Safe As Milk

I adore this record. Like most Beefheart fans, I started with some of his most radical records and branched out from there. And don't get me wrong -- I love Trout Mask and Lick My Decals. But Safe As Milk might be my favorite of his. It's still extremely weird, but it choogles in a way his other records never really do (other than, maybe, the records that emerged from the Brown Paper sessions). I live for the blues and sometimes "blues rock" can be quite repellent, but Beefheart does it better than pretty much anyone.

wonderful blend of blues, soul, a little doo-wop, rock, and some psychedelia fuming in and out. Does go on a bit too long but a lot of fun.

Whoa. I hate I'm just now discovering Captain Beefheart - I can imagine a teenage version of myself getting his weed-addled mind blown by this record. A phenomenal listen. The weaving in and out of musical lanes, the absurdity, the organized chaos of it all...it's an album that's greater than the sum of its parts.

4.1 - fucking loved it - van Morrison meets Jim Morrison meets frank zapa?

Surprisingly this album wasn't that bad. I tried listening to his later LPs and could never maintain my focus on them. Electricity stands out.

utterly brilliant debut album. I don't have much Beefheart in my collection, but I play this one often.

Years ago a random hippy once told me he liked his music "acid laced and r&b based" - that is the best description of what we are hearing here that I can come up with. 1967 was a wild year culturally and musically in America and this album was overlooked at the time. But it stands up better than most as legitimately interesting and well rounded in terms of good songs well executed. Recording budget low enough to give this a raw underground garage band sound that engineers spend tons to reproduce now. But young Ry Cooder's guitar gives this a depth that most garage bands lack. I put Beefheart on the back burner of my teenage musical exploration because I was introduced through the advanced/challenging Trout Mask Replica. Like being dropped onto the summit - you need the climb to fully appreciate the view. Then over the years I was confronted by his music through other weirdo musicians like Pere Ubu, Snakefinger and Zappa, and I liked what I heard very much and began circling back. I heard someone once asked him why Beefheart and he said "because I've got a beef in my heart." The world is short on uncompromising artists like the Captain and they should be celebrated and encouraged at every occasion. Now inhale the inspiration and go commit wondrous deeds.

🥛🥛🥛

Safe as Milk I had this on CD, I seem to remember it having the residue of the yellow exclamation sticker on the case, so I’m pretty familiar with it. It's much more straightforward than Trout Mask Replica, and while I think it does miss some of the deliberate and textured difficulty of that album, as an overall listening experience it's clearly far more pleasurable, aided by Ry Cooder’s excellent playing. Some of the absurdism and wilfulness does persist though, sitting nicely alongside his obviously sincere love for the delta blues and a great ear for an earworm melody, and wrapped up in a late 60s counterculture feel. The opening side is great, the stomping Sure ‘Nuff n’n Yes, I Do and Zig Zag Wanderer kick things off in a brilliantly frenetic way, Call on Me is powered by some excellent bass, as is the slightly unsettling Dropout Boogie. I’m Glad is a nice turn into soul/doo wop, with an earenest directness that I really like, and Electricity superb, an excellent, catchy bit of bluesy oddness. Yellow Brick Road is such a sweet melody, a little bit Doobie Brothers in its easy countrified vibe. Abba Zaba I love for its idiosyncracy, another odd and catchy little gem. Although I like Plastic Factory and Where There’s a Woman they feel a little like diminishing returns compared to side 1, but I really like Grown So Ugly, the organ and drama making it a real highlight, as is the overwrought and theremin assisted Autumn's Child. I think this settles as a solid 4, it's full of great moments and strange, brilliant catchiness, but it does dip a little in the 2nd half. 🍼 🍼 🍼 🍼 Playlist submission: Abba Zaba

2.5

I thought it was going to be weirder than it was, given the reputation of Trout Mask Replica--which I know I will be getting at some point. But here is isn't totally out of his mind. It felt like he's got one foot in traditional 60's music--white guys playing the blues, psychedelia, americana -- and one foot in whatever atonal music he would make later. I liked the first couple songs the best.

