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Beefheart: Through the Eyes of Magic
Good read by The Magic Band's drummer, Drumbo.
- GenresMusicBiographyNonfiction
880 pages, Hardcover
First published January 11, 2010
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
June 6, 2016
Don Vliet - he added the van for a bit of swagger - was an extraordinary man, brilliant and outrageous - troutrageous, if you will. I've loved his music since I was that thin boy I used to be. I saw Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band twice and both gigs are in my all time top ten. His music was all compressed bounding agility, all electric, howling, mad in every way, ecstatic, as religious as I ever wanted to be, you couldn't sing along to it, or you could if you didn't mind someone calling the police, you couldn't dance to it but it was made from people, along with plants and animals and stars and roots gnarled like rakers, and trains that house your thoughts and your very belongings.
So a little bit of disrespect is called for. This reverence is killing me.
A REVIEW OF THIS BOOK
John French was the brilliant unique drummer for most of the time Captain Beefheart was recording (1966 to 1981). This book is very obviously his gargantuan, un-proof-read, unedited first draft of 864 small-print pages which reads as if it was spewed forth into a dictaphone or speed-typed into a laptop and never on a point of principal re-read by the author. What a hideous obsessive-compulsive nightmare of a document this is - yet another rockbook which reveals that the author needs some serious psychological intervention - compare Chuck Berry's self-hagiography, John Fahey's Vampire Vultures memoir and Brian Wilson's painful and aptly titled "Wouldn't it be Nice". The 112 people who will slog through the whole of the 864 pages deserve medals and an intense course of counselling.
Buried under this Everest of repetition and hour-by-hour irrelevance there might - just might - be an interesting 300 page book on Captain Beefheart & the Magic Band - after all, they did made a series of stunningly original records which left their contemporaries stumbling around in awe and terror and left the musicians themselves marooned on the further edge of weirdness, venerated by a few hundred fans, ignored by everyone else, making zero money and, of course, for their pains, having to put up with Don Van Vliet, Captain Beefheart himself, the great panjandrum of 25th century blues, a silver-tongued bull-throated roaring charlatan who spun 25 self-admiring myths before he'd had breakfast. Every day.
It was no picnic, and John French is very keen to tell you how horrible being in the Magic Band was most of the time. The extreme poverty was the least of it. The band was run by Beefheart in the same way your average cult leader runs his cult. So you would get the band living communally and being subjected by Beefheart to extreme social isolation, starvation and that most delightful of brainwashing techniques, scapegoating. This happens in many places - the leader (Beefheart in this case) picks out a group member (could be Jimmy Semens one week, Rockette Morton the next, John French the week after that) and blames him for screwing up some song or another, or generally bringing everyone down with his miserable vibe, or eating too much bread, or anything. Beefheart would then subject the individual to hours of verbal abuse, cranking up the menace and browbeating everyone else to join in, until the scapegoat was taking insults escalating to physical violence from all the others. Ribs were broken at times, fists were used.
Us Beefheart fans kind of knew this stuff already but not in this tremendous gut-wrenching detail. So we have our standard art paradox - how is it that music which I find very joyous and exciting, very happy and uplifting stuff, was made out of such bullying abusive horrible conditions? I don't know the answer to that, but it happens a lot. Maybe it goes back to the Cuckoo Clock speech in The Third Man, maybe that's the explanation. *
Well, anyway, here is a vast, almost unreadable book which I will not be recommending to anyone. Listen to the records instead. Start with Safe As Milk and go all the way to Ice Cream for Crow.
AND NOW A PARODY OF THIS BOOK
I was 19 and very naive. I had only met three human beings in my entire life. When Don drove several four inch nails into Bill Harkleroad's head one day, explaining that he wanted to keep his (Don's) idea's in Bills (Zoot Horn's') brain because he (Bill) kept forgetting them, I though this was normal. I did not realise until 37 years later that it was not normal. Although we lived in crazy cult brainwashing conditions, and on more than one occasion Charles Manson came to discuss mind control techniques with Don, still we did produce music which I think is valid, such as My Human Gets Me Blues. For that track I was tied to a wolverine for three days and three nights while Don whistled the tune and the guitar parts to Bill who translated them into Morse Code and relayed them to me. I transcribed them for the other members to play. The wolverine was there to ensure I thought of animals and how they were smarter than us while I was transcribing the parts.
It remains a valid musical statement all these years later, except for the bass which was recorded very badly, and because the wolverine had eaten most of my left leg , some of the drum parts were too technically difficult by the time we came to record My Human Gets Me Blues. Also, of course, Dons vocal overdubbing technique, as usual, left much to be desired. He did not believe in headphones or in being in the same studio as the tape machine playing the song, all technology was a mystery to him. I believe he was in Oregon when he recorded the vocals for My Human Gets Me Blues and to compensate for being 200 miles away from the studio he bellowed very loudly, as can be heard. The guitar parts played by Jimmy Semens are also somewhat muted as he had not eaten for three weeks. Bearing in mind these circumstances, I believe this track still makes a very valid musical statement.
**************
* Cuckoo Clock Speech, written by Orson Welles:
"You know what the fellow said – in Italy, for thirty years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland, they had brotherly love, they had five hundred years of democracy and peace – and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock."
So a little bit of disrespect is called for. This reverence is killing me.
