Safe as Milk (album)
Encyclopedia
Safe as Milk is the début album
by Captain Beefheart
& his Magic Band, originally released in 1967. It is a heavily blues
-influenced work, but also hints at many of the features—such as surreal lyrics and odd time signature
s—that would later become trademarks of Beefheart's music.
The album is also notable for the involvement of a 20-year-old Ry Cooder
, who plays guitar and wrote some of the arrangements.
, and it was to this company that the group first proposed their début album in 1966. They presented the label with a set of heavily R&B-influenced demos, which the label apparently felt were too unconventional, and A&M decided to drop the band. (Van Vliet later claimed the label dropped them after hearing the song "Electricity" and declaring it "too negative." This is very probably untrue, since the song had not been demoed at the time.) The conversation between Vliet and Zappa on "The Birth Of Captain Beefheart" (Mystery Disc CD) reveals that A&M's Jerry Moss thought the content too risque for his daughter's ears. This, plus Leonard Grant's severance as manager, added to the discontent. The band instead turned to Bob Krasnow
, who was then working for Kama Sutra Records
; he recruited them to record for the company's new subsidiary label, Buddah
.
Meanwhile, Van Vliet had been secretly planning changes to the Magic Band's line-up—a practice that would become common throughout the period of the group's existence. The group that recorded the two A&M singles had consisted of Doug Moon and Richard Hepner on guitars, Jerry Handley on bass, and Alex St. Clair
on drums. But Hepner had already left, and Van Vliet was keen to replace Moon with a young Ry Cooder
, who was then playing with Gary Marker
and Taj Mahal
in the Rising Sons
. These and other changes eventually resulted in a Magic Band consisting of Handley on bass, St. Clair on guitar, and John French
on drums, with Cooder providing additional guitar parts. Cooder's arrival had been swayed by Marker, who had spent time with Vliet and had been given to believe he would produce the album; in fact Marker was only engaged in demo recording.
The album is featured in the 2000 film High Fidelity
. It is the album that the character Barry, played by Jack Black, continually refuses to sell to a customer - whom he deems unsuitable to own it.
, and this is apparent from the opening bars of the first track, "Sure 'Nuff 'n Yes I Do", which is based on Muddy Waters' "Rollin' and Tumblin'
". The opening lyric, "Well I was born in the desert...", quotes "New Minglewood Blues" by Cannon's Jug Stompers
, an early version of the "Rollin' and Tumblin". Elsewhere, the album features a version of Robert Pete Williams
' "Grown So Ugly", arranged here by Cooder.
Another of the more distinctive songs on the album is "Abba Zaba", one of three compositions credited solely to Van Vliet. An Allmusic review of the track states, in reference to its music, "Although not directly blues influenced “Abba Zaba” contains peripheral elements of the wiry delta sound that informed much of the album," noting that Cooder's influence is heard here in the "chiming, intricate guitar lines" and "up front and biting bass work." The track is named after the Abba-Zaba
candy bar, which was supposedly a favorite of a young Van Vliet. The band had, at one point, planned to name the album after the confection. When the bar's manufacturer, the Cardinet Candy Co., refused permission for use of the name, however, the album was retitled. The black and yellow checkerboard pattern on the album's back sleeve, designed by Tom Wilkes
, is a relic of this idea — echoing the black and yellow colors of the candy bar wrapper.
For some time, the involvement of a Herb Bermann as co-writer on eight of the tracks was a point of confusion, as Vliet did not employ him, or indeed any regular co-writer at any other time in his career, and never discussed or clarified his role in the album. There was little record of his existence, though his name incidentally also appeared in a reference to an unproduced screenplay for After the Gold Rush on the 1971 Neil Young album of the same name
. Various Magic Band members had in fact indicated that the name may have been nothing other than a publishing-related pseudonym. It was only in 2003 that Bermann himself was finally located and interviewed, and his involvement as co-writer confirmed.
