“If it had come out two years earlier, it would have captured the zeitgeist”: Captain Beyond miss their moment on much-loved debut album

Duane and Gregg Allman were apparently so knocked out by Captain Beyond’s demos that they promptly took the tape over Capricorn Records and convinced the label to sign them. In truth, there might have been more than a touch of nepotism on the brothers’ part, seeing as Captain Beyond drummer Bobby Caldwell knew the Allmans well from his days touring with Johnny Winter.

Captain Beyond’s self-titled debut of 1972 nevertheless supported Walden’s judgement – it’s a terrific showcase for the band’s gallivanting space-rock. Despite the presence of ex-Deep Purple singer Rod Evans and the Iron Butterfly duo of guitarist ‘Rhino’ Reinhardt and bassist Lee Dorman, they never found the commercial success their music merited, settling instead for a life of eternal cultdom.

Their first, self-titled album was a masterpiece of sophisticated aggression, part dope-rock thuggery, part limber, prog-baiting space-metal. It sold well, and the band gigged relentlessly, including a full-scale tour with the Alice Cooper band. But somewhere along the way, Beyond’s record label, Capricorn, had a sudden change of heart. According to Reinhardt, by the time the band starting working on their follow- up album, labelmates the Allman Brothers had broken big, and Capricorn wanted Captain Beyond to explore their southern side. 

Unfortunately, they didn’t have one.

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Other albums released in July 1972

• Waka/Jawaka – Frank Zappa
• Chicago V – Chicago
• Son of Schmilsson – Harry Nilsson
• Full Circle – The Doors
• Long John Silver – Jefferson Airplane
• Straight Shooter – James Gang
• Never a Dull Moment – Rod Stewart
• The Slider – T. Rex
• Seven Separate Fools – Three Dog Night
• Toulouse Street – The Doobie Brothers
• The Academy in Peril – John Cale
• Feel Good – Ike & Tina Turner
• Exercises – Nazareth
• Foghat – Foghat
• Saint Dominic’s Preview – Van Morrison
• White Witch – White Witch

What they said…

“Listeners may get the feeling of taking a journey to space in a rocket ship headed for destinations unknown. Musically, the album is superior in all aspects. Rod Evans has a strong rock voice, Rhino plays an enormous amount of hook-laden guitar lines, and Lee Dorman plays complex basslines (for example, at the end of “As the Moon Speaks-Return”) that lead to typically rhythmic, nimble Bobby Caldwell drumming. (AllMusic)

“Captain Beyond’s self-titled 1972 debut is one of heavy rock’s best. Combining jazz, folk, prog, and hard-edged cosmic rock, each track on Captain Beyond tumbles into the next, and Rheinhart, Dorman, and Caldwell’s playing is innovative and sophisticated. Serpentine instrumental passages match the band’s desire to explore, and Evans’ rock-god voice leads listeners into curious lyrical realms.” (Pop Matters)

“Extremely rocky group dynamics and jarring stylistic shifts ultimately doomed Captain Beyond, but on their ‘72 debut, the sorta-supergroup exploded onto the scene with an album that was gorgeously heavy and massive in scope. Opener Dancing Madly Backwards (On a Sea of Air) is still one of the greatest epic metal songs of all time.” (Classic Rock)

What you said…

Greg Schwepe: So, I almost bailed on the review thing this week. But at the last minute when I headed out for a run, I decided to dial up Captain Beyond’s debut album on the ol’ Spotify app and give it a whirl. And wouldn’t you know, I was exposed to yet another obscure (for me at least!) early 70s rock nugget. Who knew? And before I listened, I figured my review would be a scant 2-3 paragraphs (you can see it isn’t!). But the more I listened and took in, the more review ideas popped into my head. Guess that’s how this “listen to music and then write about it” thing works.

This album review group has a pretty good track record for picking these early 70s rock/hard rock albums that I end up liking. And this was yet another “never heard of ‘em, but ended up likin’ ‘em” situations.

A nifty drum intro leads us off on this album with Dancing Madly Backwards (On A Sea Of Air) and I realize that this is indeed a riffing, rocking album. Two more entertaining tracks go by (Armworth, Myopic Void) and then we get to the clincher, Mesmerization Eclipse.

Had I been wavering at that point about whether I was going to finish listening or not (for the record, I was not gonna bail) Mesmerization Eclipse is that type of song that locked me in for the duration. Something about that style of song with its repetitive riffs and drum beats, that I’ve heard a million times before grabbed me. Best song on the album. And that is followed by Raging River Of Fear which leads to the listener turning the volume up. The remainder of the album is to my liking.

