Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band - The Spotlight Kid/Lick My Decals Off, Baby Rehearsal (1970)

Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band rehearsing the Spotlight Kid and Lick My Decals Off, Baby sometime in the Spring of 1970. Features songs from the outtakes and several blues jams. 00:00 Semi-Multicolored Caucasian 04:44 I Love You, You Big Dummy 08:21 Best Batch Yet 13:14 Alice In Blunderland 20:25 I Wanna Find A Woman 22:33 Unnamed Blues Jams Henry Kaiser: THIS is a rehearsal before recording DECALS at the house they lived in the SANTA CRUZ mountains. Just Artie on drums. Elliot quits after this and Drumbo comes back and then they make the record.... This came from a tape that Langdon Winner made of them rehearsing and then he gave it to me to copy back in the mid-70's and I suppose that all the other copies came from that... They also do Big Toe and an unnamed Country Blues type tune on this tape. Alice In Blunderland was originally intended to be part of af a Rock Opera that Don said he would write. (Don told Langdon Winner this). It would be a concerto for Elliot to solo in. He never got around to writing the opera. After Elliot quit the Decals tour it was a time killing part of the show for Don and Bill to solo on. Then it got reconstructed for Elliot when he came back for Spotlight Kid. As you know it canibalizes Big Black Baby Shoes which was later retitled Ice Rose. The Alice on Spotlight Kid is edited down from a 12 minute version. They made the cuts on the 16 track master - so the long version does not exist anymore. This irritated me to no end when I went thru the Warner vault to review all the material..... It''s my personal Holy Grail to find Elliot playing long versions - because hearing him do that at the Tufts show is what made me go out and buy my first guitar...... Langdon Winner: His new Magic Band is probably the best he's ever had and may be one of the best in the country. He has recently added drummer Art Tripp - formerly of the Mothers Of Invention - who provides exactly the right blend of rhythmic novelty and imagination to the groups' sound. Zoot Horn Rollo (Bill Harkleroad) and Rockette Morton (Mark Boston), musicians that Beefheart taught from scratch, have reached musical maturity and are eager to get out before the public. Both of them are remarkably talented and love the music they play with an unwavering passion. The Captain himself is clearly at the peak of his creativity in terms of both composition and performance. His new songs in rehearsal - Woe Is A Me Bop, Alice In Blunderland and others - are even better than the tunes on Trout Mask Replica. I have heard the new Magic Band play this music in the shelter of Beefheart's living room and, believe me, it's simply incredible.

Added 19 Apr 2026