01	Sure 'Nuff 'N Yes I Do						02:19
	02	Zig Zag Wanderer						02:42
	03	Call On Me						02:40
	04	Dropout Boogie						02:26
	05	I'm Glad						03:34
	06	Electricity						03:09
	07	Yellow Brick Road						02:18
	08	Abba Zaba						02:46
	09	Plastic Factory						03:10
	10	Where There's Woman						02:12
	11	Grown So Ugly						02:29
	12	Autumn's Child						04:01

Safe As Milk


Song list:

Sure 'Nuff 'N Yes I Do
Zig Zag Wanderer
Call On Me
Dropout Boogie
I'm Glad
Electricity
Yellow Brick Road
Abba Zaba
Plastic Factory
Where There's Woman
Grown So Ugly
Autumn's Child

Shopping Guide from Justin Sherill:

This album is one of the few albums that sounds much like the period that it came from. It's easiest to listen to if you remember the music of that period. It only hints at the later innovations that would come in the band's music, but it's not a bad pick. Not necessarily a good starting point if you don't like music of that era.

Radar Station's shopping guide:

Well, I love music from that era, and this was the very first Beefheart album I heard, about 23 years after its first release. I doubt I could have had a better starting place. It's all very accessible and there isn't a slack tune on the album. Autumn's Child is one of my very favourites of his songs - it is so hard not to start the whole album over again as Autumn's Child closes. An essential album for any Beefheart fan, and any fan of garage, psychedelia, blues, r 'n' b, music, etc. A new re-issue features massively improved mastering and packaging, and also includes a selection of hard to find outtakes from the Plain Brown Wrapper / Mirror Man sessions.

The original release of Safe As Milk came with a splendid free bumper sticker, as pictured above. John Lennon reportedly liked the album so much that he had two bumper stickers on display in his Weybridge home (see below).

Those of you unable to find a copy of the original Safe As Milk with its bumper sticker may wish to download and print a huge (278k) version of it from the Radar Station. Just click the image above. Many thanks to Michael Stanowski for scanning and sending this along.

Please note that you will need to save it to your hard-drive and then re-align and resize it to suit your printer. If you need any help, drop me a line.



Many thanks to Bob Harkleroad for sending this picture along.

Leach's Listings:

A thorough guide to who did what on Safe As Milk, compiled by Jasper Leach.


Leach's Listings:

Safe As Milk

Compiled by Jasper Leach.

Jasper acknowledges that this listing contains inacuracies. If you can help with any further info or corrections, please get in touch with Jasper.

All songs (unless noted differently)

Produced by Richard Perry and Robert Krasnow
Engineered by Hank Cicalo/Gary Marker
Arranged by Don Van Vliet
"Sure 'Nuff" and "Grown So Ugly" arranged by Ry Cooder
Recorded at RCA Studios, Hollywood, CA, April 1967
All words and music by Don Van Vliet and Herb Bermann
Note: This is probably one of the most inaccurate lists I've compliled. It has been reported by many band members that studio musicians were brought in by Ry Cooder, but only three are listed. I have no idea who plays harpsichord on Autumn's Child and Call On Me; I guessed it was Richard Perry. I do know Perry arranged the horns on I'm Glad. It's very confusing because so many unnamed players perform on this album.

1. Sure 'Nuff 'N Yes I Do
Don Van Vliet: vocals
Alex St. Clair Snouffer: guitar
Ry Cooder: guitar and slide guitar
Doug Moon: guitar (erased because he was ejected from the band)
Jerry Handley: bass
John French: drums
Recorded at Sunset Studios, Hollywood, CA.

