Few names carry such formidable mystique and rabid cult status as Captain Beefheart; who led various lineups of his Magic Band to make some of the most startling; ground-breaking albums of the last century. In 1982; he retired to concentrate on painting; leaving the mythology hersquo;d stoked himself to grow untamed over the years.John French is better qualified than anyone to talk about Beefheart; joining the Magic Band in 1966 at the age of 17 just before recording their Safe As Milk debut album; finding himself plunged into a tyrannical regime which would dominate his life for the next 14 years as he played a major role in eight subsequent albums; including translating the mindblowing avant-blues assault of 1969rsquo;s Trout Mask Replica into readable music for the Magic Band from the Captainrsquo;s piano poundings under torturous conditions he likens to a cult.Spanning nearly a thousand pages; Frenchrsquo;s remarkable memoir starts with a vivid description of the rarely-documented early 60s Lancaster garage-rock scene which also spawned names like Ry Cooder and Beefheartrsquo;s childhood friend and later nemesis Frank Zappa; whose appearances in the book will enthrall his own legion of fans. As his spellbinding; often shocking tale unwinds; he encounters names including jazz giant Ornette Coleman; Jim Morrison and Paul McCartney; writing with dry; sometimes surreal humour and disarming honesty about his old boss and even himself; occasionally bringing in his old Magic Band comrades to jog his memory.The book is packed with new revelations; many previously-unseen photos and enough anecdotes to keep the Beefheart faithful ruminating for years; French finally crystallising and bringing to life over 40 years of legend and speculation in what has to be the ultimate book on the mercurial genius of Captain Beefheart.
#3749111 in eBooks 2013-10-16 2013-10-16File Name: B00FWXVAXQ
Review
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Thank you for assembling this book!!By KCinDC76Im always interested in the difference between reviews that are from individuals who purchased the book on (i.e.; "verified") and those that do not.In this case; I have to say that I agree with the other "verified" reviewers.In my view; this is a good book that could have been great. As someone who lived my entire childhood in Pt Breeze and had family living there for decades afterwards; I really appreciate that this book was written and enjoyed the pictures; and the description/explanation of the pictures. I definitely feel that I learned something seeing all the pictures and reading the related text.On the other hand; I felt that only certain parts of the neighborhood were explored. Whether that is due to lack of pictures available to the author; I dont know.If this were any other book; and not one that I feel needed to be published; I would give 3 stars. Out of gratitude for the author for taking the time to write it; Im raising to four. My suggestion would be; if there were to be a subsequent edition; perhaps the book could be expanded a bit.Bottom line: if you are interested at all in the Pt. Breeze neighborhood; youll feel you learned something new by viewing this book.1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Good history despite omissionBy Paul KennedyThis is an excellent history of Point Breeze; especially the early days of the industrialists; Frick; Heinz; Westinghouse; etc. It has an abundance of pictures that illustrate the history well. There is one glaring omission: it has no mention of St. Bede church or school; an integral part of this community since the 1920s. Sterrett and Linden schools and the other churches are mentioned and discussed appropriately; but no St. Bede. Despite the omission; it gives a good history of one of Pittsburghs fabled neighborhoods and is worth reading.1 of 4 people found the following review helpful. Good pics; text is lackingBy coquineleaves some to be desired. Some facts are missing. Dates; specific places. This seems to have been done very quickly without fact checking. Text is mostly attached to pictures; So; if you are looking for pictures of Point Breeze; then you have a lot of nice ones to see. But if you are looking to learn some about the history of Point Breeze; look elsewhere.