Aspies, what do you think of Trout Mask Replica?

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Maybe I'm too "normal", but I'm having trouble understanding the appeal of this album. I read that the compositions on this album are very complex, but to me it sounds atonal and chaotic. Do you have to listen to it multiple times? Why do you like this album? Lastly, do you under Van Vliet's lyrics? I'm sorry for asking so many questions, but this album is very confusing and fascinating to me, although I don't really like anything from it besides Ella Guru.

I remember when my friend suggested I listen to Pink Floyd's 'Wish You Were Here.' I didn't get it: one endless "beginning" of a song stretched out over two sides? Then I got it. That "intro" was the album! Some things really are acquired tastes, like Frank Zappa, SOAD's first album, YES, or Pulp Fiction. I've heard of Capt. Beefheart but never heard Trout Mask Replica. Maybe I'll give it a shot now.

I got Trout Mask Replica many years ago (a used LP, I think), and I didn't get it either. I got it because of the association with Frank Zappa, but I think that what I like most about Zappa is the lyric writing and song-like songs, and that was missing in TMR... similarly, while the Grateful Dead are my fave band ever, I don't care for any of the "jam bands" - because what I like about the Dead is, again, the "songs" and without the context of a good song, random jamming doesn't do anything for me.

I also never got Pink Floyd (recently gave my cd of Dark Side of the Moon to Goodwill) or Radiohead or Led Zeppelin or Hendrix. Saw a documentary on hendrix recently (three part thing on Netflix, I think) and I'm thinking it may be time to check him out again. But I do like Prince, the Who (studio stuff from Who's Next onward), etc.

The album is what is called avant-garde. It's expiremental music that seeks to be offensive to the idea of music. Frank Zappa and the Residents are other famous Avant-garde musicians. My brother has an avant-garde music group. I don't really like it as I found it to be too normal; to me it just sounds like crappy blues.

I like the album because it's so chaotic but with each listen it starts to make more sense. i find a lot of rhythm n blues based rock very tedious, it's the same chord progressions and rhythms again and again! I like rock music, but it's nice to hear musicians ignoring the rules and doing their own thing.

here's a pretty good analysis:

http://www.furious.com/perfect/beefhear ... lica3.html

basically, if you come to it from the free jazz tradition, you can tell that it's a mutation of rock/blues, but from the other direction, it sounds like chaos & perversion. the lines there are drawn all too strictly to admit such a thing.

I loved this album from the first listen, about eight years ago, and it remains one of my all-time favourites. Though I can understand parts of it that just sound like chaos having their own swing with more listens. Certainly I've listened to it plenty of times.

I like music that takes elements that I'm familiar with and surprises me. Trout Mask Replica is founded on blues-rock (see its quirky-but-not-as-crazy predecessor Safe as Milk) but surprises at virtually every measure. I also find it very catchy, packed with tunes that I can't find anywhere else; after laughing my way through the first two listens a riff or a Beefheart verse would work its way into my head, because the songs with their own arrangement/sensibility developed their own swing after a few listens.

I don't really pay attention to lyrics, but I find some of his absurd juxtapositions hilarious.

It's a great album, but at first I was like "WTF is this sh**?"... and I didn't listen to it for weeks after the first time. After reading some reviews on it again, I decided to give it a more dedicated and long try... Listened to the album for a few times through, no stop. I had nothing else to do, no other music to entertain myself with so why not... Little did I know, I would fall in love with it after the first listen through, which I listened to in the dark all alone (which is actually how I think they practiced these songs, in pitch black darkness.).

Yes it is chaotic, it sounds a bit like music made by a mad man, but it's basically pure experimental genius. It took awhile of hard listening, paying attention to each little detail for me to really understand and appreciate the songs on this album. When I did get into it, it was like entering a whole nother' world, that I not only heavily enjoyed during my stay, but I was also very happy to be back home when the music was off..

I listen to the music, as if it's in small parts, at least at first I did. As I would listen to these little parts, I was able to see how all these little parts formed some really intricate long grooves. To the untrained ear it might sound like seem like hot garbage, but it's really not. It sounds like a ton of other music out there, with an insane twist. Once it kinda normalized with me, it stops sounding so bat **** crazy, and I begin to think "Why isn't there way more music like this?!"... I think it's because there aren't many people as creative or as brave as Don Van Viliet and the band.. Today's general population is less open minded with music, less willing to take risks, experiment, so might as well stick with the basics, playing and listening to the stuff that sounds good right away.

The lyrics, I don't really get them all so well, but some of it is poetry, or rhymes. I don't think they are all supposed to make total sense really. I remember reading something about how Don Van Viliet purposefully wrote lyrics that seemed to make very little sense a lot of the time and it was more about how the words sounded together in some cases.

In short I think the album is genius made, but maybe it's an acquired taste, or people aren't listening to it the way they should be, and are quick to say "F this crap I'm going to go listen to something that I can turn on and tune into at the snap of a finger" or something of that sort. Some music takes effort to get into, but once they do get into it, it's worth the work. I don't think all people understand that concept very well. They are used to the instant gratification in most music that is listened to.

I was never able to get into it. I knew it was a bit of a risky purchase but I had bought a Frank Zappa album (Freak Out!) earlier knowing there was a good chance it might not appeal to me at all but I loved it. I listened to Trout Mask Replica several times and tried to like it but couldn't. Even though I totally love the Beefheart song Sure Nuff Yes I Do (from a different album). It's been over a year since I last listened to it, perhaps I'll give it another try one of these days.

I bought that album about ten years ago and listened to it all the way through, convinced that despite all I'd heard about it, I would be able to understand it. On the first listen, Ella Guru and Sugar N Spikes were the only songs in which I could detect any tune or rhythm whatsoever. On subsequent listens I could hear that Sweet Sweet Bulbs has a pretty groovy bassline. I like the opening riff to Moonlight on Vermont and the free-jazz type clarinet solo on Ant Man Bee. And I'd say Veteran's Day Poppy actually sounds like a pretty normal song.

I still wouldn't say I like the album, and I haven't bothered listening to it for years. I preferred his earlier album, Safe As Milk. There's one track on there, "Trust Us" (a track I really like, as it happens) that I think gave some indication of the discordant-sounding music he'd go on to produce. It's as if by the band playing notes you weren't expecting it gives the whole thing a harder edge; too many "indie" groups try this sort of thing and make it sound awful.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_QYc50QVT4[/youtube]

PS - I hear Captain Beefheart liked Stravisnky, and people once thought Stravisnky's music was nothing but a din!