Doc at the Radar Station
| Doc at the Radar Station | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
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| Studio album by Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band | ||||
| Released | August 1980 | |||
| Recorded | Sound Castle Recording Studios, LA June 1980 | |||
| Genre | Experimental rock, blues rock, alternative rock | |||
| Length | 38:52 | |||
| Label | Virgin | |||
| Producer | Don Van Vliet | |||
| Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band chronology | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   [1] |
| Robert Christgau | A−[2] |
| Down Beat | [3] |
| Los Angeles Times | (Favorable)[4] |
| New York Times | (Favorable)[5] |
| Rolling Stone | [6] |
Doc at the Radar Station is the eleventh studio album by Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band, released in August 1980 to favorable reviews.
Although about half of the album's songs are based on old musical ideas, Mike Barnes states that "most of the revamping work built on skeletal ideas and fragments ... would have mouldered away in the vaults had they not been exhumed and transformed into full-blown, totally convincing new material."[7]
Packaging
The album cover was painted by Don Van Vliet. It was placed at number forty-nine on Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Album Covers.
Song info
The tracks "A Carrot is as Close as a Rabbit Gets to a Diamond", "Flavor Bud Living" and "Brickbats" were originally intended and recorded for the proposed album Bat Chain Puller but it wasn't released due to Frank Zappa owning the master tapes as DiscReet cofounders Herb Cohen and Zappa feuded over the production of the album, because Cohen funded the production with Zappa's royalty checks.
Former drummer of the Magic Band John French plays slide guitar, guitar, marimba, bass and drums on the tracks "Ashtray Heart" and "Sheriff of Hong Kong".
Reissues
In 2011, 4 Men with Beards released a 180-gram version of the album that is being distributed by City Hall Records.
Track listing
All tracks written by Don Van Vliet
| Side One | ||
|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Length |
| 1. | "Hot Head" | 3:23 |
| 2. | "Ashtray Heart" | 3:25 |
| 3. | "A Carrot is as Close as a Rabbit Gets to a Diamond" | 1:38 |
| 4. | "Run Paint Run Run" | 3:40 |
| 5. | "Sue Egypt" | 2:57 |
| 6. | "Brickbats" | 2:40 |
| Side Two | ||
|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Length |
| 1. | "Dirty Blue Gene" | 3:51 |
| 2. | "Best Batch Yet" | 5:02 |
| 3. | "Telephone" | 1:31 |
| 4. | "Flavor Bud Living" | 1:00 |
| 5. | "Sheriff of Hong Kong" | 6:34 |
| 6. | "Making Love to a Vampire with a Monkey on My Knee" | 3:11 |
Personnel
- Captain Beefheart (Don Van Vliet) – vocals, Chinese gongs, harmonica, soprano saxophone, bass clarinet
- John French – slide guitar, guitar, marimba, bass, drums (on "Ashtray Heart" and "Sheriff of Hong Kong")
- Bruce Lambourne Fowler – trombone
- Jeff Moris Tepper – slide guitar, guitar, nerve guitar
- Eric Drew Feldman – synthesizer, bass, mellotron, grand piano, electric piano
- Robert Arthur Williams – drums
- Additional personnel
- Gary Lucas – guitar, French horn
Notes
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- ↑ Rolling Stone Album Guide (1992) ISBN 0-679-73729-4
- ↑ Barnes, Mike. Captain Beefheart: The Biography. London: Quartet Books, 2000.
