I have written previously about both Captain Beefheart and That Petrol Emotion. But have I written about the intersection thereof? I think not.
To remedy that situation, I offer you a song called “Hot Head” lifted — like the Sonic Youth song I posted a while back — from the out-of-print Beefheart tribute album Fast’n’Bulbous. This is a cover of a song originally found on Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band’s 1980 album Doc at the Radar Station (also home to the song with the best title, maybe, ever: “Making Love to a Vampire with a Monkey on My Knee”).
Few bands have the wherewithal to successfully re-create the Captain’s strategically warped rhythms; the Petrols not only pull it off, they also interpolate part of the Ohio Players’ “Fire” just for the hell of it. If this song doesn’t have you pounding both fists on the table and shouting “Fire fire fire!” like Beavis on Pixie Stix, it’s time to check your meds.