A REVIEW OF THIS BOOK
John French was the brilliant unique drummer for most of the time Captain Beefheart was recording (1966 to 1981). This book is very obviously his gargantuan, un-proof-read, unedited first draft of 864 small-print pages which reads as if it was spewed forth into a dictaphone or speed-typed into a laptop and never on a point of principal re-read by the author. What a hideous obsessive-compulsive nightmare of a document this is - yet another rockbook which reveals that the author needs some serious psychological intervention - compare Chuck Berry's self-hagiography, John Fahey's Vampire Vultures memoir and Brian Wilson's painful and aptly titled "Wouldn't it be Nice". The 112 people who will slog through the whole of the 864 pages deserve medals and an intense course of counselling.
Buried under this Everest of repetition and hour-by-hour irrelevance there might - just might - be an interesting 300 page book on Captain Beefheart & the Magic Band - after all, they did made a series of stunningly original records which left their contemporaries stumbling around in awe and terror and left the musicians themselves marooned on the further edge of weirdness, venerated by a few hundred fans, ignored by everyone else, making zero money and, of course, for their pains, having to put up with Don Van Vliet, Captain Beefheart himself, the great panjandrum of 25th century blues, a silver-tongued bull-throated roaring charlatan who spun 25 self-admiring myths before he'd had breakfast. Every day.
It was no picnic, and John French is very keen to tell you how horrible being in the Magic Band was most of the time. The extreme poverty was the least of it. The band was run by Beefheart in the same way your average cult leader runs his cult. So you would get the band living communally and being subjected by Beefheart to extreme social isolation, starvation and that most delightful of brainwashing techniques, scapegoating. This happens in many places - the leader (Beefheart in this case) picks out a group member (could be Jimmy Semens one week, Rockette Morton the next, John French the week after that) and blames him for screwing up some song or another, or generally bringing everyone down with his miserable vibe, or eating too much bread, or anything. Beefheart would then subject the individual to hours of verbal abuse, cranking up the menace and browbeating everyone else to join in, until the scapegoat was taking insults escalating to physical violence from all the others. Ribs were broken at times, fists were used.
Us Beefheart fans kind of knew this stuff already but not in this tremendous gut-wrenching detail. So we have our standard art paradox - how is it that music which I find very joyous and exciting, very happy and uplifting stuff, was made out of such bullying abusive horrible conditions? I don't know the answer to that, but it happens a lot. Maybe it goes back to the Cuckoo Clock speech in The Third Man, maybe that's the explanation. *
Well, anyway, here is a vast, almost unreadable book which I will not be recommending to anyone. Listen to the records instead. Start with Safe As Milk and go all the way to Ice Cream for Crow.
AND NOW A PARODY OF THIS BOOK
I was 19 and very naive. I had only met three human beings in my entire life. When Don drove several four inch nails into Bill Harkleroad's head one day, explaining that he wanted to keep his (Don's) idea's in Bills (Zoot Horn's') brain because he (Bill) kept forgetting them, I though this was normal. I did not realise until 37 years later that it was not normal. Although we lived in crazy cult brainwashing conditions, and on more than one occasion Charles Manson came to discuss mind control techniques with Don, still we did produce music which I think is valid, such as My Human Gets Me Blues. For that track I was tied to a wolverine for three days and three nights while Don whistled the tune and the guitar parts to Bill who translated them into Morse Code and relayed them to me. I transcribed them for the other members to play. The wolverine was there to ensure I thought of animals and how they were smarter than us while I was transcribing the parts.
It remains a valid musical statement all these years later, except for the bass which was recorded very badly, and because the wolverine had eaten most of my left leg , some of the drum parts were too technically difficult by the time we came to record My Human Gets Me Blues. Also, of course, Dons vocal overdubbing technique, as usual, left much to be desired. He did not believe in headphones or in being in the same studio as the tape machine playing the song, all technology was a mystery to him. I believe he was in Oregon when he recorded the vocals for My Human Gets Me Blues and to compensate for being 200 miles away from the studio he bellowed very loudly, as can be heard. The guitar parts played by Jimmy Semens are also somewhat muted as he had not eaten for three weeks. Bearing in mind these circumstances, I believe this track still makes a very valid musical statement.
**************
* Cuckoo Clock Speech, written by Orson Welles:
"You know what the fellow said – in Italy, for thirty years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland, they had brotherly love, they had five hundred years of democracy and peace – and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock."
May 7, 2014
In my presence, although Beefheart was bewildering with his strange manner of speech, he was always charming, so I was as surprised as other readers to learn of his bullying and cruel ways, something that John French tells with unflinching honesty. This is not surprising since John French was there and lived through those dreadful days while the band rehearsed and prepared for Trout Mask Replica. I visited their house in the summer of 1968 with Frank Zappa's wife, Gail, and saw for myself the poverty of the band's conditions. Indeed, we took food and drinks because we knew they were starving and I relate the scene in my own book, Freak Out! My Life with Frank Zappa. Any Beefheart fan would be amiss not to have John French's tome on their shelf.
January 16, 2021
John French is an awful, whining, asshole Christian with big Boomer energy up the wazoo. Seldom have I suffered through so much to gain information that I really wanted. This whole book is like paying to sit in and listen to the therapy sessions of a grousing, old, woman-beating dick for weeks on end. This book made me so depressed for weeks that I had to put him away for a bit and read other books just to clear my mind of John French. I did want to finish it though and finally I just skipped vast sections of his opinions and stuck to the blackened interview text. It still took me over 4 months to wade through the swamp that is this brick of a book. It can not be repeated enough how repetitive this book is. It is just a blog rant printed out and bound. It definitely would require major editing to not be the slog that it is. I am sure that it was a difficult time with minimal pay offs for Drumbo but damn man (!) it sucked to have to read him go on and on about it for almost 900 pages! He remembers next to nothing of any concert but remembers every passing slight made 40 years prior by bandmates, passing young women, waiters in foreign restaurants (!), and just every god damn thing in the world. This was an exhausting read that I couldn't recommend to anyone but the most ardent fans who may, ironically, hate it for the same reasons that I did. I am so glad to be done with this book.
