Captain Beyond (album)

Captain Beyond is the debut album by Captain Beyond, an American rock supergroup featuring former members of Iron Butterfly, Deep Purple, Johnny Winter. Released in 1972, the album cover for the U.S. release included 3-D artwork (using lenticular printing). The album was dedicated to the memory of Duane Allman, who Captain Beyond drummer Bobby Caldwell had played with in an informal capacity.[4]

Captain Beyond
Studio album by
ReleasedJuly 1972
Recorded1972
StudioSunset Sound Recorders, Hollywood
Genre
Length35:10
LabelCapricorn
ProducerCaptain Beyond
Captain Beyond chronology
Captain Beyond
(1972)
Sufficiently Breathless
(1973)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[1]

Captain Beyond is unique among guitar-driven hard rock albums in that it contains a wide range of influences, including Latin and jazz, often with various time signatures and a broad range of dynamics within the same song. Most of the album consists of three medleys of tightly arranged interconnected songs. The first starts with "Dancing Madly Backwards (on a Sea of Air)" and ends with "Myopic Void". The second starts with "Thousand Days of Yesterdays (Intro)" and ends with "Thousand Days of Yesterdays (Time Since Come and Gone)". The third starts with "I Can't Feel Nothin' (Part 1)" and finishes the album. Songs flow directly into each other without any lag time between selections, a feature that is shared with other more progressive bands of the era such as The Moody Blues and Jethro Tull.[citation needed]

All of the songwriting was credited to lead vocalist Rod Evans and drummer Bobby Caldwell. However, the songs were in fact written by the group as a whole. Due to their still binding contracts with Iron Butterfly, guitarist Larry Reinhardt and bassist Lee Dorman could not be listed as songwriters on this record for legal reasons.[5]

Track listing

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All tracks are written by Bobby Caldwell and Rod Evans

Side one
No.TitleLength
1."Dancing Madly Backwards (on a Sea of Air)"4:02
2."Armworth"1:48
3."Myopic Void"3:31
4."Mesmerization Eclipse"3:48
5."Raging River of Fear"3:47
Side two
No.TitleLength
1."Thousand Days of Yesterdays (Intro)"1:16
2."Frozen Over"3:46
3."Thousand Days of Yesterdays (Time Since Come and Gone)"3:57
4."I Can't Feel Nothin' (Part I)"3:06
5."As the Moon Speaks (to the Waves of the Sea)"1:27
6."Astral Lady"0:58
7."As the Moon Speaks (Return)"1:57
8."I Can't Feel Nothin' (Part II)"1:46

Personnel

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Captain Beyond

References

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  1. ^ a b Ofjord, Michael. Captain Beyond allmusic.com. Retrieved on 2011-08-25.
  2. ^ "10 proto-metal albums you should definitely own". louder. 19 August 2021. Retrieved 17 March 2023.
  3. ^ Hayes, Craig (15 February 2023). "The Best Proto-Metal Albums From Metal's Rowdiest Progenitors". PopMatters. Retrieved 17 March 2023.
  4. ^ "Interview: Bobby Caldwell". Rock Choice. May 22, 2010. Archived from the original on February 25, 2011., refer to 10:00-12:00.
  5. ^ "The Captain Beyond Story". The Unofficial (European) Captain Beyond Website. Archived from the original on May 2, 2001.
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