Should Captain Beefheart be considered prog rock?

HackettFan, he ceritanly is stranger than anything, Trout Mask Replica is one of the reasons I think Beefheart should be classified as prog - this album pushed boundaries of what rock music is capable of further than anything else. But on the other hand, Safe As Milk is a straightforward blues, which wasn't as progressive as, for example, This Was by Jethro Tull, which had some hints of what was going to happen with the band in near future. Zappa was rather grounded in doo-woop, but his work was progressive from the beggining. I think that calssifying Van Vliet as Avant-prog is very suitable for him.
Silly Puppy, I find listening to music from any other source than physical butchering. And I live in the central Poland, nice country to visit, but not so to live in ;).

Affek wrote: You might be right; I didn't get interested with late stuff, dropped off around Bat Chain Puller, as his albums are nearly unavailable here. I always had the impression of Cap'n being just a avant-blues musician, who was claimed as a prog rocker by the critics. Got a little confused because of it, so came here to talk over this. Don't want to get off topic by talking about how alive prog rock is, but my personal opinion is that it was always about pushing boundaries further and further, and the last one was pushed by the punk revolution in late seventies, so there is no need for prog nowadays. But it's just my opinion.

Errmmm...  http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=1471

At the same time 'prog' was supposedly dying, the Captain was one of the few trying to keep it alive. He didn't get rich doing it and finally just gave up. BTW he was an influence on punk.

You might be right; I didn't get interested with late stuff, dropped off around Bat Chain Puller, as his albums are nearly unavailable here. I always had the impression of Cap'n being just a avant-blues musician, who was claimed as a prog rocker by the critics. Got a little confused because of it, so came here to talk over this. Don't want to get off topic by talking about how alive prog rock is, but my personal opinion is that it was always about pushing boundaries further and further, and the last one was pushed by the punk revolution in late seventies, so there is no need for prog nowadays. But it's just my opinion.

Even Trout Mask Replica has plenty of avant-garde jazz riffs of the Ornette Coleman / Don Cherry style to qualify as prog rock. He was certainly unique in his approach but definitely belongs here IMHO

There's just as much jazz in his music as blues; it's probably his singing style which makes you think the music is more bluesy than it is. I think his most stereotypical 'proggy' stuff was his last three albums which have very little blues influence and incorporate synths and Mellotron.