Number 3 on my all-time best Rock Albums – 537 Essential Rock Albums – Captain Beefheart – Lick My Decals Off

Posted on by Opher

537-essential-rock-albums-cover

Well weighing in at number 3 on my all-time 537 essential Rock Albums is Captain Beefheart. Probably the best band that ever lived. Awesome

3. Captain Beefheart – Lick my Decals Off Baby 

Now I had immense trouble sorting out which Captain Beefheart album was the best. There were at least four contenders and ‘Trout Mask Replica’ is awesome but for me ‘Lick my Decals off Baby’ is just that bit better.

Captain Beefheart (Don Van Vliet) is the most original and accomplished of Rock performers. His voice is amazing, the vocal range is stupendous, the lyrics are poetry to music and totally unique and the music is from another planet. ‘Smithsonian Institute Blues’ sums up where humanity is going to be – we’re heading to be fossils. The sad thing is that we’re devising our own demise and taking a huge number of species with us! ‘Woe-is-uh-me-bop’ says it all! The album is packed with extraordinary numbers – ‘Space-Age Couple’ and ‘I love you, you big dummy’ are incredible.

This is one of those albums that come along when you can sense a band is in the groove. They had just got ‘Trout Mask Replica’ out of their system and seemed to be motoring down that same channel with effortless ease. Don’s voice and songs were astounding. This album was certainly on a par with ‘Replica’ and I actually thought it shaded it.

Not only that but this band was the ultimate live band. Their performances are legendary. I have seen them many times, through many incarnations, and I never cease to be amazed by the intensity of the intricate music. I have heard nothing like it and I never tire of hearing it.

If you want to hear something completely different then this is it. The music is extraordinary. Those interlacing guitars still sends shivers through me and Don’s voice is unbelievable. This should have been enormous. They were the best band in the world!

Why not check out what other albums I put in my 537 Essential albums. I guarantee they’ll be some you haven’t heard of.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/537-Essential-Rock-Albums-first/dp/1502787407/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1477263872&sr=1-1&keywords=opher+goodwin+537

Number 4 on my all-time list of 537 Essential Albums – Bob Dylan – Bringing It All Back Home

Posted on by Opher

537-essential-rock-albums-cover

Well Bob features high on my list with a number of albums. This one was another groundbreaker.

4. Bob Dylan – Bringing it all Back Home

Of the three electric Bob Dylan masterpieces of the sixties this was the first and the best. Any album that features a track of the brilliance of ‘It’s Alright Ma – I’m only bleeding’ has to be in the top ten albums. What is up with songwriters today? Nobody is dealing with social issues even though the world is full of immense problems. The young snarling Dylan went for them head on and wrestled them to submission. This song ‘It’s Alright Ma – I’m only Bleeding’ is a no holds barred poke at the establishment. I love it. Dylan was the hippest thing on the planet with his shades, tight pants, mass of curls, polka-dot shirt and James Dean sneer. This album was a departure from the acoustic ‘protest’ songs of before and shows Dylan at his caustic best. Everyone was against him and he responded by hitting out big time in all directions at once. This was the underground Beat Poet rebel who spat words like machine gun bullets. Just listen to subterranean homesick blues and Maggie’s Farm. He was one angry outsider.

This album was another unique departure and revelation. We live in an age where we have become used to a diverse range of music. Back then it was limited fare. There had been nothing like this music before. Bob invented it.

It sparked near riots when he took it out on the road live and induced crazy reactions at Newport Folk Festival with Seeger threatening to put an axe through the power cable as Dylan blasted the audience accompanied by Mike Bloomfield and the Paul Butterfield Blues Band. (I loved that raw sound they produced and wished they had done a lot more like it!). During the British tour he was called a Judas and the crowd reactions were often hostile.

As we have often seen it only serves to make Bob more entrenched. He does his own thing regardless.

Why not check out what other albums I put in my 537 Essential albums. I guarantee they’ll be some you haven’t heard of.