| Doc at the Radar Station | |
| Type: | studio |
| Artist: | Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band |
| Cover: | CaptBeefheartDocRadar250px.jpg |
| Released: | August 1980 |
| Recorded: | June 1980 |
| Studio: | Sound Castle Recording Studios, Los Angeles |
| Length: | 38:52 |
| Label: | Virgin |
| Producer: | Don Van Vliet |
| Prev Title: | Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller) |
| Prev Year: | 1978 |
| Next Title: | Ice Cream for Crow |
| Next Year: | 1982 |
Doc at the Radar Station is the eleventh studio album by American band Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band, released in August 1980 by Virgin Records.
The album cover was painted by Don Van Vliet. It was placed at number forty-nine on Rolling Stones 100 Greatest Album Covers.
Although about half of the album's songs are based on old musical ideas, Mike Barnes states that "most of the revamping work built on skeletal ideas and fragments ... would have mouldered away in the vaults had they not been exhumed and transformed into full-blown, totally convincing new material".[1] The tracks "A Carrot is as Close as a Rabbit Gets to a Diamond", "Flavor Bud Living" and "Brickbats" were originally intended and recorded for the unreleased album Bat Chain Puller.
John French (the original drummer in the Magic Band) rejoined Beefheart for this album. He played guitar on all songs, plus bass ("Sheriff of Hong Kong"), drums ("Ashtray Heart" and "Sheriff of Hong Kong"), and marimba ("Making Love to a Vampire with a Monkey on My Knee"). He also sings the second vocal on "Dirty Blue Gene".
In 2011, 4 Men with Beards released a 180-gram version of the album, distributed by City Hall Records.