Mirror Man
Encyclopedia
Mirror Man is the fifth studio album by Captain Beefheart
& His Magic Band. It contains material which was recorded in 1967 for Buddah Records
, and which was originally intended for release as part of an abandoned project entitled It Comes to You in a Plain Brown Wrapper. Much of the material from this project was subsequently re-recorded and released through a different label as Strictly Personal
(1968). The tapes from the original sessions, however, remained under the care of Buddah, who took four of the unissued tunes and released them as Mirror Man in 1971. The record sleeve features an erroneous claim that it had been "recorded one night in Los Angeles in 1965."
The album is dominated by three long, blues
-rooted jams featuring uncharacteristically sparse lyrical accompaniment from Beefheart. A fourth tune, the eight-minute "Kandy Korn", is an earlier version of a track that appears on Strictly Personal. In 1999, Buddha Records issued an expanded version of the album entitled The Mirror Man Sessions, which features five additional tracks taken from the abandoned tapes.
, provisionally entitled It Comes to You in a Plain Brown Wrapper. Three of the tracks they recorded—"Tarotplane", "25th Century Quaker", and "Mirror Man"—were long, psychedelic blues jams performed 'live in the studio' (in one take with no overdubs). These were intended to fill one of the set's two LPs.
The band were also working on a number of other tracks, many of which would eventually be included on Strictly Personal
(1968). These songs were characterized by their polyrhythmic structures and psychedelic themes, which marked a progression from the band's previous blues-rooted work on Safe as Milk.
The Brown Wrapper concept, however, was at some point abandoned, and many of the tracks from the sessions were left unfinished and without any vocals. The reason for this remains unclear, though Beefheart biographer Mike Barnes suggests it was probably because the band's record label, Buddah, simply lost interest. A number of the abandoned tracks were re-recorded in 1968, and released as Strictly Personal, through producer Bob Krasnow
's own record label, Blue Thumb
. The original session tapes, however, which included the three long blues jams along with a number of other unreleased songs, remained the property of Buddah, who released Mirror Man in May 1971, compiling the track list from the three 'live' jams and a finished version of "Kandy Korn" (which was one of the tracks re-recorded for Strictly Personal, where it appears in shortened form). The album's original pressing was put together somewhat carelessly, with the cover art featured a shot of the band's 1970 line-up. Later pressings replaced this photo with a more striking image of Van Vliet (Beefheart) wearing a top hat.
", which was about a popular 1930s car
. Throughout "Tarotplane"'s nineteen minutes, Van Vliet quotes lines from Johnson's song as well as from various other blues tunes including Blind Willie Johnson
's "You're Gonna Need Somebody on Your Bond", Son House
's "Grinning in Your Face", and Willie Dixon
's "Wang Dang Doodle
". The song is built on a single two-chord blues riff, and also features an appearance by Van Vliet on an Indian reed instrument called a shehnai
, which was supposedly given to him by Ornette Coleman
, and which he plays in a different key from the rest of the band.
Also on side one is an eight-minute "Kandy Korn", the second Magic Band tune to reference confectionery, following Safe as Milks "Abba Zaba". A different, shorter version of this song appears as the closing track on Strictly Personal, where the production buries the later sections of the song under a profusion of backwards cymbal
s. Here, the track is heard without Krasnow's controversial production effects.
The second long 'live' blues jam, "25th Century Quaker", owes its surreal lyrics more to the psychedelic mood of the time, with its references to "blue cheese faces" and "eyes that flutter like a wide-open shutter." Music historian Piero Scaruffi
writes, in reference to both this song and "Kandy Korn", "[the lyrics] are surrealistic and intentionally idiotic, a call to infantilism and acid trips in service of a musical theater of the absurd." Around the time the song was recorded the band had been wearing black Quaker coats on stage, and even began to play their live shows as The 25th Century Quakers.
The album closes with its fifteen-minute title track, which, like "Kandy Korn", was re-recorded for Strictly Personal, where it appears as "Son of Mirror Man – Mere Man". An Allmusic review of the album cites "Mirror Man" as "one of the key tracks of Beefheart's entire career," adding, "Probably the catchiest tune Beefheart ever wrote, "Mirror Man" has an almost funky, hip-swaying groove."
magazine by Lester Bangs
, who opens by citing Beefheart as "one of the four or five unqualified geniuses to rise from the hothouses of American music in the Sixties," states: "None of them really build in intensity or end up anyplace other than where they started, and would most likely prove intolerable to anyone already a bit put off by Beefheart's work." Mike Barnes suggests the lengths are partly justified by other bands' long blues compositions of the period, such as the nineteen-minute "Revelation" from Love
's Da Capo
(1966), or the eleven-minute "Alligator" from the Grateful Dead
's Anthem of the Sun
(1968). Bangs, too, goes on to say, "If all those millions settled for Cream
throttling "Spoonful
" for 16 minutes, their attention spans shouldn't have any trouble with this, which is not only better blues jamming but actually has more variety." The album reached a peak UK chart position of number 49, although, like all other Magic Band releases, it failed to break into the top 100 in the United States.
