Bat Chain Puller
Bat Chain Puller is the 13th studio album (and first official posthumous album) by Captain Beefheart, released on February 22, 2012. It was recorded in 1976 by DiscReet Records, who had intended to release it with Virgin Records as Captain Beefheart's tenth studio album. It was co-produced by Beefheart and Kerry McNab.
| Bat Chain Puller | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | February 22, 2012 | |||
| Recorded | March 1976 | |||
| Length | 41:12 | |||
| Label | VAULTernative Records (a boutique label run by the Zappa Family Trust) | |||
| Producer | Don Van Vliet Kerry McNab | |||
| Captain Beefheart chronology | ||||
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| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Pitchfork | (8.2/10) |
The album was a subject of friction between DiscReet cofounders Herb Cohen and Frank Zappa. Cohen had used Zappa's royalty checks to fund the album's production, and this led Zappa to withhold the master tapes from Virgin. Beefheart recorded a new album for Warner Bros., Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller), with no involvement from Cohen or Zappa.
Following a lawsuit which was settled in 1982, the album remained unreleased until 2012, after Zappa's family had announced in 2011 that they would release the original Bat Chain Puller in its intended form.