September 8, 2011
In “Beefheart: Through the eyes of magic” John “Drumbo” French tells his story from his birth in 1948 right up to the release of his solo album “City Of Refuge” in 2008. With chapters on pre-Beefheart bands & line-ups, later collaborations with Henry Kaiser & Richard Thompson and including a post-Beefheart 21st-century Magic Band album and tour, this book covers a substantial amount. Many people may initially read this for the obvious Don Van Vliet (a.k.a. Captain Beefheart) connections but end up finishing it with a renewed, and fully justified, appreciation for The Magic Band and its individual members, of which the author has been a driving force since joining as a seventeen year old in 1966.
Having already read and enjoyed the Mike Barnes biography I was curious as to what more could be said on the subject, and the answer is a resounding PLENTY! Fourteen years (off & on) as a band member with Don Van Vliet, with eight albums behind him, gives French the authority to write and publish this unique insight into the world of Beefheart. Using his memories of these times and including interviews with many of the leading cast of this remarkable story French manages to paint a disturbing picture of Van Vliet's demanding and often manipulative means of achieving his music, including the legendary “Trout House” era in 1969 which was to prove to be particularly intense both mentally and physically to members of the band.
Although Beefheart fans will love this I think that any music fan, and possibly one or two psychiatrists, will, after getting used to the initial interview format (which becomes more orthodox as the chapters go on), appreciate the detailed "insider" nature of this book on one of the greatest artist/s in modern music. "Through the Eyes of Magic" is a monster of a book in terms of physical size, the sheer amount of information revealed within its 864 pages, and also the amount of entertainment to be had simply by reading it. Coupled with detailed track notes and never before published photos, this book is “must read” material for old & new Beefheart fan alike.
Having already read and enjoyed the Mike Barnes biography I was curious as to what more could be said on the subject, and the answer is a resounding PLENTY! Fourteen years (off & on) as a band member with Don Van Vliet, with eight albums behind him, gives French the authority to write and publish this unique insight into the world of Beefheart. Using his memories of these times and including interviews with many of the leading cast of this remarkable story French manages to paint a disturbing picture of Van Vliet's demanding and often manipulative means of achieving his music, including the legendary “Trout House” era in 1969 which was to prove to be particularly intense both mentally and physically to members of the band.
Although Beefheart fans will love this I think that any music fan, and possibly one or two psychiatrists, will, after getting used to the initial interview format (which becomes more orthodox as the chapters go on), appreciate the detailed "insider" nature of this book on one of the greatest artist/s in modern music. "Through the Eyes of Magic" is a monster of a book in terms of physical size, the sheer amount of information revealed within its 864 pages, and also the amount of entertainment to be had simply by reading it. Coupled with detailed track notes and never before published photos, this book is “must read” material for old & new Beefheart fan alike.
July 10, 2017
a friend of mine who told me of this book burned his copy in his backyard in a kinda hoodoo dismissal of Frenchs' bad vibes bitterness towards the Captain. personally the service of a more astute n assertive editor would have increased my fondness towards the book as some of the repetitions were excruciating n really slowed the pace of what was lets face it a potentially fascinating insight into one of the most singular artists in the history of American rock. i remember wanting to hear Beefheart after reading of his influence on music i liked (Butthole Surfers etc) n thinking "John Peel plays him!" .so i turned the radio on about 8.30 "voodoo ho-down ...voodoo ho-down...then the boot came down..." n i thought to myself i bet thats him a fact confirmed by Peel a couple of minutes later .kismet, synchronicty n that
there have been times when i have been quite obsessed by Beefheart (in particular Trout Mask n all its attendant legendary gestations) so this book ,objectively speaking, should have been a treat but Frenchs sour sniping n continual undercutting of Vliet becomes wearisome after awhile .yeah im sure he was a prick n a ego monster etc but come on who the fuck would be buying a book by a (admittedly fantastic n talented) drummer n arranger in some semi obscure 60s rock band if it wasnt for Vliet in the first place. i mean i wasnt there n i guess it may have been kinda traumatic but when yr still plying music 50 years later as the Magic Band (although i heard thats no longer the case?) surely you gotta know whos buttered yr bread?
i suppose when the boot stomps down its a chicken n egg situation did the Magic Band make Beefheart or did Beefheart make the band magic? look at the name in itself Captain Beefheart AND the Magic Band= dichotomous dualities abound n despite Frenchs attempts to wright the wrongz n tell like how it was you can bet its only a tin teardrop on the face of what really went down.
all i can say for sure is that Trout Mask Replica sounds quite unlike anything else (despite its influence) n a squid eating dough in polyetheline bag is fast n bulbous ,got me?
there have been times when i have been quite obsessed by Beefheart (in particular Trout Mask n all its attendant legendary gestations) so this book ,objectively speaking, should have been a treat but Frenchs sour sniping n continual undercutting of Vliet becomes wearisome after awhile .yeah im sure he was a prick n a ego monster etc but come on who the fuck would be buying a book by a (admittedly fantastic n talented) drummer n arranger in some semi obscure 60s rock band if it wasnt for Vliet in the first place. i mean i wasnt there n i guess it may have been kinda traumatic but when yr still plying music 50 years later as the Magic Band (although i heard thats no longer the case?) surely you gotta know whos buttered yr bread?
i suppose when the boot stomps down its a chicken n egg situation did the Magic Band make Beefheart or did Beefheart make the band magic? look at the name in itself Captain Beefheart AND the Magic Band= dichotomous dualities abound n despite Frenchs attempts to wright the wrongz n tell like how it was you can bet its only a tin teardrop on the face of what really went down.
all i can say for sure is that Trout Mask Replica sounds quite unlike anything else (despite its influence) n a squid eating dough in polyetheline bag is fast n bulbous ,got me?