(1969). Scaruffi notes, "Although in this period the group produced great freak-music, almost no one noticed. Well received only by the few radicals in his circle, Beefheart felt like a solitary cactus in a desert full of quick sand."
The album made a greater impact in Europe than in the U.S. The Beatles
were among those who took note of its content: John Lennon
placed two of the album's promotional bumper stickers on a cabinet in the sunroom where he spent most of his time at his home.
"Electricity" was covered by Sonic Youth
. It was released as the final track on the deluxe edition of their album Daydream Nation
. "Dropout Boogie" became an inspiration to The Edgar Broughton Band
, with their radical 1970 single mix Apache Drop Out, in which they cut it with their interpretation of The Shadows' "Apache" instrumental. The Magic Band track has also been covered by The Kills
on their 2002 Black Rooster EP.
's budget Marble Arch series (albeit bearing Pye International labels on the disc itself) as a 10 track, without the tracks "I'm Glad" and "Grown So Ugly". When Buddah's UK distribution passed to Polydor in 1970 it was again reissued, this time on Buddah in Polydor's budget 99 series and retitled Dropout Boogie. Initially the tracklisting of this release matched the Marble Arch version, but the missing tracks were quickly restored. This 99 series release was also the first appearance in the UK of a stereo mix of the album.
In 1999 the now correctly-named Buddha Records
, owned by BMG who had acquired Buddah's back catalogue, remastered the album onto CD. They added seven bonus tracks, taken from the sessions for the unreleased 'Brown Wrapper' follow-up album. These tracks had been recorded around November 1967 (two months after Safe as Milks release), and were from the same sessions that yielded the songs on Mirror Man (1971). BMG's Buddha also released The Mirror Man Sessions on CD in 1999, effectively an official issue of the 'unphazed' versions of Mirror Man, with five further bonus tracks taken from the same sessions.
Side two
CD bonus tracks
Buddha's 1999 remastered issue of the album features the following bonus tracks.
All bonus tracks by Van Vliet.
Production
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
by Captain Beefheart
Captain Beefheart
Don Van Vliet January 15, 1941 December 17, 2010) was an American musician, singer-songwriter and artist best known by the stage name Captain Beefheart. His musical work was conducted with a rotating ensemble of musicians called The Magic Band, active between 1965 and 1982, with whom he recorded 12...
& his Magic Band, originally released in 1967. It is a heavily blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
-influenced work, but also hints at many of the features—such as surreal lyrics and odd time signature
Time signature
The time signature is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats are in each measure and which note value constitutes one beat....
s—that would later become trademarks of Beefheart's music.
The album is also notable for the involvement of a 20-year-old Ry Cooder
Ry Cooder
Ryland Peter "Ry" Cooder is an American guitarist, singer and composer. He is known for his slide guitar work, his interest in roots music from the United States, and, more recently, his collaborations with traditional musicians from many countries.His solo work has been eclectic, encompassing...
, who plays guitar and wrote some of the arrangements.
Background
Before recording Safe As Milk, the band had previously released a couple of singles through A&M RecordsA&M Records
A&M Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group that operates under the mantle of its Interscope-Geffen-A&M division.-Beginnings:...
, and it was to this company that the group first proposed their début album in 1966. They presented the label with a set of heavily R&B-influenced demos, which the label apparently felt were too unconventional, and A&M decided to drop the band. (Van Vliet later claimed the label dropped them after hearing the song "Electricity" and declaring it "too negative." This is very probably untrue, since the song had not been demoed at the time.) The conversation between Vliet and Zappa on "The Birth Of Captain Beefheart" (Mystery Disc CD) reveals that A&M's Jerry Moss thought the content too risque for his daughter's ears. This, plus Leonard Grant's severance as manager, added to the discontent. The band instead turned to Bob Krasnow
Bob Krasnow
Bob Krasnow is a leading music industry entrepreneur. His early career included working as a promotions man for James Brown and sales representative for Decca Records. In the early 1960s, Krasnow founded MK Records, which released the novelty record "," a parody of the 1960 presidential campaign...