Side one
Side two
Captain Beefheart
Don Van Vliet January 15, 1941 December 17, 2010) was an American musician, singer-songwriter and artist best known by the stage name Captain Beefheart. His musical work was conducted with a rotating ensemble of musicians called The Magic Band, active between 1965 and 1982, with whom he recorded 12...
& His Magic Band. It contains material which was recorded in 1967 for Buddah Records
Buddah Records
Buddah Records was founded in 1967 in New York City. The label was born out of Kama Sutra Records, an MGM Records-distributed label, which remained a key imprint following Buddah's founding...
, and which was originally intended for release as part of an abandoned project entitled It Comes to You in a Plain Brown Wrapper. Much of the material from this project was subsequently re-recorded and released through a different label as Strictly Personal
Strictly Personal
-Personnel:*Don Van Vliet - vocals, harmonica*Alex St. Clair - guitar*Jeff Cotton - guitar*Jerry Handley - bass guitar*John French - drums-External links:* at the Captain Beefheart Radar Station....
(1968). The tapes from the original sessions, however, remained under the care of Buddah, who took four of the unissued tunes and released them as Mirror Man in 1971. The record sleeve features an erroneous claim that it had been "recorded one night in Los Angeles in 1965."
The album is dominated by three long, blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
-rooted jams featuring uncharacteristically sparse lyrical accompaniment from Beefheart. A fourth tune, the eight-minute "Kandy Korn", is an earlier version of a track that appears on Strictly Personal. In 1999, Buddha Records issued an expanded version of the album entitled The Mirror Man Sessions, which features five additional tracks taken from the abandoned tapes.
History
When the band went into the studio in late 1967 to record the follow-up to their debut album Safe as Milk, which had been released earlier that year, it was with the intention of producing a double albumDouble album
A double album is an audio album which spans two units of the primary medium in which it is sold, typically records and compact discs....
, provisionally entitled It Comes to You in a Plain Brown Wrapper. Three of the tracks they recorded—"Tarotplane", "25th Century Quaker", and "Mirror Man"—were long, psychedelic blues jams performed 'live in the studio' (in one take with no overdubs). These were intended to fill one of the set's two LPs.
The band were also working on a number of other tracks, many of which would eventually be included on Strictly Personal
Strictly Personal
-Personnel:*Don Van Vliet - vocals, harmonica*Alex St. Clair - guitar*Jeff Cotton - guitar*Jerry Handley - bass guitar*John French - drums-External links:* at the Captain Beefheart Radar Station....
(1968). These songs were characterized by their polyrhythmic structures and psychedelic themes, which marked a progression from the band's previous blues-rooted work on Safe as Milk.
The Brown Wrapper concept, however, was at some point abandoned, and many of the tracks from the sessions were left unfinished and without any vocals. The reason for this remains unclear, though Beefheart biographer Mike Barnes suggests it was probably because the band's record label, Buddah, simply lost interest. A number of the abandoned tracks were re-recorded in 1968, and released as Strictly Personal, through producer Bob Krasnow
Bob Krasnow
Bob Krasnow is a leading music industry entrepreneur. His early career included working as a promotions man for James Brown and sales representative for Decca Records. In the early 1960s, Krasnow founded MK Records, which released the novelty record "," a parody of the 1960 presidential campaign...
's own record label, Blue Thumb
Blue Thumb Records
Blue Thumb Records was an American record label founded in 1968 by Bob Krasnow, along with former A&M Records executives Tommy LiPuma and Don Graham. Krasnow had been in the record business for a number of years, working as a promotion man for King Records and also working for Buddah/Kama Sutra...
. The original session tapes, however, which included the three long blues jams along with a number of other unreleased songs, remained the property of Buddah, who released Mirror Man in May 1971, compiling the track list from the three 'live' jams and a finished version of "Kandy Korn" (which was one of the tracks re-recorded for Strictly Personal, where it appears in shortened form). The album's original pressing was put together somewhat carelessly, with the cover art featured a shot of the band's 1970 line-up. Later pressings replaced this photo with a more striking image of Van Vliet (Beefheart) wearing a top hat.
Music and lyrics
The opening track, "Tarotplane", takes its title after the Robert Johnson song "Terraplane BluesTerraplane Blues
"Terraplane Blues" is a blues song recorded in 1936 in San Antonio, Texas by bluesman Robert Johnson. "Terraplane Blues" was Johnson's first single and it became a moderate regional hit, selling 5,000 copies....
