The musical influence of Don Van Vliet is everywhere. It is in the music of yesterday, it is inherent in many artists and musicians performing and recording today, and, perhaps most importantly, is parcel part of the musical legacy still to come. The beat poet, Greg Corso once importuned that he had no choice other than choosing the life of a poet. Everything else, was not gravy.
For Don, listening to Rhythm and Blues records was his, 'gravy.' He took this intense and genuine love and appreciation and distilled it into something magical - even calling his loosely assembled band of musical cut-throats, 'The Magic Band;' an epithet frequently lost on his musical detractors.
But, 'Magic,' they undoubtedly were. Capable of creating the most raucous, the most prescient, the most ominous sounds then imaginable by a society incapable, for the most part, of calibrating the true importance of his lovely noise.
But, 'lovely noise,' it was. Invested with an honesty and integrity and a love for and of the music he created. More and most importantly, Beefheart was able to communicate this undiluted, often sonically challenging, musical ideology to so many, to so many willing to embrace it fully and unconditionally - it is difficult to imagine any other artist of the past 45 years who has influenced successive generations of musicians and artists more.
Thanks Don.
'Moonlight in Vermont'
'Ice cream for crow'
'The artist formerly known as Captain Beefheart' 1/6
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