, who was then working for Kama Sutra Records
Kama Sutra Records
Kama Sutra Records was started in 1964 by Arthur "Artie" Ripp, Hy Mizrahi and Phil Steinberg as Kama Sutra Productions, a production house. The word "Kama Sutra" is a Sanskrit terminology....
; he recruited them to record for the company's new subsidiary label, Buddah
Buddah Records
Buddah Records was founded in 1967 in New York City. The label was born out of Kama Sutra Records, an MGM Records-distributed label, which remained a key imprint following Buddah's founding...
.
Meanwhile, Van Vliet had been secretly planning changes to the Magic Band's line-up—a practice that would become common throughout the period of the group's existence. The group that recorded the two A&M singles had consisted of Doug Moon and Richard Hepner on guitars, Jerry Handley on bass, and Alex St. Clair
Alex St. Clair
Alex St. Clair , was an American musician.Twice guitarist for Captain Beefheart, St. Clair was a contemporary of Frank Zappa at Antelope Valley High School in Lancaster, California, where St. Clair played trumpet and Zappa played drums. They bought their first guitars within days of each other.St...
on drums. But Hepner had already left, and Van Vliet was keen to replace Moon with a young Ry Cooder
Ry Cooder
Ryland Peter "Ry" Cooder is an American guitarist, singer and composer. He is known for his slide guitar work, his interest in roots music from the United States, and, more recently, his collaborations with traditional musicians from many countries.His solo work has been eclectic, encompassing...
, who was then playing with Gary Marker
Gary Marker
Gary 'Magic' Marker is a bass guitarist and recording engineer best known for his involvement in various psychedelic rock bands of the 1960s....
and Taj Mahal
Taj Mahal (musician)
Henry Saint Clair Fredericks , who uses the stage name Taj Mahal, is an American Grammy Award winning blues musician. He incorporates elements of world music into his music...
in the Rising Sons
Rising Sons
Rising Sons was a Los Angeles, California-based band founded in 1964. The original lineup was Ry Cooder , Taj Mahal , Gary Marker , Jesse Lee Kincaid and Ed Cassidy...
. These and other changes eventually resulted in a Magic Band consisting of Handley on bass, St. Clair on guitar, and John French
John French (musician)
John "Drumbo" French is an American drummer and musician. He played on Captain Beefheart's Trout Mask Replica and on various other Beefheart recordings: Beefheart dubbed him "Drumbo"...
on drums, with Cooder providing additional guitar parts. Cooder's arrival had been swayed by Marker, who had spent time with Vliet and had been given to believe he would produce the album; in fact Marker was only engaged in demo recording.
The album is featured in the 2000 film High Fidelity
High Fidelity (film)
High Fidelity is a 2000 American comedy-drama film directed by Stephen Frears and starring John Cusack and the Danish actress Iben Hjejle. The film is based on the 1995 British novel of the same name by Nick Hornby, with the setting moved from London to Chicago and the name of the lead character...
. It is the album that the character Barry, played by Jack Black, continually refuses to sell to a customer - whom he deems unsuitable to own it.
Music and lyrics
The album is heavily influenced by the Delta bluesDelta blues
The Delta blues is one of the earliest styles of blues music. It originated in the Mississippi Delta, a region of the United States that stretches from Memphis, Tennessee in the north to Vicksburg, Mississippi in the south, Helena, Arkansas in the west to the Yazoo River on the east. The...
, and this is apparent from the opening bars of the first track, "Sure 'Nuff 'n Yes I Do", which is based on Muddy Waters' "Rollin' and Tumblin'
Rollin' and Tumblin'
"Rollin' and Tumblin" is a blues song that has been recorded hundreds of times by various artists. Considered as a traditional, it has been recorded with different lyrics and titles...
