Beefheart is important because he does, probably quite unintentionally, what music is supposed to do. That is to transcend trend, culture and time frame. I know it can be done because my son used to go nuts when I went so see the all-drum bands in Capetown and go equally bonkers in the same brat bag when I had the Escape Club on at home. So see here, the good Captain is a complete slut. Jazz, rockabilly, blues, booze, ballad or boogie, it's all the same and it's all deliciously different.
Our younger reader should be aware that the Captain is a major influence on groovy types like Dawn Of The Replicants and Clinic as well as clean techno twiddlers like Brian Eno. All of which matters not when the yearning blues of "Love Lies" will grab anyone, and goodness knows what the angular shuffle'n'stomp of "Sugar'n'Spikes" is about. D'you really think they had drugs in the 1960s? Get straight and get straight down to
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