Most of this information originally appeared at Justin Sherill's Home Page Replica. Many thanks to Justin for passing it along.

• Ah Feel Like Ahcid
• Safe As Milk
• Trust Us
• Son of Mirror Man - Mere Man
• On Tomorrow
• Beatle Bones and Smokin Stones
• Gimme Dat Harp Boy
• Kandy Korn

Justin Sherill:

This album, though somewhat warped by the "psychedelic" leanings of that era, still is an excellent purchase. It makes a good transition between Safe As Milk / Mirror Man and Trout Mask Replica. Check out the unphased outtakes on I May Be Hungry But I Sure Ain't Weird if you can still find it.

Graham Johnston:

Beefheart's 'ruined' classic doesn't sound half bad at all, though the outtakes do sound considerably better. To me, there is a clear distinction between the albums up to Strictly Personal and that which followed. After this point, nothing was to sound quite the same ever again....

• 1968 US Original on Blue Thumb BTS1
  The first release on this label named by Don and set up by the producer Bob Krasnow who had also been involved with the production of Safe As Milk.
  Very thick card gatefold sleeve. Two different issues (that we know of):
  
  
  1. black label with silver lettering; banded; there are pressings with different matrix numbers:-
     1. J-1-RE-1 (on both sides)
     2. BTS 5001 D-1 (side 1), BTS 5002 D-1 (side 2)
  2. black label; unbanded
  
  
  
  Jim Neher wrote to pass comment on the quality of the different releases:

  Next to the black label banded version, the black label unbanded version sounds dull, and actually like it was copied from vinyl rather than from a master tape. On the banded version, the sound in "Safe as Milk" after the words "popup toaster cracklin" stands out sharply, sounding to me like a matrixing defect. (In the unbanded version, the top treble is missing, causing that sound to be blurred in as if it were deliberate.) I assume it is rare - my friend got it in New England in 1970. Even after being played to death, it sounds better than any other vinyl copy I have heard. It was a source of great frustration to me that he had good-sounding copies of Safe as Milk and Strictly Personal, and that I had to make do with inferior versions that were then in the stores. These were our two favorite albums, next to Trout Mask.

• 197? US Reissue on Blue Thumb BTS1. Thin card gatefold sleeve.
  Blue Thumb had been taken over and the label now carries the additional text "A SUBSIDIARY OF FAMOUS MUSIC CORPORATION A GULF - WESTERN COMPANY"
  
  Two different issues:
  
  
  1. tan label with black lettering; unbanded; there are pressings with different matrix numbers
     1. 5001 BTS1-1C (side one), 5002 BTS1-1D (side two)
     2. 5001 BTS1-1D (side one), 5002 BTS1-1B (side two)
  2. tan label banded
     
     
  
  
  

• 197? US Reissue on Blue Thumb BTS-8801.
  By this time the label had been taken over by Capitol Records.
  The label is similar to the earlier tan versions (without the 'A Subsidiary of..' details) but is much paler - closer to cream or ivory in colour. The album includes the standard gatefold cover but with a NEGATIVE version of the photograph inside!



Thanks to David Naughton for the scans of this one.

I have a copy of the original black label banded release and the reissued tan label unbanded. There is a definite difference in sound quality between the two. The tan label unbanded sounds quite insipid in comparison to the other. The black label banded pressing has much more 'presence' and a significantly stronger bass response.

• 1968 UK Original on Liberty (Blue) LBL/LBS 83172
  
  Gatefold yellow-brown sleeve, same as US issue, but on much thinner card. However, it looks like some of the earlier UK and European issues were released in thick US sleeves with the addition of a Liberty sticker on the back (see scan of example below)
  
  
  • Mono Cover/Mono Record on Liberty (Blue) LBL 83172 (g/fold)
  • Relabeled Mono Cover/Stereo Record on Liberty (Blue) LBS 83172 (g/fold)
  • Stereo Cover/Stereo Record on Liberty (Blue) LBS 83172 (g/fold)
    
    
  
  
  Thanks to Mats Hulden for these scans.
  
  
  
• 1968 UK Original (Stereo Cover/Stereo Record) on Liberty (Black) LBS 83172 with same gatefold sleeve
  
  
• 1971 UK Re-issue by Liberty on Sunset SLS 50208 - standard budget Sunset reissue of Liberty in March 1971 - artwork different, ie photo of parcel, on rust coloured background.
  
  
  Thanks to Simon Smith for this scan.
  
  
  
• 1979 UK Re-issue by Liberty on Rock File Series LBR 1006 - another budget issue in November 1979 with different again artwork.
  
  
  
  
• 1999 Vinyl Strictly Personal, the first ever audiophile vinyl version of Strictly Personal. Released on Simply Vinyl.
  

