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(More customer reviews)Don Van Vliet (alias "Captain Beefheart") has become one of the most elusive and enigmatic figures in rock history. Strangely, a veritable paucity of information exists on his life and work. Internet webpages and blurbs in CD booklets provide one of the largest current trove of insights. This leaves a large knowledge gap for the curious, and there's plenty to be curious about. His self-abdication as the king of avant-garde rock (or so subsumed by many) to the painterly recluse represents a massive - and intriguing - change for an artist to undertake. Also, he's disappeared. Sightings of and interviews with Van Vliet have gone the way of the dodo bird. Add to that rumors of failing health, and the gossip fountains spurt prodigiously.
Given such a situation, those interested in the life of Van Vliet must embrace the appearance of a new biography (or at least a reissue; this book was originally published in 2000, and, according to the title page, was republished in 2002 with "textual emendations"). Surprisingly, not many biographies of "Captain Beefheart" have made their way into print. Or maybe this shouldn't surprise fans. The lack of material, especially valuable primary source material (in the form of interviews with Van Vliet himself) would daunt the most driven biographer wannabe.
In light of the startling limitations, one has to give Mike Barnes some credit for this undertaking. Unfortunately, the lack of really juicy material shows in this 365 page linear telling of Van Vliet's life. Plenty of dates and amusing and insightful anecdotes appear. And if one wants to know just the basic story behind Captain Beefheart and His/The Magic Band and his subsequent (or continuous) morphing into Don Van Vliet the painter, then dig in. Unfortunately, what one won't find is depth. Don Van Vliet the man and his methodologies remain in relative obscurity by the book's end. True, what happened to him gets a fair outline, but not much else. The book generally feels like a compilation of magazine, audio, and television interviews with sequeways filled in by the author. Consequently, anyone who has undertaken a study of Van Vliet will find much of the material familiar. Don't expect any earth shattering surprises.
Other flaws not related directly to lack of information also exist. The author's abrupt transitions to the first person are jarring. This happens only a few times, but when it does, the flow suffers. Placing these personal reflections into footnotes or endnotes would preserve the narrative flow (particularily the author's recollections of trying to get an interview with Van Vliet; they're very interesting but would have fit better in an epilogue or an appendix; they also come off like an apology for the lack of material). In addition, typos dot the text frequently enough to further strain the flow.
The photograph section presents another puzzle. The book covers all of Van Vliet's life (up to around 2001), but the photos only cover the years 1980 - 1982. Maybe permissions for photos were difficult to obtain? The included photos are great, but they beg the question as to why only an extremely small part of Van Vliet's life made it into this section.
Not only that, the book does not include an index, so returning to specific passages becomes tedious. Of course indexers cost money, so dropping the index probably helped the book get into print. Still, it makes the book less useful as a reference.
On a lighter note, one of the most amusing anecdotes related by Barnes is Van Vliet's run-in with Bono of U2. Following an offer made by Bono to tour with U2 and collaborate, Van Vliet supposedly kept asking his friends "Who's this Bongo?"
Lastly, the multifarious members of various Magic Bands get airtime here. Some of them feel cheated. Others feel fortunate. Some even feel cheated and fortunate. Many of their stories clash with Van Vliet's own version. In the end, what exactly happened is difficult to reconstruct.
Overall the book reads quickly and tells the story of Van Vliet. Those who have no prior knowledge of Captain Beefheart apart from the music will learn a great deal. Longtime fans will probably not learn too much. Barnes is obviously a big fan, and his enthusiasm shows. Nonetheless, the book contains flaws, but not insurmountable ones. Perhaps this book will lay the groundwork for a more detailed study in the future. Or at the very least get Van Vliet's music some more well-deserved press.
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