January 13, 2016
I'm having a hard time describing this. It's an obsessive chronicle of life in the swirl of Captain Beefheart's Magic Band, written by the drummer who played on most of his albums including the legendary Trout Mask Replica. French is excruciatingly honest about Don Van Vliet's abusive philosophy of band management and he's also excruciatingly honest about himself. Somehow the book captures the spirit of Southern California in the Sixties and Seventies better than almost any other book I've read. Having grown up there, I can almost hear the accent in my head when I read these pages. Fascinating!
July 12, 2012
A must for any person remotely obsessed with the Beef. A true Beefheart bible, with all kinds of inside stories. The trout mask era comes off as a time of real collective hysteria. I have no clue why people would dislike this book if they are interested in the man- to me density in a biography of someone I'm interested in is always a great thing. Anyways, the presentation is great, the facts are great, the analysis too; everything you could hope for and more (I guess that's where the density comes in).
March 30, 2022
An interesting book, with a lot of unique, important material, but with a number of problems.
First: this book really needed an editor. There are many, many typos and small factual errors, and the book is overlong (864 pages of fairly small print). Not that I'm unhappy it's so long, but it feels like a lot of it is kind of unnecessary and repetitive and unstructured. Chapters start and end in often arbitrary locations, and the text jumps from topic to topic manically.
Another problem is that this book has kind of an identity crisis. It starts out kind of like an oral history of the Magic Band: details on the early lives of important members, interviews with contemporaries and friends. Gradually it morphs into a memoir: one man's personal recollections of his life. It focuses heavily on the periods of his life when he was working with Beefheart, though, and tends to elide periods where he wasn't; and there's very little detail on Beefheart's career when French wasn't with him. The entire period of 1982-2010 (once Beefheart stopped working in music) is covered in one chapter. It's not really the story of the band, or a biography of Don Van Vliet, it's the story of one man's history with Don Van Vliet. So, it's interesting, but patchy and sort of unfocused.
For all the interviews in the book, a few key personnel (in particular, Jeff Cotton, Moris Tepper, Eric Feldman) declined to be interviewed; some (Bob Krasnow, Richard Perry, Ry Cooder, Bruce Fowler) either didn't agree to be interviewed or were never approached (the text doesn't say); and some (Frank Zappa especially) were deceased by the time of writing. Beefheart himself of course wasn't interviewed, and died the same year the book came out. So it's interesting to have these glimpses of others' perspectives on the story, but it's not really comprehensive in that regard either.
There's a long section at the back, with a track-by-track commentary on every song on every Beefheart album, even the ones French didn't play on; except for the two "sell out" albums on Mercury, and the Legendary A&M Sessions. These are very interesting, but also kind of patchy, alternating between personal stories about the tracks, personal feelings on them, technical information about them, etc. He reviews the post-Safe as Milk Buddah material that's included as bonus tracks on the SAM CD, but nobody seems to have gotten him a copy of the concurrent Mirror Man Sessions CD- so he reviews the relevant tracks in the versions on a bootleg and a throwaway compilation, ends up not commenting on Tarotplane at all (because it isn't on the compilation), and expresses bewilderment that the better take of Trust Us wasn't included on the SAM CD (they deliberately put the better takes on the Mirror Man Sessions CD, as explained in the liner notes). It's embarrassing.
Overall it's interesting, but very amateurish and flawed. I don't feel like this review has really done justice to how valuable and frustrating it is, probably because I'm falling asleep.
First: this book really needed an editor. There are many, many typos and small factual errors, and the book is overlong (864 pages of fairly small print). Not that I'm unhappy it's so long, but it feels like a lot of it is kind of unnecessary and repetitive and unstructured. Chapters start and end in often arbitrary locations, and the text jumps from topic to topic manically.
Another problem is that this book has kind of an identity crisis. It starts out kind of like an oral history of the Magic Band: details on the early lives of important members, interviews with contemporaries and friends. Gradually it morphs into a memoir: one man's personal recollections of his life. It focuses heavily on the periods of his life when he was working with Beefheart, though, and tends to elide periods where he wasn't; and there's very little detail on Beefheart's career when French wasn't with him. The entire period of 1982-2010 (once Beefheart stopped working in music) is covered in one chapter. It's not really the story of the band, or a biography of Don Van Vliet, it's the story of one man's history with Don Van Vliet. So, it's interesting, but patchy and sort of unfocused.
For all the interviews in the book, a few key personnel (in particular, Jeff Cotton, Moris Tepper, Eric Feldman) declined to be interviewed; some (Bob Krasnow, Richard Perry, Ry Cooder, Bruce Fowler) either didn't agree to be interviewed or were never approached (the text doesn't say); and some (Frank Zappa especially) were deceased by the time of writing. Beefheart himself of course wasn't interviewed, and died the same year the book came out. So it's interesting to have these glimpses of others' perspectives on the story, but it's not really comprehensive in that regard either.
