I love Beefheart/The Magic Band but haven't listened to this as a whole album for a long time, I must admit. It's hard to get to grips with. It helped me when I stopped expecting everything to gel and focused on what one guitar is doing at a time (I believe it's mixed with one panned left and one panned right, which helps). Also, it has to be said that some of the tracks are much more accessible than others - I think one way to approach the album would be to start by listening to say Ella Guru, Moonlight on Vermont and Veteran's Day Poppy, then throw in maybe Steal Softly thru Snow, Sugar n Spikes, China Pig, Orange Claw Hammer, building up to Frownland etc. once you've got a bit more of a handle on the basic approach. I seem to remember listening to the instrumental tracks for much of the album at one time and thinking they were often somewhat more accessible than the finished versions with vocals.

For anybody wanting to get into Beefheart in general (and fans of course) I can't speak too highly of the reformed, John French-fronted version of the band that was active from 2004-2015 or so. It shouldn't have worked but it really, really did. Fantastic live (check out the Magnetic Draw DVD), always did a few Trout Mask tracks.