| Doc at the Radar Station | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band | ||||
| Released | August 1980 | |||
| Recorded | June 1980 | |||
| Studio | Sound Castle Recording Studios, Los Angeles | |||
| Length | 38:52 | |||
| Label | Virgin | |||
| Producer | Don Van Vliet | |||
| Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   |
| Christgau's Record Guide | A− |
| DownBeat | |
| The Encyclopedia of Popular Music |  |
| The Great Rock Bible | 7.5/10 |
| Tom Hull | B+ |
| Music Story | |
| MusicHound Rock | |
| Rolling Stone | |
| Spin Alternative Record Guide | 9/10 |
Doc at the Radar Station is the eleventh studio album by American band Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band, released in August 1980 by Virgin Records.
Packaging
The album cover was painted by Don Van Vliet. It was placed at number forty-nine on Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Album Covers in November 14th, 1991 issue.
Background
Although about half of the album's songs are based on old musical ideas, Mike Barnes states that "most of the revamping work built on skeletal ideas and fragments ... would have mouldered away in the vaults had they not been exhumed and transformed into full-blown, totally convincing new material". The tracks "A Carrot is as Close as a Rabbit Gets to a Diamond", "Flavor Bud Living" and "Brickbats" were originally intended and recorded for the unreleased album Bat Chain Puller.
John French (the original drummer in the Magic Band) rejoined Beefheart for this album. He played guitar on all songs, plus bass ("Sheriff of Hong Kong"), drums ("Ashtray Heart" and "Sheriff of Hong Kong"), and marimba ("Making Love to a Vampire with a Monkey on My Knee"). He also sings the second vocal on "Dirty Blue Gene".
Reissues
In 2011, 4 Men with Beards released a 180-gram version of the album, distributed by City Hall Records.
Track listing
All tracks are written by Don Van Vliet
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Hot Head" | 3:23 |
| 2. | "Ashtray Heart" | 3:25 |
| 3. | "A Carrot Is as Close as a Rabbit Gets to a Diamond" | 1:38 |
| 4. | "Run Paint Run Run" | 3:40 |
| 5. | "Sue Egypt" | 2:57 |
| 6. | "Brickbats" | 2:40 |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Dirty Blue Gene" | 3:51 |
| 2. | "Best Batch Yet" | 5:02 |
| 3. | "Telephone" | 1:31 |
| 4. | "Flavor Bud Living" | 1:00 |
| 5. | "Sheriff of Hong Kong" | 6:34 |
| 6. | "Making Love to a Vampire with a Monkey on My Knee" | 3:11 |
Personnel
- Captain Beefheart (Don Van Vliet) – vocals, Chinese gongs, harmonica, soprano saxophone, bass clarinet
- John French – slide guitar, guitar, bass, drums (on "Ashtray Heart" and "Sheriff of Hong Kong"), marimba (on "Making Love To A Vampire With A Monkey On My Knee"), vocals on "Dirty Blue Gene" and "Run Paint Run Run"
- Jeff Moris Tepper – slide guitar, guitar, nerve guitar, background vocals on "Run Paint Run Run"
- Eric Drew Feldman – synthesizer, bass, mellotron, grand piano, electric piano, background vocals on "Run Paint Run Run"
- Robert Arthur Williams – drums, background vocals on "Run Paint Run Run"
- Additional personnel
- Gary Lucas – guitar (on "Flavor Bud Living"), French horn (on "Best Batch Yet")
- Bruce Lambourne Fowler – trombone (on "Run Paint Run Run")
Notes
- Huey, S. "Doc at the Radar Station - Captain Beefheart | AllMusic". allmusic.com. Retrieved 22 July 2011.
- Christgau, Robert (1981). "Consumer Guide '70s: C". Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies. Ticknor & Fields. ISBN 089919026X. Retrieved February 23, 2019 – via robertchristgau.com.
- Larkin, Colin (2011). "Captain Beefheart". The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (5th ed.). Omnibus Press. ISBN 978-0857125958.
- Carman. "The Captain Beefheart Radar Station - Doc At The Radar Station". beefheart.com. Archived from the original on 9 July 2011. Retrieved 22 July 2011.
- Martin C. Strong (2024). The Great Rock Bible (1st ed.). Red Planet Books. ISBN 978-1-9127-3328-6.
- Gary Graff, ed. (1996). MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide (1st ed.). London: Visible Ink Press. ISBN 978-0-7876-1037-1.
- Rolling Stone Album Guide (1992) ISBN 0-679-73729-4
- Weisbard, Eric; Marks, Craig, eds. (1995). "Captain Beefheart". Spin Alternative Record Guide (1st ed.). New York: Vintage Books. ISBN 0-679-75574-8.
- Tom Hull. "Grade List: captain beefheart". Tom Hull - on the web. Retrieved September 4, 2020.
- .
{{cite web}}: Check|url=value (help) - Barnes, Mike. Captain Beefheart: The Biography. London: Quartet Books, 2000.
Further reading
- Draper, Jason (2008). A Brief History of Album Covers. London: Flame Tree Publishing. pp. 216–217. ISBN 9781847862112. OCLC 227198538.
External links
| Captain Beefheart | |
|---|---|
Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band (1964–1982)
The Magic Band (2003–2017)
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| Studio albums |
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| EPs | |
| Live albums | |
| Compilations | |
| Singles | |
| Other songs | |
| Related articles | |
