Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band - 'Clear Spot' (Reprise)

I know I just ranted about The Spotlight Kid mostly sucking because it's so commercial, but for some reason I kinda like Clear Spot even though it contains some of the most overtly smooth, "inside" tunes of the orthodox Beefheart canon. I mean, 'Too Much Time' has Van Vliet sounding like a lounge crooner, with bright brassy horns and some genuine balladry -- yet I'm okay with this. I think it's all to do with the production. The Spotlight Kid sounds pretty shitty, while Clear Spot is bright and bold, and because of that I think it somehow sounds weirder. Plus, there's a balance here. For every 'Her Eyes Are A Blue Million Miles' (a tune I actually like cause of Lebowski), it's immediately followed by a crunchy stomper like 'Big Eyed Beans from Venus'. Likewise, 'My Head is My Only House Unless it Rains' has 'Sun Zoom Spark' after it, and 'Sun Zoom Spark' is an awesome song. I kinda think that the problem is in how Beefheart tried to embrace a larger market. I mean, the stuff from Safe as Milk is fairly "accessible", meaning it doesnt sound totally insane like Lick My Decals Off does -- but it's somehow not as squeaky clean as this. Maybe on The Spotlight Kid Beefheart was trying to write music based on what he thought other people wanted to here, whereas on Clear Spot he's being himself a little bit more. Cause the man was -- is -- human, right? Lots of points go to the packaging, being one solid card with a clear mylar sleeve where the words/logo "Clear Spot" are embossed in a pretty cool idea. Unfortunately my copy has yellowed and the flap is starting to fall off - but this is a radio station copy from some station called WCCB, which the internet tells me is Baltimore community college. This isn't my favorite Beefheart record by any stretch, but it's definitely a keeper (even if there's no Drumbo).

10cc - 'How Dare You' (Mercury)

Source: not sure, but I think I got this for trade at Jerry's on 23 Aug 2003.

It's a demo copy, not a promo, according to the embossed gold stamp on the back cover of this (fab) gatefold cover, the inner spread of which was photographed by Hieronymous Bosch in the mid 1970's through a bizarre artist-in-resurrection program that 10cc led. Because 10cc are not just genius musicians, they are inventors.

After all, these Brits were in Hotlegs, who put out the brilliant Thinks: School Stinks LP in 1970, a masterpiece if there ever was one. Six years later, here's a set of mostly sunshine and breezes, made years later after the sweet taste of success. But 10cc aren't just the sound of wind - they are masters of the 'creeping breeze', which you can hear in 'Lazy Ways', 'I'm Mandy Fly Me', etc. Plenty of gobstoppers have recorded gentle breezes, but only a true apostle can make it creep - with just the right chord change or delicate shift, that breeze is up in your grill before you can fight it away, clinging to that surprise diminished 7th. I could live without the parts that sound like the Teletubbies' discussing an all-night Pac-man tournament, but again, those breezes, those breezes! Divorce-rock at its finest. Godley and Creme split after this one and made a triple LP concept album with Peter Cook featuring some primitive e-bow they built, sadly not in my collection.