Did ‘Bluejeans and Moonbeams’ inspire Kate Bush more than any other album?
Kate Bush is at her strongest when she leans into her experimental side, her whimsical and stange sound enrapturing audiences while consistently subverting expectations.
Remaining in a league of her own over her near-half-century-long career, like any great artist, she has inspirations that drive her creativity, and none holds such influence over her sound as much as Captain Beefheart.
Born Don Van Vliet, Beefheart was a California native, coming into musical fruition in the peak days of Los Angeles hippie counterculture. He existed in the same vein as his friend, Frank Zappa, tapping in as quirky oddballs who doubled as musical geniuses. While not as frenetic as Zappa regarding work ethic, Vliet was just as eccentric; a child sculpting prodigy, he was later known for concocting fabricated tales of his past, never one to reveal who he truly was, underneath the surface. As Pamela Des Barres wrote in her seminal memoir, I’m with the Band, “Captain Beefheart was a wildly intimidating crazy genius who was so far ahead of his time, people are still trying to catch up with him”.
In a sea of old-fashioned rock ‘n’ roll, Beefheart crafted a medley that mixed elements of rock, blues and jazz into a bizarre cocktail of his own. Assembling what would become a rotating cast of characters in Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band, the musician brought his haphazard ideas in the studio, where he’d often whistle or bang on the piano to express what was on his mind, leaving his bandmates to decode his language into existence.
Reflecting on this, the similarities between Bush and Beefheart are easy to pinpoin, with both exhibiting a flair for the dramatic, pushing the limits of their voices and sonic possibilities using writing that went beyond poetry to shape a world replete with magical realism. Perhaps most of all, they both remained uncompromising, never phased by widespread success or accessibility to occupy true artist status, where they created out of sheer fascination with music. Bush absorbed these qualities from listening to Beefheart’s music, and, most notably, his 1974 Bluejeans and Moonbeams album serving as the core of this learning curve
Somewhat ironically, Beefheart’s ninth studio album came from a stint of crafting a more commercial sound. The original members of the Magic Band had departed after recording their previous album, Unconditionally Guaranteed, and Beefheart was left to assemble a new lineup, later hiring session musicians who had never heard his music before. This led to him operating with an evident sonic disconnect and the loss of some of his eccentricity, instead harnessing a softer rock sound on what would become Bluejeans and Moonbeams, which he later disowned along with its predecessor, calling them “horrible and vulgar” and urging fans to “take copies back for a refund”.
Bluejeans and Moonbeams did, however, find a loyal fan in a young Kate Bush, who later included the record on a list of her favourite albums of all time. Of her choice, she said, “This is the Beefheart album where he writes love songs like nobody else”. Admiring both his lyricism and his sonic influence, Bush revered him on a singular pedestal. “When you look at a lot of the new wave groups and the punk groups, they’re really nothing compared to Beefheart,” she said, adding, “He’s the original. And for me, he’s a natural poet. I mean, he’s incredible.”
For Bush to choose the wildcard of Beefheart’s discography as her favourite speaks volumes to her appreciation for artistry and her ability to single out a vision that not many others can comprehend. The two musicians’ mutual talent for storytelling transcends time, ensuring that their eloquence would withstand genre and generational boundaries.
