SAFE AS MILK

Safe As Milk is Captain Beefheart's first album and one of his most accessible, not nearly as "out" as he would get on subsequent releases. Rather Safe As Milk is for the most part strange and creative takes on rock and psychedelia yet remains rooted in the blues. Here Beefheart sows the seeds of weird that would come to full bloom on his masterpiece Trout Mask Replica but doesn't stray too far from more traditional musical forms. It's also an interesting and enjoyable record emblematic of the times in which it was made. Ah, the sixties, what a creative and turbulent time. A time where such musical eccentrics like Zappa, Beafheart and Arthur Brown had a chance of getting signed to major labels! Not like the preprogrammed, market researched mush of today. The bonus tracks are indeed a bonus, most being instrumentals featuring that peculiar funiture falling down the stairs rhythmic sensibility later explored more successfully on Trout Mask, Lick My Decals Off Baby on up to the Captains bid for mainstream success Unconditionally Guarenteed, which isn't really terrible but not as interesting. Safe As Milk is kind of a sign post pointing the way Beefheart would later take. It's not really prog or as avant-garde as Beefheart would get, but it's enjoyable in it's own right. Its a damn good debut record by one of American musics true visionaries.