Captain Beefheart - Hoboism (2000)

Although track 4 (Flash Gordon’s Ape) is definitely from 1970 and is a Decals out-take, tracks 1 to 3 are from the Spotlight Kid/Brown Star/Clear Spot sessions so they may date from 1971. Tracks 5 and 6 probably also date from 1971 rather than 1972 – these catch Don fooling around and having fun with some blues songs while Bill Harkleroad (or possibly Elliot Ingber) strums along with him.

The packaging is okay, some great photos of Don from 1974 and a vintage shot of the classic 1972 Magic Band on stage. The sound quality of all of these tracks is very good. Pity the information is a bit off … but that’s often to be expected with boots! A good selection of rare tracks but why add a whole bunch from the Best Batch Yet boot?

The SNL versions of ‘Hot Head’ and ‘Ashtray Heart’ are amazing and, of course, the jewel is the cracking, never released, ‘Hoboism’ which Don cooked up with Denny Walley one night in 1976.