Safe as Milk (album)

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Safe as Milk

Studio album by Captain Beefheart
Released	September, 1967
Recorded	RCA Studios April, 1967
Genre	Rock
Length	33:40
Label	Buddah
Producer(s)	Richard Perry & Bob Krasnow
All Music Guide link
Captain Beefheart chronology
n/a	Safe as Milk (1967)	Strictly Personal (1968)

Safe as Milk is the debut album by Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band, originally released in 1967. The album features generous guitar and arrangement contributions from Ry Cooder, fresh out of his "supergroup" with Taj Mahal, The Rising Sons. (Mahal reportedly contributes some percussion to the album, and another Rising Sons alumnus, bassist Gary Marker was an engineer for the sessions.) The album also marked the last time that Van Vliet would rely on collaborations on writing and arranging (aside from very few scattered tracks throughout the 70's).

1 Release History
2 Track listing
3 Credits

[edit] Release History

The original pressing of Safe as Milk included a bumper sticker which depicted the album's title at a picture of the head of a baby doll. John Lennon liked the album so much that he bought a second copy, so that he could have two of the bumper stickers on display in his home[1]. At the time of the album's release, it was reportedly Lennon's favorite album.

The album was reissued by budget label Marble Arch in the UK under the title Dropout Boogie. The track listing remained identical.

All prior reissues of the album (many of sub-par mastering and sound quality) have been rendered obsolete by a 1999 Buddha Records CD with sound quality surpassing any heretofore reissues. The CD also features seven bonus tracks, taken mostly from the sessions of the unreleased follow-up It Comes To You In A Plain Brown Wrapper, and not the Safe as Milk sessions.

[edit] Track listing

[edit] Side one

"Sure 'Nuff 'n Yes I Do" (Don Van Vliet/Herb Bermann) – 2:15
"Zig Zag Wanderer" (Van Vliet/Bermann) – 2:40
"Call On Me" (Van Vliet) – 2:37
"Dropout Boogie" (Van Vliet/Bermann) – 2:32
"I'm Glad" (Van Vliet) – 3:31
"Electricity" (Van Vliet/Bermann) – 3:07

[edit] Side two

"Yellow Brick Road" (Van Vliet/Bermann) – 2:28
"Abba Zaba" (Van Vliet) – 2:44
"Plastic Factory" (Van Vliet/Bermann/Jerry Handley) – 3:08
"Where There's Woman" (Van Vliet/Bermann) – 2:09
"Grown So Ugly" (Robert Pete Williams) – 2:27
"Autumn's Child" (Van Vliet/Bermann) – 4:02

[edit] CD bonus tracks

13. Safe as Milk (Take 5)
14. On Tomorrow
15. Big Black Baby Shoes
16. Flower Pot
17. Dirty Blue Gene
18. Trust Us (Take 9)
19. Korn Ring Finger

Note: Some sources credit "Call On Me" to earlier Magic Band drummer, Vic Mortensen, and not Van Vliet or Bermann.

[edit] Credits

Richard Perry: producer, harpsichord
Bob Krasnow: producer
Hank Cicalo: engineer
Gary Marker: engineer
Don Van Vliet: vocals, harmonica, bass marimba, arrangements
Alex St. Clair Snouffer: guitar, bass, background vocals
Jerry Handley: bass, background vocals
John French: drums, background vocals
Ry Cooder: guitar, slide guitar, bass, arrangements of "Sure 'Nuff 'N Yes I Do" and "Grown So Ugly"
Milt Holland: log drum, tambourine
Taj Mahal: tambourine

v • d • e Captain Beefheart
Main Albums
Safe As Milk \| Strictly Personal \| Trout Mask Replica \| Lick My Decals Off, Baby \| Mirror Man \| The Spotlight Kid \| Clear Spot \| Unconditionally Guaranteed \| Bluejeans & Moonbeams \| Bongo Fury \| Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller) \| Doc at the Radar Station \| Ice Cream for Crow