Doc at the Radar Station
| Doc at the Radar Station | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
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| Studio album by Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band | ||||
| Released | August 1980 | |||
| Recorded | Sound Castle Recording Studios, LA June 1980 | |||
| Genre | Experimental rock, blues rock | |||
| Length | 38:52 | |||
| Label | Virgin | |||
| Producer | Don Van Vliet | |||
| Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band chronology | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   |
| Robert Christgau | A− |
| Down Beat | |
| Los Angeles Times | (Favorable) |
| New York Times | (Favorable) |
| Rolling Stone |
|
Doc at the Radar Station is the eleventh studio album by Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band, released in August 1980 to favorable reviews.
Although about half of the album's songs are based on old musical ideas, Mike Barnes states that "most of the revamping work built on skeletal ideas and fragments ... would have mouldered away in the vaults had they not been exhumed and transformed into full-blown, totally convincing new material."
The album cover was painted by Don Van Vliet. It was placed at number forty-nine on Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Album Covers.
The tracks "A Carrot is as Close as a Rabbit Gets to a Diamond", "Flavor Bud Living" and "Brickbats" were originally intended and recorded for the proposed album Bat Chain Puller but it wasn't released due to Frank Zappa owning the master tapes as DiscReet cofounders Herb Cohen and Zappa feuded over the production of the album, because Cohen funded the production with Zappa's royalty checks.
Former drummer of the Magic Band John French plays slide guitar, guitar, marimba, bass and drums on the tracks "Ashtray Heart" and "Sheriff of Hong Kong".
In 2011, 4 Men with Beards released a 180-gram version of the album that is being distributed by City Hall Records.
All tracks written by Don Van Vliet
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Wikipedia