(GARY MARKER: Cooder called me up and said, "You know what they're doing? They're going to RCA!" Now, RCA is what? A four-track studio? I said, "RCA? RCA is like the lamest place in town! What are they doing? I called up Krasnow for an explanation and he said, "Well, Richard Perry is really confused by all those tracks. We took the stuff that we did on 8-track and reduced it to four-track." I said, "Are you kidding me? That beautiful state of the art stuff?" [Grow Fins])

2. Zig Zag Wanderer

Don Van Vliet: Vocals, bass marimba?
Alex St. Clair Snouffer: guitar, chorus
Ry Cooder: guitar
Jerry Handley: bass, chorus
John French: drums, chorus
Milt Holland: log drum, tambourine
3. Call On Me

(credited to Don Van Vliet, actually written by Vic Mortesen)
Don Van Vliet: Vocals
Alex St. Clair Snouffer: guitar
Ry Cooder: guitar
Jerry Handley: bass
John French: drums
Milt Holland or Taj Mahal: tambourine
Richard Perry?: harpsichord
4. Dropout Boogie
Don Van Vliet: bass marimba, vocals
Alex St. Clair Snouffer: guitar
Ry Cooder: guitar
Jerry Handley: bass
John French: drums
Milt Holland: log drum
5. I'm Glad

(Don Van Vliet)
Don Van Vliet: vocals
Alex St. Clair Snouffer: guitar
Ry Cooder: guitar
Jerry Handley: bass
John French: drums
Richard Perry: horn chart
Unknown: backup vocals
6. Electricity
Don Van Vliet: vocals, theremin direction
Alex St. Clair Snouffer: guitar
Ry Cooder: guitar and slide guitar
Jerry Handley: bass
John French: drums
Sam Hoffman: theremin
7. Yellow Brick Road
Don Van Vliet: vocals, bass marimba
Alex St. Clair Snouffer: guitar
Ry Cooder: guitar
Jerry Handley: bass
John French: drums
Taj Mahal: additional percussion
Richard Perry: reference tone
8. Abba Zaba

(Don Van Vliet)
Don Van Vliet: vocals
Alex St. Clair Snouffer: guitar
Ry Cooder: bass
John French: drums
Milt Holland: additional percussion
9. Plastic Factory

(Don Van Vliet, Herb Bermann & Jerry Handley)

Don Van Vliet: vocals, harmonica
Alex St. Clair Snouffer: guitar
Ry Cooder: guitar
Jerry Handley: bass
John French: drums
10. Where There's Woman

Don Van Vliet: vocals, bass marimba
Alex St. Clair Snouffer: bass (according to John French in the Grow Fins booklet), chorus
Ry Cooder: guitar
John French: drums, chorus
11. Grown So Ugly

Don Van Vliet: vocals
Alex St. Clair Snouffer: guitar
Ry Cooder: guitar
Jerry Handley: bass
John French: drums
Unknown: Vox organ
12. Autumn's Child

Don Van Vliet: vocals
Alex St. Clair Snouffer: guitar
Ry Cooder: guitar
Jerry Handley: bass
John French: drums
Russ Titelman: guitar
Richard Perry: harpsichord
Sam Hoffman: theremin



Safe As Milk Sleevenotes
The following text is from the "Repertoire" (sp?) release of Safe As Milk, sent to Justin Sherill by Elijah Popov.

CAPTAIN BEEFHEART

Under the philosophy that "life is art and art is life" (CREAM), DON VAN VLIET alias CAPTAIN BEEFHEART went down as one of the most dazzling personalities in rock history. This stubborn musician, painter and sculptor, whose voice ranged seven and a half octaves, allowed his extraordinary creativity run totally free, to the extent that categorisation attempts of any kind simply bounced off his productive genius.

"Delta blues, avantgarde jazz and rock & roll" (ROLLING STONE) entwined themselves to become a twentieth-century music style that had lasting influences on american bands such as "The Residents", "Pere Ubu" and "Devo". BEEFHEART'S chaotic "Magic Band", members being recruited from the milieu of schooltime friend Frank Zappa, stereotyped to none and his records were far from being commercial. VAN VLIET remained a figure for the intellectual scene, who in the end made more money with his painting than with his music. Born on 15th January 1941 in Glendale, California, this individualistic artist was as a child already influenced and encouraged by Portuguese sculptor Augustino Rodriguez, when at the age of thirteen his family moved to Lancaster, California, where he first met Frank Zappa. It was the blues that first turned VAN VLIET into music, with which he taught himself harmonica and soprano sax, and played with regional bands like "The Omens" and "The Blackouts" before visiting the "Antelope Valley College" for one semester in '59. In due course he found himself in the californian Cucamongo where he and Zappa formed "The Soots" with the intention of shooting the film "Captain Beefheart Meets The Grunt People" Both projects ammounted to nothing, but VAN VLIET had at least found a suitable pseudonym. Zappa went to Los Angeles and the CAPTAIN returned to Lancaster.

