# The Strange Music of the Magic band



## EddieRUKiddingVarese (Jan 8, 2013)

Someone had to do it ................ lol


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## BiscuityBoyle (Feb 5, 2018)

You mean Beefheart?

This is one of my favorite records: imaginative, sounds like nothing else AND perfectly crafted (which is not always the case with Trout Mask Replica).


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## EddieRUKiddingVarese (Jan 8, 2013)

Yep, You got it the Magic Band deserve their own listing here. Think they only ceased to exist in the last year or two


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## Casebearer (Jan 19, 2016)

Thank god it's finally here. The ULTIMATE STRANGE MAGIC thread. (Sorry Strange Magic but nothing beats THIS magic).

Nothing illustrates this better in my opinion than the unique _Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller)_ album. Every track on this album is an astonishing illustration of the magic of the Magic Band. The guitars, the brass, the drumming, the voice. The melodies, the rhythms. The tight playing, the atmosphere the songs conjure up. There are no words for this. You can add up all of the music of the eighties and nineties, compare that to this album and still have some room to spare.


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## BiscuityBoyle (Feb 5, 2018)

Casebearer said:


> You can add up all of the music of the eighties and nineties, compare that to this album and still have some room to spare.


I'll never understand why one needs to put down other great music to praise that which one loves but *shrug emoji*

It *is* a great album, Beefheart's return to form after the attempt to go mainstream misfired hilariously. When I was DJing in small, smelly, college-student-frequented pubs in my younger days, I'd often play Tropical Hot Dog Night (among other Beefheart crowd pleasers like Zig Zag Wanderer and Click Clack) and know that this was the first exposure to Beefheart for some folks, because they told me so! Good times...


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## Casebearer (Jan 19, 2016)

BiscuityBoyle said:


> I'll never understand why one needs to put down other great music to praise that which one loves but *shrug emoji*


Because it wasn't great music (in general of course, there are exceptions) and the way music turned at that time was a very severe disappointment in my life. I can still feel the pain because it was the first time I realized life isn't about things getting better all the time.


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## Phil loves classical (Feb 8, 2017)

what a coincidence this was started not too long ago

The Strange Music of Captain Beefheart


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## EddieRUKiddingVarese (Jan 8, 2013)

Ah but the Magic Band also existed in its own right too. led by Drumbo 

https://bandonthewall.org/2017/08/interview-john-drumbo-french/


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## Phil loves classical (Feb 8, 2017)

EddieRUKiddingVarese said:


> Ah but the Magic Band also existed in its own right too. led by Drumbo
> 
> https://bandonthewall.org/2017/08/interview-john-drumbo-french/


Didn't know that. The 2000's are way past my generation, in music at least


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## BiscuityBoyle (Feb 5, 2018)

Casebearer said:


> Because it wasn't great music (in general of course, there are exceptions) and the way music turned at that time was a very severe disappointment in my life. I can still feel the pain because it was the first time I realized life isn't about things getting better all the time.


Whatever was in the charts, an era that produced Pere Ubu, Kate Bush, The Talking Heads, Joy Division, The Stranglers, The Clash, PIL, Sonic Youth, The Cure, The Fall, Japan, Police, Banshees, Snakefinger and Wire, among many others, did not lack for great music, and I'm only citing artists who were active in the very narrow period of the New Wave boom... And there are absolute masterworks like Swordfishtrombones, Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) and some others. It's not like most 1960s music wasn't garbage...

Back to Beefheart though, this is a song and a half


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## Casebearer (Jan 19, 2016)

BiscuityBoyle said:


> Whatever was in the charts, an era that produced Pere Ubu, Kate Bush, The Talking Heads, Joy Division, The Stranglers, The Clash, PIL, Sonic Youth, The Cure, The Fall, Japan, Police, Banshees, Snakefinger and Wire, among many others, did not lack for great music, and I'm only citing artists who were active in the very narrow period of the New Wave boom... And there are absolute masterworks like Swordfishtrombones, Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) and some others. It's not like most 1960s music wasn't garbage...


I agree. Most of what you mention is great music and Pere Ubu is one of my lifetime favorites. I also love The Residents / Snakefinger, Tom Waits and Nick Cave a lot. But all of these were a minority thing from the start, you had to be part of a certain subculture to know about them and you never (except for a few) heard them on the radio. And that's what I meant: mainstream music - the things you hear on the radio or see on the telly - that's what changed completely after the seventies.


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## BiscuityBoyle (Feb 5, 2018)

Ahh I see, I've come of age in the internet era so that was never an issue for me.

Out of curiosity, what of the list I cited is _not_ great music for you? Not gonna argue as it's all a matter of taste obviously (I don't care for Nick Cave, though I do respect him as an artist) but just curious..


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## Casebearer (Jan 19, 2016)

Yes, that's important. It would be as if your music is not on YT or Spotify and you'd have to go to some internet radio to listen to your favorites

I won't argue with your taste at all. All you mentioned is great music. I selected what is the most important for me. But not caring for Nick Cave? I don't know about that. He's the only one in my opinion that has delevired unique and great music for decades now. The only one that I can compare to the greats of the 60's and 70's.


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## BiscuityBoyle (Feb 5, 2018)

Well, not everyone must love the same artists, however great, that's the beauty of it. And there are a few others active today who make music that's as good as anything done in the past, mostly in electronica and hip hop.

Anyhow enough about other artists. This spoken word masterpiece was always one of my favorite tracks on TMR


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