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Pif Magazine
Pif Magazine |
Pure 100% Rock And Roll - From Concentrate : Page 1, 2, 3, 4 1. Moonlight on Vermont (instrumental hook throughout)
If "The Ocean"'s beat is unorthodox, then "Moonlight on Vermont"'s beat is downright wrong. If "She's So Heavy"'s tune is spooky, then "Moonlight on Vermont"'s tune is plain-old mentally disturbing. Captain Beefheart is a wacky band of psychedelic jazz wannabes, produced here by Frank Zappa at the height of his flaky genius. This entire double CD is strange and challenging, but usually light and humorous — which makes the initial drum break from "Moonlight on Vermont" all the more chilling. The drums are beatnik and scattered, but spiraling steadily up some rhythmic staircase that only the drummer and the band seem able to discern. Like "The Ocean," we have a band following a guitarist following a drummer. Unlike "The Ocean," everything here is dispersed, loose, and psychedelic. The guitar is distorted, full of treble, and mixed annoyingly loud. The cymbals sound cheap and tinny. The whole thing is cacophonic, but underneath it all is a strange, subconscious order, like the truth of a dream gnawing at the edges of your waking consciousness, screaming to reveal itself, ugly and disturbing as its implications may be. The whole song is good and has a vibe of its own, so much so that you almost forget about the scary drum break until it crops up again, and again. It's like trying to wake up from a nightmare, only to wake up in the middle of another nightmare, ad infinitum. Deftly primordial. Tooth-chilling. Like staring into a mirror and seeing your reflection wink at you, but you're not winking. Jarring. Unassumingly intrusive. The drum break from "Moonlight on Vermont" is my favorite song part ever. And it makes a swell Christmas gift too, looped on both sides of a 90-minute tape. Mail it to your girlfriend and watch her leave the country. Tell us what you think. Email talkback@pifmagazine.com Want Pif to review your CD? Curt Cloninger believes that beauty is truth, truth beauty, and the Burger King Whopper with cheese (add bacon) is both. Visit Curt at lab404.com. |
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