Rating: 8.5/10

Top Track: ‘I’m Glad’

When you talk to someone who’s really into vinyl and ask them why they prefer to listen to music through a turntable, there’s a good chance they’ll throw the term ‘warm sound’ into the conversation. Well, I’m here to jump on that bandwagon. My dad’s pressing of “Safe As Milk” was issued in 1970 and renamed “Dropout Boogie” for the UK “99” budget series. And boy, does this album have a warm sound. Blues just sounds better on vinyl. I’ve listened to this album a number of times on Spotify and it doesn’t hold a candle to this vinyl pressing. Under the stage name Captain Beefheart, frontman and musical genius Don Van Vliet kicks ass and inspires on his band’s debut album.

I had a tough time deciding what I thought was the top track on this album. There are so many great songs on both side of this album. A few honorable mentions would be ‘Sure ‘Nuff ‘n’ Yes I Do’, ‘Zig Zag Wanderer’, and ‘Abba Zabba’. I picked ‘I’m Glad’ because of it’s fantastic bass-line and classic melancholy, Blues-y feel. Not to mention the great guitar chord progressions and the soul in Don Van Vliet’s voice. Nobody will ever have a voice like that man again. For all of the upbeat and danceable tracks on this album, I’m Glad stands out by slowing down the whole momentum of the album and calms things down a bit; that’s probably why it’s one of Beefheart’s most popular songs, because of how different it was from all of his other works at the time. Oh, and it has the added element of horns too, I almost forgot! Beefheart really got it right with this track.

I mentioned in my first paragraph that Beefheart inspires with this album. Groups like The Black Keys, The White Stripes, and even the Red Hot Chili Peppers would not have made the music they’ve made or even formed if it weren’t for Captain Beefheart and more specifically, this album. Shoot, the Black Keys even covered one of the songs off this album, ‘Grown So Ugly’, on their album “Rubber Factory”. The reason Captain Beefheart and musicians like him don’t get the recognition they deserve is because he is a musician’s musician, if that makes sense. His sound may not mesh with the conventional music-listener’s ear, but to aspiring musicians who live, breathe, and sleep music put artists like Beefheart on incredibly high pedestals. Because he’s not conventional. He pushes the boundaries of music and what it could be. Beefheart served as one of the pioneers that made modern Blues Rock what it is today. No one had heard anything like Beefheart before Beefheart; that’s why I called him a genius.

I would be remiss if I didn’t address the fact that Don Van Vliet was on my dad’s Mount Rushmore of musical artists; the other’s being Frank Zappa, Neil Young, and Bob Dylan (all of which I plan to cover at sometime). Safe As Milk was probably one of his top 20, maybe even one of his top 10 favorite albums. HIs favorite album ever being “Trout Mask Replica” also by Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band. I wanted to save that one for later and start with Beefheart’s probably most well-known album. I don’t know when I’ll be able to get to “Trout Mask Replica” because there are a lot more albums I want to cover before I start double-dipping into artists.

I’m going to end this post on an honest note: if you’ve never heard anything by Beefheart before, this album may be a bit hard on the ears and a little difficult to listen to. Like I said, he’s not conventional. So, I’ll give you the advice of trying to go into this album open-minded and listen for the modern Blues themes that come through in each song. Keep in mind that our musical heroes also have musical heroes, and chances are that Captain Beefheart is one of them.