VAN VLIET next went out door-to-dooring for vacuum cleaners. In 1964 he formed the first "Magic Band" to record Bo Diddley's "Diddy Way Diddy" The single reached an edition which justified the making of an album. Label-boss Jerry Moss found the material "too offensive" and merely released a further single, "Moon Child"/ "Fryin' Pan". BEEFHEART dissolved the band and searched for a company that would market his "world electronic blues" (Harald Inhulsen). "Buddah Records" took the bait and with a second generation "Magic Band" they recorded the LP "Mirror Man" that was not released however until 1970. At this time VAN VUET had already found a new business partner, bringing the album "Safe As Milk" into the shops in 1967 as the first official taste of his surrealisticly lyricised psychedelic blues, featuring slide guitar playing from Jeff Cotton. BEEFHEARTs vocal and lyrical qualities were already fully developed" (SOUNDS) and his "Magic Band" added a fascinating completion to "The Mothers Of Invention" and their ever-slapstick manner. BEEFHEART was celebrated as an outsider, flippantly combining rock-traditional appeal with alienated fragments of various styles. The recording of "Strictly Personal" turned out the same. However, white he was passing time in Europe, producer Bob Krasnow re-mixed his work, and on the grounds of this, a renewed BEEFHEART changed labels again.

Meanwhile Frank Zappa, with the help of his manager Herb Cohen, established the bizarre company "Straight Records" Zappa gave BEEFHEART total artistic control over his productions and there upon in less than ten hours, VAN VLIET composed the twenty- eight songs for his double-album "Trout Mask Replica" "The Fellini of Rock" (NEW MUSICAL EXPRESS) presented another weird mixture of free jazz, blues snatches, horn solos and crazy vocal acrobatics, conventional song structures being abandoned with numerous melodies running simultaneously and/or against one another. BEEFHEART's vocals, "put down without any apparent feeling for tempo" (SOUNDS), told of hard-to- grasp curiosities, dominating above the well thought-out instrumental confusion. His message contained left behind a trail of irritation.

In '69 CAPTAIN BEEFHEART worked on Zappa's LP"Hot Rats" and recorded a further album for "Straight Records" called "Lick My Decals Off" Interest rose around this wayward character, and in 1970 he risked his first international tour.

"The Spotlight Kid" and "Clear Spot" appeared in '72. Both LP's exercised a simplification of the "typical rhythmic variations and overlays" (SOUNDS) yet the CAPTAIN still remained true to his individualistic inspirations. Driven on by his manager Andy DiMartino he attempted to conquer new markets with first-time concessions towards current pop/blues structures with the LP's "Unconditionally Guaranteed" and "Bluejeans & Moonbeams" in '74. The well-known oblique BEEFHEART-rhythm did not work as well as on previous albums. The "Magic Band" seemed less radical than in the past, and the banknotes printed on the "Unconditionally"- cover made their intentions obvious. From this, the "Magic Band" went on to record two mediocre electric blues- rock albums under the name of "Mallard" VAN VLIET appeared as leadvocalist on Frank Zappa's LP "Bongo Fury" in 1975.

With an altered "Magic Band" that same year, the new album "Bat Chain Puller" was supposed to appear. The release was hindered with rights problems, and the material finally came out in a modified version in 1978 under the name "Shiny Beast".

VAN VLIET used the long pauses inbetween record productions to secure his reputation as an acknowledged and cultivated artist. In the meantime he retreated with his wife to the Mojave Desert, living in a luxurious mobile-home.

His musical output eased off in the eighties with the albums "Doc At The Radar Station" and "Ice Cream For Crow", as well as the twelve-inch "Music In A Sea Minor" His old company brought out the "Legendary A & M Sessions" in '84. Live performances appear very rarely on his agenda.

VAN VLIET became, however, more and more popular as a painting artist. His inventiveness and untrained, inhibition free wealth of ideas stayed intact and his influences on musicians of the punk and new wave generations are undisputed. He was and still is "one of rocks originals' (SOUNDS).

