Hi, everyone. Many people have asked if it is possible to make a one-time donation to support my work. I have just set up this option -- it takes two minutes, and you can donate any amount: www.samuelandreyev.com/donate

On the 5th listen you realize that it’s the best thing you’ve listened to

Who knew when we were listening to this in 1971 for pure enjoyment? Those of us who are still alive (RIP John) are still huge fans. Thank you, Samuel, for having such a great love for Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band. This analysis is amazing.

going back some 40 years ago i recall thinking maybe one day somebody would break this piece down and show that this is not some random improvised piece because as as a drummer i could hear repetitions with the performers syncing these crazy dynamics. This is mind blowing stuff. thanks for being the guy to explain this and enhancing my enjoyment.

I've always admired CBAHMB for their oddness and complexity. However, I've never seen their music broken down so completely and so interestingly as this. Thank you for reminding me why music is so important in human thought and processing.

This is one of the most amazing things I have ever seen in KZfaq. Period. Thank you so much Samuel. Rarely have I seen someone talks so intelligently and eloquently about music. Frownland was actaully always one of my least favourite tracks in TMR but now I will listen to it completely different.

A 32-minute lecture on one minute and forty seconds of music? I have died and gone to heaven.

One of my composition teachers in college said that if you could transcribe something from Trout Mask Replica, then you would automatically pass all 2 years of aural skills. You did incredible work pulling out all the strands from the thicket of sounds, it shows you are as dedicated to this music as the original musicians were. Thanks for this amazing analysis, bravo! The blocks of unrelated and repeating cells remind me of Stravinsky. I agree the piece overall is in G. But I wonder if the harmony might be better understood from a blues (rather than a classical) perspective, since Beefheart was coming from the blues. For example, it's possible to hear Block 1 in G mixolydian, a common blues mode. This is more convincing than saying the piece opens in C major, then eventually settles on G major. Likewise, I'd say both guitars are still in G mixolydian in Block 5, with Guitar 1 adding ninths and sixths to the G chord, also a common blues device. The strange collection of pitches in the bass in Block 5 makes sense if derived from the C blues scale, which features the sharp 4 and flat 7 degrees. This is supported by all the other bass cells which seem to be in C minor. Of course, having the bass in another key complicates things, but it's not so far out if you consider that C is the IV chord in a G blues. Actually, the tritone is one of the most common sonorities in rock music, because it is in the blues scale. Just ask Black Sabbath :) That Van Vliet and the Magic Band crafted a full-on avant-garde music directly from the blues was their singular achievement on Trout Mask Replica. Usually, avant-garde music and the blues couldn't be further apart!

I bought this album when I was a kid because I loved the colors of it. I was surprised that the music sounded exactly like what it looked like, and I loved it.

Every cut on this album is worthy of the fine analysis you've given here.

And, in five hundred years, people will be watching this and so thankful that Samuel recorded this analysis. And, that he championed it.

THIS is the kind of video that makes me hate myself for not spending time learning more about music. Thank you so much for posting this incredible video.

"If you are a music student, and you haven't listened to this entire record at least 4 times, then your musical education is woefully incomplete. Every composer should know this record, everyone seriously interested in music needs to know it, because it's an amazing achievement on all sorts of levels". Samuel Andreyev, Composer Thank you Samuel, I agree 100%. This was a very important album for me in 1969, and it still is today.

This was absolutely amazing. Would love more Trout Mask analysis! Would click a donate button if necessary as this is important work.

Thank you so much for breaking down what I had always felt in my gut - that this album, and this song in particular, is a work of genius. Of special importance is your analysis of the patterns - so many people think it's just discordant improvisation, but they've merely heard it, not listened to it carefully. Captain Beefheart and The Magic Band locked themselves up in a house for eight months, rehearsing, and when they went into the studio they knocked out the entire double album in 4.5 hours. It's essentially a live recording.

Thanks for that...much appreciated delving into the complexities of this masterpiece.

I was very interested in this review. Trout Mask Replica is an album which changed my life. I discovered it in my teens in the mid 70s and became totally fascinated by it. The album is an amazing piece of work, totally tied down, very tight and rehearsed on the one hand, but wild and liberating to listen to. I have to say that I love this album more than any other rock/pop album and today I live a better more open life than I would have if I had never encountered it. I love experimental art in all its forms, I even live in Brighton & Hove city in England because there is such a great experimental art scene here. All this because of Trout Mask Replica.

