As sonic mavericks go, the man originally christened Don Van Vliet remains, quite possibly, 'the godfather'. And as the later re-christened (allegedly by his old mucker, Frank Zappa) Captain Beefheart, he retained his originality, creative spark and unique vision throughout his musical career, and both released and performed some of the most enjoyable albeit challenging sounds to have emerged from the generally limiting genre, loosely called rock n roll.
This quadruple CD collection brings together a number of fine recordings of Beefheart's most interesting live performances from the 1960s and 1970s. Kicking off with a show played at San Francisco's Avalon Ballroom in 1966, the first disc also features a number of radio session recordings from the 67-68 period, plus an interview undertaken in 1973 with the good Captain, by one of his highest profile fans, DJ John Peel. Disc Two continues in similar vein with a show, also recorded for live FM broadcast, given in 1974 in Kansas City, while Discs Three & Four complete this boxed set with a longer gig, this time from 1975's Bongo Fury Tour, jointly performed by Captain Beefheart and Frank Zappa.