Ice Cream for Crow
Encyclopedia
Ice Cream for Crow is the twelfth and final studio album by Captain Beefheart
and The Magic Band, released in September 1982. It is the last Don Van Vliet recorded before abruptly retiring from music as Captain Beefheart to devote himself to a career as a painter. It spent two weeks in the UK album charts, reaching number 90, but failed to make the Billboard Top 200.
Although many of the songs on Ice Cream for Crow stem from musical ideas from sessions for earlier albums, Beefheart composed a good deal of new material for the album. In fact, he wrote "Skeleton Makes Good" in one evening. According to Captain Beefheart's biographer Mike Barnes, "the most original and vital tracks [on the album] are the newer ones." Thus, Ice Cream for Crow, while rooted in past musical ideas, points toward a new musical direction for Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band. Indeed, Barnes writes that the album "feels like an hors-d'oeuvre for a main course that never came." Disc jockey John Peel
in his narration to the BBC documentary The Artist Formerly Known as Captain Beefheart however, would consider it as one of his best.
The album cover features a painting by Van Vliet himself, as well as a portrait photo of him by Anton Corbijn
. A music video
was made to promote the title track, directed by Van Vliet and Ken Schreiber, with cinematography by Daniel Pearl
, which was rejected by MTV
for being "too weird". However, the video was included in the Letterman broadcast on NBC-TV, and was accepted into the Museum of Modern Art
, where it has been used in several of their programs related to music. Van Vliet explained in a 1982 interview on Late Night with David Letterman
that the album's title represented the contrast between the black of a crow and the white of vanilla ice cream.
would give the album an A-, saying that "Ornette
or no Ornette, the Captain's sprung delta
atonality still provides surprising and irreducible satisfactions, but his poetry repeats itself more than his ideas warrant. Any surrealist ecologist who preaches the same sermon every time out is sure to provoke hostile questions from us concrete-jungle types".
(The descriptions "Steel-appendage guitar" & "Glass-finger guitar" were Beefheart affectations for the style of slide guitar playing, using either a metal tube or, typically, a glass 'bottleneck
' on the fret finger. "Shake bouquet" is also his affectation for the Maracas instrument)
Captain Beefheart
Don Van Vliet January 15, 1941 December 17, 2010) was an American musician, singer-songwriter and artist best known by the stage name Captain Beefheart. His musical work was conducted with a rotating ensemble of musicians called The Magic Band, active between 1965 and 1982, with whom he recorded 12...
and The Magic Band, released in September 1982. It is the last Don Van Vliet recorded before abruptly retiring from music as Captain Beefheart to devote himself to a career as a painter. It spent two weeks in the UK album charts, reaching number 90, but failed to make the Billboard Top 200.
Although many of the songs on Ice Cream for Crow stem from musical ideas from sessions for earlier albums, Beefheart composed a good deal of new material for the album. In fact, he wrote "Skeleton Makes Good" in one evening. According to Captain Beefheart's biographer Mike Barnes, "the most original and vital tracks [on the album] are the newer ones." Thus, Ice Cream for Crow, while rooted in past musical ideas, points toward a new musical direction for Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band. Indeed, Barnes writes that the album "feels like an hors-d'oeuvre for a main course that never came." Disc jockey John Peel
John Peel
John Robert Parker Ravenscroft, OBE , known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey, radio presenter, record producer and journalist. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly from 1967 until his death in 2004...
in his narration to the BBC documentary The Artist Formerly Known as Captain Beefheart however, would consider it as one of his best.
The album cover features a painting by Van Vliet himself, as well as a portrait photo of him by Anton Corbijn
Anton Corbijn
Anton Corbijn is a Dutch photographer, music video and film director. He is the creative director behind the visual output of Depeche Mode and U2, having handled the principal promotion and sleeve photography for both for more than a decade...
. A music video
Music video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
was made to promote the title track, directed by Van Vliet and Ken Schreiber, with cinematography by Daniel Pearl
Daniel Pearl (cinematographer)
Daniel Pearl A.S.C. is an American cinematographer who has worked on many feature films, over 400 music videos and more than 250 commercials. His best known work is probably The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and its 2003 remake....
, which was rejected by MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
for being "too weird". However, the video was included in the Letterman broadcast on NBC-TV, and was accepted into the Museum of Modern Art
Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art is an art museum in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, on 53rd Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It has been important in developing and collecting modernist art, and is often identified as the most influential museum of modern art in the world...
, where it has been used in several of their programs related to music. Van Vliet explained in a 1982 interview on Late Night with David Letterman
Late Night with David Letterman
Late Night with David Letterman is a nightly hour-long comedy talk show on NBC that was created and hosted by David Letterman. It premiered in 1982 as the first incarnation of the Late Night franchise and went off the air in 1993, after Letterman left NBC and moved to Late Show on CBS. Late Night...
that the album's title represented the contrast between the black of a crow and the white of vanilla ice cream.
Reception
Ned Raggett of Allmusic would positively call the album "a last entertaining blast of wigginess from one of the few truly independent artists in late 20th century pop music, with humor, skill, and style all still intact", with The Magic Band "turning out more choppy rhythms, unexpected guitar lines, and outré arrangements, Captain Beefheart lets everything run wild as always, with successful results". Raggett says that Beefheart's "entertainingly outrageous" spoken word performances, are successfully cohered with The Magic Band's "insanely great arrangement". Robert ChristgauRobert Christgau
Robert Christgau is an American essayist, music journalist, and self-proclaimed "Dean of American Rock Critics".One of the earliest professional rock critics, Christgau is known for his terse capsule reviews, published since 1969 in his Consumer Guide columns...
would give the album an A-, saying that "Ornette
Ornette Coleman
Ornette Coleman is an American saxophonist, violinist, trumpeter and composer. He was one of the major innovators of the free jazz movement of the 1960s....
or no Ornette, the Captain's sprung delta
Delta blues
The Delta blues is one of the earliest styles of blues music. It originated in the Mississippi Delta, a region of the United States that stretches from Memphis, Tennessee in the north to Vicksburg, Mississippi in the south, Helena, Arkansas in the west to the Yazoo River on the east. The...
atonality still provides surprising and irreducible satisfactions, but his poetry repeats itself more than his ideas warrant. Any surrealist ecologist who preaches the same sermon every time out is sure to provoke hostile questions from us concrete-jungle types".
