Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller)

Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller) is the tenth studio album by Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band. Originally released in 1978, it is considered to be Beefheart's comeback album following 1974's poorly received efforts, Unconditionally Guaranteed and Bluejeans & Moonbeams, and is the first of his three critically acclaimed final albums.

Background: the original Bat Chain Puller

Four of the tracks were originally recorded for Frank Zappa's DiscReet Records in early 1976 for an album that was to be titled simply Bat Chain Puller – namely the title track, "Harry Irene", "The Floppy Boot Stomp", "Owed t'Alex" and the poem "Apes-Ma". This album, however, was never commercially released, owing to legal complications among the DiscReet bosses; the versions that appear on Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller) are 1978 re-recordings. Many, though not all, of the other songs on the original Bat Chain Puller would be re-recorded for Beefheart's two following albums, Doc at the Radar Station and Ice Cream for Crow. The original recordings have yet to be released officially but have appeared on various bootleg releases under such titles as The Original Bat Chain Puller + Paris 1972, Original 1976 Shiny Beast Version, Bat Chain Puller - The 1976 Sessions, and Dust Sucker.^[7]

These recordings featured a lineup of John French on drums, John Thomas on keyboards, and Moris Tepper and Denny Walley on guitars. The band represented what was left of the post-Bongo Fury band the Captain had put together after Elliot Ingber and Bruce Fowler had left.

Herb Cohen had authorized the recordings for Frank Zappa's DiscReet Records, but the record was suppressed after getting caught up in a lawsuit Zappa had launched against Cohen. Tapes of the album had been sent to Virgin Records, however, as well as reviewers and radio stations. The album has since been heavily bootlegged, with titles such as Original Bat Chain Puller and Dust Sucker. The rights are owned by the Zappa Family Trust, and there had been talk of them releasing it. Denny Walley was brought in at some point to finish the production work, but the album had yet to materialize until January 2012.^[8]

The album does not share the same track listing as Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller). Songs from the original Bat Chain Puller were re-recorded and released on Shiny Beast ("The Floppy Boot Stomp", "Harry Irene", "Bat Chain Puller", "Owed t'Alex" and "Apes-Ma"), Doc at the Radar Station ("A Carrot Is as Close as a Rabbit Gets to a Diamond", "Brickbats" and "Flavor Bud Living") and Ice Cream for Crow ("Poop Hatch"—as "'81 Poop Hatch"—and "The Thousandth and Tenth Day of the Human Totem Pole"). Three songs, "Seam Crooked Sam," "Odd Jobs," and "Hobo-Ism" have never before been officially released.

On June 24, 2011, Gail Zappa announced on the official zappa.com website that the original Bat Chain Puller would be released "[t]his year. December most likely."^[9]

In December 2011, the original Bat Chain Puller became available for pre-order in the ZFT Barfko Swill store.^[10]

Shiny Beast track listing

All lyrics and music by Don Van Vliet.

(*) denotes tracks that were to have appeared on the original Bat Chain Puller album (all are re-recordings)

Personnel

• Don Van Vliet (Captain Beefheart) - vocals, harmonica, soprano sax, whistling
• Jeff Moris Tepper - slide guitar, guitar, spell guitar
• Bruce Lambourne Fowler - trombone, air bass
• Eric Drew Feldman - synthesizer, Rhodes piano, grand piano, bass
• Richard Redus - slide guitar, bottleneck guitar, guitar, accordion, fretless bass
• Robert Arthur Williams - drums, percussion
• Art Tripp III - marimba, additional percussion

References

External links

• Jeff Moris Tepper's candlebone.com
• The Wire's 100 Records That Set The World On Fire (When No One Was Listening)