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''Trout Mask Replica'' is the third album by Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band, released in June 1969. Produced by Beefheart's friend and former schoolmate Frank Zappa, it was originally released as a double album on Zappa's Straight Records label. Combining elements of blues, avant-garde, free jazz and other genres of American music,〔 the album is regarded as an important work of experimental music. Most of ''Trout Mask Replica'' was recorded in March 1969 at Whitney Studios in Los Angeles, California. The lineup of the Magic Band at this time consisted of Bill Harkleroad and Jeff Cotton on guitar, Mark Boston on bass guitar, Victor Hayden on bass clarinet, and John French on drums and percussion. Beefheart played several brass and woodwind instruments (including saxophone, musette, and hunting horn) and contributed most of the vocal parts, while Zappa and members of the band provided occasional vocals and narration. The well-rehearsed Magic Band recorded all instrumental tracks〔Excluding the "home recordings" and "Moonlight on Vermont" and "Veteran's Day Poppy", recorded in 1968〕 for ''Trout Mask Replica'' in a single six-hour recording session; Van Vliet's vocal and horn tracks were laid down over the next few days. Upon release in the US, ''Trout Mask Replica'' sold poorly and failed to chart. It was more successful in the UK, where it spent a week at #21.〔Brown, Tony; Kutner, Jon; Warwick, Neil. ''The Complete Book of the British Charts: Singles & Albums'' (Omnibus Press, 2004), p. 205〕 Today, ''Trout Mask Replica'' is widely regarded as the masterpiece of Van Vliet's musical career, as well as one of the most influential rock albums ever recorded. The album's highly unconventional musical style, which includes polyrhythm, multi-octave vocals, and atonality, continues to polarize audiences, and has contributed to its reputation as one of the most challenging recordings in the 20th century musical canon. It ranked #60 on ''Rolling Stones ''500 Greatest Albums of All Time'' list (2012), and appears on many similar lists. Allmusic's Steve Huey wrote that "its inspiring reimagining of what was possible in a rock context laid the groundwork for countless future experiments in rock surrealism, especially during the punk/new wave era."〔 ==Background== Beefheart and the Magic Band had a history of difficult relationships with their recording labels. A&M released the group's first single, a cover of Bo Diddley's "Diddy Wah Diddy", but dropped the contract after their first two singles failed to produce hits. Buddah Records released the band's (and the label's) first album, 1967's ''Safe as Milk''. Soon afterward Buddah began specializing in "bubblegum pop", a style in which Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band had no place, and the group again found themselves without a record label. In late 1967 and the spring of 1968 the group had several sets of recording sessions for what became the ''Strictly Personal'' and ''Mirror Man'' albums, but due to contractual uncertainties they did not know if the material would ever be released. Around this time Van Vliet's high school friend Frank Zappa started his own pair of record labels, Bizarre and Straight, and offered Captain Beefheart, a name Zappa had given him, the opportunity to record an album with complete artistic freedom. The result was ''Trout Mask Replica''. The group rehearsed Van Vliet's difficult compositions for eight months, living communally in a small rented house in the Woodland Hills suburb of Los Angeles. Van Vliet implemented his vision by asserting complete artistic and emotional domination of his musicians. At various times one or another of the group members was put "in the barrel", with Van Vliet berating him continually, sometimes for days, until the musician collapsed in tears or in total submission to Van Vliet. According to John French and Bill Harkleroad these sessions often included physical violence. French described the situation as "cultlike" and a visiting friend said "the environment in that house was positively Manson-esque."〔Barnes, Mike. ''Captain Beefheart.'' Quartet Books, ISBN 0-7043-8073-0.〕 Their material circumstances also were dire. With no income other than welfare and contributions from relatives, the group survived on a bare subsistence diet. French recounted living on no more than a small cup of soybeans a day for a month〔 and at one point band members were arrested for shoplifting food (with Zappa bailing them out). A visitor described their appearance as "cadaverous" and said that "they all looked in poor health". Band members were restricted from leaving the house and practiced for 14 or more hours a day. Vliet once told drummer John French he had been diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic and thus he would see nonexistent conspiracies that explained this behaviour.〔("Don't argue the Captain" )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「Trout Mask Replica」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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