". The opening lyric, "Well I was born in the desert...", quotes "New Minglewood Blues" by Cannon's Jug Stompers
Gus Cannon
Gus Cannon was an American blues musician, who helped to popularize jug bands in the 1920s and 1930s. There is doubt about his birth year; his tombstone gives the date as 1874....
, an early version of the "Rollin' and Tumblin". Elsewhere, the album features a version of Robert Pete Williams
Robert Pete Williams
Robert Pete Williams was an American Louisiana blues musician. His music characteristically employed unconventional blues tunings and structures, and his songs are often about the time he served in prison...
' "Grown So Ugly", arranged here by Cooder.
Another of the more distinctive songs on the album is "Abba Zaba", one of three compositions credited solely to Van Vliet. An Allmusic review of the track states, in reference to its music, "Although not directly blues influenced “Abba Zaba” contains peripheral elements of the wiry delta sound that informed much of the album," noting that Cooder's influence is heard here in the "chiming, intricate guitar lines" and "up front and biting bass work." The track is named after the Abba-Zaba
Abba-Zaba
Abba-Zaba are taffy candy bars with peanut butter centers, made by Annabelle Candy Company in Hayward, California.According to the Candy Wrapper Museum, the first Abba Zabba bars were manufactured beginning in 1922 by Colby and McDermott. Before Annabelle Candy Co. started manufacturing Abba...
candy bar, which was supposedly a favorite of a young Van Vliet. The band had, at one point, planned to name the album after the confection. When the bar's manufacturer, the Cardinet Candy Co., refused permission for use of the name, however, the album was retitled. The black and yellow checkerboard pattern on the album's back sleeve, designed by Tom Wilkes
Tom Wilkes
Thomas Edward "Tom" Wilkes was an American art director, designer, photographer, illustrator, writer and producer-director....
, is a relic of this idea — echoing the black and yellow colors of the candy bar wrapper.
For some time, the involvement of a Herb Bermann as co-writer on eight of the tracks was a point of confusion, as Vliet did not employ him, or indeed any regular co-writer at any other time in his career, and never discussed or clarified his role in the album. There was little record of his existence, though his name incidentally also appeared in a reference to an unproduced screenplay for After the Gold Rush on the 1971 Neil Young album of the same name
After the Gold Rush
After the Gold Rush is the third studio album by Canadian musician Neil Young. Released in August 1970 on Reprise Records, it was one of the four high-profile albums released by each member of folk rock collective Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young in the wake of their chart-topping 1970 album Déjà Vu...
. Various Magic Band members had in fact indicated that the name may have been nothing other than a publishing-related pseudonym. It was only in 2003 that Bermann himself was finally located and interviewed, and his involvement as co-writer confirmed.
Critical and popular reception
The record did not achieve popular success on its release, failing to chart in either the United States, where none of Beefheart's albums would ever enter the top 100, or in the United Kingdom, where the band would enjoy modest success with later works such as Trout Mask ReplicaTrout Mask Replica
Trout Mask Replica is the third album by Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band, released in June 1969. Produced by Beefheart's friend and former schoolmate Frank Zappa, it was originally released as a double album on Zappa's Straight Records label...
(1969). Scaruffi notes, "Although in this period the group produced great freak-music, almost no one noticed. Well received only by the few radicals in his circle, Beefheart felt like a solitary cactus in a desert full of quick sand."
The album made a greater impact in Europe than in the U.S. The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
were among those who took note of its content: John Lennon
John Lennon
John Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...
placed two of the album's promotional bumper stickers on a cabinet in the sunroom where he spent most of his time at his home.
"Electricity" was covered by Sonic Youth
Sonic Youth
Sonic Youth is an American alternative rock band from New York City, formed in 1981. The current lineup consists of Thurston Moore , Kim Gordon , Lee Ranaldo , Steve Shelley , and Mark Ibold .In their early career, Sonic Youth was associated with the No Wave art and music scene in New York City...