There's a long section at the back, with a track-by-track commentary on every song on every Beefheart album, even the ones French didn't play on; except for the two "sell out" albums on Mercury, and the Legendary A&M Sessions. These are very interesting, but also kind of patchy, alternating between personal stories about the tracks, personal feelings on them, technical information about them, etc. He reviews the post-Safe as Milk Buddah material that's included as bonus tracks on the SAM CD, but nobody seems to have gotten him a copy of the concurrent Mirror Man Sessions CD- so he reviews the relevant tracks in the versions on a bootleg and a throwaway compilation, ends up not commenting on Tarotplane at all (because it isn't on the compilation), and expresses bewilderment that the better take of Trust Us wasn't included on the SAM CD (they deliberately put the better takes on the Mirror Man Sessions CD, as explained in the liner notes). It's embarrassing.
Overall it's interesting, but very amateurish and flawed. I don't feel like this review has really done justice to how valuable and frustrating it is, probably because I'm falling asleep.
March 26, 2019
Don Van Vliet aka Captain Beefheart is probably my favourite musical artist to overlap with what is called "rock" music. I knew some of the events chronicled in this book through legend, lore, Beefheart fan-friends from times contemporaneous with the band, documentaries, the liner notes of the Grow Fins box set and Zoot Horn Rollo's (Bill Harkleroad) Lunar Notes. That being said, John French does paint a grim picture of how things stood with Don -- how his lack of formal training, general laziness and assholery dented the self-confidences of youngsters, how his dandiness took away from John's rightful earnings and how the avant-garde nature of the music cut John's wings even in times of independence. Some of these complement Bill Harkleroad's version of things.
What's annoying is John's constant references to ages even when he grows into his twenties, and his general judgemental tones. He is a pastor with his anti-drug tirades right from an early age, but is wildly inconsistent with his belief systems. He tells too much -- Don's visit to the hookers, for example--in a manner that seems to have defamatory motivations. His out-of-The-Magic-Band times at Wyoming abound with explanations of what his work entailed. He later lays bare his spiritual cleansing, which, along with most of the above, renders a tone of John French - An Autobiography to the work.
The other commonly cited criticisms such as repetitiveness and lack of editing are valid. But more than John's preachiness (he even takes Don to moral task in a hindsight adjusted denunciation of the lyrics to "Lick My Decals Off, Baby" in the last section of track-by-track interpretations of albums), what bothers me most is his anger toward Captain Beefheart's fans. He almost mocks them for worshipping Don Van Vliet in the wake of countless legends spun in rock magazines, while he himself is aware that they lack the proper context. I'm sure that most of them are fans of the music and the artist, and not solely of the man.
PS: Just to situate this work in times of Don's severe debility and to provide closure, Don aka Captain Beefheart died in December 2010, less than a year after its publication.
What's annoying is John's constant references to ages even when he grows into his twenties, and his general judgemental tones. He is a pastor with his anti-drug tirades right from an early age, but is wildly inconsistent with his belief systems. He tells too much -- Don's visit to the hookers, for example--in a manner that seems to have defamatory motivations. His out-of-The-Magic-Band times at Wyoming abound with explanations of what his work entailed. He later lays bare his spiritual cleansing, which, along with most of the above, renders a tone of John French - An Autobiography to the work.
The other commonly cited criticisms such as repetitiveness and lack of editing are valid. But more than John's preachiness (he even takes Don to moral task in a hindsight adjusted denunciation of the lyrics to "Lick My Decals Off, Baby" in the last section of track-by-track interpretations of albums), what bothers me most is his anger toward Captain Beefheart's fans. He almost mocks them for worshipping Don Van Vliet in the wake of countless legends spun in rock magazines, while he himself is aware that they lack the proper context. I'm sure that most of them are fans of the music and the artist, and not solely of the man.
PS: Just to situate this work in times of Don's severe debility and to provide closure, Don aka Captain Beefheart died in December 2010, less than a year after its publication.
June 27, 2014
This can hardly be called a book. Instead, it is collection of notes, transcribed interviews, and journal entries, organised quasi-chronologically. John French is not a good writer in the first place, and the absence of an editor reinforces this impression. Many stories and anecdotes are repeated frequently, and we are given detailed accounts of minor episodes that will be uninteresting to virtually all readers. The manuscript could easily have been cut down by two thirds. As a consequence, I skimmed large parts, in particular the post-Trout Mask chapters, as these (in addition to being as poorly written as the previous chapters) hold less interest for me personally.
However, I did take away some things from Drumbo's tome, particularly regarding the uglier sides of Van Vliet's personality. While I was certainly aware of his tendency to lie, exaggerate, and bully, I had not realised the extent of it. The picture of Van Vliet that emerges from this account is one of a manipulative, despotic, and paranoid sociopath who would do anything to have his way. Band members would suffer constant verbal and physical abuse, not only from the front man, but also from other band members, as Van Vliet would methodically turn them against one another. Van Vliet would invariably take credit for far more than he actually accomplished himself, and would repeatedly cheat his colleagues out of most of the little profit they actually made. Given that these stories are confirmed through interviews with several former band members, I think it's safe to conclude that they are accurate accounts of what actually happened, and not tales spun by a bitter John French.
Despite Van Vliet's cult leader persona, his lack of professionalism and musical training, I still believe that Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band - and Trout Mask Replica in particular - is the pinnacle of "popular music" broadly defined. But I certainly cannot recommend this volume as an engaging account of the life and times of the Captain and those around him.
However, I did take away some things from Drumbo's tome, particularly regarding the uglier sides of Van Vliet's personality. While I was certainly aware of his tendency to lie, exaggerate, and bully, I had not realised the extent of it. The picture of Van Vliet that emerges from this account is one of a manipulative, despotic, and paranoid sociopath who would do anything to have his way. Band members would suffer constant verbal and physical abuse, not only from the front man, but also from other band members, as Van Vliet would methodically turn them against one another. Van Vliet would invariably take credit for far more than he actually accomplished himself, and would repeatedly cheat his colleagues out of most of the little profit they actually made. Given that these stories are confirmed through interviews with several former band members, I think it's safe to conclude that they are accurate accounts of what actually happened, and not tales spun by a bitter John French.
