Books#2 - Beefheart: Through The Eyes Of Magic by John "Drumbo" French

This book has been in my collection for about a year now so it's time I made my feelings known.

I suspect you know this already but just in case you don't, John French was the drummer with Captain Beefheart's Magic Band between 1966 and 1972 and again between 1976 and 1980. Drumbo was the nickname bestowed upon him by Beefheart during the recording sessions for the infamous 'Trout Mask Replica' album and this 864 page book is the fascinating story of what happened during his time with the band.

Because of the sheer size of this book, reading it has been something of a labour of love and I am grateful that French has broken it up into relatively short chapters, so it is a book which can be dipped in and out of - hence the time it has taken me to read so far. I should add that I am not yet finished but have made it far enough to have formed an opinion. And that opinion is very favourable. Writing this work must surely have been a labour of love for French and I understand that there were times when he almost gave up, wondering if he was wasting his time and should perhaps be doing something more productive. I'm pleased he persevered!

My problem with books of this type dealing with events that occurred over 40 years ago, is how much we can rely on the memory of the author. French overcomes this problem by incorporating contemporaneous interviews with other band members and other people who were there at the time. Occasionally this will lead to slight disagreements about the finer details but curiously this only adds to the charm and authenticity of the book. Throughout French writes in a conversational style and he includes a wealth of humorous anecdotes. It is clear that he never found Beefheart himself easy to work with and there are numerous occasions where he was verbally or even physically abused by the controversial band leader, even to the point of being thrown down stairs at the culmination of the Trout Mask sessions. Nevertheless French appears to deal with his subject in a fair manner.

I should say that this is not a biography of French, nor of Beefheart. For the latter, I would suggest the very fine book 'Captain Beefheart' by Mike Barnes (Quartet Books). Fans of Beefheart will find that French does not cover the period 1972 to 1974 simply because he was not there at the time. One very enlightening part of the book comes in a section at the end in which French comments on each track from every official Beefheart album on which he appeared. Obviously this excludes 'Unconditionally Guaranteed' and 'Bluejeans & Moonbeams'. His thoughts on these works are never less than fascinating and they have shed a fresh light on the music which has certainly enhanced my enjoyment.

If you are interested in the work of Captain Beefheart, I would recommend this book which is still available and is published in hardback by Proper Music Publishing Limited.