. It was released as the final track on the deluxe edition of their album Daydream Nation
Daydream Nation
Daydream Nation is the fifth studio album by the American alternative rock band Sonic Youth. It was released in October 1988 by Enigma Records in the United States, and by Blast First in the United Kingdom....
. "Dropout Boogie" became an inspiration to The Edgar Broughton Band
Edgar Broughton Band
The Edgar Broughton Band, founded in 1968 in Warwick, England, is an English Psychedelic Rock group.-Career:The band started their career as a blues group under the name of The Edgar Broughton Blues Band, playing to a dedicated but limited following in the region around their hometown of Warwick...
, with their radical 1970 single mix Apache Drop Out, in which they cut it with their interpretation of The Shadows' "Apache" instrumental. The Magic Band track has also been covered by The Kills
The Kills
The Kills is a rock band formed by American singer Alison Mosshart and British guitarist Jamie Hince . Their first three albums, Keep On Your Mean Side, No Wow, and Midnight Boom, have garnered much critical praise...
on their 2002 Black Rooster EP.
Reissues
The album was released in the UK on Pye International, and subsequently reissued in PyePye Records
Pye Records was a British record label. In its first incarnation, perhaps Pye's best known artists were Lonnie Donegan , Petula Clark , The Searchers , The Kinks , Sandie Shaw and Brotherhood of Man...
's budget Marble Arch series (albeit bearing Pye International labels on the disc itself) as a 10 track, without the tracks "I'm Glad" and "Grown So Ugly". When Buddah's UK distribution passed to Polydor in 1970 it was again reissued, this time on Buddah in Polydor's budget 99 series and retitled Dropout Boogie. Initially the tracklisting of this release matched the Marble Arch version, but the missing tracks were quickly restored. This 99 series release was also the first appearance in the UK of a stereo mix of the album.
In 1999 the now correctly-named Buddha Records
Buddah Records
Buddah Records was founded in 1967 in New York City. The label was born out of Kama Sutra Records, an MGM Records-distributed label, which remained a key imprint following Buddah's founding...
, owned by BMG who had acquired Buddah's back catalogue, remastered the album onto CD. They added seven bonus tracks, taken from the sessions for the unreleased 'Brown Wrapper' follow-up album. These tracks had been recorded around November 1967 (two months after Safe as Milks release), and were from the same sessions that yielded the songs on Mirror Man (1971). BMG's Buddha also released The Mirror Man Sessions on CD in 1999, effectively an official issue of the 'unphazed' versions of Mirror Man, with five further bonus tracks taken from the same sessions.
Track listing
Side one- "Sure 'Nuff 'n Yes I Do" (Don Van VlietCaptain BeefheartDon Van Vliet January 15, 1941 December 17, 2010) was an American musician, singer-songwriter and artist best known by the stage name Captain Beefheart. His musical work was conducted with a rotating ensemble of musicians called The Magic Band, active between 1965 and 1982, with whom he recorded 12...
, Herb Bermann) – 2:15 - "Zig Zag Wanderer" (Van Vliet, Bermann) – 2:40
- "Call On Me" – 2:37 (Van Vliet)
- "Dropout Boogie" – 2:32 (Van Vliet, Bermann)
- "I'm Glad" – 3:31 (Van Vliet)
- "Electricity" – 3:07 (Van Vliet, Bermann)
Side two
- "Yellow Brick Road" – 2:28 (Van Vliet, Bermann)
- "Abba Zaba" – 2:44 (Van Vliet)
- "Plastic Factory" (Van Vliet, Bermann, Jerry Handley) – 3:08
- "Where There's Woman" (Van Vliet, Bermann) – 2:09
- "Grown So Ugly" (Robert Pete WilliamsRobert Pete WilliamsRobert Pete Williams was an American Louisiana blues musician. His music characteristically employed unconventional blues tunings and structures, and his songs are often about the time he served in prison...
