October 1972: Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band Release CLEAR SPOT

Captain Beefheart wanted more.

Don Van Vliet, the man who called himself Captain Beefheart and fronted the wildly eclectic Magic Band, was ready to move his operation towards a more commercially successful enterprise. Critics loved them, and they'd found a fan and champion in influential music journalist, Lester Bangs. It was Bangs who gave the band's third studio record, Trout Mask Replica (1969), a rave review in Rolling Stone magazine, calling it "a total success, a brilliant, stunning enlargement and clarification of his art."

Cranking out followup LPs Lick My Decals Off, Baby (1970) and Mirror Man (1971), Beefheart came with The Spotlight Kid in January 1972. The only release credited to just Captain Beefheart (although the entire Magic Band is featured on the record), the more accessible blues-laced material propelled it to impact the Billboard 200, peaking at #131.

When it came time to create his next studio album, Captain Beefheart made the surprising decision to employ Ted Templeman as producer, along with engineer Don Landee. Templeman was fresh off producing the Doobie Brothers' self-titled debut, as well as Van Morrison's fifth long-player, Tupelo Honey.

Inspiring this move towards more commercial success, according to Captain Beefheart himself, was that he "got tired of scaring people with what I was doing ... I realized that I had to give them something to hang their hat on, so I started working more of a beat into the music. It's more human that way."

When Clear Spot was released, the vinyl album arrived in a clear plastic sleeve in homage to its title. The band wanted to press the record on clear vinyl as well, but the process was too expensive. A white card insert was included for credits.

Featuring such exemplary material including songs "Too Much Time" and "My Head is My Only House Unless it Rains," Clear Spot was indeed another (albeit relatively) successful outing for Captain Beefheart. Following the trajectory of The Spotlight Kid, the album found its way onto the Billboard 200, peaking at #191.

"There comes a time in the career of every pop musician who also happens to be a serious artist when he realizes the need for a balance between the most intensely personal type of statement and music of mass appeal," Lester Bangs said in his Rolling Stone review of Clear Spot. "With this album, Captain Beefheart has struck that balance with total success, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he were a major star a year from now. Though you may have been a great shadow hovering over our music for half a decade now, Don, it can be said that in 1972 you’ve really arrived."

--Scott T. Sterling