Great job, Samuel Andreyev!. I bought this album when it first came out and I've never ceased to love it. So good to see it taken seriously in precisely the way that you have done - not too seriously but seriously enough. Well done, keep going. I'm listening.

I've been listening to this album since 1971! It had more of an effect on me than my first semester of college, which happened at the same time. I bought the album right at the beginning of my first semester. Well, even after all these years, I would still say that Pachuco Cadaver is my favorite song on the album. It's an amazing song, and not just the music. The lyrics of the album were a big part of why I was just blown away by the album. I memorized many of them and would recite them for the poor students in my French class, mainly. I don't listen so much anymore, but still I would say that this album had a huge effect on me. Other songs that were quite influential on me are Steal Softly thru Snow, Ella Guru, The Blimp, Old Fart at Play, The Dust blows forward 'n the Dust blows Back (my ex-wife's favorite! :) ... oh, there were so many... "Energy flies through a field, and the sun softly melts the nothing wheel... The black paper between the mirror, breaks my heart that I can't go, steal softly thru sunshine, steal softly thru snow..." I gotta stop now. I'll get started on a Beefheart "thing" and nobody wants that! haha

👍🏾🎸🤯✌🏾I never knew! I totally blew this off. I used to gig at the old Fillmore back in the day. When Beefheart played his set, I thought they were 3rd rate posers, trying imitate Ornette or Trane. I’m all ears now - better late than never!!!!!!

Absolutely fascinating analysis of incredibly unique music. Thanks for this, Samuel.

Thank you for creating a quantitative musical analysis of this piece. I can't imagine the time it took to think of it all and put this together.

Fun fact: the song “Vertigo” by Aztec Camera has the following lines: Now that her smile has stuck I cannot go back to your frownland And that song sounds NOTHING like Captain Beefheart.

Hope you can do more of this album!

Trout Mask was the greatest noise of the 60's. Lick my decals was the greatest noise of the 70's. Doc at the Radar Station was the greatest noise of the 80's. All at the hands of Don Van Vliet. In 1,000 years people will be listening to Captain Beefheart. England has a good vision for majestic talent. They worship Buddy Holly, Brian Wilson and Captain Beefheart. So do I. All revolutionary people in the world of recorded sound and composition. Beefheart went for all the marbles and he got them and he has them for all time. Nobody slays the captain.

So refreshing to have this material demystified and taken 'seriously' & held aloft with other great composers. As a drummer, this album changed my perception of what was possible in composing behind the drum kit, let alone where a song could go.Thanks for committing time to this and dissecting it. BTW, I love hearing the phrases played on the acoustic instruments to illustrate the transcriptions. I could listen to the entire album rendered in that fashion - it would really highlight the album's complexity as well as illustrate cleanly what is REALLY going on! :)

Unexpected choice of music, indeed! Thank you for making these analyses, glad I subscribed.

Love your channel! I'm a music composition student and have never heard this album and thanks to this video I'm now checking it out. I listened to this song right before watching tour analysis and didn't hear anything in it. Then after watching your analysis I was able to hear all the stuff you were talking about. Interesting how analysis can change the way you hear. This track reminds me of Perriot lunare in the sense that the instrumental parts seem to stand on their own and the voice part is just another color on top of it giving the piece a lyrical narrative.

what a fantastic video! your ability to break down a one-minute-thirty long song into half an hour of detailed analysis is amazing, and helped me appreciate the album a whole lot more than I already did, even if some of the technical terminology goes over my head. subscribed for more excellent analysis like this :)

Perhaps I am not qualified to say but I feel without John "drumbo" French, this album would not exist. It is my understanding that Beefheart(with no musical training) just wantonly banged out the songs on piano. Drumbo then transcribed all those parts for the band to play. I'm sure without French, all those random parts would have been lost to the ether. It is my humble opinion that John French is at the very least co-author of this work and along the way had to fill in a lot of blank space.

Superb analysis of a brilliant work. Ill never forget how this album - and this opening track in particular- startled me when I first played the vinyl 30 years ago. Im still listening!

