Animal Notes: Safety in Numbers

Crack the Sky | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 29, 2000)
• Original Release Date: February 15, 2000
• Label: Lifesong
• ASIN: B00004OCFH
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #171,192 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. We Want Mine

2. Animal Skins

3. Wet Teenager

4. Maybe I Can Fool Everybody (Tonight)

5. Rangers at Midnight

6. Virgin...No

7. Invaders from Mars

8. Play On

9. Nuclear Apathy

10. Long Nights

11. Flashlight

12. Lighten up McGraw

13. Give Myself to You

14. A Night on the Town (With Snow White)

15. Safety in Numbers

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Two of the Best Albums You Have Probably Never Heard, September 9, 2006

By 

Dan J. Hicks "Science Fiction and Prog Rock M... (Tampa, FL United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Animal Notes: Safety in Numbers (Audio CD)

This CD is actually two albums in one -- "Animal Notes" and "Safety in Numbers", and is one of the best items you will find on eMusic. Download quickly or you may lose your chance.

Animal notes, the first eight songs on this double package is worth the price of admission, but I am going to focus on the final seven songs, which make up almost all of the original Safety in Numbers. More on the "almost all" in just a moment.

Safety in Numbers is CTS's finest album, and one of the best albums most people have never heard. If there were any justice in the world, these guys and Porcupine tree would be two of the most popular bands of all time, but we all know musical justice is in short supply.

I first encountered Safety in Numbers in the late 70s. A cousin had it playing on his 8-track player. After a couple of listens I had to have the album. I bought it in Vinyl; the record was scratched, so I took it back for a refund, as it was the store's only copy. I could not find another copy of the record. Fortunately I had kept a back-up on tape (with the scratch) and it became one of my favorite albums. Finally, I was able to buy this double CD a few years ago. and I had to get it as an import for about $18 or $19. I was happy to pay it.

You can hear some Beatles influence in Safety in Numbers -- particularly in "Flashlight" in the mellow interlude in about the middle of the song. This little snippet is so luscious, it could have been expanded into its own song, and it would have been a great one.

The two best tracks on Safety in Numbers may be the first and last, "Nuclear Apathy" -- the partly mellow, part hard / Prog symphony of a song that begins the album -- and the title track, a very well-produced, all stops pulled out social commentary track that I just can't get tired of. In between these masterpieces, are several more songs, each varied and able to stand on its own. Probably the most different from the rest is "A night on the Town (with Snow White)", which I might call progressive doo-wop with amazing, ironic, even humorous lyrics. Don't let my label turn you off of that song. It is a gem, and worth coming back to again and again and sharing with friends.

My one complaint is that the people who put this together did not include a short little track called (I believe) "Prelude to Safety in Numbers" , a strange and short little preview of "safety in Numbers"; this odd little piece was originally at the end of side 1 of the vinyl release. Oh well.

This is a wonderful package and worth buying and keeping and going back to again and again.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars yessss, June 21, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Animal Notes: Safety in Numbers (Audio CD)

One of my favourite alltime bands! Finally, the greatest album in CD format. I have the vinyl from 20 years ago...should have replaced it 15 years ago, but couldn't find it. Get the kids to listen to this, I bet they won't go back to the one-chord wonders of today.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars It's about time!!!, October 30, 2001

By 

marty werkheiser (Philadelphia, PA, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Animal Notes: Safety in Numbers (Audio CD)

Finally, we get a taste of the band I got hooked on nearly 20 years in a smokey dorm room at a small, Pennsylvania, Liberal Arts college. The hard-hitting "Safety in Numbers" album that taught us what head-banging really means (while ducking flying matchbooks) now available on CD. After all those years of desparate searching to find a good plastic copy, finding one of my favorite albums digitally remastered is a dream come true. Just thinking of "nuclear apathy" gives this writer some welcome flashbacks!! While not as numbing, "Animal Notes" is a nice contrast in witty humor, driven by John P. Maybe it was the conditions in that dorm room that night, but nothing has quite measured up to the "Safety in Numbers" album and probably never will.