Top album, blues with an attitude

1. 4.5 2. 5 3. 3.5 4. 3.5 5. 4.5 6. 4 1. 4 2. 4.5 3. 3.5 4. 4.5 5. 4 6. 4

This was ok for the first few songs. An hour and 10 minutes later, it don’t hold the same opinion.

#259 This is like a better version of The Mothers Of Invention. "Out there" in a Frank Zappa kind of way, but reeled in by blues influences. There a few songs I like, but a lot that really turned me off. Biggest Hit - I'm Glad Biggest Miss - Autumns Child Hidden Gem - Grown So Ugly

Wonders around aimlessly but goes nowhere.

Why is it that this white-dudes-in-the-sixties-play-skuzzy-blues-rock so infinitely cooler than all other white-dudes-in-the-sixties-play-skuzzy-blues-rock on this list? I think maybe you just have to be a bit insane to make something truly special.

How is it that at album #1006, this is the first of two Captain Beefheart albums I've gotten in my queue? Perhaps more importantly, *why* are there two of the erstwhile captain's albums here? From all accounts, this album didn't really chart all that well, even in the UK (and even with John Peel promoting it), and both the Wikipedia and "1001 Albums" entries suggest that the other album in the collection, "Trout Mask Replica", is the real winner here, at least for those who enjoy Captain Beefheart and his ever-changing Magic Band's stylings. So sight unseen, I'm banking on their other album redeeming their place in this project, because this was a quite underwhelming Frank Zappa impersonation experience (except for the classic "Electricity", which single-handedly rescued this from one-star territory).

I enjoyed this. Irreverent, bluesy weirdness. Sure, why not?

Bluesy, sort of psychedelic, but it manages to sound like its own thing among the styles, decent fun

Favorite Song: Yellow Brick Road Least Favorite: Dropout Boogie

Not really for me

So, I listen to the the "History of Rock Music in 500 Songs" podcast, and he just covered "Frownland" by Captain Beefheart and "Peaches en Regalia" by Frank Zappa. A lot of the discussion was about how the worked together and played with each other. A lot of the music was really weird, so that is what I expected of this, but it wasn't. It was just weird. Some was ok.

I really like the song “im glad” the rest is fine… but I won’t ever re listen

While I had heard of the name Captain Beefheart, I had no idea who it was or what type of music. From what I read, he collaborated with Frank Zappa and that makes perfect sense after listening to this album. Experimental? but not something I'm very interested in.

A couple of stars for variety, and the one song on the album I liked, but the rest was too much ugly sing for me.

Weird in all the right ways

Just so weird, and I don’t mean in an endearing way.

Nooit eerder van gehoord, maar ben positief verrast. Vond het erg leuk om naar te luisteren

That was a wild and unpredictable ride. Overall I really liked it. One of the better ones, so far.

Fun, but not my favorite

I did bop my head a few times but for the most part felt it was unpleasant.

*1967. *So much better than the other album by these guys. *Starts out great - sort of an Allman Brothers vibe, bluesy and folky rock. *70 minutes is apparently too long to stay on track, so it gets to be a bit all over the place, but you can tell these guys are talents, even if their music isn't always the most satisfying. RATING - 6.5/10

Started out decent.. then got worse..

Well that was interesting.

Some grooves then like what happened near the end there? Experimental stuff can stay on the living room Captain, doesn’t really add anything to the kupspa

2.5 / 5 stars for Captain Beefheart. Sounds like Captain Caveman singing with Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem, but the guitar work is good. At times it sounds like Wolfman Jack stopped being a DJ and picked up the mic to sing with a random blues band. I actually like the music a lot on this album, but I can’t get over Mr. Beefheart’s (I assume?) singing. Completely unrelated, or maybe related, I really liked Abba Zabba’s (the candy bar) back in the day. The song? Not so much.

Fun. Beefheart was kinda listenable for a minute there I guess. Fave Tracks: Zig Zag Wanderer, I'm Glad, Electricity 3.9/5

Favorite Track: I'm Glad

Ho hum

This was bad. Just terrible.