Discography:

Safe As Milk (1967) Buddah, BDS 5001 Strictly Personal (1968) Sunset 50208 Trout Mask Replica (1969) Straight, STS 1053 Lick My Decals Off (1970) Straight, STS 1063 Mirror Man (1968) Buddah, BDS 5077 The Spotlight Kid (1972) Reprise 44162 Clear Spot (1972) Reprise 54007 Bluejeans And Moonbeams (1974) Virgin, V 2023 Shiny Beast (1978) Wamer Brothers 3256 Doc At The Radar Station (1980) Virgin 202870 Ice Cream For Crow (1982) Virgin 204957













Captain Beefheart
AKA born: Don Glen Vliet
Born Jan 15, 1941 in Glendale, CA

Born Don Vliet, Captain Beefheart was one of modern music's true innovators. The owner of a remarkable four-and-one-half octave vocal range, he employed idiosyncratic rhythms, absurdist lyrics and an unholy alliance of free jazz, Delta blues, latter-day classical music and rock & roll to create a singular body of work virtually unrivalled in its daring and fluid creativity. While he never came even remotely close to mainstream success, Beefheart's impact was incalculable, and his fingerprints were all over punk, new wave and post-rock.
Don Vliet was born January 15, 1941 in Glendale, California (he changed his name to Van Vliet in the early '60s). At the age of four, his artwork brought him to the attention of Portuguese sculptor Augustinio Rodriguez, and Vliet was declared a child prodigy. In 1954, he was offered a scholarship to study in Europe; his parents declined the proposal, however, and the family instead moved to the Mojave Desert, where the teen was befriended by a young Frank Zappa. In time Vliet taught himself saxophone and harmonica, and joined a pair of local R&B groups, the Omens and the Blackouts.

After a semester at college, he and Zappa moved to Cucamonga, California, where they planned to shoot a film, Captain Beefheart Meets the Grunt People. As the project remained in limbo, Zappa finally moved to Los Angeles, where he founded the Mothers of Invention; Van Vliet later returned to the Mojave area, adopted the Beefheart name and formed the first line-up of his backing group the Magic Band with guitarists Alex St. Clair and Doug Moon, bassist Jerry Handley and drummer Paul Blakely in 1964.

In their original incarnation, the Magic Band was a blues-rock outfit which became staples of the teen-dance circuit; they quickly signed to A&M Records, where the success of the single "Diddy Wah Diddy" earned them the opportunity to record a full-length album. Comprised of Van Vliet compositions like "Frying Pan," "Electricity" and "Zig Zag Wanderer," label president Jerry Moss rejected the completed record as "too negative," and a crushed Beefheart went into seclusion. After replacing Moon and Blakely with guitarist Antennae Jimmy Semens (born Jeff Cotton) and drummer John "Drumbo" French, the group (fleshed out by guitarist Ry Cooder) recut the songs in 1967 as Safe as Milk.

After producer Bob Krasnow radically remixed 1968's hallucinatory Strictly Personal without Beefheart's approval, he again retired. At the same time, however, Zappa formed his own , Straight Records, and he soon approached Van Vliet with the promise of complete creative control; a deal was struck and after writing 28 songs in a nine-hour frenzy, Beefheart formed the definitive line-up of the Magic Band - made up of Semens, Drumbo, guitarist Zoot Horn Rollo (born Bill Harkleroad), bassist Rockette Morton (Mark Boston) and bass clarinetist the Mascara Snake (Victor Fleming) - to record the seminal 1969 double album Trout Mask Replica.

Following 1970's similarly outre Lick My Decals Off, Baby, Beefheart adopted an almost commercial sound for the 1972 releases The Spotlight Kid and Clear Spot. Shortly thereafter, the Magic Band broke off to form Mallard, and Beefheart was dropped by his label, Reprise. After a two-year layoff, he released a pair of pop-blues albums, Unconditionally Guaranteed and Bluejeans and Moonbeams, with a new, short-lived Magic Band; following another fallow period, 1978's Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller) marked a return to the eccentricities of his finest work.