", which was about a popular 1930s car
Terraplane
The Terraplane was a car brand and model built by the Hudson Motor Car Company of Detroit, Michigan between 1932 and 1938. In its maiden year, the car was branded as the Essex-Terraplane; in 1934 the car became simply the Terraplane...
. Throughout "Tarotplane"'s nineteen minutes, Van Vliet quotes lines from Johnson's song as well as from various other blues tunes including Blind Willie Johnson
Blind Willie Johnson
"Blind" Willie Johnson was an American singer and guitarist, whose music straddled the border between blues and spirituals....
's "You're Gonna Need Somebody on Your Bond", Son House
Son House
Eddie James "Son" House, Jr. was an American blues singer and guitarist. House pioneered an innovative style featuring strong, repetitive rhythms, often played with the aid of slide guitar, and his singing often incorporated elements of southern gospel and spiritual music...
's "Grinning in Your Face", and Willie Dixon
Willie Dixon
William James "Willie" Dixon was an American blues musician, vocalist, songwriter, arranger and record producer. A Grammy Award winner who was proficient on both the Upright bass and the guitar, as well as his own singing voice, Dixon is arguably best known as one of the most prolific songwriters...
's "Wang Dang Doodle
Wang Dang Doodle
"Wang Dang Doodle" is a blues song written by Willie Dixon for Howlin' Wolf at Chess Records in Chicago. It has been covered by many artists, including Love Sculpture, Koko Taylor, Z. Z. Hill, Ted Nugent, the Pointer Sisters, PJ Harvey, Grateful Dead, Ratdog, Savoy Brown, Charlie Watts, Booker T....
". The song is built on a single two-chord blues riff, and also features an appearance by Van Vliet on an Indian reed instrument called a shehnai
Shehnai
The shehnai, shahnai, shenai or mangal vadya, is an aerophonic instrument, a double reed conical oboe, common in North India, West India and Pakistan, made out of wood, with a metal flare bell at the end...
, which was supposedly given to him by Ornette Coleman
Ornette Coleman
Ornette Coleman is an American saxophonist, violinist, trumpeter and composer. He was one of the major innovators of the free jazz movement of the 1960s....
, and which he plays in a different key from the rest of the band.
Also on side one is an eight-minute "Kandy Korn", the second Magic Band tune to reference confectionery, following Safe as Milks "Abba Zaba". A different, shorter version of this song appears as the closing track on Strictly Personal, where the production buries the later sections of the song under a profusion of backwards cymbal
Cymbal
Cymbals are a common percussion instrument. Cymbals consist of thin, normally round plates of various alloys; see cymbal making for a discussion of their manufacture. The greater majority of cymbals are of indefinite pitch, although small disc-shaped cymbals based on ancient designs sound a...
s. Here, the track is heard without Krasnow's controversial production effects.
The second long 'live' blues jam, "25th Century Quaker", owes its surreal lyrics more to the psychedelic mood of the time, with its references to "blue cheese faces" and "eyes that flutter like a wide-open shutter." Music historian Piero Scaruffi
Piero Scaruffi
Piero Scaruffi received a degree in Mathematics in 1982 from University of Turin, where he did work on the General Theory of Relativity. For a number of years he was the head of the Artificial Intelligence Center at Olivetti, based in Cupertino, California. He has been a visiting scholar at...
writes, in reference to both this song and "Kandy Korn", "[the lyrics] are surrealistic and intentionally idiotic, a call to infantilism and acid trips in service of a musical theater of the absurd." Around the time the song was recorded the band had been wearing black Quaker coats on stage, and even began to play their live shows as The 25th Century Quakers.
The album closes with its fifteen-minute title track, which, like "Kandy Korn", was re-recorded for Strictly Personal, where it appears as "Son of Mirror Man – Mere Man". An Allmusic review of the album cites "Mirror Man" as "one of the key tracks of Beefheart's entire career," adding, "Probably the catchiest tune Beefheart ever wrote, "Mirror Man" has an almost funky, hip-swaying groove."
Critical and popular reception
Reviews of the album have made much of the length of its four compositions. A contemporary review written for Rolling StoneRolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
magazine by Lester Bangs
Lester Bangs
Leslie Conway "Lester" Bangs was an American music journalist, author and musician. He wrote for Creem and Rolling Stone magazines, and was known for his leading influence in rock 'n' roll criticism....