Despite Van Vliet's cult leader persona, his lack of professionalism and musical training, I still believe that Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band - and Trout Mask Replica in particular - is the pinnacle of "popular music" broadly defined. But I certainly cannot recommend this volume as an engaging account of the life and times of the Captain and those around him.
March 13, 2018
Coming across like Alan Partridge crossed with Father Ted's Golden Cleric acceptance speech, it's clear that French is still (and probably quite rightly) incredibly bitter towards Don Van Vliet. Nevertheless, he doesn't need to remind the reader every 20 pages or so, that without him transcribing, the musically illerate Beefheart would never have got his ideas across in the way that was presented on his records.
This is an incredibly comprehensive review of French's time(s) with the band and contains a lot of really interesting and revealing insight but it could really have done with a good editor as it's a real slog to read. Amongst other ramblings, he goes into a three or four page discussion with other musicians over whether the music shop they all used to go to in their teens was called Ling's or Lang's, he claims him and his mates were the originators of the Bart Simpson crank call, he describes 'marijuana cigarettes' like he's talking to an alien and tells of how him and his devout christian therapist were convinced that Van Vliet was an actual demon attached to French's soul. On top of everything else, the book is littered with errata, with spelling and punctuation mistakes on nearly every page.
I now feel I have a lot more knowledge about one of my favourite bands and a much greater understanding of how their key works came together, but this is a book I never want to revisit again. You could easily shear 200-250 pages out of this and the whole thing could be a much more enjoyable experience without losing anything vital.
This is an incredibly comprehensive review of French's time(s) with the band and contains a lot of really interesting and revealing insight but it could really have done with a good editor as it's a real slog to read. Amongst other ramblings, he goes into a three or four page discussion with other musicians over whether the music shop they all used to go to in their teens was called Ling's or Lang's, he claims him and his mates were the originators of the Bart Simpson crank call, he describes 'marijuana cigarettes' like he's talking to an alien and tells of how him and his devout christian therapist were convinced that Van Vliet was an actual demon attached to French's soul. On top of everything else, the book is littered with errata, with spelling and punctuation mistakes on nearly every page.
I now feel I have a lot more knowledge about one of my favourite bands and a much greater understanding of how their key works came together, but this is a book I never want to revisit again. You could easily shear 200-250 pages out of this and the whole thing could be a much more enjoyable experience without losing anything vital.
December 21, 2017
This monster of a book is certainly not for the faint of (Beef)heart. 864 pages of text in small print there's a lot of reading in these pages.
The author was a member of The Magic Band at various points along the way, but most notably acted as 'musical director' for Trout Mask Replica. Reading the book will show that being Beefheart's musical director was somewhat different to performing that role for most other people on the planet.
The tale involves manipulation, intimidation, violence and some very, very memorable albums and tracks. Despite himself, French was tempted back into the fray a few times after having left what amounted to an abusive situation. His own journey through the highs and lows of his relationship makes the heart of this book.
As a book, you can be critical and suggest it could be more tightly edited - some stories are referred to more than once, for example - or that there is simply too much information. However, that's not of great concern as the book is so utterly, utterly compelling as to make such criticisms minor affairs.
Certainly aimed at those who love (and possibly obsess) over Captain Beefheart and The Magic Band, lesser fans may prefer Mike Barnes biography.
The author was a member of The Magic Band at various points along the way, but most notably acted as 'musical director' for Trout Mask Replica. Reading the book will show that being Beefheart's musical director was somewhat different to performing that role for most other people on the planet.
The tale involves manipulation, intimidation, violence and some very, very memorable albums and tracks. Despite himself, French was tempted back into the fray a few times after having left what amounted to an abusive situation. His own journey through the highs and lows of his relationship makes the heart of this book.
As a book, you can be critical and suggest it could be more tightly edited - some stories are referred to more than once, for example - or that there is simply too much information. However, that's not of great concern as the book is so utterly, utterly compelling as to make such criticisms minor affairs.
Certainly aimed at those who love (and possibly obsess) over Captain Beefheart and The Magic Band, lesser fans may prefer Mike Barnes biography.
May 19, 2020
Roughly written, but detailed and interesting from one of the most involved insiders. French approaches this not as a subjective memoir, but rather as an investigative journalist who follows up with all the people associated with the Magic Band. He provides significant information regarding his own work in the band and his motivations for joining and quitting which happened at least three times. It is the best window into the almost inconceivable process that created some of the most avant-garde rcok and roll of all time.
January 12, 2021
Very informative read about Beefheart. John French rambles on a bit at times, unfortunately, but at least he comes across as honest and paints an amazing image of the Beefheart era. I'll be looking up some of his latest works in the music world.
Only setback were the numerous typos and grammar errors that at times appeared on almost every page. Bit sloppy I think.
Only setback were the numerous typos and grammar errors that at times appeared on almost every page. Bit sloppy I think.
November 4, 2017
Off-the-charts great! I bought it quickly when it came out just because I thought it would go out of print quickly; I figured I'd read it some time in the next 10 years. I read the first 10 pages and couldn't put it down.
March 29, 2025
I enjoyed this book and recommend it to other Beefheart fans. It really is only for the diehard Beefheart fan. Thick book with tiny font. Lots of details on the band that I never knew. Give me the knowledge that they were a MAGIC band.