I love (almost)* all of Beefheart's work, but TMR is my lifelong Rosetta Stone. I probably wouldn't have ever made my own music if not for the inspiration of Don and the band(s), to say nothing of how it's inspired me in visual art, too. GREAT work on this, thank you for putting the time in. Somebody's leavin' peanuts on the curbins... and it's you. *Tragic Band era, obviously

Thanks for this video and analysis. It ended up meaning more to me than I expected. Captain Beefheart is a name that I link, through my childhood as a little kid in the 70s, to my stepfather ( who passed away back in 99). He had these giant wooden cabinets filled with hundreds of albums on vinyl. Over my lifetime, we sat down together and listened to about 50% of them, and on my own I listened to another 20%. He had orchestral music, he had Captain and Tennille, Pink Floyd, Frank Zappa, Beatles, Stones, Mac Davis, and on and on and on. He had a bunch of Captain Beefheart albums. We never got around to those. He told me they were great but hard to explain. But because my stepdad was a chubby guy, somehow I always associated the name Captain Beefheart with him because it sounds like a funny name for a chubby guy. So all my life that name made me think of my stepdad. But I never actually listened to the music. I got real deep into jazz and progressive rock and strange music but I always assumed Captain Beefheart was something silly but pleasant, based on the name. And these days I'm hardcore into Dominican traditional music as well as anything afro-cuban. So it was an incredible delight for me to watch this video, and realize this band was something meaty and deep that I could bite into. I probably would never have found out if I hadn't seen this channel and watched the analysis. It gives me something completely new to me to discover, and it has let me reconnect with fond memories of my stepdad that I never expected. While this is obviously just a happy coincidence, I still want to thank you for this analysis and for giving me some new and old roads to explore that a mere week ago, I never would have dreamed of. Thank you!!!

Thank you so much for doing this, Samuel. Such a lot of work! Would love to see more.

Gimme that old time religion.....

Thank you! Wonderful in depth work. Best wishes.

I loved listening to this breakdown, I always saw Frownland as a pallette cleanser for what's to come and so I didnt ever think of it as much as i did the rest of the album, but this has reminded me of how amazing the song is and of how theres something else there that I as a listener can at least try to comprehend. This is what youtube is for

Sam, thanks so much for taking the time to make this. Great analysis of a great artist.

this is unbelievable that now after all this time someone.....you sam ........ has shown the world how amazing and intricate and awe inspiring and original and unique this music eally is Bravo Mr. Andreyev

There is something funny about doing deep analysis of a song which was written by a guy who knew no music theory and wrote the song on a piano, instrument he couldnt play.

Brilliant. Been a big fan of Beefheart for many years, and i have never seen such a careful and accurate analysis of his unique form of music. Yes, i also love Stravinsky. Thank you very much for this.

Astounding attention to detail Samuel, the work you are doing here is so important to me, Thank you so much !

It took me a year of listening for me to "get" this album. It was well worth this commitment. It defeinately expanded my musical universe. I agree that John French should get much more recognition for his contribution. He should get co authourship I think. This stuff is so frightfully original it really helps dispell many layers of banality that suround us these days. Thank you soo much Samuel Andreyev for this analysis. It is truly WONDERFUL. It verifies to me all the wonderful things I hear in this album are based on sound musical principals and not just chaos. This makes me very happy. My smile is stuck. Long live Captain Beefhearts music.

This video was a fantastic insight into a record I’ve been recently drawn to. Bravo, Samuel.

It’s so very interesting and amusing to see Captain Beefheart’s music analyzed and dissected so skillfully and with such complete appreciation. I have a very special place in my heart for this music. It is COMPLETELY outside of the box.

Thank you so much, it was about time that a professional took a serious look at this work of art. I bet there is a lot more to say about this album, I wish I could watch an analytical video of every song, I'm not a composition student but I'd definitively take my time to digest all of this.

Samuel, you certainly got it right regarding the way critics talk about it. To be fair, they do talk that way about everything ... the awful searching for non-musical adjectives to misappropriate that they haven't already flogged to death previously, and so forth. This is fine music indeed. Records that get right down to business without wasting time tend to be off to a good start with me, and this leadoff track is a good example of that. I had no idea that the musicians were so young at the time; that makes it seem even more remarkable to me. His singing reminds me at times of the great Howlin' Wolf.

I never read the text of Frownland until now. Beefheart is clearly saying he took acid and never came down. Changes my view of this album.

Thanks for this... my favorite Beefheart track is" Bellerin' Plain" off of Lick My Decals Off... great live recording from Detroit showing how the live versions were the studio versions live... no improvisation

Wow..... amazing analysis. Thank you.

What a brilliant analysis! Keep up the great work!

What a great video, it's so interesting to have the music broken down into it's parts in this way and to seriously look at what is there.

Many thanks for that illuminating analysis. I’ve been trying to convince others of this album’s brilliance since I first heard it as a 15 year old back in ‘71. I was still at it only last week but got the usual “this is just a terrible racket!” response. It’s their loss. I had the pleasure of seeing them live a couple of times in Birmingham, UK. I’d love you to talk more about those unique truncated riffs they used such as in “Ice cream for crow” (though by that time it was a completely new Magic band). Thanks again.

