Captain Beefheart: Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller)

OUR FRIEND makes its long overdue appearance, a record of fragments that has a bewildered Beefheart crawling out of the messes of '74/'75 and trying to reassure himself. It proves that his 'gift' didn't long ago choke on itself. It is a work of selective surgery that is pale and pasty next to Trout Mask Replica and Lick My Decals Off, Baby but is still beautiful. Maybe it's even a successful compromise, if such a thing can exist.