Correct date may be between December 10-12 1976 according to
http://www.freewebs.com/teejo/gigs7577/gigs7577.html
unknown gen AUD -> Sony TC-WE475 -> REALTEC AC-97 -> Goldwave (recording, speed correction)
Don Van Vliet: vocal, harmonica, soprano sax
Denny Walley: slide guitar, vocal
Jeff Moris Tepper: guitar
Eric Drew Feldman: keyboards, bass
Gary Jaye: drums
info from Detlef Jürgens (discontinued) site:
Troubadour, Los Angeles, California, December 12, 1976
With: Sanford-Townsend Band
Richard Cromelin:
Captain Beefheart, continuing to rebound from his brief, unsuccessful commercial 'sellout' of a few years ago, returned to the Troubadour over the weekend with his integrity intact and his awesomely unconventional music at full strength. This being a time when pop music rewards the safe and sane, the sad corollary to the individuality and power of the Beefheart presentation is that he doesn't have a record contract.
A full house of aficionados was on hand Sunday to voice its hearty approval of Beefheart's new group, which executes the jagged rhythms and searing textures with all the energy and discipline of the old Magic Band. Its sound is perhaps a bit more consonant, but has lost none of the incredible tension as it jerks the blues into an eerie, Caligari-like dimension where Beefheart is an outer-space Howlin' Wolf with free-jazz predilections.
The Captain's voice ranges from buzzsaw to dental drill, punctuated with little yelps and distinguished by its unwavering energy and obsessive power. His bizarre, inventive, pun-riddled lyrics (China Pig, Pachuco Cadaver and A Carrot Is As Close As A Rabbit Gets To A Diamond are among the titles) were somewhat obscured in the mix, but his soprano sax work, sounding like a wild desert wind screaming through brain tunnels, compensated for the loss of the verbal element.
It's too much to expect this original, visionary talent to make Top 10, but he should at least be able to release an album. Meantime, we'll just hope for occasional performances like this and pray that he never gets normal again.
The second-billed Sanford-Townsend Band exemplifies rock's safe side. The highly talented group plays well-devised but easygoing jazz-pop that at its best recalls Steely Dan but which, overall, lacks urgency and imagination.
[Richard Cromelin: At The Troubador. Captain Beefheart Integrity Intact. Los Angeles Times. December 14, 1976. Reprinted in: The Lives And Times Of Captain Beefheart]
John French:
Having heard the band with Gary Jaye once at the Troubadour in Hollywood, I observed Jaye to be a very proficient and confident player.
[Grow Fins booklet]
Tape
Date: December 12, 1976
Place: Troubadour, Los Angeles, California
Source: audience
Quality: very good +
Length: 78 min
1. Moonlight On Vermont (4'50) Dave Lynch: nice Walley solo
Band Introduction
2. Low Yo Yo Stuff (3'32)
3. I Wanna Find A Woman That 'll Hold My Big Toe Till I Have To Go (1'40)
4. When Big Joan Sets Up (3'08)
5. Electricity (3'25)
6. Click Clack (4'45)
7. A Carrot Is As Close As A Rabbit Gets To A Diamond (1'34)
8. China Pig (5'44)
9. Orange Claw Hammer (4'38)
10. On Tomorrow (3'46)
11. Pachuco Cadaver (4'27)
12. Spitball Scalped A Baby (2'23) saxophone-mellotron improvisation
13. One Nest Rolls After Another (0'11)
14. My Human Gets Me Blues (2'11)
15. Veterans Day Poppy (4'52)
Band Introduction
16. The Blimp (2'06) "Harry 'Bob Krasnow' Duncan on blimp and click clack" vocals
17. Big Eyed Beans From Venus (4'12)
18. Hoochie Coochie Man (5'38) Muddy Waters
19. Rollin' 'n' Tumblin' (7'28) Muddy Waters
Melvin:
Small club, good atmosphere. Don returns with a new band after a year off working on the aborted Bat Chain Puller and working at a shoe store. Walley (the most underrated Magic Band player ever) is still around contributing truly killer slide guitar, new manager Harry Duncan guests on vocals on a manic Blimp, the infrequently played On Tomorrow shows up, Don seems relaxed, telling stories about shoe store management and coming back for an encore of traditional blues numbers.
[alt.fan.capt-beefheart]