‘Trout Mask Replica’ Part 2.

‘Trout Mask Replica’ was Captain Beefheart, for the first time, managing to create a musical space in which he could breathe - and express himself - completely naturally (see ABON 0131).

Maybe ‘Trout Mask’ turned out to be such an unusual and fascinating record because the subject matter - what was inside the Captain waiting to get out - was so unusual and fascinating.

Maybe.

But I have a slightly different view. I think a record that manages to express accurately and precisely what really is inside ANYONE would turn out to be unusual and fascinating. The problem is that getting it out - really getting it out, warts and all, in some kind of pure state – is rare because it’s such a difficult business.

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‘Trout Mask Replica’ Part 1.

‘Trout Mask Replica’ is an album that broke just about every rule in the Rock’n'Roll book.

Musically there are practically no melodies. Few ’tunes’ that you can hum along to. Ridiculously unusual time signatures are difficult enough in their own right, but when each instrument plays to a different one within the same song, even the most ardent of foot-tappers is liable to give up. And just for good measure, the instruments don’t seem to be playing the roles they normally do within Rock - even weird Rock. The drums don’t often create a beat that drives the songs. The last thing the bass is doing is providing any kind of metronomic framework for the other instruments to play on top of. In fact, in total contrast, it’s often the most melodic instrument on the album.

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A vocal track-only version of ABON 0043. Made possible by Lee Perry releasing the track in basic 2-channel format, which means that you can (almost) isolate the vocals from the rhythm track by turning one speaker off.

Listening to Bob Marley singing his vocals in isolation is such a spine-chilling experience that I’ve posted the vocal-only version as well.

Recorded 1969.

The sessions are available on many compilations. However the only one I know for sure that exists in the original 2-channel format is the 2 CD set ‘Soul Revolution Volumes 1 and 2′ which I think is not currently available new: Amazon. And the version on this post only exists when you turn the left speaker off – a trick I was first introduced to by my Reggae-loving friend, Luc Basier.

There are two things that make this track special.

First of all, it was in the sessions that created ‘Don’t Rock My Boat’ that the Reggae Beat of the ’70′s was effectively created.
Although they had released many singles since their first in 1963, it wasn’t until 1969 that The Wailers first recorded with Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry behind the controls of the mixing desk. The Perry-produced sessions were a revelation and a landmark. Rougher and less polished than the Wailers’ or Bob Marley’s later recordings for Island Record, they also have none of the Rock leanings (such as the lead guitar figures) of the later work. What they do have however is the first fully developed Reggae Beat. It feels like all the various, often wonderful, musical styles and experiments of Jamaican music in the ’60′s finally get distilled into the way forward that everyone been looking for all along. Delivered in beautifully pure unadulterated form. No need for superfluous effects or solos because they had discovered the rhythm. And in the first glow of discovery The Wailers (and even Lee Perry who would warp it to within an inch of its life over the next 10 years) decided to leave it in all its naked new-born glory.

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