Track listing
All tracks written and composed by Don Van Vliet.- "Ice Cream for Crow" – 4:35
- "The Host the Ghost the Most Holy-O" – 2:25
- "Semi-Multicoloured Caucasian" – 4:20
- "Hey Garland, I Dig Your Tweed Coat" – 3:13
- "Evening Bell" – 2:00
- "Cardboard Cutout Sundown" – 2:38
- "The Past Sure Is Tense" – 3:21
- "Ink Mathematics" – 1:40
- "The Witch Doctor Life" – 2:38
- "'81' Poop Hatch" – 2:39
- "The Thousandth and Tenth Day of the Human Totem Pole" – 5:42
- "Skeleton Makes Good" – 2:18
- "Light Reflected Off The Oceans Of The Moon" - 4:47 [Bonus Track]
Personnel
- Don Van Vliet (Captain Beefheart) – vocals, harmonicaHarmonicaThe harmonica, also called harp, French harp, blues harp, and mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used primarily in blues and American folk music, jazz, country, and rock and roll. It is played by blowing air into it or drawing air out by placing lips over individual holes or multiple holes...
, soprano sax, Chinese gongsGongA gong is an East and South East Asian musical percussion instrument that takes the form of a flat metal disc which is hit with a mallet....
, prop horn - Jeff Moris TepperMoris TepperMoris Tepper, sometimes credited as Jeff Moris Tepper, is an American singer-songwriter, guitarist and artist.Tepper first came to prominence in the late 1970s with Captain Beefheart. He has also worked with singers Tom Waits, PJ Harvey, Robyn Hitchcock and Frank Black. He has recorded several solo...
– steel appendage guitar, slide guitarSlide guitarSlide guitar or bottleneck guitar is a particular method or technique for playing the guitar. The term slide refers to the motion of the slide against the strings, while bottleneck refers to the original material of choice for such slides: the necks of glass bottles...
, acoustic guitar - Gary LucasGary LucasGary Lucas is an American guitarist, a Grammy-nominated songwriter, a soundtrack composer for film and television, and an international recording artist with over a dozen solo albums to date. He has been described as "one of the best and most original guitarists in America" ; a "legendary leftfield...
– glass–finger guitar, slide guitar, guitar, National steel duolianNational String Instrument CorporationThe National String Instrument Corporation was a guitar company that formed to manufacture the first resonator guitars.-National resonator guitar designs:... - Richard "Midnight Hatsize" Snyder – bass guitarBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
, marimbaMarimbaThe marimba is a musical instrument in the percussion family. It consists of a set of wooden keys or bars with resonators. The bars are struck with mallets to produce musical tones. The keys are arranged as those of a piano, with the accidentals raised vertically and overlapping the natural keys ...
, violaViolaThe viola is a bowed string instrument. It is the middle voice of the violin family, between the violin and the cello.- Form :The viola is similar in material and construction to the violin. A full-size viola's body is between and longer than the body of a full-size violin , with an average... - Cliff R. MartinezCliff MartinezCliff Martinez is an American film score composer and former drummer.-Biography:Cliff Martinez was born in the Bronx, New York. Raised in Columbus, Ohio, his first job composing was for the popular television show Pee Wee's Playhouse...
– drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
, shake bouquet, glass washboard, metal drums - Eric Drew FeldmanEric Drew FeldmanEric Drew Feldman is an American keyboard and bass guitar player. Feldman has worked with Captain Beefheart, Fear, Snakefinger, The Residents, Pere Ubu, Pixies, dEUS, Katell Keineg, Frank Black, The Polyphonic Spree, Tripping Daisy, Reid Paley, Charlotte Hatherley, Custard, and PJ Harvey.He was...
– RhodesRhodesRhodes is an island in Greece, located in the eastern Aegean Sea. It is the largest of the Dodecanese islands in terms of both land area and population, with a population of 117,007, and also the island group's historical capital. Administratively the island forms a separate municipality within...
piano, synthesized bass - Janet Van VlietJan van VlietJan van Vliet , also known as Janus Ulitius, was one of the 17th century pioneers of Germanic philology....
& Jeff M. TepperMoris TepperMoris Tepper, sometimes credited as Jeff Moris Tepper, is an American singer-songwriter, guitarist and artist.Tepper first came to prominence in the late 1970s with Captain Beefheart. He has also worked with singers Tom Waits, PJ Harvey, Robyn Hitchcock and Frank Black. He has recorded several solo...
– Production assistance - Don Van Vliet – Arranger & Producer
- Phil Brown – Engineer & Mastering
(The descriptions "Steel-appendage guitar" & "Glass-finger guitar" were Beefheart affectations for the style of slide guitar playing, using either a metal tube or, typically, a glass 'bottleneck
Slide guitar
Slide guitar or bottleneck guitar is a particular method or technique for playing the guitar. The term slide refers to the motion of the slide against the strings, while bottleneck refers to the original material of choice for such slides: the necks of glass bottles...
' on the fret finger. "Shake bouquet" is also his affectation for the Maracas instrument)