Captain Beefheart and The Magic Band - Lick My Decals Off, Baby Instrumentals

Captain Beefheart is so misunderstood, which I'm sure is the way he likes it. If you know him and love his work though, I'm sure you've absorbed Trout Mask Replica and the rest of his catalogue. The only thing that has ever frustrated me in regards to his releases though is their absence from the market, at least on these shores. Trout Mask Replica, Safe As Milk, Doc At The Radar Station and Ice Cream For Crow are all available in the US, as is the wonderful Rhino curated compilation The Dust Blows Forward, but most of his other releases are dead out of print. In some cases that's almost a blessing (it's better just to act like Bluejeans & Moonbeams and Unconditionally Guaranteed practically never happened), but great releases like Clear Spot, The Spotlight Kid and Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller) are all terribly missed, but worst of all, where is Lick My Decals Off, Baby? The follow-up to Trout Mask Replica, it was a more concise rendering of everything great about that album as well as Beefheart and the Magic Band in general. From a label's standpoint, it's understandable why it doesn't need to be in print, what with Trout Mask's continued popularity, several of the tracks being featured on the more expensive Dust Blows Forward comp, and Beefheart's notoriously anti-commercial stance which never amounted to much in the way of continued sales to begin with, but it's rather amazing that it's not even available at least digitally! Of course you could probably go download a copy somewhere for free and get just as much pleasure out of it, but I know I'm not the only one who would love to own a physical copy of the album that hasn't been previously played or beaten by the hands of time.

Alas, I'm not going to help you in your quest for a copy of the album in it's finished state, although you'd be on the right track by visiting ebay or a good used record shop, but I am featuring something for those who love Beefheart and the Magic Band's work from this era, especially if you've ever wanted to listen to the Magic Band on their own. Courtesy of those fine folks at Zappateers.com and whomever leaked the tapes to begin with, here is a copy of the Lick My Decals Off, Baby album in instrumental form, sans it's already instrumental tracks. Prepare for a swift and powerful lashing from your speakers!


Captain Beefheart and The Magic Band - Lick My Decals Off, Baby Instrumentals

01 Lick My Decals Off, Baby
02 Doctor Dark
03 I Love You, You Big Dummy
04 Bellerin' Plain
05 Woe-Is-Uh-Me-Bop
06 Japan In A Dishpan
07 I Wanna Find A Woman That'll Hold My Big Toe Till I Have To Go
08 Petrified Forest
09 The Buggy Boogie Woogie
10 The Smithsonian Institute Blues (Or The Big Dig)
11 Space-Age Couple
12 The Clouds Are Full Of Wine (Not Whiskey Or Rye)
13 Flash Gordon's Ape


By the way, if you'd like to be impressed visually by Beefheart and his troop, you should follow this link for an advertisement made to promote this album.