81. Safe as Milk

Safe as Milk
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band
1967

Tracks
1. Sure Nuff 'n' Yes I Do
2. Zig Zag Wanderer
3. Call On Me
4. Dropout Boogie
5. I'm Glad
6. Electricity
7. Yellow Brick Road
8. Abba Zaba
9. Plastic Factory
10. Where There's A Woman
11. Grown So Ugly
12. Autumn's Child

Amanda: This is getting ridiculous.  I mean, I think I have been pretty flexible with all the weird albums lately but this is absurd.  I am not saying I need a completely ordinary, boring album but a dose of normality would be nice.

This album was especially weird but it also had the added bonus of being pretty obnoxious.  Captain Beefheart (what kind of name is that?) has a pretty annoying voice; he sounds like he is whining all the time.  "Dropout Boogie" was particularly excrutiating.  Christ, will I be glad when psychadelic rock is over.  I liked it at first but now it is just getting on my nerves.  Damn kids, with their music!

RATING:

Brie: Oh my gosh, I cannot tell you how much I loved this album! I took my laptop around the house making people listen to these songs. The great Tom Waits cites Captain Beefheart as an influence, and I can certainly see that, especially in Rain Dogs. I really love his voice. He has a down-and-out growl kind of thing going on. Some songs were safer than others, but I guess Captain Beefheart (real name Don Van Vliet) didn't want to go too crazy for his first album. "Zig Zag Wanderer" and "Where There's A Woman" were my favorites, although the whole album was amazing. I also appreciated the bluesy "Sure Nuff 'n' Yes I Do".

RATING:

So, Captain Beefheart influenced Tom Waits. And I see some Tom Waits influence in Nick Cave (even though Cave is just a few years younger than Waits). They all have similar qualities in their voices and they all look very similar....

Captain Beefheart
 
Tom Waits

Nick Cave


Maybe it's the sideburns