) – 2:27 - "Autumn's Child" (Van Vliet, Bermann) – 4:02
CD bonus tracks
Buddha's 1999 remastered issue of the album features the following bonus tracks.
All bonus tracks by Van Vliet.
- "Safe as Milk" (Take 5) – 4:13
- "On Tomorrow" – 6:56
- "Big Black Baby Shoes" – 4:50
- "Flower Pot" – 3:55
- "Dirty Blue Gene" – 2:43
- "Trust Us" (Take 9) – 7:22
- "Korn Ring Finger" – 7:26
Personnel
Musicians- Don Van VlietCaptain BeefheartDon Van Vliet January 15, 1941 December 17, 2010) was an American musician, singer-songwriter and artist best known by the stage name Captain Beefheart. His musical work was conducted with a rotating ensemble of musicians called The Magic Band, active between 1965 and 1982, with whom he recorded 12...
– vocals, harmonica, bass marimba, arrangements
- The Magic Band
- Alex St. Clair SnoufferAlex St. ClairAlex St. Clair , was an American musician.Twice guitarist for Captain Beefheart, St. Clair was a contemporary of Frank Zappa at Antelope Valley High School in Lancaster, California, where St. Clair played trumpet and Zappa played drums. They bought their first guitars within days of each other.St...
– guitar, bass, background vocals - Jerry Handley – bass, background vocals
- John FrenchJohn French (musician)John "Drumbo" French is an American drummer and musician. He played on Captain Beefheart's Trout Mask Replica and on various other Beefheart recordings: Beefheart dubbed him "Drumbo"...
– drums, background vocals - Ry CooderRy CooderRyland Peter "Ry" Cooder is an American guitarist, singer and composer. He is known for his slide guitar work, his interest in roots music from the United States, and, more recently, his collaborations with traditional musicians from many countries.His solo work has been eclectic, encompassing...
– guitar, slide guitar, bass, arrangements of "Sure 'Nuff 'N Yes I Do" and "Grown So Ugly"
- Alex St. Clair Snouffer
- Additional musicians
- Samuel Hoffman - thereminThereminThe theremin , originally known as the aetherphone/etherophone, thereminophone or termenvox/thereminvox is an early electronic musical instrument controlled without discernible physical contact from the player. It is named after its Russian inventor, Professor Léon Theremin, who patented the device...
on "Electricity" and "Autumn's Child" - Milt HollandMilt HollandMilt Holland was an American drummer, percussionist, ethnic musicologist, and writer in the Los Angeles music scene who pioneered the use of African, South American, and Indian percussion styles in jazz, pop and film music, traveling extensively on those continents to collect instruments and to...
– log drum, tambourine - Taj MahalTaj Mahal (musician)Henry Saint Clair Fredericks , who uses the stage name Taj Mahal, is an American Grammy Award winning blues musician. He incorporates elements of world music into his music...
– tambourine
- Samuel Hoffman - theremin
Production
- Richard PerryRichard PerryRichard Perry is an American music producer. Perry began as a performer in his adolescence, but shifted gears after graduating college and rose through the late 1960s and early 1970s to become a highly successful and popular record producer with over a dozen gold records to his credit by 1982...
– producer (at RCA Studio), harpsichord - Bob KrasnowBob KrasnowBob Krasnow is a leading music industry entrepreneur. His early career included working as a promotions man for James Brown and sales representative for Decca Records. In the early 1960s, Krasnow founded MK Records, which released the novelty record "," a parody of the 1960 presidential campaign...
– producer - Hank CicaloHank CicaloHank Cicalo is an American recording engineer, most notable for his work in the 1960s and 1970s. Among the artists Cicalo recorded are The Monkees, Carole King and George Harrison.-The Monkees:...
– engineer (at RCA Studio) - Gary MarkerGary MarkerGary 'Magic' Marker is a bass guitarist and recording engineer best known for his involvement in various psychedelic rock bands of the 1960s....
– engineer (demos at Original Sound & Sunset Sound)