Safe as Milk [ORIGINAL RECORDING REISSUED] [ORIGINAL RECORDING REMASTERED]

Captain Beefheart

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 1, 1999)
• Original Release Date: 1967
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered
• Label: Buddha
• ASIN: B00000J7A2
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (50 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #4,700 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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  #17 in	Music > Alternative Rock > Hardcore & Punk > Proto Punk
  #45 in	Music > Alternative Rock > Alternative Styles > Rock > Experimental Rock

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com essential recording
"I may be hungry, but I sure ain't weird," Don Van Vliet, a.k.a. Captain Beefheart, famously intones on this bright-sounding remastered version of the 1967 debut by Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band. Safe as Milk is a bold, tough-ass distillation of Delta blues stomp and '60s garage-punk swagger, fused with a radically polyrhythmic and tempo-shifting style that one might term "art rock." Listening to the delightfully playful, absurdist "Abba Zabba," it's easy to see why Lester Bangs called Beefheart "the only true dadaist in rock"; the song is a good indication of the intricate, rule-breaking music the Magic Band would continue to hone. But there are also formidable ballads (the psychedelic "Autumn's Child," the lachrymose "I'm Glad"), midtempo pop-soul tunes (the Otis Redding-ish "Call on Me"), and straight-ahead blues-rock workouts ("Plastic Factory"), all of which showcase the fretwork of a young Ry Cooder. Much has been made of Beefheart's multiple-octave vocal range; he sings menacingly on "Dropout Boogie" and allegedly broke a very expensive microphone on the eerie "Electricity." The last seven tracks on this reissue (for the most part fascinating, unfinished instrumentals) were recorded with a different lineup; they are outtakes from Mirror Man Sessions. --Mike McGonigal

Product Description
Digitally remastered reissue of this 1967 release, one of Rock's 'greatest albums of all time'! This really is an album that no collection is complete without! With A&M junior popmeister Richard Perry, jack of all trades Ry Cooder and songwriting genius Russ Titelman, The Captain makes his first real shot at being legendary...and succeeds! Beautifully re-mastered and wonderful liner notes by Kris Needs with comments from the stars of today! 19 tracks. Rev-Ola. 2009. --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

37 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beefheart's mad cow disease, December 22, 2003

By	Karen Anderson (USA) - See all my reviews

My maiden voyage with Captain Beefheart begins with "Safe as Milk," and now that my mind has been completely blown, I still can't believe I had never heard this album before now. Where have you been all my life?!!

While pondering the notion of safe milk (Is it really safe?), I am first lured into the opening blues romp, "Sure "Nuff 'N Yes I Do," thinking to myself, yes, this is roots. And just when I'm feeling it's safe to go into the water, "Zig Zag Wanderer" blasts through the ethers better than any psychedelic garage artifact on that Nuggets box set. "Call on Me" is '60s-soul style Otis Redding with tinges of jangly guitar riffs, but what follows is pure "spit in your face" rock anarchy with "Dropout Boogie," keeping in mind that this stuff was recorded in 1967 years ahead of Marilyn Manson. And wud about after dat? Well, a Smokey Robinson "Ooh Baby, Baby" kind of reverie titled "I'm Glad," with soulful harmonies that are safe as, well, milk, well maybe. But beware, next stop, the incredible "Electricity," an amazing extraterrestrial voyage where Black Sabbath meets Lindsey Buckingham meets Salvador Dali on acid. This track bends my mind as stretchy as a salt-water taffy pull at a sci-fi convention, ending with what can only be described as an unidentified flying object departing terra firma into the universe beyond. And just as I'm feeling like I haven't quite touched down yet myself, along comes a comforting re-entry reference point, further cementing the notion that the Magic Band are definitely walk-ins from another planet: "The following tone is a reference tone recorded at our operating level." This reference tone lands me right smack dab on the Yellow Brick Road humming a jug-band-Dead-like ditty commensurate with my operating level. Then the time-traveling Captain throws me right into the heart of West Africa with the Koto Soto-style "Abba Zaba." An amazing, amazing track certainly influenced by Ry Cooder. Then the captain steers my ship of fools to the high point of the album, "Plastic Factory," a rolling roadhouse blues number with mojo harp playing that would make Lucinda moan. (And by the way, what's that he just said? Buffalo boner showin'? I could have sworn that's what he said.) Then we come to "Where There's Woman," a bleeding blues ballad that brings to mind Janis Joplin's "Women is Losers" sung by Tom Waits or Leon Russell. Next is a Muddy Waters kind of thing "Grown So Ugly," that segues into territory nothing short of the template that Led Zeppelin copped for years to follow. This amazing album ends with "Autumn's Child," another template for the progressive rock genre and years ahead of its time. Is he messing with my head here, or what? NO, this is not safe as milk just as I had suspected.

Well, the bonus tracks, aside from track #13, don't add much to the perfection of the original release. So really, listen to those once through, and only once. Because the original itinerary of this Captain's fantastic voyage is "the experience" itself of 12 mindblowing, revolutionary rock 'n roll classics. USDA-approved Beefheart, not for the faint of heart.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Big improvement over past releases of this album, June 17, 1999

By	Todd Wallop "Todd Wallop" (Sherman Oaks, CA United States) - See all my reviews

I've always loved this record and MAN does it sound fantastic on this reissue. The evil blues growl of Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band must've been *daunting* listening back in 1967, but in in the eclectic musical climate of 1999 it sounds, well, "contemporary." Isn't it about time that the good Captain got his due? Well thanks to this, the upcoming "Grow Fins" box set and Rhino's "best of" just around the bend, finally Van Vliet's music will be heard by more than just a few music afficiandos with very fine taste. Kudos to John Platt for this FINE and long overdue rehauling of "Safe as Milk." Trust ME, it's great!!!!! OH, I forgot to mention that between this and the reissued "Mirror Man" you get all the "lost" tracks from the MM session. Get 'em both,people, get 'em both!

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My favorite Beefheart, October 31, 2002

By	Pharoah S. Wail (Inner Space) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

I have never heard Lick My Decals Off Baby, but of the Beefheart I have heard, this is my very favorite album. Trout Mask Replica continues to get all the press but there is quite a bit of stuff on Trout that I don't like. The stuff on Trout that I love, I totally love, but overall I feel the remastered and bonus-tracked Safe As Milk is a much better disc as a whole.

The moods are varied and interesting. Electricity is proto-punk that could easily double as the soundtrack to a Western. Plastic Factory has always made me think of Pigpen of the Grateful Dead doing Big Boss Man, except I like it. The Captain has a much better vocal delivery and is a far superior harmonica player to Pigpen. Plus Plastic Factory is just an infinitely better song. Zig Zag Wanderer has a thick, heavy bassline and great bass tone all around. Trust Us could segue perfectly into Black Sabbath's Iron Man and blow the roof off of any concert venue.

Beefheart and The Magic Band just had a way with rhythm and melody that knocks me out. A couple times during this cd there are quiet guitar riffs that always make Vietnam-type scenes flash through my head.... as if we're listening to the unused soundtrack for a Vietnam battle movie.

Actually there are good things I could say about almost every track on this cd but rather than do that, I'll just say that I will never understand why Safe As Milk isn't widely hailed as one of the all-time great rock albums.