May 17, 2019
I know all the musicians talked about in this book. I even got an honorable mention. Pretty interesting to Me at least. I'm not sure about others except fans.
March 19, 2020
Could have used an editor, and this certainly won't be of any interest except to the die-hard Beefheart fan - but I enjoyed it and am glad I powered through the 800+ pages
July 19, 2016
It has been quite some time since a book has captured my attention like this. At the basic level it is a detailed insight into the life and work of Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band, as experienced by the author (long-running drummer in the band) and his colleagues, but if has much more to offer. For a start, there is a lot more cross-over with Zappa history than I expected (and that was already quite a bit), especially at the start of the book, as Van Vleit's friendship with Zappa and others in the area is considered.
Then there is a very thorough critical review of Beefheart albums from an insider's viewpoint, providing a track-by-track history of the music, as well as a particularly detailed musical and cultural commentary on Trout Mask Replica. This section alone could have filled a decent-sized book, but is only a fraction of the whole story here.
The guts of the book is taken up with John French's own story, interspersed with pieces of interviews held with other band members to fill in gaps in the story of the Magic Band and provide alternative viewpoints. As other reviews have mentioned, there is some duplication of information in this approach, but I didn't find this too intrusive. The writing is conversational, painfully honest at times and a very easy to read, which is just as well at almost 900 pages. The process of recording some of the albums, in particular the legendary Trout Mask Replica, is compared to being part of a cult and French's descriptions of the manipulations, mind-games and in-fighting that accompanied the Beefheart creative process is fascinating and disturbing in equal measure. Just as interesting is how he deals with such a situation and manages to come out at the other end a strong person, as well as how the band overcame numerous obstacles (most created by Van Vliet himself) to create some of the most original music of the last century.
Then there is a very thorough critical review of Beefheart albums from an insider's viewpoint, providing a track-by-track history of the music, as well as a particularly detailed musical and cultural commentary on Trout Mask Replica. This section alone could have filled a decent-sized book, but is only a fraction of the whole story here.
The guts of the book is taken up with John French's own story, interspersed with pieces of interviews held with other band members to fill in gaps in the story of the Magic Band and provide alternative viewpoints. As other reviews have mentioned, there is some duplication of information in this approach, but I didn't find this too intrusive. The writing is conversational, painfully honest at times and a very easy to read, which is just as well at almost 900 pages. The process of recording some of the albums, in particular the legendary Trout Mask Replica, is compared to being part of a cult and French's descriptions of the manipulations, mind-games and in-fighting that accompanied the Beefheart creative process is fascinating and disturbing in equal measure. Just as interesting is how he deals with such a situation and manages to come out at the other end a strong person, as well as how the band overcame numerous obstacles (most created by Van Vliet himself) to create some of the most original music of the last century.
August 9, 2010
There is no more ultimate poster-boy for avant-garde rock than Captain Beefheart (nee Don Van Vliet).
As a well known cohort of Frank Zappa’s, Beefheart revolutionized a form of bizarro rock that came from the high deserts of California and took Don and the Magic Band around the world over three multi-colored decades. John French (given the moniker ‘Drumbo’ during the sessions for the famed ‘Trout Mask Replica’ album) sat behind the drums for Beefheart for eight albums, (beginning with ‘Safe as Milk’) and has recounted the behind the scenes going-ons throughout discombobulated recording sessions and wild global romps that solidified the Captain’s image in the hearts of fans of rock’s outer fringes for years.
The trouble is, and as ‘Drumbo’ well reveals, all was not well in the Beefheart camp. Many players – the author included – suffered constant beratement at the hands of their fearless leader. As French tells it, most band members were made to feel two-feet tall through many years of Beefheart’s abuses. The problem for the reader may be that French’s account may be just too dense for most readers. His penchant for infinate detail probably only appeals to the total die-hard fan and in the end, ‘Beefheart: Through the Eyes of Magic’ covers an important figure in rock history, but may best be viewed as a reference book rather than a fluid and easy read.
As a well known cohort of Frank Zappa’s, Beefheart revolutionized a form of bizarro rock that came from the high deserts of California and took Don and the Magic Band around the world over three multi-colored decades. John French (given the moniker ‘Drumbo’ during the sessions for the famed ‘Trout Mask Replica’ album) sat behind the drums for Beefheart for eight albums, (beginning with ‘Safe as Milk’) and has recounted the behind the scenes going-ons throughout discombobulated recording sessions and wild global romps that solidified the Captain’s image in the hearts of fans of rock’s outer fringes for years.
The trouble is, and as ‘Drumbo’ well reveals, all was not well in the Beefheart camp. Many players – the author included – suffered constant beratement at the hands of their fearless leader. As French tells it, most band members were made to feel two-feet tall through many years of Beefheart’s abuses. The problem for the reader may be that French’s account may be just too dense for most readers. His penchant for infinate detail probably only appeals to the total die-hard fan and in the end, ‘Beefheart: Through the Eyes of Magic’ covers an important figure in rock history, but may best be viewed as a reference book rather than a fluid and easy read.
November 9, 2015
A real good companion to The Real Frank Zappa Book, which is often quoted and amplified on here, this is a thorough examination of Captain Beefheart's life to and through the many incarnations of The Magic Band, as well as the many members. Aside most notably perhaps from Moris Tepper, French got the various members to reflect back in detail on their experiences.
Aside from French's Christianity and voluntary exorcism (he is quite eloquent on these points) and his total lack of rock-n-roll excess (no salacious tell-all, here), probably the most incredible thing here is Don Van Vliet as sociopathic brainwasher treating his Magic Band members to isolation, food deprivation, and effective imprisonment in a textbook mind control experiment. Too much of this book echoed the personality destroying mental torture depicted in Perfect Victim: The True Story of "The Girl in the Box".