Spännande att lyssna på Captain Beefheart när man har hört så mycket om honom

The guitar was great, but the vocals were rough.

favs: zig zag wanderer i’m glad grown so ugly rating 1.3/5

скукатища на час и более в ситигриле бы зашло, отдельно от атмосферы америки с ее бургерами вообще не слушается 2.0

Maybe the most accessible Beefheart album.

I really liked "Trout Mask Replica" in all its weirdness, but this is even better. Experimental, yet straight rocking and bluesy. Gets better with every run. One of my favorite discoveries in this project so far.

Just okay

Well, about anything goes in 1967. It’s a time of hippies, free love, sex, drugs, and questioning authority. I remember Captain Beefheart being too weird for me in the seventies. Better now than when it dropped. The threefer of Electricity, Yellow Brick Road, and Abba Zaba sum it up nicely. (2.67*s) It’s still quite weird, but I now have a wider tolerance…

Been wanting to hear this group forever. With the name and underground cultish following, I figured they might end up on the list. Captain Beefheart & his Magic Band sound like Space Ghost and Zorak on a bluesy trip. The album is pretty fun. Got some range, weirdness, and Cooder to boot. Safe as Milk didn't sour and I dug the whole thing as it Zig Zag Wandered. 3.3 stars for bringing it, whatever it is.

I'd heard passing references to Captain Beefheart in my youth but never knew what it was a reference to. Some old pulp comic book character, a defunct cartoon, no idea. Didn't realize Captain Beefheart was an actual persona and he fronted a rock band that originated in the late 60's. Pretty interesting to read a bit about his collaborations with Frank Zappa and other artists that have popped up on this list. The more you know I guess. Safe As Milk was pretty good. Some 60's blues rock with a little bit of jangle and weirdness. A lot of quick hit songs that have their own hook while swaying outside the lines now and then. Beefheart's growly vocals carry a lot of the weight and character that turn these from ordinary blues rock songs to something a little more. They throw a couple minorly exotic instruments the mix but all of it is still pretty approachable. Not a bad listen coming in under 35 minutes. As the debut album I suspect they were mostly having fun and throwing some stuff at the wall to see what else they were capable of. I suspect they used some of these building blocks and went down some more experimental or weirder paths as their career progressed but, alas I'm pretty much in the dark about Beefheart and the Magic band at this point. All in all I somewhat enjoyed my time with Safe As Milk even if there was nothing special to take from it personally on a long term scale. Is Milk really that safe? Either way, glad the album stayed pretty fresh and didn't age like milk over 60 years. 2.77 stars

hearing trout mask replica before this was a crazy jump they really were just a normal band at first

a fair bit tamer than i would've expected given the reputation of these lads, but far from a dull experience definitely has its fair share of quirks and there are some truly idiosyncratic moments sprinkled in the tracklist, even if a good chunk of the album is mostly (at least instrumentally) just blues rock stuff the vocal performances are what really make the album what it is. who knew the big bad wolf and a flu-ridden squidward would make for such a good vocal pairing? goofy, but a very appealing flavour of goof favourite songs: plastic factory, electricity, i'm glad least favourite song: abba zaba

Un poco sin más. Interesante a ratos.

Här på debuten är ju Biffhjärta nästan en normal artist, på gott och ont. Mest ont kanske. Han blir åtminstone intressantare och mer egen ett par år senare, men inte nödvändigtvis bättre. Den flippade klassikern Trout mask kom väl 69 eller 70 (?) Håller med Jonas, här tänker man direkt på en något mindre bluestyngd Dr. John. Bäst är "Where there's woman" och soulballaden "I'm glad", nämnda inledningstrippeln är också bra. Men inget når några jättehöjder. Stark tvåa

Oborstat och intensivt. Bra gitarrspel, utfört av Ry Cooder, rytmiskt och ovanligt för sin tid. Spännvidden är brutalt bred. Den cleana croonersoulen i I’m glad kläms in emellan krokodilbräkande i Dropout boogie och Electricity. Är Captain Beefheart träskbluesens Drutten och Gena?

