Safe as Milk. Four and a half stars.
In recorded form, music is a kind of miracle to me, preserving an immortality, a sound removed and preserved. It is a jolt back to reality when I hear that one of these immortal voices has died.
As I did last year for Lena Horne, I tracked down a CD to pay my respects to Don Van Vliet, alias Captain Beefheart. I'd heard the debut was the best starting point, so I sat down with Safe as Milk expecting something really bizarre....
The opener, Sure 'Nuff 'N Yes I Do, is just mildly eccentric blues-rock (all the songs are really short by the way). I was bemused, but one thing can be said: the Magic Band was fabulous. Captain Beefheart may have had to sack half the assembly, but the end result of such perfectionism is immediately noticeable.
Zig Zag Wanderer continues in the same vein. Here's me thinking, why wasn't this record a hit? That's classic sixties guitar in just two minutes!
Things get even more normal with Call On Me, the lyric helping out. I'm thinking he'd make a great R&B singer....
Then finally! Six minutes into the CD, Dropout Boogie kicks off. The song is drenched in buzziness, yet contains a light and airy bridge. Juxtaposition is genius.
So Glad runs off the rails. I think fast Doo-wop is great stuff, but this is sad, slower than molasses and three minutes long. Also, spare me rhymes of "glad" and "sad."
Back on track with Electricity. Space age theremin, the Captain's voice (it's not pretty, but it sure is different), footstomping infection in the music and enough overlapping structures to insure a long playback span.
"The following tone is a reference tone recorded at out operating level," so says Richard Perry the producer, amongst more space age sounds. Then Yellow Brick Road, which, aside from a hollow, abrasive "chorus," is a delightful little pop tune. Ah, now things are properly strange.
Abba Zaba... Childlike rhymes, faux African textures, appealing melody, musical bridge keeping it from repetitiveness. Enjoyable even while wondering where such a crazy idea came from.
Blues-rock gets another airing on Plastic Factory, only this time it's heavy duty, grubby and worn, just the way it should be.
Where There's Woman is also in the blues framework. He'd have made a great blues singer too. This song's good but not at all odd or out there.
That lapse is fixed with Grown So Ugly, a vaguely amusing tale that's kind of throwaway, but still interesting.
The record is now pegged beyond doubt, you think. Which is why Autumn's Child is at the end to stun you. It's a ballad. Well, recognizably Beefheart, but still a ballad. Works as a prototype to the bleeding heart memories of Tom Waits' ballads. At four minutes, it's the most involved song, ending the record on a high artistic note and using theremin to excellent effect.
Oh, did I mention Ry Cooder's presence on guitar? Well respected name might mean something to the readers, but I don't know him myself.
My first Captain Beefheart record. I like it a lot, but will there be another? You see, it is Safe as Milk's glibness, the lightness of touch despite the perfectionism, that charms me. Does Trout Mask Replica, for instance, retain that? Alas, I do not know.
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