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 Woman
11. Grown So Ugly
12. Autumn's Child

Justin Sherill:

This album is one of the few albums that sounds much like the period that it came from. It's easiest to listen to if you remember the music of that period. It only hints at the later innovations that would come in the band's music, but it's not a bad pick. Not necessarily a good starting point if you don't like music of that era.

Graham Johnston:

Well, I love music from that era, and this was the very first Beefheart album I heard, about 23 years after its first release. I doubt I could have had a better starting place. It's all very accessible and there isn't a slack tune on the album. "Autumn's Child" is one of my very favourites of his songs - it is so hard not to start the whole album over again as "Autumn's Child" closes. An essential album for any Beefheart fan, and any fan of garage, psychedelia, blues, r 'n' b, music, etc. A 1999 re-issue features massively improved mastering and packaging, and also includes a selection of hard to find outtakes from the Plain Brown Wrapper / Mirror Man sessions.

Click the picture to view a much larger version.

The original release of Safe As Milk came with a splendid free bumper sticker, as pictured above. John Lennon reportedly liked the album so much that he had two bumper stickers on display in his Weybridge home (see below).

Those of you unable to find a copy of the original Safe As Milk with its bumper sticker may wish to download and print a huge (278k) version of it from the Radar Station. Just click the image above. Many thanks to Michael Stanowski for scanning and sending this along.

Please note that you will need to save it to your hard-drive and then re-align and resize it to suit your printer. If you need any help, drop me a line.

Many thanks to Bob Harkleroad for sending this picture along.

• Mono on Buddah (red label) BDM 1001
• Stereo on Buddah (red label) BDS 5001 - this is down as (E) in the US Goldmine Album Price Guide - ie Electronically Re-chanelled Stereo.
• Stereo on Buddah (rainbow label) BDS 5001 - possibly a second pressing with a different label, pictured below.

This is a copy of Safe as Milk which I presume to be an original US issue. It is on the rainbow Buddah label, catalog number BDS 5001. There are some peculiarities, however. The record cover lists the mono number (BDM 1001), and the upper left front cover has a sticker indicating "stereo" adhered to it (covering, I presume, the mono catalog number). I purchased this item sealed and am certain the shrinkwrap is original, as it has a '60s-period price tag from K-Mart on it, indicating a price of "2 for $1". However, it did not have the bumpersticker or inner sleeve inside when I opened it. My guess is that it's actually from a second issue of the record, made up from extra parts left over from the initial issue which would've included the sticker and inner sleeve. They probably had some mono jackets left over, put stereo pressings inside, and slapped a "stereo" sticker on, long after the bumpersticker supply was depleted. The presence of a cut-out rivet in the cover (visible in the scan) supports this idea. Things like this happened all the time. Not necessarily a true variation, I suppose, but an interesting sub-variation.

-Chris Perry

• 1967 or 68 Australian Original on Astor PLP 1249 Stereo - gold and black sticker on the front cover, 'Astor Goldengroove Series'.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• 1968 UK Original on Pye (blue label) NPL 28110 Mono - the original UK release was in February 1968. the cover was more yellow than other releases
  
  
• 1969 UK Re-issue on Buddah 623171 in 12 track Stereo1969 UK Re-issue by Pye on Marble Arch MAL 1117 Mono (10 track) - a Budget reissue came out in March 1969 with I'm Glad and Grown So Ugly missing.
  
  
  
  
• 1970 UK Re-issue as Dropout Boogie on Buddah (black label) 2349 002 - reissued on the budget 99 label in July 1970 - here is where the repackaging/renaming of SAM started - I guess the weird title Safe As Milk was viewed as a problem by the record companies.
  
  
  • The first pressing with only 10 tracks, the Marble Arch MAL 1117 issue, had a different matrix number - this was the version sold in the shops in the first weeks - the cover listed all 12 tracks and caused endless confusion.
  • Standard 12 track version - cover as above
    
    
• 1970 US Re-issue on Buddah BDS 5063 - this was the famous Buddah reissue with the Langdon Winner quote about the forgotten classic of rock 'n roll history from his "I'm not even here I just stick around for my friends - The Odyssey of Captain Beefheart" article in Issue 58 of Rolling Stone featured prominently on the front. Radio plugs were broadcast featuring this quote. This is the version pictured at the top of this page, which had also been remastered in a very unsatisfying way. The lead guitar suddenly disappears during the second stanza of Dropout Boogie and the fade in to Abba Zaba is completely botched. Not as nice as Buddah 5001.
  
  
  • 1970 US Re-issue on Buddah (rainbow label pictured below) BDS 5063.

  

• 1970 or later US Re-issue on Buddah (purple label) BDS 5063 - same number but Purple Buddah label.
  
  
• 1970(?) German Release as Plastic Factory on Buddah (rainbow label) 2318 014 with Chicken Coop cover - rename and redone cover which is actually quite attractive - I guess the photo represented the new title and not the possible environmental concern of the original Safe As Milk name.





• 1970 (?) French Release on Buddah BD60017 (brown label) Cover with the Langdon Winner quote. Distributed by Vogue ("Distribution VOGUE P.I.P."). Vogue factory innersleeve (made of brown wrapping paper; no plastic; big "Vogue" logo printed on it and tips for careful handling of records). And here's the best thing about this issue: the record is made of thick red (shine through) vinyl! (Thanks to Claudius Huenerwadel for this information)
  
  
  
  
• 1970 French Release on Buddah (rainbow label) 921024 in Super Group Series 921024 with the excellent Cannes Beach Publicity Shot from the 1968 MIDEM Pop Festival on the cover. Although it's the Majic Band apparently!
  
