Don Van Vliet was an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and visual artist best known by the stage name Captain Beefheart. Conducting a rotating ensemble known as the Magic Band, he recorded 13 studio albums between 1967 and 1982. His music blended elements of blues, free jazz, rock, and avant-garde composition with idiosyncratic rhythms, absurdist wordplay, a gravelly voice, and a wide vocal range. Known for his enigmatic persona, Beefheart frequently constructed myths about his life and was known to exercise an almost dictatorial control over his supporting musicians. Although he achieved little commercial success, he sustained a cult following as an influence on an array of experimental rock and punk-era artists.
Public Image Ltd are an English post-punk band formed by lead vocalist John Lydon, guitarist Keith Levene, bassist Jah Wobble, and drummer Jim Walker in May 1978. The group's line-up has changed frequently over the years; Lydon has been the sole constant member.
Trout Mask Replica is the third studio album by the American band Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band, released as a double album on June 16, 1969, by Straight Records. The music was composed by Captain Beefheart and arranged by drummer John "Drumbo" French. Combining elements of R&B, garage rock, and blues with free jazz and avant-garde composition, the album is regarded as an important work of experimental rock. Its unconventional musical style, which includes polyrhythm, multi-octave vocals, and polytonality, has given the album a reputation as one of the most challenging recordings in the 20th century musical canon.
Straight Records, self-identified simply as Straight, was a record label formed in 1969 to distribute productions and discoveries of Frank Zappa and his business partner/manager Herb Cohen. Straight was formed at the same time as a companion label, Bizarre Records. Straight and Bizarre were manufactured and distributed in the U.S. by the Warner Bros. Records family of labels, which also included Reprise Records. Straight recordings were distributed in the U.K. by CBS Records.
Sharpe is a British television drama series starring Sean Bean as Richard Sharpe, a fictional British soldier in the Napoleonic Wars, with Irish actor Daragh O'Malley playing his second in command, Patrick Harper. Sharpe and Harper are the heroes of the Sharpe series of novels by Bernard Cornwell; most, though not all, of the episodes are based on the books. Produced by Celtic Films and Picture Palace Films for the ITV network, the series was filmed mainly in Crimea, with recordings of other episodes in Turkey, England, Portugal and Spain. The two final episodes were filmed in Jaipur, India.
John Stephen French is an American drummer and former member of Captain Beefheart's Magic Band, where he was known by the nickname Drumbo. He was the principal drummer on several of Beefheart's albums, including 1969's Trout Mask Replica, for which he also acted as arranger. He later released several albums as a solo artist as well as with the collaborative group French Frith Kaiser Thompson.
"Belsen Was a Gas" is a song by the English punk rock band the Sex Pistols. The song is about one of the Nazi concentration camps in Nazi Germany, Bergen-Belsen, which was liberated by British troops in 1945.
Mayday is a live album by Hugh Cornwell. It was a live show recorded at Sankey's Soap in Manchester on 1 May 1998, hence the title.
Safe as Milk is the debut studio album by American music group Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band, released in June 1967 by Buddah Records. A heavily blues-influenced work, the album features a 20-year-old Ry Cooder, who played guitar and wrote some of the arrangements.
Nosferatu is an album by Hugh Cornwell of the Stranglers and Robert Williams, drummer in Captain Beefheart's Magic Band. It was released on 16 November 1979 by United Artists.
Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller) is the tenth studio album by American band Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band, released in October 1978 by Warner Bros. Records. The album emerged from production difficulties surrounding Bat Chain Puller, an album Captain Beefheart recorded for DiscReet and Virgin Records in 1976. DiscReet co-founders Herb Cohen and Frank Zappa feuded over the production of the album, because Cohen funded the production with Zappa's royalty checks. Captain Beefheart recorded a new album titled Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller) after Zappa withheld the master tapes of the original Bat Chain Puller album.
Hugh Alan Cornwell is an English musician, singer-songwriter and writer, best known for being the lead vocalist and lead guitarist for the punk rock and new wave band the Stranglers from 1974 to 1990. Since leaving the Stranglers, Cornwell has recorded a further ten solo studio albums and continues to record and perform live.
The Magic Band was the backing band of American singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Captain Beefheart between 1967 and 1982. Originally Beefheart had simply been the lead singer of the group, formed by guitarist Alex St. Clair, but eventually they morphed into a backing band for him. The rotating lineup featured dozens of performers, many of whom became known by nicknames given to them by Beefheart. Longtime members during the band's heyday included drummer/arranger John French, guitarist Bill Harkleroad, bassist/guitarist Mark Boston, percussionist/keyboardist Art Tripp, guitarist Jeff Cotton, and guitarist Elliot Ingber. Ex-members of the Magic Band formed the short-lived group Mallard in 1974. The Magic Band reformed in 2003, without Beefheart.
The Lost Episodes is a 1996 posthumous album by Frank Zappa which compiles previously unreleased material. Much of the material covered dates from early in his career, and as early as 1958, into the mid-1970s. Zappa had been working on these tracks in the years before his death in 1993.
Saturday Night, Sunday Morning is a live album by the Stranglers, released in 1993 by Castle Communications.
Aural Sculpture is the eighth studio album by the Stranglers, released in November 1984 by Epic Records. It was also the name given to a one-sided 7-inch single given free with a limited number of copies of their Feline album in 1983. The "Aural Sculpture Manifesto" on the 7" single was played before the Stranglers appeared on stage during concerts during both the 1983 "Feline" tour and the 1985 "Aural Sculpture" tour.
Album is the fifth studio album by the English rock band Public Image Ltd, released on 27 January 1986 by Virgin and Elektra Records. In a departure from their previous releases, John Lydon was advised by trusted music producer Bill Laswell to take on an all-star cast of session and trusted musicians, including Steve Vai, Ginger Baker, Tony Williams, and Ryuichi Sakamoto of Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO). The resulting album gave PiL one of its highest-charting songs, "Rise".
Zoogz Rift was an American musician, painter and professional wrestling personality.
Wired is the second solo studio album by Hugh Cornwell, released on 21 June 1993 on the Transmission label. It follows the collaboration album with Robert Williams, Nosferatu (1979), and first proper solo outing, Wolf (1988). Wired was produced by Gary Langan, with the exception of "Ain't It Strange", which was produced by Cornwell. It was recorded in 1992 at Metropolis Studios in London and Soundlab Studios in Wiltshire. The album's progress was affected by contractual disputes. Cornwell was initially signed to Phoenix Records, but the label started to fall into difficulties and Cornwell cited them for breach of contract. A new deal was struck with NTV (Transmission) to finish the album. Phoenix then maintained that NTV had no right to release the album with arguments over the matter continuing until February 1994. As a result, the album was initially only released in Europe. Two singles were released from the album, "The Story of He & She" in 1993, and "My Kind of Loving" in 1994.
John Joseph Lydon, also known by his former stage name Johnny Rotten, is a singer. He was the lead vocalist of the punk rock band the Sex Pistols, which was active from 1975 to 1978, and again for various revivals during the 1990s and 2000s. He is also the lead vocalist of post-punk band Public Image Ltd (PiL), which he founded and fronted from 1978 until 1993, and again since 2009.
