Search - Eugene Chadbourne, Jimmy Carl Black :: Pachuco Cadaver: The Jim & Jack Show

Imaginative versions of Beefheart tunes

10/23/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Chadbourne and Black do an outstanding job of capturing the humor of the Captain Beefheart catalouge. They treat his songs with jocular admiration, playing them as loose open-mic-night jams one minute (talking back and forth to each other during the tunes), and turning them into full-fledged freakouts the next (see "Veteran's Day Poppy"). Given the present time's easy availability of Beefheart's records, it's difficult at first to see why this collection was put together (except that these are great songs). However, in 1995, all the recent reissues had not been released, and the Captain's legacy might have seemed in jeopardy. Black and Chadbourne do highly accurate impersonations of the Captain's gravelly voice and turn his carefully orchestrated pieces into free form madness at times, but the respect for the music is never in question. In fact, it's refreshing to hear someone else attempt Beefheart songs. Listening to the originals gives the impression that they'd be difficult to pull off, but Black and Chadbourne make it seem effortless."