Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band
Keystone Corner, SF, CA
04 December 1976

unknown gen cassette and audience taper->SF9 via Diamond Xtreme Audio 44/16->no adjustments, just seaming up->CDWave->FLAC->TLH (sector
boundary check)

1 Picture of Mahavishnu (mellotron solo)
2 Deserts of Time
3 Moonlight On Vermont
4 Low Yo Yo Stuff
5 I Wanna Find A Woman...
6 Electricity
7 Click Clack
8 A Carrot Is As Close...
9 Old Black Snake/intros (tape flip seamless)
10 On Tomorrow
11 Pachuco Cadaver
12 //(fade in) My Human Gets Me Blues
13 Veterans Day Poppy
14 Big Eyed Beans From Venus

notes by mcchocchoc (big thanks!!):

CAPTAIN BEEFHEART & THE MAGIC BAND

December 5, 1976
Keystone Korner, Berkeley, California
Shows at 9:30 and 11:30

the band
Captain Beefheart Don Van Vliet vocals, tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone, bass clarinet
Eric Drew Feldman bass guitar, keyboards, mellotron
Gary Jaye drums, percussion
Jeff Moris Tepper guitar, slide-guitar
Denny Walley guitar, slide guitar

Live Guest: Harry Duncan harmonica

One of a small handful of shows performed during 1976, there were less than ten that year. John "Drumbo" French had left again and Gary Jaye was in on the drums. All of the shows in '76 were played in California and they are the only shows to feature Gary on drums. Eric and Jeff were also still pretty new to joining the band. This crew were rehearsing for about two months prior to this show, or so says Don on this tape. That seems about right considering the date. The set list is very nice here and many of the songs really come of well.

The opening keyboard solo is just great. It reminds me a bit of Eric's playing a few years later with Snakefinger. Don plays a little horn at the end of that keyboard solo and it works rather nicely. Denny Walley is always a treat to listen to and he's great all over this material, starting with some tight licks during "Moonlight On Vermont". That song also features a lil' horn blast at the end. Why did Don count to twenty-six ? Hmmm.

Later in the set Don and Harry Duncan blow some nice harp together during "Click Clack", very cool version and the tempo really cooks. The vocals overall are great here, Don is pretty much in synch most of the time. Great version of "...Big Toe". Lots of banter going on here. Don and the audience. Some funny stuff. In fact one of the more odd things heard on a tape is here . . . audience member asks " What kind of toilet paper do you use ?". Wow. Very cool and different take on "Black Snake Moan" here, Denny is playing the China Pig guitar groove and parts while Don sings Black Snake Moan. "Electricity" is really great here, very tight with some super slide playing. "On Tomorrow" is excellent and the Trout Mask songs toward the end are also played very well.This was a great line-up and it's certainly a treat to be able to hear such a clean recording of this show.

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thanks to http://www.frogseye.co.uk/setlists2.htm#keystone76 for setlist info

blackpage 2010-09-03