Do you know anyone besides who's not a rock critic or record geek who actually likes Captain Beefheart? I mean, actually listens to him? Are they weird as shit? 'Cause Captain Beefheart surely is. The strange, angular music of the good Captain and his Magic band comforts the tortured soul; the wild, improvisational riffing, the outrageous imagery, and Beefheart's impressively unhinged vocals seem to speak their languange. Thanks to an alliance with Frank Zappa - and the unceasing praises of writers like Lester Bangs - Captain Beefheart eventually found his (twisted) audience. But, even his prime stuff - Safe As Milk (1967), Trout Mask Replica (1969), The Spotlight Kid (1972) or Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller) (1978) - would tax the patience of Joan Of Arc, let alone your average rock 'n' roll fan. I mean, I almost got fired once for playing Trout Mask Replica - in a record store! where it was for sale! This music is that strange. Really.

Leave it to Rhino Records to distill Beefheart's career down to listenable chunks. The Dust Blows Forward: An Anthology (1999) needs just two CD's to carry us from the Captain's early garage rock days ("Diddy Wah Diddy") through the full flower of his madness (sample song title: "Making Love To A Vampire With Monkey On My Knee"). And, while I don't pretend to understand this stuff, I admire its shear audacity. For those of you unbalanced enough to actually dig it, most of the Captain Beefheart (a.k.a. Don Van Vliet) catalog has been reissued on CD, and Revenant Records has compiled Grow Fins: Rarities 1965-1972 (1999), a five-disc treasure trove.