Captain Beefheart
Something Fishy
By early 1969, Captain Beefheart had finished recording what would become Trout Mask Replica, one of the most unconventional albums ever made.
Now all he needed was an album cover. Most artists would have posed with a guitar or stood against a brick wall looking mysterious. Captain Beefheart had a different idea.
Photographer Ed Caraeff and designer Cal Schenkel obtained the head of a carp from a fish market. The plan was to transform it into a surreal mask that completely hid Beefheart's face. Holes were cut so he could see, and the fish head was carefully positioned over his own.
The result was unforgettable. Standing in a field wearing a top hat and a fish over his face, Captain Beefheart looked less like a blues singer than a character who had wandered out of a dream.
There was just one problem. The photo session took much longer than expected. As the hours passed under the California sun, the carp began doing what fish inevitably do.
It started to smell. Then it smelled worse. By the end of the shoot, everyone involved was eager for it to be over. Beefheart endured the increasingly unpleasant odor because he believed the image was worth it.
He was right. When Trout Mask Replica was released later that year, the cover instantly became almost as legendary as the music inside. Decades later, it's still one of the most recognizable album covers in rock history, baffling new listeners before they've even dropped the needle.
Ironically, the "trout" on the cover wasn't a trout at all. It was a carp.
The title came from one of Beefheart's lyrics, while the photograph became another example of his delight in turning ordinary things into something completely unexpected.
Some artists leave behind famous album covers.
Captain Beefheart left behind one that probably emptied a room before the photographer finally said, "Got it."
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