Beefheart stuff at an artsy price

Finally, something for the Beefheart buff with money to burn....

Captain Beefheart, of course, is the rock visionary whose idiosyncratic music made him a hugely influential cult hero in the 1970s. But it was only after he quit music in 1982 after years of commercial frustration and began his career as a serious painter that he finally started to reap some rewards for his distinctive artistry.

Returning to his actual name, Don Van Vliet (it was originally just Vliet, but he added a “Van” at some point), he eventually established himself as a bankable artist. Unsuspecting fans of his music might be in for a shock when they get a taste of the art-world-like price structure that applies to this package, which is centered on Beefheart’s nonmusical side but is released by a new imprint of the Rhino Records label. List price: $500.

The numbered series of 1,500 copies is on the Artist Ink label, a wing of Rhino’s collector-centric Handmade division that’s designed to spotlight artists who have moved from music into visual media. It’s available only through the Internet, at www.rhinohandmade.com.

For your $500, you get a box that’s meticulously bound like an old-fashioned cloth book, an object with the feel of a portable shrine. Its recesses and compartments contain five objects: a DVD of “Some Yo-Yo Stuff,” photographer Anton Corbijn’s enigmatic, 15-minute 1993 film documentary on Van Vliet; a CD of spoken fragments by the artist; a signed self-portrait lithograph; and two books, one reproducing 60 of his paintings and drawings, the other collecting detritus from Van Vliet’s picaresque passage -- written notes, sketches, lyrics, newspaper clippings (“Three Boys Win Prizes in Clay Modeling Contest”).

Beefheart fans can be obsessive, but “Riding,” with its high price and absence of music, will really put their passion to the test. But maybe they’ll pony up, writing it off as a deferred payment for those years of neglect.

-- Richard Cromelin