What, No Reacharound?
I'll write about the music later. Right now I'm a little too pissed off about the circumstances surrounding this release. Let's just say that the music is too good to be treated this way.I didn't believe it was actually going to be released for a while, what with the delays and Gail Zappa's continually broken promises that this would be released at a specified time.
Yeah, I fully admit it's real, and tangible, but good God, this is such a crass cash-in that I can't exactly muster that much joy about it all. I understand that Don Van Vliet & Frank Zappa's feud was the main reason for the non-release, combined with DVV's various breaches of contract, and Herb Cohen & FZ's falling-out, etc. However, it seems in exceptionally poor taste that the mixes were finished over ten years ago, and this remained waiting in the vaults for... what exactly? An opportunity for Gail to recoup Frank's financial losses? I, for one, am not a fan of the packaging even if it's good by ZFT standards: that fucking Bat behind the CD and on the booklet makes me want to rip apart the digipack. And the cover, which just lists the artist and album title in white-on-black text. It's just not "Don" enough. There are two of his paintings inside that most people have never seen before--why couldn't one of them be the cover? That said, the mixes are fine, the sound quality is fantastic, and I am very glad to be listening to a sanctioned copy of this. I just wish I didn't feel like I was aiding someone in pissing on the good Captain's grave every time I press play--even if it was Don's own request that this not be released in his lifetime. I'm sure within a few weeks or months that feeling will go away, but right now it's definitely preventing me from giving this as many spins as I'd like.
The $25 price tag of this release is a further kick in dem figurative gonads I treasure so greatly. Vinyl is much more expensive to produce, and the faux-vellum inner pages of the BCP booklet are definitely offset cost-wise by the cheaply-made digipack. And maybe this is nitpicking, but it seems to me like the "be grateful that it's finally here, no matter what shape or form" attitude of many Beefheart fans misses the notion that this is further commodifying Don's art in a way that he himself decried during his own lifetime--despite the fact that he still tried to make a living off of it. I know it's confusing and self-contradictory, but there's something to be said for the fact that we are now "allowed" to purchase this album. Yes yes yes, Don wanted it this way, but he also wanted the Trout House his way: obviously not all his wants were unselfish (ain't that a doozy of a rationalization?).
I understand that the Zappa Family Trust is known for missing release dates and somewhat dicey packaging, so I've heard a lot fans say that this is good by ZFT standards. However, I find that stance too forgiving: they fucked this one up. Honestly, almost everything released by the ZFT since Frank's death is stuff he didn't feel worthy of releasing in his lifetime, yet we all know Bat Chain Puller was the major statement that never got it's chance in the marketplace originally. Now there's no chance of it changing his reputation, it's been "The Great Lost Beefheart Album" for over three decades, so it deserves a little more respect than "Trancefusion" or whatever the fuck they had lying around the vaults. Gail could have sold it to any number of other labels, who would have turned this into a labor of love a la "Grow Fins", so the price gouge/seemingly hasty packaging just drives the spike in deeper. As Frank himself said (according to Gary Lucas): "I thought there might be a higher market value out there in 'BeefheartLand' if I didn't split up the set." So ultimately, there IS a lot to be happy for here, but the above reasons are why I'm only feeling "modified rapture" (to quote G&S).
Now the $25 price tag. CDs usually retail online for about $10-$15 less--the last CD I paid over $20 for was the double-disc remaster of Easter Everywhere--and that was most definitely a ripoff (but I knew that going into it). Also, album downloads are rarely more than $10--and even that's overpriced. Mail order service carries a much lower overhead than any store, so I expect to pay less for music I purchase online or via mail, as I am forsaking either instant gratification, or the physical artifact. After several months of waiting for the delivery of this product (I know--as long as everyone else on this forum!), I don't feel it was completely worth it, but I paid the price so maybe Jan Van Vliet, John French, and Denny Walley all get a little slice of that. Yes, I could have illegally downloaded it, but I pay for music, since I care about it. Bad service, bad packaging, and a bad attitude from the proprietor make me less desirous of that approach--and like it or not, people who pay for music are in the minority these days FOR A REASON. I work for a design firm, and I can tell you that the cost for this is out of line with what most quality printing costs--and this is not quality. Buy an album from a small independent label (like Load, Drag City, Modern Love, Paw Tracks, Dais, Southern Lord, Ecstatic Peace, Fan Death, Planet Mu, DFA --I could go on) and compare the printing, design, service, and cost. These are small labels struggling in the same economy as the ZFT, but their standards are much higher because their products don't have a built-in market like this--they have to take risks that the ZFT does not.
Ultimately, I feel that those who are grateful for this product reinforce a system of content delivery that is not to their ultimate advantage. Art should infuse our everyday lives, and not at a premium: willingness to accept its high cost merely drives it further away from attainability.
Feeling conflict is part of what makes me human, and part of why I enjoy music that sounds like this--it's even more conflicted than I am. If you DON'T feel conflicted about this shit, you're fucking nutjobs! We should all demand more from these systems around us, complacency is what got us into this current cultural quagmire in the first place.
If you just got your copy and Love It to Death, then wait a couple of months: once the shock of the new has worn off, maybe you'll reconsider what I've said, and I'll reconsider everything else. Until then, go hump your stereos and imagine me curled up in a fetal position, smiling, flipping you the bird.