Since this album was created when the limitations of vinyl kept the running time to a listenable 35 minutes, I started listening a second time while still on my run to further cement this to memory. And at that point I realized what really drew me to this album… the drums! Something about Bobby Caldwell’s (yeah, I had to look up the album details to see who was the drummer!) hyperactive driving style that really fit in well with the overall vibe of Captain Beyond’s sound.

Overall, another good early 70s album to explore. Did I have a real “what was I missing?” moment with this one? Not really. Is this album a good way to spend 35 minutes? Absolutely. 8 out of 10 for me on this one. O Captain, my Captain…

Rand Beat: A true killer classic. I call it Rod Evans’ revenge for being fired from Deep Purple. Way ahead of its time. Bobby Caldwell is an underrated drummer!

Todd Gentry: Brilliant album!

Brian Smolik: Hell Ya! It’s a masterpiece.

Tom O’Brien: Love it.

Paul Cropper: I can’t speak highly enough of this album. I love it. If I took 10 albums to a desert island, this would be one of them. Should have been huge but I think the problem was it came out too late. By that I mean if it had come out two years earlier, it would have captured the zeitgeist but by 72, it was possibly a little dated sounding and I don’t think Capricorn Records knew how best to handle the band. They tried to get the band to change their sound on the also very good Sufficiently Breathless.

Mickel Knight: Very familiar with this release. This and their next album are both very solid. Good choice. A 7 or 8 out of 10 for me.

Glenn Nicolaas Swart: Brilliant band, I think their second album was their best.

Mike Canoe: I have listened to the first two Captain Beyond albums a lot, this one and 1973’s Sufficiently Breathless, and like them both a lot – while they’re playing. The musicianship is great and this cosmic proto-metal is right in my wheelhouse but even after subsequent listens it’s hard to hum more than the first tune on either album.

It wasn’t until I did my album homework this week that I realized the album is essentially three suites and two standalone songs. That goes a long way towards explaining why the songs blend together. None of it’s bad, mind you, but it does make it a challenge to tell the songs apart.

Now that I’m paying very close attention to when one track stops and another one starts for the purpose of this review, my favourites include opener Dancing Madly Backwards, Mesmerization Eclipse, and the reprise of Thousand Days of Yesterdays.

Ultimately it’s probably still best to hear it in one 35-minute wallop.

Jörgen Strand: Overrated album. A lot of fillers. Five good tracks out of 13.

Philip Qvist: I had heard of Captain Beyond but I didn’t have a clue who they were and the type of music they played. It certainly didn’t help that the band was constantly fighting legal battles with former bands, themselves and even the record company – with Rod Evans jumping ship and rejoining the band more times than people had hot dinners at the time.

Still, despite that they managed to create a cohesive album with three suites, which doesn’t sound bad at all. For a band that consisted of former Deep Purple and Iron Butterfly band members it is still difficult to pin down the actual sound of Captain Beyond – except to say it was a rock album with many influences.

I would say the record starts off well, but by the end I was glad that it only lasted 35 minutes as my attention was beginning to drift. A good album but not an essential one for my collection – a 6.5 from me.

Paul Capener: It’s a classic.

John Davidson: Really interesting. This wasn’t part of the conversation when I started buying LPs in 1976/77 but it really should have been. The only reason why not, I guess, is because music tastes shifted so fast back then that a pysch blues rock album from 1972 might have been written off as too dated.

The guitar work is definitely the main draw, but the bass/drums drive the songs along. The vocals don’t do much for me on the other hand – sounding almost Southern Rock in their stylings whereas the rest of the band sound like they would be at home playing Black Sabbath songs.

A good pick.

Kimball G. Orwoll: Love this album. I play it fairly often.

Eric Glover: Great album. The 3D album sleeve on the original release of the album was really awesome too.

Dale Munday: A really good move by Rod Evans to make his post-Deep Purple band sound nothing like them. Unlike Nick Simper’s Warhorse, who, to me, sound like a pale imitation of Deep Purple.

This is a very self-assured, ambitious release. As many have said, it’s a shame that they flew under the radar. Their next and final release with Rod Evans is completely different to this one but just as good.

Gus Schultz: This is one of my favourite LPs from that time period and probably the last in this style of rock as their next album would prove to be. The songs all seem to be interconnected going from high-energy rock to more mellow and melodic pieces and back again. It is an album that is well suited to digital format so as to listen to it seamlessly in its entirety, although I do appreciate listening to it on vinyl too.

The drumming and guitar work is amazing as is the ever-changing time signatures, but unfortunately – as with most supergroups – they came in guns ablazing and out just as quickly. Their next release was very good as well in a Santana sort of sound, but with a different drummer it didn’t have the bite of the first and then they just disintegrated only to reform in later periods with various artists. This is a must-have for anyone who appreciates this particular period in rock music for their collection.

Final score: 7.91 (48 votes cast, total score 380)

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