Great to see such a thorough analysis.

You know your Tadpoles. Thank you for putting your Read Magic Spell on this Frownland enchantment. Having seen the wizards at work I knew they played what you hear on the records. Your explanation has made it much clearer to a written music illiterate.

I never ever would have expected this!!!! Awesome Samuel, my favorite KZfaq channel in the present :)

So glad I found a video that actually stated it is remarkable feat of musicianship most videos tend to say how dreadful it sounds.... Great video!

Thank you so much. I saw Don's first East Coast performance with the Magic Band at Ungano's in New York City in 1970. It changed my life, and I was fortunate to see him live with different incarnations of the band 4 times. I miss him every single day.

I just can’t get over how this was live. How is that even possible? I would become so overwhelmed with all the different stuff going on. I could understand if the parts were being recorded individually and then layered on top of each other but the fact a group of people stood round and played this is mind blowing.

Superb analysis. As you say the drumming is so unique and special. I saw them live and the drum rhythm structure was extraordinarily satisfying. In fact the live performances as well as superbly performed and rehearsed showed each musician following their own pattern yet somehow meshed. Breathtaking. They rush to the front of the stage in waves and stomp all around the stage while playing their instruments with great precision.

The fact that this is your most viewed video is glorious! Lttp but thanks for successfully tackling the analysis of a TMR song. This is the best explanation I have ever seen. Now I need time to go through your other videos!

Thank you so very much for your insightfully incredible analysis

Hats off to you Samuel! Very insightful analysis; well done!

This analysis demonstrates that music appreciation is a skill that can be developed. Whether its the music theory, the meaning of the lyrics, instrumentation, affect, or the historical context, etc the more you know and understand the more likely you are to enjoy any piece of music and be informed by it. I just bought the vinyl of TMR on the basis of reputation and I don't know how many listens it will take as its apparently very 'difficult'. It 'only' took me 6 listens of Laura Nyro's stark and emotionally intense but relatively accessible avant-garde pop of 'New York Tendaberry' (1969), and only a few listens to 'get' Nico's gothic dirge 'The Marble Index' (1969). Gotta love those 1969 challenges!

My man, this is no joke one of the best youtube videos I've ever seen. Thanks so much for this.

Brilliant analysis, Samuel! Thank you for addressing this music with the appropriate seriousness it deserves.

This video is incredible! Although I love this album it has always been an impenetrable choas to me. Now at least I understand Frownland! Thank you!

Wow - what a brilliant piece on this track - it has given some resonance and rationale to my love of this album over the last forty eight years. John French was a saint to get all Don's ideas into a playable format. I have just recognised from your analysis of this one track how complex and difficult that must have been for him. He kept the music going by playing it live with a bunch of ex magic band members and some new additions from 2003 onwards but sadly has decided to call it a day. There's a project in there for you and a few like minded people...

Just fantastic. I thought I'd gotten lucky when I discovered your analysis of the Stravinsky Quartet Pieces, but I had no idea a video looking into Trout Mask Replica was on the cards. So glad I subscribed, please, more like this and anything else you want to make! On that note, I don't know if you do requests, but I ache for more online video content analysing the works of Bartók. His string quartets in particular remind me of the dense complexity of this Beefheart album. A video looking into the endless wonders of, say, his 4th Quartet, or even just a movement, would be wonderful. Keep it up please!

I love this record and also Doc at the Radar Station. Thank you for this amazing breakdown of the piece.

I've listened to the album twice, and I can't bring myself to enjoy it. After listening to your analysis, I have even more appreciation for it, but it also made it feel like even more of an academic exercise in nonstandard composition. The latter sounds very atypical for rock musicians of 1969.

This album has been part of my life for about 15 years now. I've always loved its sound, its texture, its absurdly complicated tapestry of rhythms, and I swear that, after watching this video, I'll never listen to it the same way again. I would've never imagined that these melodies and lines were buried in this song, and it makes me wish I wrote music like this.

So beautiful. I'm welling up. You have a remarkable understanding young man.

Wow! This might have been the greatest youtube video I've ever seen! I clicked o the link skeptically, as when someone talks about this album all they do is remark how "weird" it is. Turns out I was totally mindblown. This is one of my favorite pieces of music and I can't believe you deciphered it.

Good job. I listened to it when it came out and am still listening to it. Great stuff.

