For those unaware, after playing guitar, lap steel and vocals with the legendary Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band, appearing on the ground breaking album Trout Mask Replica (under the pseudonym Antennae Jimmy Semens), as well as playing on Strictly Personal & Mirror Man, Jeff Cotton withdrew from the commercial music business for nearly 50 years.

Using the island state of Hawaii as a home base, he emerges from his seclusion in 2022 with his first ever solo album, The Fantasy of Reality.

Whimsical, playful and tongue-in-cheek, Cotton delivers a psychedelic journey that will delight Beefheart devotees while bringing plenty of new ideas to the table across the sprawling 22 track, 66 minute runtime.

Trout Mask Replica cover designer Cal Schenkel collaborates once again as he returns to contribute to the internal artwork of the album to continue the Captain Beefheart canon into the 2020s.

1. Does It Work For You
2. It Never Ceases To Blow My Mind
3. Ivy
4. Green Bamboo
5. He Made The Eagle
6. Elvirus
7. This Gentle Earth
8. All Things New
9. Crusin’ Hamakua
10. Together We Sail
11. The Space Between Us All
12. On The Thread
13. Aloha
14. The Liberation Song
15. The Breeze Of Oblivion
16. Heavy
17. The Season Of The Awakening
18. Mother Earth Needs Healing
19. Together
20. Hear The Word
21. It Would Take An Angel
22. Clean In Nature’s Stream

The album opens on the jangly, stuttered guitar rock and spoken word of Does It Work For You, the free flowing It Never Ceases To Blow My Mind and the short, but sweet instrumental piece Ivy and then it moves seamlessly into the upbeat, and joyously melodic Green Bamboo, the forthright psych rock of He Made The Eagle, the down south-imbibed, acoustic blues of Elvirus, before we are given the harmonious AOPR of This Gentle Earth, the laid low tones of All Things New, the harmonica-driven beauty Crusin’ Hamakua and both the aching, buzzy rock of Together We Sail and the languishing The Space Between Us All.

Next up is the funky guitar instrumental On The Thread and the front stoop, Hawaiian blues of Aloha which are in turn backed by the harmonious, mid-tempo AOR of The Liberation Song, the gently shimmering psych glow of The Breeze Of Oblivion, the old time blues, complete with an scratchy vinyl ambiance of Heavy, the countrified storytelling within The Season Of The Awakening, and then comes one of my own personal favorites from this new collection, the drum-led AOR of Mother Earth Needs Healing, before the album rounds out on the uproarious acute Together, the gorgeous, and richly-melodic Hear The Word, the rhythmic guitar work within It Would Take An Angel, coming to a righteous close on the pop guitar rock of Clean In Nature’s Stream.

Across the decades, the Magic Band’s power and influence has only grown in might, and the cult following of 1969’s Trout Mask Replica still excites fans to this day, in part due to the mystery and enigma of members such as Antennae Jimmy Semens (aka Jeff Cotton).

In 1967, Cotton was scoped by Don Van Vliet - Captain Beefheart himself, replacing Ry Cooder on guitar. He then went one to help craft some of Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band’s most vibrant recordings and later contributed to the cult band MU.

Now blending together musical strands such as jazz, delta blues, Hawaiian and the avant-garde to create a melting pot of ideas, Cotton will astonish fans with his comeback.

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