Product Description
This documentary traces the roots and history of this iconic musical legend. Featuring rare live and studio performances of Beefheart, interspersed with contributions from virtually all members of The Magic Band - along with a panel of esteemed experts.
Amazon.com
The music of Don "Captain Beefheart" Van Vliet is like certain works of literature: lots of people talk about how great it supposedly is, but relatively few have ever actually heard (or read) it. That could change with the release of Captain Beefheart Under Review, an absorbing, comprehensive, and lengthy (nearly two hours) overview of this idiosyncratic character's career that serves as the musical equivalent of a Cliffs Notes for, say, James Joyce's Finnegans Wake. Van Vliet retired from music in the early '80s in order to devote himself to painting, his first love; a disclaimer lets us know that neither he nor anyone in his immediate circle authorized this British-made film, and although there is lots of Beefheart music to be found here, the Captain himself is not interviewed. Plenty of others are, including many of the musicians who populated Beefheart's Magic Band over the years. Along with a host of critics and other "experts," they cover all the bases, from his earliest recording (a performance of the semi-hit "Diddy Wah Diddy" from the '60s teen TV show Where the Action Is is just one of the extraordinary number of video clips included) to his last (the 1982 album Ice Cream for Crow). The consensus: Beefheart's sound, though obviously rooted in the Delta blues (especially Howlin' Wolf's), was unlike anyone else's. With Trout Mask Replica, he blended a surreal sense of humor with dense, fragmented, seemingly chaotic (but painstakingly rehearsed) music; many others followed, including a few ill-conceived attempts at a more commercial sound, but that 1969 double album is still considered his masterpiece, a work that "reinvented conventional song form." Some of the filmmakers' choices are preposterous: drummer John "Drumbo" French is interviewed in a tree, talking into a telephone, while pompous Brit critic Alan Clayson holds forth from a church pulpit. But by and large, Captain Beefheart Under Review is, as the Captain's himself put it, "fast and bulbous." --Sam Graham
- Aspect Ratio : 1.33:1
- Is Discontinued By Manufacturer : No
- MPAA rating : NR (Not Rated)
- Product Dimensions : 0.7 x 7.5 x 5.4 inches; 4 ounces
- Media Format : Multiple Formats, NTSC, Closed-captioned, Color
- Run time : 1 hour and 55 minutes
- Release date : April 25, 2006
- Actors : Captain Beefheart
- Subtitles: : None
- Language : English (Stereo)
- Studio : SEXY INTELLECTUAL
- Number of discs : 1
