I love this album. It is right up there with Trout Mask Replica, Safe as Milk, Strictly Personal. And of course, this is the original album (four songs), plus! If you are a Beefheart fan, you must have this.

Captain Beefheart's blues on the Mirror Man Sessions is so relishable. I'm surprised how just by playing the blues in a seemingly straightforward type of way, they are breaking new ground -- white blues players -- which many were incorporating into their music in the late 60s early 70s. Janis Joplin's (the white blues-mamma) music has songs that are straightforward blues, as do the Allman Bros. Even Led Zeppelin. They all made the blues work for them. It has to work because the blues are the root, and for anyone to really be considered a great rock star, he/she must have some experience and familiarity with the blues. Listening to Captain Beefheart, one can hear an old black blues singer inside his being. It's like he was a black blues singer in his previous life and came back and took up where he left off. I tried buying the Trout Mask Replica in '88 and didn't care for it. Hey, I was younger and not so hip to this kind of music so I sold it back to the record store for an exchange. And it was on VINYL too! I think i got it for around 5.99. Nowdays a brand new copy of Trout Mask Replica must go for around 18.99 -- what CDs originally cost when they first came out. Someday all of this pricing will balance each other out as people who release music will realize that fans no longer are only about CDs anymore. I have LPs, CDs and cassettes in great condition and continue to buy and listen to all of them. But, for me, Trout Mask Needs to be purchased vinyl because of the cover art work.

fyi, a company in new york, sundazed, worked with john french (the drummer) and released "it comes to you in a plain brown wrapper."

I love this album, but I wish someone wold combine this and the safe as milk bonus tracks to make "It Comes to You in a Plain Brown Wrapper." (and contrary to popular belief, "Lick My Decals Off, Baby" is 10 times better than Trout Mask Replica)

This is great, but in order to understand the Captain's influence on music ITunes has to get Trout Mask Replica! Its his masterpiece!