The dust does blow forward
Colston R. Thompson | space | 07/30/2005
(4 out of 5 stars)
"i just stumbled upon this very nicely designed package when i stumbled into a small music store browsing. i dont mind saying that firstly i have always been opposed to "best of comps". i am a vinyl collector and have a very nice beefheart collection that i am very fond of. my prise in his catalogue is a white label pressing of "lick my decals off baby". this has always been, in my opinion, his most rewarding release. anyway. i saw this anthology and was pleasantly taken off guard to know that his music has been collected in a such a respectful manner. since all of my beefheart is on lp, this was one compilation i completely support and it has been added to my collection. on a final note: it took an artist of beefhearts standing to make this a decision that was easy to make. thank you rhino!"
Webcor, Webcor
Heavy Theta | Lorton, Va United States | 04/14/2007
(4 out of 5 stars)
"You really can't go too wrong with two discs full of some obvious Beefheart cuts, as long as you have the mandatory rarities, etc. Still, the focus on the obvious skimps on some pretty indispensable items (Space Age Couple, Her eyes are a blue million miles, Son of Mirror Man, Sho' Nuff, Dr. Dark, Trust Us) while excluding all of his rare extended jams (such as 25th Century Quaker). Oh well, if anybody deserves a completist fan base, it's the dear Captain.
Speaking of which, Lick my decals off baby remains the most important disc of music out of circulation, anywhere, while there are a number of folks looking for a pristine release of the original Bat Chain Puller (currently represented by the boot leggy Dust Sucker.
"
Best Beefheart compliation out there....
Grigory's Girl | NYC | 11/24/2008
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This is the best Captain Beefheart compliation out there. It's surprisingly thorough, containing material from almost every album he did, and giving us the "popular" songs along with obscure ones. It has seven songs from his masterpiece Trout Mask Replica album (though not The Dust Blows Forward, the Dust Blows Back, the title of this compliation), and it has songs from every album he did (except Mirror Man), including the severely underrated Lick My Decals Off, Baby and Clear Spot. It has some excellent obscurities like Hard Workin' Man from the Blue Collar soundtrack (I didn't even know the Captain did a song from any soundtrack), and a couple of extraordinary tracks from Bongo Fury, a Zappa album where the Captain was a vocalist. The two songs, Sam with the Showing Scalp Flat Top and Debra Kadabra, are quite extraordinary. There is, mercifully, only two songs from the Captain's awful "commerical" period (the albums Bluejeans and Moonbeams and Unconditionally Guaranteed), but the two songs they picked aren't bad. It has some of my personal favorites of the Captain, like Bat Chain Puller (from the album of the same name), Hot Head (from Doc at the Radar Station), and the title track from Ice Cream for Crow. The album also has excellent liner notes as well. This is a much more well rounded greatest hits compliation than the ridiculously overpriced, poor quality set Grow Fins (which I regret buying), and it's much cheaper."