, who opens by citing Beefheart as "one of the four or five unqualified geniuses to rise from the hothouses of American music in the Sixties," states: "None of them really build in intensity or end up anyplace other than where they started, and would most likely prove intolerable to anyone already a bit put off by Beefheart's work." Mike Barnes suggests the lengths are partly justified by other bands' long blues compositions of the period, such as the nineteen-minute "Revelation" from Love
Love (band)
Love was an American rock group of the late 1960s and early 1970s. They were led by singer/songwriter Arthur Lee and lead guitarist Johnny Echols...
's Da Capo
Da Capo (Love album)
Da Capo is the second album by American rock group Love, released in January 1967 by Elektra Records. The bulk of Da Capo was recorded between September 27 and October 2, 1966. "7 and 7 Is" was recorded on June 20, and had been released as a single in July of 1966 backed with "No. Fourteen", an...
(1966), or the eleven-minute "Alligator" from the Grateful Dead
Grateful Dead
The Grateful Dead was an American rock band formed in 1965 in the San Francisco Bay Area. The band was known for its unique and eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, folk, bluegrass, blues, reggae, country, improvisational jazz, psychedelia, and space rock, and for live performances of long...
's Anthem of the Sun
Anthem of the Sun
Anthem of the Sun is the second studio album by the Grateful Dead, released in 1968. It is the first album to feature second drummer Mickey Hart, who joined the band in September 1967...
(1968). Bangs, too, goes on to say, "If all those millions settled for Cream
Cream (band)
Cream were a 1960s British rock supergroup consisting of bassist/vocalist Jack Bruce, guitarist/vocalist Eric Clapton, and drummer Ginger Baker...
throttling "Spoonful
Spoonful
"Spoonful" is a blues standard written by Willie Dixon and first recorded in 1960 by Howlin' Wolf. It is loosely based on "A Spoonful Blues", a song recorded in 1929 by Charley Patton , itself related to "All I Want Is A Spoonful" by Papa Charlie Jackson and "Cocaine Blues" by Luke Jordan...
" for 16 minutes, their attention spans shouldn't have any trouble with this, which is not only better blues jamming but actually has more variety." The album reached a peak UK chart position of number 49, although, like all other Magic Band releases, it failed to break into the top 100 in the United States.
Track listing
- All tracks written by Don Van Vliet and published by Flamingo Music.
Side one
- "Tarotplane" – 19:08
- "Kandy Korn" – 8:07
Side two
- "25th Century Quaker" – 9:50
- "Mirror Man" – 15:46
The Mirror Man Sessions
In 1999, Buddha Records (which had renamed itself to correct the earlier misspelling, 'Buddah') reissued the album under the title The Mirror Man Sessions, which was released with a newly expanded track list and a 12-page booklet explaining the history of the recordings. The additional tracks included on this release are also taken from the abandoned Brown Wrapper sessions, and thus yield a track listing which is somewhat closer to the original concept. Other tracks from these sessions are included as bonus material on Buddha's 1999 issue of Safe as Milk.Track listing
- "Tarotplane" – 19:08
- "25th Century Quaker" – 9:50
- "Mirror Man" – 15:46
- "Kandy Korn" – 8:06
- "Trust Us" (Take 6) – 7:14
- "Safe as Milk" (Take 12) – 5:00
- "Beatle Bones n' Smokin' Stones" – 3:11
- "Moody Liz" (Take 8) – 4:32
- "Gimme Dat Harp Boy" – 3:32
Personnel
- Captain Beefheart – vocalsSingingSinging is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
, harmonicaHarmonicaThe harmonica, also called harp, French harp, blues harp, and mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used primarily in blues and American folk music, jazz, country, and rock and roll. It is played by blowing air into it or drawing air out by placing lips over individual holes or multiple holes...
, oboeOboeThe oboe is a double reed musical instrument of the woodwind family. In English, prior to 1770, the instrument was called "hautbois" , "hoboy", or "French hoboy". The spelling "oboe" was adopted into English ca... - Alex St. Clair SnoufferAlex St. ClairAlex St. Clair , was an American musician.Twice guitarist for Captain Beefheart, St. Clair was a contemporary of Frank Zappa at Antelope Valley High School in Lancaster, California, where St. Clair played trumpet and Zappa played drums. They bought their first guitars within days of each other.St...
– guitar - Jeff CottonJeff CottonJeff Cotton is an American rock guitarist, known for his work as a member of Captain Beefheart's Magic Band. Cotton first came to attention as guitarist with Merrell and the Exiles, who had a few local hits in 1964 in the Los Angeles area...
– guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with... - Mark Marcellino: keyboardsKeyboard instrumentA keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
- John FrenchJohn French (musician)John "Drumbo" French is an American drummer and musician. He played on Captain Beefheart's Trout Mask Replica and on various other Beefheart recordings: Beefheart dubbed him "Drumbo"...
– drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person .... - Jerry Handley – bassBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....