It took some study, but after a couple weeks of repeated listening in 1969 I became convinced this was my favourite album. I have heard many great records before and since, but never anything I've enjoyed more, eh? Merci mon Capitaine!!! ( :-)

- anybody who ever attempts such instrumentals as'Peon' or 'One Rose that I mean' will realise that there was much more self discipline, application and painstaking graft than the photos of the band on their record covers might suggest.

Having grown up in the 80's & 90's there was some really good music around (especially in the 90's) but, my father and his bandmates where of the older guard and one day as I walked into the rehearsal studio (A.K.A. the Garage), I heard this voice and this "music" blaring from the Hi-Fi. I was around 12-13 years of age and at this time "thrash metal" was the bee knees for me. I sat in the corner, listening with wide open ears as these guys who I looked up to continually played TMR over & over & over whilst discussing old blues, free jazz and "other" yet unspecified genre's of "music" (later to be labeled as "progressive" & "Avant-Garde". That day will forever stick in my brain as well as Beefheart's "music/genius". I have been a rabid Captain fan from that day on and have now built up my own little vinyl collection which includes much beefheart. I can only hope that one day my child(ren) will walk into the garage themselves and ask "papa, what is this magic floating into my ears. Long Live Captain Beefheart....you will forever be loved & missed Don!!!

Recommended: "O Postman o' Mine," a YouTube video from the late 70s featuring Captain Beefheart and his band. Similar to songs on "Doc at the Radar Station" but not on any album I've seen.

It is the quintessential late 70s CB.

AHHHH the good Captain....rememberances of dropping some "clearlight 4 way windowpane" in early '70s with a friend who had Never Heard (or of ) Captain Beefheart....he was TOTALLY flabbergasted and thought my HUMONGOUS stereo system was "ALL BOXED UP!!" and was kinda' gettin' SCARED !!!....(he got an Education that night)......R.I.P....Miss Ya Man!.......Neo

Don was not a hamburger.

I had just returned home for a year in VietNam and was anxious to get "back on the block" and especially experience the new music which was being played out on the reformatted FM stations. Goodbye Dion & The Belmonts, Hello Crosby, Stills & Nash. But late one night when I first heard the good Captain I realized that some of the "new" music was indeed really new. The next day picked up a vinyl copy of TMR and after expecting modern versions of old blues tunes, I quickly relegated it to the bottom of my favorites stack. As time passed, it kept percolating up higher in the stack until I realized that this was creative talent at its best. I'm pleased to hear/see that Don has received the attention and respect he so truly deserves. RIP, Don. We're still with you.

That single album not only changed my way of listening to music, but changed my whole approach to life in general (at the tender age of 15). I often give Don and the boys a silent nod of thanks...