• 1973 French issue on United Artists Records UAS29540
  Sleeve is different closer view of parcel. Back has sleeve notes by Paul Alessandrini taken from 1972 Rock & Folk 64/65
  
  
• 1980 New Zealand Strictly Personal on MID 17 by EMI Records NZ - has the same cover as the UK Liberty reissue with EMI Records New Zealand Auckland - Wellington - Christchurch P.O.Box 30849 Lower Hutt (P) 1980. Label is attractive Gold/Brown sunlight thru clouds and says MADE IN NEW ZEALAND. Inner sleeve clear plastic.
  
  

• 1994 CD Re-issue by EMI, numbered 7243 8 29654 2 8.
  Includes booklet with excellent four page piece by Mark Paytress
  
  
  See Gerry Pratt's comments about this issue below.
  
  

• 1991 Dutch CD RARE BEEFHEART VINTAGE ZAPPA on Disky Communications B.V. DCD 5217 - 5 "PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED'' tracks from the Strictly Personal sessions licensed from Kama Sutra Music Inc.
  
  
• 1992 I May Be Hungry But I Sure Ain't Weird
  
  
• 1999 Safe As Milk - Reissue with bonus tunes. This and the following release contained all the I May Be Hungry tunes plus Korn Ring Finger.
  
  
• 1999 Mirror Man Sessions - Reissue with bonus tunes.

Strictly Personal has been issued on CD in the UK by EMI (7243 8 29654 2 8) - it appeared in UK shops round here in mid July '94. The packaging is really excellent - the CD booklet is like a mini version of the original 1968 gatefold sleeve with the 25th Century picture in the centre and all the right credits/dates intact. It comes with about 2000 word sleeve notes by Mark Paytress which are also pretty good. The Ry Cooder connection which appears in the adverts is due to a mis-reading of these notes - Mark was talking about Ry Cooder's involvement in Safe As Milk.

It is a Budget CD and the sound is pretty well the same as the original UK 1968 issue (which was the best sound/pressing), the 1971 Sunset re-issue and the 1979 Rock File re-issue. It doesn't claim to have been re-mastered even though the unphased version is extant in Culver City, LA (discovered by Roger Armstrong of Ace Records who told EMI about it).

I have tested it against the vinyl and there is little difference. Unphased tracks (like "Gimme Dat Harp Boy'') sound better and crisper while phased tracks (like "Mirror Man - Son of Mere Man'') sounded worse to me as the phasing is more apparent - I guess digitising adds emphasis to these effects. However the shocker for me was that on "Kandy Korn'', the last track, as the final crescendo is reached there is this wild yell in the background which definitely cannot be heard on the vinyl!

All together a pretty good release and I still think that someone may dig out the pre-phased version in some future release - it would be nice to hear this with the clarity of the UK Sequel "I may be hungry'' CD which was taken direct from the November 1967 master tapes.

Re: Don Van Vliet "approving" the mix

This is Krasnow's story that Don said he liked it while the band hated it (this came from a friend of John "Drumbo'' French). Don's opinion changed when it got bad reviews/sales. Krasnow may have told him it was going to be a hit album and that Beefheart and the Band would make lots of money - this was at a time when they had little if any income. (BTW MOJO #8 had a long letter from John "Drumbo'' French setting the record straight about his involvement in Beefheart's music.)

In my Beefheart 'zine (Steal Softly Thru Show #4 - Old Fart At Play) I will be publishing a telephone interview from January '94 of Bill Harkleroad AKA Zoot Horn Rollo by John Ellis - this sheds some new light on the Summer 1968 period after the April/May '68 recording sessions and before the October (?) 1968 issue of Strictly Personal by Krasnow on his own Blue Thumb label:-

JE: This is Bill Harkleroad that I'm talking to and thanks very much for doing this interview for us...the first question I want to ask ...which you've probably been asked before...was how did you become the guitarist for Trout Mask Replica?

BH: For Trout Mask Replica or for Captain Beefheart?

JE: Well did it start before then?

BH: Well actually yeah...I was in the group before Strictly Personal came out and recorded some of the tunes that...we were going to redo that album...I'm sure that you know the history because of our past conversations

JE: I've heard some really convoluted stuff...that it was recorded for MGM at one point

BH: I recorded two tunes in the studio as my first studio thing...Zappa was the Engineer and Producer of that...we were going to redo the album... then a guy called Bob Krasnow kind of put out the album without anyone knowing...so we dumped what we had...

JE: He's President of Elektra now and I've actually heard from him that he's interested in reissuing that album...the unmixed album ...I also heard that someone contacted a friend of mine in England...said that Capitol or EMI had got hold of it and might be putting it out on CD

BH: Strictly Personal?

JE: Yes

BH: Before he added all the...phasing and stuff?

JE: Yes

BH: Interesting...anyway so your question was the Trout Mask Replica thing

JE: Can you remember what the two tracks were?

BH: "Kandy Korn" and "Moonlight on Vermont"

JE: Wow!

BH: "Moonlight on Vermont" was going to be on that album but ended up going onto Trout Mask Replica

JE: Very interesting ...so Zappa was the producer of that so he probably has the tapes...

BH: Probably yes...I guess I don't know what's happening with his stuff now

If anyone is able to complete or update any of the information above, then please do get in touch.