Performer Notes

2 LPs on 1 CD: THE SPOTLIGHT KID (1972)/CLEAR SPOT (1972).
Full performer name: Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band.
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band: Captain Beefheart (vocals, harmonica, jingle bells); Winged Eel Fingerling, Russ Titelman (guitar); Zoot Horn Rollo (guitar, mandolin); Rockette Morton (guitar, bass); Ed Marimba (marimba, piano, harpsichord, drums, percussion); Orejon (bass); Drumbo, Ted Cactus, Rhys Clark (drums); The Blackberries (background vocals).
Producers: Don Van Vliet, Ted Templeman.
Engineers: Phil Schler, Donn Landee.
Includes liner notes by Pete Johnson.
After the unique TROUT MASK REPLICA, Beefheart moved slowly to what we mortals would call music, very much like the stuff on SAFE AS MILK. His "music from Venus" had never been quite so easy on the ear and CLEAR SPOT was a hit album, of sorts. Nobody other than John Lennon has been able to approximate the English language so brilliantly as this man. How can you resist "My Head Is My Only House Unless It Rains" or "Her Eyes Are A Blue Million Miles?" The Captain can also fool us with a real love song, the sublime "Too Much Time."

Professional Reviews

Rolling Stone (3/30/72, p.52) - "...[SPOTLIGHT KID] goes back to his most primal roots for much of its inspiration...Captain Beefheart [is] almost certainly the supreme white blues singer of our era...vital funky rock & roll..." -Lester Bangs

Q (1/1/91) - 4 Stars - Excellent

NME (Magazine) (9/18/93, p.19) - CLEAR SPOT ranked #32 in NME's list of the `Greatest Albums Of The '70s.'

NME (Magazine) (10/2/93, p.29) - CLEAR SPOT ranked #75 in NME's list of the `Greatest Albums Of All Time.'