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3 unusual facts about The Spotlight Kid


The Spotlight Kid

Stereo Review acknowledged the album as Beefheart's attempt to "go commercial," while opining that "Captain's conception of commercial is still sweetly weird." Colman Andrews writing in Phonograph Record Magazine described the album as evidence that Van Vliet was "the greatest white blues singer in America today."

The incarnation of the Magic Band on this album was Bill Harkleroad and Elliot Ingber, guitars; Mark Boston, bass; John French, drums; and Art Tripp, marimba.

In the period leading up to the recording the band lived communally, first at a compound near Ben Lomond, California, and then in northern California near Trinidad.


Clear Spot

On CD, the album is now available only as a "two for one" with its predecessor The Spotlight Kid, giving an overview of the work created when the band were in Felton and then nearby Trinidad, CA.


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