Trout mask replica needs a remix, because even knowing the harmony, I can barely hear anything over the tinny attack of the guitars. Listening extremely closely, hearing underneath the mix into the music, it sounds amazing. I feel I have missed out, and others have missed out as well.

This review was really expertly done. Well done man 👍

FANTASTIC. Thank you for this study!

Thanks for posting, amazing channel.

Wow. I really loved this. While I am not a musician at any definable level that I am comfortable admitting to, you have really helped me gain a deeper understanding as to why I love this music. Thanks. Great Work.

This was a great analysis. Frownland is the most difficult track in this song for me to break apart and understand, and now I can see why. I've never heard 5s against 7s before.

Excellent analysis, simply excellent. Thank you very much.

Thanks for this analysis and the respect and admiration you show for this album. A lot of people just don’t understand.

Thank you for this enlightening work of yours! Very interesting.

This music is in my marrow. Somehow. What cut and integrated it is a mystery; I did not do the emotionally responsive analysis you mentioned. Knowing what makes up a piece transforms my experience, taking away some of the stimulation it gives to parts of me- some parts of my psyche even unrelated to the actual music- and brings new and stronger emotional responses. Thank you for the breakdown. Brilliant work. I’m going to listen with a fresh ear.

Wow thanks, this just made my day.

Thank you for all your great work. All this Beefheart stuff is amazing. I made a donation using donorbox. Take care, Charlie

In the early '70s, I listened to this album most nights. Later, I saw them play live in Leicester, England and every number they played from TMR was reproduced note for note. Typically, the support act was a lone ballerina....

I feel this music on multiple conflicting levels , it feels extremely odd yet normal, it feels H U M A N it feels free from our musical boundaries

Very much enjoyed this and learned a lot about a record I've loved for decades.

what wonderful analysis. thank you.

You just earned yourself a new subscriber. Thank you for this amazing video :)

What a fantastic video/analysis! Thanks for all the work and insights and sharing it all as you do. I interviewed John French for Drummer (UK), who I wrote for for about a decade. They didn't run the piece, alas. I'll put it on my blog, in case anyone's interested. I first encountered this music through a compilation cassette a friend made for me when I was about 14-15 years old, many moons ago. It was represented by just one track, Pachuco Cadaver. Unlike many - one so often hears folk saying how it took them a long time to get into this music - I adored it right off. It then took several years of musical research to find out who the music was by, and how I could get hold of it. When I finally got TMR, the anticipation had built so much that the release of acquisition and immersion was... well, sublime. No listening repeatedly to 'get it'; I got it right off. It spoke directly to me. Still does. As you say, TMR is frequently cited as an influence or touchstone, but it's less obvious to see or hear genuine influences in subsequent music. Are you aware of British musician Lewis Taylor's TMR recordings? He did a partial 'tribute', of covers - both very, very faithful, but also bearing his own imprint - which is, frankly, utterly amazing. It's a real pity he didn't complete and release this project. Anyhoo... great stuff!

Top notch analysis!

This is fucking awesome. Thanks for going in deep on one of my favourite songs of all time!

Picked up an original vinyl copy of this on the Straight label a few months ago. It's one of my prized possessions, a grail indeed.

Brilliant analysis of a great work of art. Extremely interesting. One of the non professional musicians who watches 🙋 You can't an expert enthusing on their subject. 👏

This is so cool. For me, probably the most difficult piece on the record, and so funny it kicks things off as the first track. My brain just crumbles when the first guitar solo hits and I just accept the chaos. This incredible analysis (32 minutes for 1:40 long track? haha) brings a new perspective. Really fun video, sir.

Samuel, as a guitar teacher of 40 years and the proud owner of Trout Mask Replica I must say that was the most fascinating 30 minutes I have ever seen on KZfaq and I've watched a lot. Your discussion of Bass Cell 14 and the F# and C notes and saying it doesn't appear in rock music reminded me that ,if I am correct, the flattened fifth interval was called the Devils Interval in earlier music and was not allowed to be played by order of the religious masters because of its demonic connotations. It does however appear in the intro to Jimi Hendrix's Purple Haze. Of course if anyone was going to use it and get away with it then Jimi was the logical choice! Absolutely fascinating. I'm off to see the Mascara Snake! Cheers, Peter from Tasmania.

Loved it the first time I heard it back in the day. I thought, "what IS this? I must have it!" Great analysis, Samuel. Mr. Harkelroad once told me (via podcast years ago) about the blending of tracks, via FZ magic, on Veteran's Day Poppy, another TM favorite -although I've heard attempts at live performance of the transition.