Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band - Trout Mask Replica (1969)

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Look, this review is going to make little sense. I just need to get that out of the way. The main reason for that is because this album makes no sense. It's hectic, it's chaotic in a bad way, it feels like their instruments are falling apart as they play them. I tried rating each individual song but I was unable to separate the whole of the experience from the actual song itself so I'd given, frankly, unlistenable songs, a pretty good score.

This album is not about each song. You cannot pick out songs from this album and put them on a playlist. It feels like this album demands the whole of your attention. It's weird, experimental, avant-garde, it's very disorientating to listen to with lyrics that feel like absolute nonsense but make just enough sense that you can piece together a story from them. It pulls you into its wild logic and crazed ramblings and what at first feels like being talked at by someone who is extremely high quickly becomes enthralling and engaging. It's one of the first albums I've ever heard where you have to put real effort in and meet it halfway.

I cannot rate the individual songs. I can't in good conscience tell someone that Neon Meate Dream of a Octafish is actually a 4.5/5. Most of the music on here is... definitely not adhering to traditional music structures or sounds. There's just something captivating about it that I can't put my finger on.