Editing Captain Beefheart (section)

=== ''The Spotlight Kid'' & ''Clear Spot'' ===
[[File:Captain Beefheart.jpg|thumb|220px|left|Beefheart performing at [[Convocation Hall (University of Toronto)|Convocation Hall]], Toronto, in 1974.]]
The next two records, ''[[The Spotlight Kid]]'' (simply credited to "Captain Beefheart") and ''[[Clear Spot]]'' (credited to "Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band"), were both released in 1972. The atmosphere of ''The Spotlight Kid'' is, according to one critic, "definitely relaxed and fun, maybe one step up from a jam". And though "things do sound maybe just a little too blasé", "Beefheart at his worst still has something more than most groups at their best."<ref>Raggett, Ned.[http://www.allmusic.com/album/the-spotlight-kid-r60669 "The Spotlight Kid"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101205110125/http://www.allmusic.com/album/the-spotlight-kid-r60669 |date=December 5, 2010 }} allmusic. Retrieved December 19, 2010.</ref> The music is simpler and slower than on the group's two previous releases; this was in part an attempt by Van Vliet to become a more appealing commercial proposition as the band had made almost no money during the previous two years.<ref>{{harvnb|French|2010|pp=563–564}}</ref> Van Vliet said he "got tired of scaring people with what I was doing ... I realized that I had to give them something to hang their hat on, so I started working more of a beat into the music. It's more human that way".{{sfn|Barnes|2011|p=199}}

Magic Band members said that the slower performances were due in part to Van Vliet's inability to fit his lyrics with the instrumental backing of the faster material on the earlier albums, a problem that was exacerbated by the fact that that he almost never rehearsed with the group.{{sfn|Barnes|2011|p=200}} In the period leading up to the recording, the band again lived communally, first at a compound near [[Ben Lomond, California]] and then in northern California near [[Trinidad, California|Trinidad]].{{sfn|French|2010|p=558–565}} The situation saw a return to the physical violence and [[psychological manipulation]]. According to John French, the worst of this was directed at Harkleroad.{{sfn|French|2010|p=563}} In his autobiography, Harkleroad recalls being thrown into a dumpster, an act he interpreted as having "metaphorical intent".<ref>Harkleroad, p. 67</ref>

''Clear Spot'''s production credit of [[Ted Templeman]] made [[AllMusic]]'s Ned Raggett consider "why in the world [it] wasn't more of a commercial success", and that while fans "of the fully all-out side of Beefheart might find the end result not fully up to snuff as a result, but those less concerned with pushing back all borders all the time will enjoy his unexpected blend of everything tempered with a new accessibility". The review called the song "Big Eyed Beans from Venus" "a fantastically strange piece of aggression".<ref>Raggett, Ned. [http://www.allmusic.com/album/clear-spot-r3295 ''Clear Spot''], ''AllMusic''. Retrieved December 19, 2010.</ref> A ''Clear Spot'' song, "Her Eyes Are A Blue Million Miles", appeared on [[The Big Lebowski#Soundtrack|the soundtrack]] of the [[Coen brothers]]' 1998 cult comedy ''[[The Big Lebowski]]''.