Co-Produced by John French and Bob Weston
Front & back cover photographs by Gary Lucas
Magic Band portraits by Tim Sutton
Sleeve designed by Ben Drury. Concept by John French & The Magic Band
Thank you: Don Van Vliet, Jan Van Vliet, Frank Zappa, Bob Krasnow, Barry Hogan, Elaine Shepherd, Tim Sutton, Matt Groening, Bob Weston, Helen Cottage, John and Pam Sweeney, Henry Kaiser (for the CDs), Denny McKinney and Standel, Robert Williams, Steve Nootenboom, Dean Blackwood.
"True Beefheart believers, rejoice! When you hear these brand-new Magic Band recordings of their classic songs, you're gonna be booglarized baby! The music is as brilliant and complex and exhilarating as ever, and the Magic Band-John "Drumbo" French on drums and vocals, Mark "Rockette Morton" on bass, and Gary "Mantis" Lucas and Denny "Feelers Rebo" Walley on guitars-will astound you with song after song of exuberant virtuosity.Let's face it: we've been pummelled into numbness by the pedestrian rhythmic drudgery of 99% of all rock music of the last 20 years. That's why it's such a relief to hear new versions of "My Human Gets Me Blues", "Sun Zoom Spark", "Moonlight on Vermont" and all the rest-entangled, interlocking compositions which are still amazing in their avant-garde, delta-blues originality.
And to think that these recordings are just live-to-tape rehearsals -- simply unbelievable!"
Matt Groening