After 1982's Ice Cream for Crow, Van Vliet again retired from music, this time for good; he returned to the desert, took up residence in a trailer and focused on painting. In 1985, he mounted the first major exhibit of his work, done in an abstract, primitive style reminiscent of Francis Bacon. Like his music, his art won wide acclaim, and some of his paintings sold for as much as $25,000. In the 1990s Van Vliet dropped completely from sight when he fell prey to multiple sclerosis; however, releases like 1999's five-disc Grow Fins box set and the two-disc anthology The Dust Blows Forward maintained his prominence. - Jason Ankeny



1967 Dropout Boogie Buddah
1967 Safe as Milk Buddha
1968 Strictly Personal Blue Thumb
1969 Trout Mask Replica Reprise
1970 Lick My Decals Off, Baby Bizarre/Straig
1970 Mirror Man Castle
1972 Clear Spot Reprise
1972 The Spotlight Kid Reprise
1974 Bluejeans & Moonbeams Blue Plate
1974 Unconditionally Guaranteed Blue Plate
1978 Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller) Bizarre/Straig
1980 Doc at the Radar Station Blue Plate
1982 Ice Cream for Crow Blue Plate
2001 London 1974 [live] Import



Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band [USA]
Updated 1/11/01
Discography
Safe as Milk (67)
Strictly Personal (68)
Trout Mask Replica (69)
Lick My Decals Off, Baby (70)
Mirror Man (70)
The Spotlight Kid (72)
Clear Spot (72)
Unconditionally Guaranteed (74)
Bluejeans and Moonbeams (74)
Bongo Fury (75)
Two Originals Of Captain Beefheart (76)
The Captain Beefheart File (77)
Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller) (78)
Doc at the Radar Station (80)
Ice Cream for Crow (82)
Music In Sea Minor (83, Compilation)
Top Secret (84, Compilation)
Legendary A&M Session (84, EP)
That's Original (88)
I May Be Hungry But I Sure Ain't Weird (92)
and some more compilations

Reviews

Take early Frank Zappa, take away the avant/classical and substitute it with blues, and that might give you a fair idea of what this guy sounds like. Vocals are bizarre and beyond insane, served up with his classy harmonica chops and demented perspective. Best albums are from the period when he was on Zappa's "Straight" label: Trout Mask Replica and Lick My Decals Off, Baby are two of his best, although some of the later ones are really good too. Warning: Weird stuff - not for everyone!

A very weird band! The vocalist, Captain Beefheart himself, sounds like a good-natured but completely deranged old lunatic, and the lyrics, which range from sinister to nonsensical to rhythmically poetic, encourage that image. The main instruments played seem to be electric guitar and horns (at least one of which is a trombone), and a rhythm section which includes noises both bizarre and silly. No keyboards, except for the occasional piano and accordion number. The music itself is hard to describe. Frenetic, spastic, deranged and silly, it has an atmosphere of barely contained chaos. Song titles like "When I See Mommy I Feel Like a Mummy" or "Tropical Hot Dog Night" might give you a bit of an idea... The band's "tightness" ranges from loose to completely free. Captain Beefheart often played with Frank Zappa. (E.g. in "Willie the Pimp," on Zappa's album Hot Rats).
Again just checking that somebody has mentioned him. Totally unique. Overwhelmingly imaginative. Superb lyrics. Music is incredibly complicated but still flows. Infinitely easier to listen to than transcribe. A fresh outlook on life, the universe and everything.

Trout Mask Replica is generally considered his masterpiece, and judging by the half-dozen or so Beefheart albums I'm familiar with, I'd have to agree. The Good Captain puts you in an entirely different world. People often describe other bands as unique; this word applies to Captain Beefheart better than any other artist in modern music. In my experience, he seems to fall into the "either you love him or you hate him" category; I've actually cleared unwanted guests out of my house in a matter of seconds by starting Trout Mask Replica. Captain Beefheart (aka Don van Vliet) is, according to my latest information, retired from music and living out west--the desert in Arizona, if I'm not mistaken. He's also a fairly good artist (paint-on-canvas type art, that is) and has been busy with that in recent years.

