The cult of Trout Mask Replica is a testament to rockist midwittery like no other...

The cult of Trout Mask Replica is a testament to rockist midwittery like no other. There is absolutely nothing unique or original about what Beefheart and Zappa did with this album, merely exploiting innovations in avant-garde jazz, free improvisation and atonality that hadn't been novel for 10 to 20 years by that point. But because they did it in a rock and blues idiom, legions of easily impressed rock listeners who wouldn't touch an actual jazz, avant-garde or modern classical recording with a 10 foot pole heap loads of absurdly hyperbolic worship onto it, and you get embarrassing blurbs like ""the most astounding and important work of art ever to appear on a phonograph record". Good lord.

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its not my favorite album but i mean if you can find an example of another record that sounded anything like trout mask in the 60's id love to hear it. also innovation aside its legitimately just a cool sounding record with some really funny and imaginative dadaist lyrics and its occasionally very poetic and beautiful. to be honest i don't listen to music because of how avante garde it is i just listen to what i think sounds interesting or good to my ear

Your argument is "this is a jazz album made for rock listeners" and thats all you needed to type

Odessey and Oracle is the ACTUAL most astounding and important work of art ever to appear on a phonograph record

It is unique and original. Just because it clearly has influences from stuff like free jazz doesn't mean it's not original, originality doesn't mean it was created in a vacuum. The compositional style and mode of creating the album was unique at the time and hasn't been properly replicated since. Also the album is neither free jazz nor atonal if you actually listen to it.

If you think this is a free improvisational record you're just displaying to all of us that you don't understand this album.

Don't act like a ton of musical thought went into this. I'm pretty sure Captain Beefheart was just slamming the piano and didn't use consistent chords between string and drums because he didn't know how to,

you said it wasn't unique though. Name five other albums that were made by a dude slamming a piano semi randomly and then having a band painstakingly recreate the parts

i really don't care how he came up with it (although if you've listened to safe as milk you'd know the band was more than capable of making more mainstream blues rock) the fact is it is an incredibly distinct sounding album. scaruffi uses the term "apocalyptic blues" and that always seemed appropriate to me. its so deranged and cartoonish it almost feels like music from the future at times

The band was because they were talented. But the creative genius is always credited to him

I'm not OP lol. Never said it wasn't unique but I could give a 5 yr old a piano and he would prob come up with something pretty unique

Jazz is this pofaced, macho, serious genre that couldn't be further from Beefheart's childish lyrical playfulness and psychedelic visual aesthetics.

I love Trout Mask Replica and listen to it a lot it sounds very good to my ears

>2nd rate beatles/beach boys worship
>astounding or important

this album makes me think reddit, beards, and people who review craft beer. as in after you listen to this you gotta read infinite jest because you're stupid so you can't do math so you majored in english

STEM = SMART!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm an Electrical Engineering major but gtfo with that pretentious bullshit.

It’s not atonal you psued

And the math most engineering and science majors do is calculus at the most which is mostly memorization lmao.

no one cares you dumb faggot

/thread
feel exacly like this

you obviously do

try again

imagine thinking you're so smart to end up being this stupid

rent free

Everything sounds the same and only a handful of moments are interesting, mostly just the first song

The repackaging of those innovations within a rock/blues idiom is precisely what makes it original, fellow midwit. I can semi-agree with your broader point, though. It's a decent album but not even my favourite by Beefheart, and only a handful of tracks are particularly "out there". Most of it is mildly off-kilter blues rock which gets pretty tedious on an almost 80-minute double album.
Another point to make is that it's funny that *certain music critics* and their followers will mercilessly lambast the likes of Bowie or Radiohead for repackaging innovations within a pop format, but laud this album as one of the crowning musical achievements of the 21st century. Really makes you think.

lmao when i think of reddit and neckbeards i think of stemmies who think radiohead is the peak of rock music and that a song of ice and fire is great literature

You accidentally described Any Forums and /lit/

they might not be so different, i never claimed otherwise