A great album that gets better with each listen. If you're looking for a place to start with the Captain, I think this is the album to do it- more so than Trout Mask Replica. If you're cherry-picking tracks, I suggest Safe As Milk, Dropout Boogie, Abba Zabba & Trust Us. Great guitar tones throughout this album make it easy to see why The Black Keys, The White Stripes and Ty Segall have covered him. RIP Captain Beefheart.
I downloaded this album many months ago, and am still trying to get into it. It wasn't a waste of credits at all, it's just a hard album to bond with. It's very strange and doesn't sound like it was recorded on this planet. I have a feeling a day will come when me and this album connect. I think the experiment alone was worth the credits. If I were you, I would only download it if you're in the mood to challenge yourself. If you're looking for a truly great 60's album, I much prefer Forever Changes by Love.
When looking up Capt.Beefheart on eMusic(which lists him, "and the magic band", & his magic band" all seperately) eMusic shows Captain Beefheart aka Don Van Vliet as having died in 2006! At first I was saddened and then shocked that I had never heard about this, being a longtime Beefheart fan. Then I thought "wait a minute.. I WOULD have heard about this!". As of this writing (April 12th, 2010), Captain Beefheart is NOT DEAD! Exactly where Hell eMusic got this "fact" from is unknown but that they posted this tidbit of wrong information on their website is quite baffling. You would think that a website dedicated to music would have more sense. ANYHOO! "Safe As Milk" is a classic blues/rock album, no question about it! Please also check out (if you get alittle more daring), Captain Beefheart's avant garde tour de force masterpiece "Trout Mask Replica". Which, eMusic does not have.
Even if you were scared off by the very idea of Trout Mask Replica, I've got to recommend this one. it's basically bluesy garage rock, but I don't think anyone else has approached that kind of music quite this way.
I had this album back in the day. It still sounds good today. If you are looking for unique and great, this is it. Recommend, Sure Nuff, Zig Zag, Drop Out Boogie and Abba Zabba.
Call it sun-kissed. Or sun-dappled. Or sun-struck. Just know that the sounds of California are a beguiling, seriously specific brand of music. From hazy hippies to hard-bitten hip-hop, there's an ineffable quality to our neighbors on the Left Coast. One listen to any of these acts will transport you to the country's smoothest sector. Get your Ray Bans ready, this is Cali music. more »
It used to be easier to pretend that an album was its own perfectly self-contained artifact. The great records certainly feel that way. But albums are more permeable than solid, their motivations, executions and inspirations informed by, and often stolen from, their peers and forbearers. It all sounds awfully formal, but it's not. It's the very nature of music — of art, even. The Six Degrees features examine the relationships between classic records and five… more »
