Marking
half a century on the shelves this month, it’s Captain Beefheart &
The Magic Band with their seventh studio LP, Clear Spot, released in
October, 1972. While Beefheart had established himself as the owner of
the outfields when it came to extreme music, with classics like Trout
Mask Replica, bills had to be paid and pushing boundaries wasn’t
bringing home the bacon.
This desire to align more to the
mainstream had been a driving force with the Spotlight Kid LP from
earlier in the year and it continued to push priorities for Clear Spot.
However, while Spotlight Kid felt strained and left many in the band
and their fans feeling less than satisfied, the recruitment of Doobie
Bros producer, Ted Templeman, seemed to bring the balance between
avant-garde and accessibility into an alignment which felt far more
rewarding and far less like a compromise. The clarity of his production
allowed the eccentricities of Beefheart’s music to mellow out enough to
create an accessibility which had been elusive on previous albums.
Some
of the ranks of the band were being shuffled around at this time with
longtime drummer, John “Drumbo” French, departing and being replaced by
Art Tripp. Zappa bassist, Roy Estrada, also joined along with regulars,
Bill Harkleroad (Zoot Horn Rollo) and Mark Boston (Rockette Morton) on
guitars. Much of the music had been developing since the Spotlight Kid
sessions, but once it got into fully produced form, was certainly not
anything that could be considered “leftovers”. Ultimately, the album
proved to be the pinnacle of Beefheart's attempts at more mainstream,
commercial variations on their angular, challenging aesthetic.
Unfortunately,
the attempts to break into bigger sales figures still never
materialized with the album barely charting in the US and flying
completely below the radar in the UK. Though the effort may not have
resulted in the popularity they’d wanted, the album still holds up as
one of their most professionally realized productions, held aloft by
solid songwriting and inventive musicianship. The edges were still
there, but wielded with more restraint and intent. For those looking
for a gateway album into the world of the Captain, Clear Spot might just
be the ticket.