This Kindle edition had a few more typos and layout issues (as w/interview dialog) than a buyer should experience.
The book contains extensive track notes and a section of photographs.
Aside from French's Christianity and voluntary exorcism (he is quite eloquent on these points) and his total lack of rock-n-roll excess (no salacious tell-all, here), probably the most incredible thing here is Don Van Vliet as sociopathic brainwasher treating his Magic Band members to isolation, food deprivation, and effective imprisonment in a textbook mind control experiment. Too much of this book echoed the personality destroying mental torture depicted in Perfect Victim: The True Story of "The Girl in the Box".
This Kindle edition had a few more typos and layout issues (as w/interview dialog) than a buyer should experience.
The book contains extensive track notes and a section of photographs.
March 7, 2013
Who would've thought that the biggest rock biog ever (unverified) would be by John French aka Drumbo to Beefheart's Magic Band? In a way it makes sense that the guy's ascetic aesthetics were brought to this medium with his eye for the minutiae of particulars.
I saw some review on here critisizing Through The Eyes of Magic for being too vast, unedited and throwing everything in there, but fairplay to French - I'm sure he left a fair bit out. Once you get past the first 100 pages and he finds himself in the Magic Band the pages keep on turning. At times it really is harrowing. I went from having my perceptions of Safe as Milk altered from being one of the tightest albums put together to a blagged masterpiece. I thought I would never listen to Trout Mask Replica ever again having read what the band had to go through to make it to coming back round to wanting to check out the few later albums I'm not familiar with yet.
The Magic Band are playing in Newcastle on Monday as it happens, so I'll have to check em out. A very, very important band. Loads of anecdotes in here to keep the hardcore fans happy.
I saw some review on here critisizing Through The Eyes of Magic for being too vast, unedited and throwing everything in there, but fairplay to French - I'm sure he left a fair bit out. Once you get past the first 100 pages and he finds himself in the Magic Band the pages keep on turning. At times it really is harrowing. I went from having my perceptions of Safe as Milk altered from being one of the tightest albums put together to a blagged masterpiece. I thought I would never listen to Trout Mask Replica ever again having read what the band had to go through to make it to coming back round to wanting to check out the few later albums I'm not familiar with yet.
The Magic Band are playing in Newcastle on Monday as it happens, so I'll have to check em out. A very, very important band. Loads of anecdotes in here to keep the hardcore fans happy.
September 5, 2012
Essential reading for all Beefheart fanatics, although if you are one, you will have already read this. You can't be just 'a bit of a fan', it's a lifetime's obsession. More so than even The Fall. It's almost pointless reviewing a book like this because it doesn't really matter how well it's written, more that it's a historical document. It comes straight from the most reliable source, John French, a man of the utmost dedication and resolve, sent to the brink by this tyrannical genius, Van Vliet, but almost always aware that what was being created was original avant-garde art of the highest order, never again to be repeated. The story of a unique talent and how it came to be, warts and.. well, warts. It's also as nerdy and we obsessives would want it to be.
December 18, 2010
Ding Dong! Donnie's dead!
RIP: Long May He Loam
Whatever anyone says
it's too little.
"It's too little. I know what they're hearing, y'see and the thing is that I can't --y'know what I mean? D'ya -- I mean, I can't get it through there y'know like, what I want to get through there."
He said into the microphone.
or this, they liked sea shanties out in the desert ;)
Orange Claw Hammer, Don and Frank, 1975
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2rxrY...
RIP: Long May He Loam
Whatever anyone says
it's too little.
"It's too little. I know what they're hearing, y'see and the thing is that I can't --y'know what I mean? D'ya -- I mean, I can't get it through there y'know like, what I want to get through there."
He said into the microphone.
or this, they liked sea shanties out in the desert ;)
Orange Claw Hammer, Don and Frank, 1975
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2rxrY...
May 5, 2010
I found it hard going for the first fifty pages but once I got used to John French's approach to writing (and his use of snippets of interviews) it was an engrossing read. It is sad reading about the relationships within the band especially with Don van Vliet but I could not say that I was surprised.
August 31, 2016
What a disappointment for the huge Captain Beefheart fan that I am.
I love a well written biography, but this is the opposite of one: a heap of unedited oral reminiscences dumped on paper by a mediocre writer who all too obviously has a beef with Mr Van Vliet.
I threw it in the bin after a hundred pages or so.
I love a well written biography, but this is the opposite of one: a heap of unedited oral reminiscences dumped on paper by a mediocre writer who all too obviously has a beef with Mr Van Vliet.
I threw it in the bin after a hundred pages or so.
February 1, 2011
The book could have been edited and trimmed. Too many times French repeats himself and when the book is 864 pages that's not so good an idea. A lot of the interview material repeats what he writes in previous paragraphs too.
January 27, 2014
Difficult to read without skipping as it goes on and on and on and.....interminably.
Don was mad
Don was a bully
Don stole all our ideas
Don told us what to think
There ya go.
Drumbo - thats how to write the book. Easy innit.
Don was mad
Don was a bully
Don stole all our ideas
Don told us what to think
There ya go.
Drumbo - thats how to write the book. Easy innit.
November 2, 2016
Gave up on this one. I'm not sure what kind of biographer Beefheart deserves. John French may be the first man to go to as a source, but the final product here is raw and undigestible. I don't think it was edited at all. Big disappointment.
August 17, 2011
Totally fascinating. As a big Beefheart fan, I still can't put this book down for rereading it.
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