Don Van Vliet (alias Captain Beefheart) started his career in the middle of the 6ties in an obscure Californian band called the Omens, with which also Frank Zappa is said to have played. In 66 he recorded his first LP with the Magicband. Since then he has published a series of strange and weird LPs, which are considered as one of the hallmarks of US progressive rock (not only by me). It's quite difficult to describe his style; maybe: psychedelic/dada/blues/jazz/punk/progressive/experimental rock. All his LPs are recommended with two exceptions. Stay away from Unconditionally (which is quite conditional) and Bluejeans, on which van Vliet tried to do something more popular, but ended up with bluespop. Definitely the most extreme is Trout Mask Replica produced by Zappa, where you find weird dada-minimalism's. Shiny Beast and Doc are maybe his best. Very pure and direct, a lot of weird guitar and trombone and Van Vliet's deranged vocals at their best. Bongo Fury is a live recording from a concert tour with Zappa (mostly Zappa music on it). You will also hear Don van Vliet on the Zappa LPs Hot Rats, Zoot Allures and One Size Fits All. Two Originals was a reissue of Lick and Spotlight Kid as a DLP. Beefheart File and That's Original both are reissues of Safe as Milk and Mirror Man also as double LPs. I May be Hungry offers a different mix of the Strictly Personal session. Music in Sea Minor and Top Secret are compilations of tracks from Safe As Milk and Mirror Man. -- Achim Breiling







CAPTAIN BEEFHEART


An appreciation by Jason Gross
Most innovative, revolutionary artists don't intend to set the world on its ear. They just have good ideas that they follow. They problem is that this kind of work usually gets a lot of scorn because no one has done it before and it's more than a little precarious to cast your lot in with someone who's trail-blazing. After all, a lot of these people turn out to be cranks and charlatans.
Don Van Vliet is neither. Sad to say, it was only when he made the regrettable (and understandable) decision to retire from music that most people were able to figure this out. After that time, his ideas were common currency everywhere almost to the point of being a cliche. At the time though, doing away with a steady beat, neatly rhymed lyrics and tonal melodies were all dangerous, radical propositions.

At the time that he was concocting his work, he did receive SOME recognition but certainly not what was due- he was mainly an outcast that only some enlightened fans and writers picked up on. Once punk slogged off all popular music before it, it did have a soft spot for Beefheart. The legions of no wave, alternative, grunge, post-rock and whatever's-going-to-follow bands are all part of his legacy. What he actually created wasn't something from scratch- just like with matter, all music comes from somewhere. The question isn't necessarily how original any music is going to be in the end but how an artist can take what's come before him and what they can do with it. Beefheart certainly heard and knew about Delta blues, free jazz and beat poetry but who would have ever thought that all of these things belonged together? Just stirring these things together doesn't necessarily make it something for the ages. What set Beefheart apart was not just how he was able to combine all these disparate ideas but how he made them his own. It's not a coincidence that he came about this without the benefit of extensive formal music training- he had enough faith in his ideas to pursue them in an 'amateurish' way: 'I never took lessons,' he explained. 'I never rehearse.'

The way that he put his stamp on this crazy, inspired melange of styles was with his feral, gritty character that's seen in almost all of his work. Just like his moniker tells you, he's got a beef in his heart against the world. His music and his words were torn, barbed and furious as if they were reflecting each other, sometimes doing away with the words or sometimes doing away with the music (until both were gone). At the same time, Beefheart was not a cranky misanthrope- a lot of his plaints were against the destruction of nature and his lyrics were full of puns and alliteration. Just the fact that someone would create wild and wooly art that didn't have the life and the fun sucked out of it was revolutionary enough.

And so, his music is history now. His paintbrush replaces his microphone (and his harp and sax). His paintings have these same qualities that were found in his music as he's found it more satisfying to continue his work in another medium where he had less meddling with his work and more control over it. Some of his paintings graced his album covers, again making the connection between these different aspects of his work.

Listening to his music today, the most striking thing about it is how powerful it still is. It hasn't lost any of its power, its insanity, its drive, its challenge. This is the kind of work that still invites rediscovery, re-evaluation. There's always something surprising coming at you no matter how many times you listen. Any great figure in any field has a powerful legacy that's constantly studied, discussed and dissected. It's no different for Beefheart- his work is the kind that invites this and encourages it. It flows with life and energy, waiting for any listener to take its challenge up and see the world differently. Beefheart himself had the most accurate statement of all about his own work when he said this about this band (and not just referring to rock here either): 'we're the only people doing anything significant in modern music.'