Albumet innehåller några fina stycken 60-talspop som legat i en blues-soulig marinad. Inledande Sure 'Nuff 'n Yes I Do hör dit. Liksom efterföljande Zig Zag Wanderer och soulballaden I’m glad. Men också allt för många tramslåtar (var detta någon slags idiotisk kutym för era? inte första gången vi stöter på fenomenet) som t ex Dropout boogie och Plastic factory. Om bara kaptenen och hans grabbar brukat allvar rätt igenom hade det kunnat bli rätt okej.

Stark trio låtar inleder där Call on me utmärker sig särskilt. Dropout boogie är mindre kul. Den för tankarna till Zappas tramsighet. Men till skillnad från med Zappa kan jag ha överseende med detta när musiken i stort är bra svängig country-soul. När jag tänker efter har de mer släktskap med Dr John. En stark trea.

Trout Mask Replica is the only Beefheart album people need to hear before they die. Cool to learn that a young Ry Cooder played on this. This actually may be more listenable/user-friendly than Trout Mask Replica, but that is still the "essential" Beefheart album. A lot of Captain Beefheart sounds to me like weirdness for the sake of being weird, and this album is no different. I'd give it a 2.5.

I quite likes this I does. Beefheart & melody works us a treat.

An absolute corker of an album, so very deeply rooted in blues. Features Ry Cooder. The start of a three album journey culminating in the great Trout Mask Replica, this album's mutant blues is what the 1960s blues revival ought to have been! One odd touch is Samuel Hoffman on theremin in his last work!

The first couple of songs weren’t completely terrible, but this album grew tiring pretty quickly. Glad it was only 33 minutes long.

No

I liked the blues vibe, but the singer's voice really grated on me most of the album. The one exception is I'm Glad.

Doesn't really do enough to totally separate itself from other experimental psychadelic groups of the time

Eclectic. Fun. A bit out there. Had no idea what I was diving into as I’d never heard of them, but it was a nice surprise. Will likely revisit it.

#455 Trout Mask Replica was far less accessible and perhaps it was unfortunate that it was the first Beefheart album I listened to (via this challenge) whereas this was right up my street from the off, with blues laden guitars. It is quite long and gets increasingly experimental and a bit weird but it was always interesting and enjoyable. I will be coming back to this. Heard before? ❌ Would I revisit? ✅ Listen before you die? ✅ Fave track(s): Yellow Brick Road; Abba Zaba Rating: 8/10 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Safe as Milk, Great as Gravy.

I felt I could here so many genres in this album ones that are on different ends of the spectrum.

Nowhere near as avant-garde as I was expecting. Almost normal sounding. Heard before ❌️ Listened this time ✅️ Revisit 🫳 ★★★☆☆(6/10) Total reviewed : 442 Already owned : 99 Purchased : 25 To buy : 1 Nope : 317

blues interesante

Once again I have been bamboozled by my preexisting prejudices and reluctance to listen to something new... this was actually kinda cool. 3.5

So Troutmask already came up in my feed and I rated it a 2. This album sounded similar in many ways but more structured, organized and groovy. In other words, better than that one and, in this regard, should garner a better score. Not a ringing endorsement, I know. The album is fun in many places. I didn't favorite any song on the original album but did an instrumental (On Tomorrow) found on the reissue CD. 3/5.

Back at it after almost a year. This album should just be happy its here.

love love love

Didn’t start off good, but it ended up okay

didn't enjoy it

There's a certain kind of weird guy that Captain Beefheart is really the best of. Better than Zappa, better than Tom Waits. Sick little freak. Love it. 3.75-4

Det er så wak... Ikke dårligt, men helt sikkert særpræget..

Noget mere tilgængeligt end Trout Mask Replica. Men stadig med eksperimenterende kant. Det er faktisk ret god bluesrock med en sublim vokal.

I found very little to enjoy in this album. It just sounded like a group of musically stunted people having a jam session on instruments they weren't very familiar with. My father-in-law loves this band so I was expecting a lot more from this album, which probably didn't help. I did make it all the way through, so it wasn't at 'The Cramps' level of shittiness.

Started ok, then became weird, but not the kind of weird that’s interesting, more the kind of weird that made me want to turn it off.

