TROUT MASK REPLICA

"Trout Mask Replica" is one of the most sincere Experimental albums ever.

Avant-Garde has never been so Avant-Garde. One of Zappa's many adopted children, Captain Beefheart is certainly one of the very best of these. "Trout Mask Replica" is indeed one of the most sincere Experimental albums ever, one of those albums that has tons of character, making it a great, fun listen.

Beefheart's love for Blues Rock has always been a major factor in his music, since his first days, when albums like "Safe As Milk" were released. When "Trout Mask Replica" came out, our man started mixing it even more with Experimentation than before; the result of this collision is a huge mess, in a good way. The Captain, at this point, has reached the zenith of musical chaos. People might tend to call it nonsense, random and completely out of tune, and that is why this album still is one of the most controversial albums of our time. But listening to it pretty carefully, it is obvious that everything is very much studied and almost every song written and not improvised. Underneath the mess, there's music. Music that not many found, even though it is between Free Jazz freak outs, very odd rhythms, distorted and almost irritating guitar work, and Beat Poetry often screamed by the Captain's low guttural voice. Lyrics are another important part of the album, being just as nonsensical as the music, and again another element subject to controversy.

"Trout Mask Replica" is one of the first double albums, and it is most definitely one of the hardest listens you'll experience, no matter if you like what you're hearing or not. The album has twenty eight tracks that finish after an exhausting hour and twenty minutes. This is maybe the only complaint I have about it, even though it's certain that the artist meant the album to be this tiring and almost unbearable after a while. Like I said, Avant-Garde has never been so Avant-Garde. It is almost amazing to me that I can find highlights here; "Ella Guru" is the most fun song of the album and maybe one of my favorite songs ever. "Moonlight On Vermont" sounds like an violent but funny abruption of a romantic dinner with your girlfriend. The two instrumental parts "Hair Pie" reassume the whole album. They are so many songs in the album I cannot try to name all the goods ones, so I'll end by mentioning the a cappella tracks here, all three of them funny as hell and, in a way, fascinating.

"Trout Mask Replica" is an essential album for whoever loves Avant-Garde music, it's historical importance is huge for genres that will be generated decades later such as Post- Punk or Avant-Prog. This also is David Lynch's favorite album of all time, no surprises there.

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