Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band, nope I never heard of this particular captain nor of his magic band. Which after watching this DVD of The Lost Broadcasts I can understand why I’ve never heard of this guy or of the band. These lost broadcasts where filmed in 1972 where the band did multiple takes on some of the songs. Opening the set is a bass solo song, ‘Mascara Snake’ that’s one of the better bass solos that I’ve heard and one that’s actually got a good thrumming tempo to it.
This band was clearly a band of the peace and love era that was moving into the 70’s. Their wardrobes are a dead giveaway for it, especially with the bassist in his techno patterned suit and the drummer in his vest and eye monocle. Along with the clothes there’s the set which is basically nothing, a silver background square, a stage, and nothing else. It’s one of the more boring looking sets that I’ve seen but with all the wild looks of the band members the set didn’t need to have much more to it.
Even though I didn’t know anything about the band I did find this DVD to be quite entertaining. Not in the normal fashion of a musical recording would be where I like the music because it’s being played well with good vocals and lyrics. What was entertaining about this DVD was how the band looked, the simplicity of the set, and how the camera operator stayed on the drummer as Captain Beefheart introduced the band members. I was laughing out loud when Captain Beefheart would introduce a member but the camera never moved to show that member, only the drummer. Though as funny as that was it there are also the songs being played. This band was decent, nothing great, they knew how to play their instruments at an average skill level, but the lyrics and how Captain Beefheart sung them was just crazy. Captain Beefheart could really belt out those vocals and when he was just doing those random non-word sounds I was impressed. Though I think my most liked moment of this DVD was not the singing, the instrumentals, or the clothes but when one of the tech guys interrupts the recording and Captain Beefheart walks off. This might not have been the best bands, they looked odd, the music was even odder, but it’s easy to understand how they are a cult band and this was a very entertaining DVD to watch.