SAFE AS MILK

It's a little weird at my advanced age to come across an album that was influential on the progressive and/or avant- garde, and it was created when I was two years old (1967). I've found that I have come along on an interesting artifact that had apparently totally passed me by. Browsing in the local chain store that happened to carry music in addition to a lot of other things, I ran across Captain Beefhearts & His Magic Band's first album, Safe As Milk.

Not already being a big Beefheart fan, but having had collected a couple, one I liked (Doc At The Radar Station), and one that still hasn't clicked with me (Trout Mask Replica), I said "what the hey". After all, the blurbs on the cover say GOT BEEFHEART? - "One of the most important rock albums of all time" - Trycicle and "One of the most extraordinary debut albums in history" - Rough Guide To Rock. I dunno, they seem a little suspicious. But as browsing in any of the local chain stores for decent new music, or at least new to me music, is an extreme exercise in futility, I picked it up and left the store.

I've been enjoying the music, it's more accessible than T. M. Replica, still has a heavy experimental feel, but still reeks (maybe too harsh a term) of the late 60's. Yellow Brick Road and Abba Zabba are my favorites from the original LP song collection are. That damn Abba Zabba piece has been sticking in my head as of late and I might have to get it musically removed. The bonus tracks, according to the CD booklet, are leftovers from their recording session from just a month later in '67, than the tracks originally recorded in September. The intention was to make double album, but perhaps after Zappa's Freak Out (van Vilet was a friend of Zappa since '59), the powers that be had put their collective foot down.

The bonus tracks are a little bit more adventurous than the regular album stuff, but in the context of '67, it's no surprise the songs were left in the vaults for a while. Now you can have the whole wacky package. And, I wouldn't want the album without the extra, more progressive tracks