There are some amazing tracks here that I often have on rotation like “Sure ‘Nuff’ ‘n’ Yes, I Do”, “I’m Glad”, and “Abba Zaba”. Everything else here is quality but the backend of the album is slightly weaker than the front, and for that reason, I can’t quite bring myself to give a 5.

It kind of went in one ear out the other while listening but I liked it fine Fav track: Electricity

Tää oli aivan mahdoton albumi. Tarkoittaen, etten osannu päättää, onks tää kaksi vai neljä tähteä. Kolme on väärin, tää ei ole niin mid. Tää on joko huono tai hyvä. Tällä kertaa se taitaa taipua kuitenkin huonon puolelle. Koin sellaista vuoristorataa, kulmakarvojen kohottelua ja tahattomia naurahduksia, etten oikein osaa ottaa tätä tosissaan. Enkä tiiä onko tarkoituskaan, musiikinhan kuuluu olla myös hauskaa. Mut jotenkin nyt sitten lopulta tää tuntu työläämmältä kuin olisi ollut tarpeen.

Vaarallinen vegaaneille.

Mun ainoa kokemus Captain Beefheartista on kakkolevy Trout Face Mask, jonka muistan olleen liian avaruusmusaa jopa mun pahimman progevaiheen aikaan. Mut tää ei ollu vielä sitä, tää oli oikeestaan toi lepposta ja helposti vastaanotettavaa musaa! Tykkään myös siitä että levyn nimikkobiisi on bonusbiisi.

En erityisemmin pitänyt tästä albumista 🙂 Jostain syystä palasin vielä uusintakierrokselle ja todettakoon että ekat kolme biisiä on ihan jeppis kampetta ja Yellow Brick Roadista pidin kanssa (ja ihmetellessä tuttuutta selvis et onkin Ihmemaa Oz viittaus kuten Eltonillakin). Mut jotenkin noi pörinät ja rämistelyt ei nyt tähän hätkeen oikeen lähtenny.

Huumorimussiikkia? En oo kuunnellu M.A. Nummista mut se tuli tästä vibasta mieleen. Outo mut pari tarttuvaakin juttua.

The instrumental tracks were okay. The rest...not for me.

I strongly disliked the trout album so had low expectations going into this. Fortunately this albums follows a more trad approach to song making and is much less up its arsehole. Its quite an eclectic mix - majoring on blues/ pyschedelica. I have listened about 4 times now and I have warmed considerably to it. Recording/ mix is very fuzzy - not sure if intentional or just the technology of the time but it gives it an atmosphere. Possibly just scraps a 4.

After 'Trout Mask Replica', I wasn't expecting anything quite this accessible. It's a surprisingly conventional, if scuzzy, take on the blues, incorporating plenty of garage-rock. 'Sure 'Nuff 'n Yes I Do' borrows the 'Rollin' and Tumblin'' riff wholesale; while 'Dropout Boogie' is a rework of 'You Really Got Me'. The influence of British invasion rock (as inspired by the blues) is obvious - not just the Kinks, the Stones, a touch of Cream - but even the Small Faces on 'Call on Me'. As well as 'Surfin' Bird', 'Wooly Bully' came to mind as a template for some of the style and singing. All of these influences make the album highly enjoyable. For all these recognisable influences, it's still pretty out there for 1967, whilst still sounding very much of the 60s. Ultimately, it's a thoroughly enjoyable stepping stone between the bluesy garage rock of the day and Beefheart's subsequent adventures in the avant-garde, with a hell of a lot packed into 33 minutes.

A bit weird, but okay kind of weird

Fine

Aged milk

More 60s rock. Not bad but not offering anything I haven’t heard.

Not really a group or an album I remember too well, but I can hear some influence on groups like The Yardbirds and maybe The Kinks. They're clearly trying to do something different than early sixties British Invasion, but it sometimes seems they are throwing a few too many things at the wall, sometimes even in a single song.

Trout Mask Replica is obviously the album everyone ever talks about. And I rightfully so, even though I personally think it's still a tad overrated, and compared to it, this is pretty basic stuff. Not bad by any means, but nothing I'd really want to come back to either.

3.4 2x extended 71 min

I liked this a lot even though it was quite different to what I expected from captain beefheart.