  
  
  
  
• 1972 Mexican Release on Buddah 21007, stereo, as Plastic Factory, with a very colourful gatefold sleeve. The banner along the top of the front cover says "Serie Rock Power: La Nueva Genercion Electrica". The sleeve opens, rather bafflingly, onto a faceless person and an army of marching wooden figures. This is an exetremely rare version (a copy on Ebay in 2002 sold for about USD250)
  
  
  
  
  Although the song titles are in English on the cover, on the record labels they have been translated in Mexican. So, on side two we have:-
  
  Camino de Ladrillos Amarillo
  Abba Zaba
  Fabrica de Plastico
  Donde Hay Una Mujer
  Crecido Tan Feo
  Niro de Atoro
  
  
  


• 1976 German Re-issue as GOLD ROCK on Buddah 201.719 (Rainbow)- front cover features a 1972 photo - probably off the German TV Beat Club appearence - and Gold Rock title in photo of embroidery work on gold satin. Back has notes in German covering period upto 1975 and says Im Vertrieb der METRONOME RECORDS Gmbh, Hammerbrookstrasse 73, 2000 Hamburg 1 * Made in W.-Germany
  
  
  
  
• 1978 German Re-issue on Buddah (purple label) 6.23171 AF - cover has TELDEC >> TELEFUNKEN-DECCA << Schallplatten-GmbH., Heussweg 25, 2000 Hamburg 19 (Western Germany)
  
  
• 1981 UK LP Re-issue on PRT, catalogue number NCP 1004 Licenced by Precision Records and Tapes Ltd. Made in England
  
  
• 1985 UK Re-issue on WEA 252 260-1
  
  
• 19?? Dutch release on Buddah (rainbow label) HBDS 5001 - cover as US with Vervaardigd in licentie door N.V.Bovema on back bottom right. Note that number is the same as US original release with H (=Holland?) added.
  
  
• 1984 US Re-issue on Buddah BDS 69005
  
  
• 198X UK CD on Castle Classics CLACD 234
  
  
• 1990 German CD on Repertoire Records RR 4035-C The text of an article printed in this release is available.
  
  
• 1992 Canadian CD on Buddah/Karma Sutra BKS 5001 New York, N.Y.10001 - CD says MASTERED BY NIMBUS
  
  
• 199? US CD on One Way Records OW 29088 - also includes all of the I May Be Hungry... outtakes minus Safe As Milk take 5 and Flower Pot. The front cover is faithful to the original (see scan of CD back cover, below):

• 1999 US & UK CD Reissue on Buddha, featuring six Mirror Man out-takes which were previously available on I May Be Hungry But I Sure Ain't Weird, and also Korn Ring Finger, never before available.
  
  
• 1999 Japanese CD on BMG Funhouse BVCM-35051.



• 1999 SVLP122 Vinyl reissue on Simply Vinyl featuring the same remastering and bonus track as the 1999 Buddha CD listed above.

• 1977 UK SAM/MM Combination Re-issue as Beefheart File of SAM/MM on Pye FILD 008 - Two inner sleeves contain "rare" photos and informative article by Connor McKnight
  
  
  • first sleeve has real slot on front
  • later sleeve front cover has Internal Memo artwork and no slot
    
    

  

• 1983 UK Re-issue as Music In Sea Minor of six tracks from SAM and two from MM on a 10" Album with Cannes Beach publicity shot cover on Buddah PRT DOW 15.
  
  
• 1984 UK Re-issue as Top Secret of five tracks from SAM and two from MM on Breakaway BWY 66
  
  
  
  
• 1984 UK Re-issue as Top Secret on 12" Picture Disc Design PIXLP4 - has Knebworth photo and Clear Spot period top-hat publicity shot.
  
  
  
  
• 1988 UK double CD SAM & MM combination from Castle Communications TFO 11 1/2
  
  
• 1988 Dutch Release as Abba Zaba of five tracks from SAM and two from MM on MASTERS MA 0015784
  
  
  • White label - promo?
  • Red label - assume this is the standard issue
    
  
  
  
  
• 1988 UK Re-issue of SAM/MM by Castle Communication on That's Original series TFOLP 11 (double)
  
  
• 1990 CD The Best Beefheart (All of SAM and three tracks from MM) on Pair Records by Buddah (EEC) CDB 019

  

• 1989 CD Captain Beefheart At His Best (Safe as Milk with sinister track reordering - I'm Glad and Dropout Boogie are swapped) on The Special Music Company/Pair Records (USA) SCD-4922. Also has really lousy short liner notes.
  
  
• 1991 Zig Zag Wanderer on Collection (UK) ORO146 - an all time low re-issue being just Safe as Milk with total track reordering (starts with Autumn's Child!) and has a Knebworth photo on the front!
  
  
• 1991 Dutch double CD on DISKY DCD 5216 - TWO ORIGINAL ALBUMS ON CD - Mirror Man CD has Little Scratch and Funeral Hill No. 1 as per Germany Mirror Man CD and the same photo on front. Inside notes culled from Rolling Stone, New Musical Express and Sounds.

• 1989 US The Best Beefheart cassette on Pair PDK-2-1232 - has Safe As Milk tracks one side and three tracks off Mirror Man as equivalent CD.