Woe-Is-Uh-Me-Bop" and the title track, present Beefheart exactly as he is/was: a collage artist of sound. A TRUE artist. Incredible record, my favorite by Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band.