Buy this with Safe As Milk: Remastered ~ Captain Beefheart today!

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Safe As Milk: Remastered ~ Captain Beefheart  (11)  £2.98

Strictly Personal ~ Captain Beefheart  (5)  £4.98

Spotlight Kid, the/Clear Spot ~ Captain Beefheart  (11)  £7.98

Trout Mask Replica ~ Captain Beefheart  (53)  £7.98

Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller): 2006 Remaster ~ Captain Beefheart  (8)  £6.98

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1. Tarotplane

2. 25th Century Quaker

3. Mirror Man

4. Kandy Korn

5. Trust Us

6. Safe As Milk

7. Beatle Bones 'n' Smokin' Stones

8. Moody Liz

9. Gimme Dat Harp Boy

Amazon.co.uk Review
There are times when a set of recordings begs not only to be re-mastered and reissued, but restored according to the artist's original intent. Mirror Man Sessions is an unqualified success of this sort. It's a re-sequenced approximation of the planned, half-live-in-the-studio/half-studio double album It Comes to You in a Plain Brown Wrapper, which Beefheart and band started on several months after the release of their debut, Safe as Milk. Most importantly, the disc includes many of the songs off the botched Strictly Personal album (the tapes of which were maliciously slathered with heavy echo and phasing effects by producer Bob Krasnow, without Beefheart's approval) in blissful clarity. The sound throughout is vibrant, with all the sparks of the dual-guitar interplay and massive slide sound that would typify the Magic Band in years to come. The album has far fewer tempo changes than Milk or the records that follow it; the band for the most part digs deep blues-based grooves and stays within their confines. But there are lengthy, monochromatic stomp-trance workouts, such as "Tarotplane" and "Gimme Dat Harp Boy", which stretch out and explore John French's jagged drumming, the guitarists' uniquely deft, pan-tonal playing, and Beefheart's harp playing, gruff vocal style, and impressionistic lyrics. Note: Seven more tracks from this session are included on the reissue of Safe as Milk. --Mike McGonigal

Description
More than 30 years after these tracks were recorded, the MIRROR MAN SESSIONS are finally being released in the manner of Don Van Vliet's original vision. Captain Beefheart and HisMagic Band were always going through personnel changes, butthe group was especially in flux during 1967. SAFE AS MILK had just been issued, and the band began recording a follow-up, planned as a double-album. But the following year saw the Captain and his Band dropped by their label (Buddah).
Some of the slated songs (supplemented with electronic effects) became STRICTLY PERSONAL, released by Blue Thumb Records.Buddah followed suit, venturing into its vaults, choosing four extended songs, and packaging them as MIRROR MAN-obscuring facts by billing the album as "live recordings from 1965". This reissue adds five additional numbers, all of which show the band at an evolutionary point midway between the delta blues of its first recordings and the layered rhythmic stew of TROUT MASK REPLICA. THE MIRROR MAN SESSIONS is an essential document of an important ensemble.

8 Reviews 5 star:  (3) 4 star:  (4) 3 star:  (1) 2 star:    (0) 1 star:    (0)           Average Customer Review (8 customer reviews)		Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews   7 of 7 people found the following review helpful: The same only more so, 29 Mar 2004 By  Paul Harrison "paultimediver" (UK) - See all my reviews    This album (or at least the original vinyl LP) was my introduction to Cpt Beefheart. My chum Paul Rossetti said "turn the bass up full" so I did. Until I discovered reggae a few years later, it was the only music that made sub-woofers worthwhile. This CD contains the vinyl's original 4 tracks, plus more from the same recording sessions. The jazz & blues progressions intertwine mischievously, sometimes luminous and sometimes impenetrable. As opposed to the shorter compositions on virtually all their other official releases, live and studio, these are rare examples of how the Magic Band could stretch and compress, fall apart and coalesce, explode and repress, focus and digress. But are they really jamming? As with all Beefheart, you never know how much was actually improvisation, because the maestro was known to encourage and persuade his musicians to rehearse the most astonishingly adventurous lines until the most unlikely of musical structures could be repeated note-for-note over and over again. "Tarotplane" and "Mirror Man" SOUND improvised in places, so that's good enough for me. If you don't relish the tightly-crafted song packages that make up Troutmask Replica, the illusory freeform of Mirror Man could be your introduction to the amazing world of Don Van Vliet.  Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? (Report this)   9 of 10 people found the following review helpful: Blues in its beefiest form, 12 Sep 2001 By  Mr. J. Perry "j Perry" - See all my reviews    Worth it for the first four tracks which are quite unlike anything before or after. The first track "Tarotplane" is 20 minutes plus and has moments that will make your hairs stand on end. It is worth the price of the cd just for this so along. Listen to it my words cannot do it justice. The next three are als excellent with two extended versions of Kandy Korn and Mirror Man and Twenty Fifth Century Quaker. These tracks are the bulk of the album and how the album was originally released. Of the rest, most are already available on "Safe as Milk" of the ones that aren't there is a version of "Beatle bones and Smoking Stones" but it is still worth buying Strictly Personal as a companion piece to this awesome album.  Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? (Report this)   2 of 3 people found the following review helpful: Buy this instead of Strictly Personal, 9 Feb 2006 By  Joseph Henderson - See all my reviews Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band recorded the songs from this album to be released on a double album, to compete with contemporary recordings by his good friend Frank Zappa. Unfortunately what were put out was the later sessions which make up Strictly Personal, for various reasons. I bought SP first, and thought it was in the same league as most of the Captains work, but this album puts it in the shade. With the longest song of the time opening the album (Tarotplane at 25 minutes long), you can see why the record company might have refused release. Lacking the dubious psychedelic effects of SP, the title track is transformed from the tired three minute long version on SP to a rolling 15 minutes long, one of the stand-outs of the album. Kandy Korn is similarly changed with alternating dark and uplifting sections. SP should be sought out for the great version of Safe as Milk, but not really anything else.  Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? (Report this) › See all 8 customer reviews...		Most Recent Customer Reviews Never to be repeated This music comes from another world when looked at from today's overdone and sterotypical viewpoint. Read more Published 4 months ago by C. Muscillo Sometimes I think I don't know what to think; what do you think? I've given this a little time to sink in, but I'm afraid I'm still unsure of what to think about it. Read more Published 7 months ago by Neil Seriously, run out of titles Captains Beefheart's Mirror Man is a long album that contains some of the heaviest and most blues orientated songs he ever wrote. Read more Published 9 months ago by A. Weaver More magic From 1967 to 1972 Captain Beefheart released what is, to my mind, the greatest run of releases by any artist ever. Read more Published 10 months ago by degrant This star never got out of obscurity Im kinda undesided on this one , in some places you get brilliant captain songs in others you get weird Zappaesque stuff that I feel Captain Beefheart should have avoided . Read more Published on 20 May 2003 by Mr. D. Mccluskey <