October 30, 2005
Myopic Void
Thanks to all the swell guys and gals who have been posting commentary and helping to keep this rig on the road. I’m sure it’s not only because of my incessant begging. (But please, no more Anton Newcombe quotes. Our servers can’t handle all the negativity.) Welcome to all the new MySpace customers; don’t forget to hang your hat in the comments section.
The classic first Captain Beyond album on Capricorn Records has been well remastered and can be purchased here. The cover features a silly painting of a faggy wizard wearing a blouse, and the really collectable LP renders it in one of those 3-D flicker editions a la the Stranglers‘ The Raven or the Stones‘ Their Satanic Majesty’s Request. Either way, it’s easy to see why many folks passed by this record upon first encounter.
If mid-’60s psyche-garage is the sound of teenage greasers discovering drugs for the first time, I read this brand of 1970s psych-y hard rock as the sound of professional hippies finally doing way too much drugs. There’s a similar macho-longhair attitude behind the inarticulate mysticism, almost like they’re bragging about how fucked up they are, dumb and helpless and at the mercy of powerful evil spiritual forces. Anyway, I love it. This album glides effortlessly between kick-ass heavy stadium rock and groovy, jazz-tainted folky rock and the guys are so durned professional, it doesn’t seem forced in any respect. They released a crappy followup LP entitled Sufficiently Breathless, which hardly anybody likes very much.
One story of the band can be found here and there’s a more succinct family-tree history here. Basically, half of the band came outta Iron Butterfly, another 1/4 came from Deep Purple, and drummer Bobby Caldwell had been touring with Johnny Winter. Don’t let any of that stop you - I like Deep Purple okay, but this album blows away those previous projects.
It was hard to select isolated parts from this record, as the tunes on both sides are tracked in long extended rock-opera format, with lots of “intro”-this and “return”-that and Parts I, II, etc. I tried to leave enough context for you, the listener, to get down with. Play it loud.
Thanks to Mr. Bruce Merkle for inviting me out to wintry Warsaw, Indiana and giving me this exquisite record, way back in the day.
Captain Beyond - “Mesmerization Eclipse” (3:45)
Captain Beyond - “Raging River of Fear” (3:45)
Captain Beyond - “Thousand Days of Yesterdays (Intro)” (1:19)
Captain Beyond - “Frozen Over / Thousand Days of Yesterdays (Time Since Come and Gone)” (7:42)
Rick at 4:21 pm
6 CommentsÈ
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get down, make lunch!
Comment by wi11iam13 Ñ October 31, 2005 @ 12:14 am
Oh yeah, baby, now THESE was the days of big-dick rock and roll! When the power and precision were matched only by the careful cultivation of extremely dry hair… when lyrics, song-structure and album cover art were allowed to be as ridiculous as possible because the bands could actually play their instruments like VLADIMIR HOROWITZ. Reminds me of another band comprised of members of other supergroups. Their one album, ARMAGEDDON, has a couple duds but generally rocks out in that muscular, puff-up-your-nuts manner…
good job, hallway, keep ‘em comin’
V.S.
Comment by vinnie sfumato Ñ November 1, 2005 @ 4:38 pm
Finally. The Captain getting its due. And don’t judge the cover art too harshly. There was a two-week period during the summer of ‘72 in which the faggy pirate blouse look threatened to really take hold. Thankfully, embroidered Mexican and Guatemalan peasant shirts came on the scene and blew the pirate blouses out of the water. I know. I was there.
Comment by Myopic Floyd Ñ November 1, 2005 @ 5:04 pm
Well, I rocked. Not a lot, and my cock was not out, but some rocking did occur.
Comment by Balb Kubrox Ñ November 2, 2005 @ 10:52 pm
In my humble estimation, one of the greatest rock albums of all time.
Their follow-up was a bit of a disappointment to me too, as it lacked the dynamic, kick-ass element of their first effort. After listening a few more
times though, it begins to grab you and is a fine recording in its own right.
As for the album cover, I think it’s far out and I have the 3D version as well.
Cheers,
Murray Wilde
http://www.soundclick.com/wilde1
Comment by Murray Wilde Ñ June 9, 2007 @ 8:52 am
Hey, Sufficiently Breathless is just as good, it’s the third album that sucks.
Comment by Brendan Ñ December 26, 2007 @ 2:21 am