Album of the Day

Born Don Van Vliet on this day in 1941, Captain Beefheart was one of music's most gifted eccentrics, serving up a surreal blend of rock, blues and jazz with guttural force and instrumental precision. It's a tough sound to label, and to judge from the title of LICK MY DECALS OFF, BABY, the Captain wouldn't have it any other way. The 1970 follow-up to TROUT MASK REPLICA is less fragmentary and more accessible (if sometimes darker) than its revered predecessor, but Beefheart's playful humor  is ever present (the 15 originals include such songs as “I Wanna Find a Woman That'll Hold My Big Toe Till I Have to Go”). Championed by the likes of Lester Bangs and John Peel, LICK MY DECALS OFF, BABY was also a personal favorite of Beefheart's, so we'll cue it up again as we mark the man's birthday.