DOC AT THE RADAR STATION

3.5 stars. Of the five Beefheart albums I own this 1980 release is for sure in my top three of those along with his previous album "Shiny Beast(Bat Chain Puller)" and his debut. The man had this creative freedom to make whatever music he felt like. He is the arranger, composer and producer plus he did the cover art. And yes like Zappa he was not fun to work with. Not exactly people persons.

His albums have a "sound" to them, don't they? Bluesy with Beefheart's unmistakeable vocals. I'm not big on his humour, and the last track on this album is a great example of that. The big surprise for me on this record was hearing mellotron, so I thought. And looking it up on Planet Mellotron and seeing there was mellotron on four tracks here. A bonus. Two instrumentals? Another bonus. Top three include "Best Batch Yet", "Hot Head" and "Ashtray Heart". Turns out that I'm just not a CAPTAIN BEEFHEART fan. My apologies to his fans for my opinions at least, especially when they aren't very favourable. A talented individual, just not my music.