Released in 2006, this compressed sampler of early
Captain Beefheart strata bundles seven of the twelve tunes originally issued on the album
Safe as Milk with five much looser experimental episodes from the next leg of the
Beefheart saga by tapping into material that would appear on the
Strictly Personal,
Plain Brown Wrapper, and
Mirror Man albums. This includes the piece entitled "Safe as Milk" which was not included on the album of the same name. The timeline runs from April 1967 to May 1968, a turbulent period for the Captain and those who dared to work with him. There is something like a logical progression from the early
Ry Cooder-driven, blues-marinated psychedelia through the expanded jams of extended duration to the triumphant mind-expanding wonderment of "Kandy Korn." The stars of the collection (second of course to
Beefheart and
Cooder) are drummer and theoretician
John French and guitarists
Jeff Cotton (aka
Antennae Jimmy Semens). Play this music really loud, using a sizable playback system with speakers that rattle the windows and make your flesh crawl. Better results may be obtained by rubbing together several other more complete
Beefheart editions.