Genre: progressive
Rating: **** (4 stars)
Title: Safe As Milk
Company: Buddah
Catalog: BDM-1001 (mono)
Year: 1967
Country: Glendale, California
Grade (cover/record): VG / VG
Comments: minor ring and edge wear
Available: 1
GEMM catalog ID: not yet listed
Price: $75.00
Cost: $50.00
I'll admit to having a soft spot for oddball acts (just check out my collection of 35,000 LPs). That said, Captain Beefheart (aka Don Van Vliet) is in a league of his own. Over some three decades he's been labeled everything from a groundbreaking musical innovator, to a full fledged kook. As with most things in life, the truth is probably somewhere out there in the middle ground.
Although Beefheart''s accumulated a substantial recording catalog touching on everything from free-form poetry to bizarre combinations of musical genres, Beefheart's never enjoyed anything remotely approaching commercial success, but with the music community he's widely admired and he has one of the most rabid cult followings of any act we know.
Van Vliet's personal life is as interesting as his musical career. Born and raised in Southern California (Glendale), by the time he was four his artwork had won him acclaim as a child prodigy. By the time he was in his teens he'd been offered a European art scholarship which his family politely elected to decline, instead relocating to the Mojave Desert where Van Vliet became friendly with fellow teen Frank Zappa.
Without much to do in the Mojave, Van Vliet picked up saxophone and harmonica, joining a pair of local R&B bands - The Omens and The Blackouts. By the early 1960s he'd formally changed his name to 'Van Vliet' (his given surname was Vliet) and begun using the 'Captain Beefheart' moniker. He'd also recruited his first Magic Band, consisting of drummer Paul Blakely, guitar players Doug Moon and Alex St. Clair, bassist Jerry Handley. Quickly becoming staples on the dance and club scene, Beefheart and the Magic Band attracted the attention of A&M Records, which signed them to a contract, releasing the single "Diddy Wah Diddy" b/w "Who Do You Think You're Fooling" (A&M catalog number 794). With the single becoming a minor radio hit, A&M agreed to finance a supporting album. Unfortunately, after hearing the resulting tapes (particularly the song "Electricity"), A&M executives shelved the project. Moon and Blakely dropped out of the band, with Beefheart eventually replacing them with Jeff Cotton (aka Antennae Jimmy Semens) , Ry Cooder and drummer John "Drumbo" French.
Dropped by A&M, 1967 found Beefheart signed by the more adventuresome Buddah Records. His first move was to recut much of the material previously shelved by A&M. Produced by Bob Krasnow (with Richard Perry brought aboard midway through the sessions), 1967's "Safe As Milk" is as close as Beefheart's ever come to making a conventional pop album. While nothing on the album actually qualifies as pop, most of the efforts exhibited recognizable song structures and melodies. Propelled by Beefheart's ominous sandpaper vocals and typically weird lyrics and Cooder's imaginative arrangements and stinging slide guitar, compositions such as the leadoff rocker "Sure 'Nuff 'N Yes I Do", "Zig Zag Wanderer" and "Plastic Factory" displayed a kinked blues-rock flavor. "I'm Glad" offered up a surprisingly effective slice of 1960s soul. "Dropout Boogie" recalled a demented Kinks rocker, while the jangle guitar rocker "Call On Me" even sounded a bit like The Byrds had Roger McGuinn decided to record while suffering from a major psychotic episode. Elsewhere, in case anyone doubted Beefheart's credentials as a resident eccentric, they needed only check out tracks such as the legendary theramin-enhanced, meltdown rocker "Electricity", "Abba Zaba", or "Autumn's Child". Hard as it may be to believe, Buddah actually pulled a single from the LP - what was probably the most accessible effort, "Yellow Brick Road" b/w "Abba Zaba" (Buddah catalog number BDA 9). (The album was originally released with a promotional "Safe As Milk" bumper sticker insert.)
Today it may all sound rather tame (and quite commercial), but back in 1967 this was truly groundbreaking !!! Well worth adding to your collection !!!
"Safe As Milk" track listing:
(side
1)
1.) Sure 'Nuff 'N Yes I Do (Don Van Vliet - Herb
Bermann) - 2:15
2.) Zig Zag Wanderer (Don Van Vliet - Herb Bermann) - 2:40
3.) Call On Me (Don Van Vliet) - 2:37
4.) Dropout Boogie (Don Van Vliet - Herb Bermann)- 2:32
5.) I'm Glad (Don Van Vliet) - 3:31
6.) Electricity (Don Van Vliet - Herb Bermann) - 3:07
(side 2)
1.) Yellow Brick Road (Don Van Vliet - Herb Bermann) - 2:28
2.) Abba Zaba (Don Van Vliet) - 2:44
3.) Plastic Factory (Don Van Vliet - Herb Bermann - Jerry Handley) - 3:00
4.) Where There's Woman (Don Van Vliet - Herb Bermann)2:05
5.) Grow So Ugly (Robert Williams) - 2:27
6.) Autumn's Child (Don Van Vliet - Herb Bermann) - 4:02
