Editing Captain Beefheart (section)

=== ''Safe as Milk'' ===
After fulfilling their deal for two singles, the band presented demos to A&M for what would become the album ''[[Safe as Milk]]''. A&M's [[Jerry Moss]] reportedly described this new direction as "too negative" and dropped the band from the label. Much of the demo recording was accomplished at [[Art Laboe]]'s Original Sound Studio, then with [[Gary Marker]] at [[Sunset Sound Recorders|Sunset Sound]] on 8-track. By the end of 1966, they were signed to [[Buddah Records]] and much of the demo work was transferred to 4-track, at the behest of [[Bob Krasnow]] and [[Richard Perry]] in the RCA Studio in Hollywood, where the recording was finalized. By now, Doug Moon had left the band and his tracks were taken up by [[Ry Cooder]], who had been brought into the band after much pressure from Van Vliet.

Drummer John French had joined the group and it would be his patience that was required to transcribe Van Vliet's ideas (often expressed by whistling or banging on the piano) into musical form for the other group members. Upon French's departure, this role was taken over by [[Bill Harkleroad]] for ''Lick My Decals Off, Baby''.<ref>Harkleroad, Bill (1998). ''Lunar Notes: Zoot Horn Rollo's Captain Beefheart Experience''. Interlink Publishing. {{ISBN|0-946719-21-7}}. p. 67</ref>

{{Listen
| type = music
| filename    = Electricity.ogg
| title       = "Electricity"
| description = 26-second sample
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Many of the lyrics on the ''Safe as Milk'' album were written by Van Vliet in collaboration with the writer [[Herb Bermann]], who befriended Van Vliet after seeing him perform at a bar in Lancaster in 1966. The song "[[Electricity (Captain Beefheart song)|Electricity]]" was a poem written by Bermann, who gave Van Vliet permission to adapt it to music.<ref name="ReferenceB">{{cite web |first=Graham |last=Johnston |url=http://www.beefheart.com/datharp/herb1.htm |title=The Captain Beefheart Radar Station – Herb Bermann interview pt 1 |work=Beefheart.com |access-date=February 11, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081020115103/http://www.beefheart.com/datharp/herb1.htm |archive-date=October 20, 2008 }}</ref>  Unlike the album's mostly blues rock sound, songs such as "Electricity" illustrated the band's unconventional instrumentation and Van Vliet's unusual vocals.
 
Much of the ''Safe as Milk'' material was honed and arranged by Cooder. The band began recording in spring 1967 and the album was released in September 1967. [[Richie Unterberger]] of ''[[Allmusic]]'' called it "blues–rock gone slightly askew, with jagged, fractured rhythms, soulful, twisting vocals from Van Vliet, and more doo wop, soul, straight blues, and folk–rock influences than he would employ on his more [[avant garde]] outings".

[[John Lennon]] displayed two of the album's promotional "baby bumper stickers" in the sunroom at his home.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.beefheart.com/datharp/albums/official/pics/lennonsam.jpg |title=Photo of John Lennon lounging at his Surrey home, with "Safe as Milk" bumper stickers visible |access-date=February 11, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110616182238/http://www.beefheart.com/datharp/albums/official/pics/lennonsam.jpg |archive-date=June 16, 2011 }}</ref> [[The Beatles]] planned to sign Beefheart to their experimental [[Zapple]] label, plans that were scrapped after [[Allen Klein]] took over the Beatles management.

Van Vliet was often critical of the Beatles. He considered the lyric "I'd love to turn you on" from "[[A Day in the Life]]" to be ridiculous and conceited. Tiring of their "lullabies", he lampooned them with the ''Strictly Personal'' song "Beatle Bones 'n' Smokin' Stones",{{sfn|Barnes|2011|p=194}} with the sardonic refrain of "strawberry fields, all the winged eels slither on the heels of today's children, [[Strawberry Fields Forever|strawberry fields forever]]". Vliet spoke badly of Lennon after getting no response when he sent a telegram of support to him and wife [[Yoko Ono]] during their 1969 "[[Bed-in]]".{{sfn|Barnes|2011|p=194}}

{{Listen|filename=Safe as Milk.ogg|description="Safe as Milk" from ''Strictly Personal'', an album "having little in the way of lyrics or chords beyond the most primeval stomp" according to Stewart Mason in his AllMusic review.<ref name="Mason, AllMusic">{{cite web|last=Mason |first=Stewart |url= {{AllMusic|class=album|id=r32274|pure_url=yes}} |title=Strictly Personal &gt; Overview  |website= Allmusic |date=April 25, 1968 |access-date=September 2, 2019}}</ref>|title="Safe as Milk"|pos=left}}

To support the ''Safe as Milk'' release, the group was scheduled to play at the 1967 [[Monterey Pop Festival]]. Vliet was having severe [[panic attack]]s and was convinced that he was having a heart attack, a fear exacerbated by his heavy [[Lysergic acid diethylamide|LSD]] use and the fact that his father had died of heart failure a few years earlier. At a vital warm-up performance at the [[Fantasy Fair and Magic Mountain Music Festival]] (June 10–11) shortly before the Monterey Festival, the band began to play "Electricity" and Van Vliet froze, straightened his tie, then walked off the {{convert|10|ft|m|abbr=on}} stage and landed on manager [[Bob Krasnow]]. He later claimed he had seen a girl in the audience turn into a fish, with bubbles coming from her mouth.<ref>French, John. ''Beefheart: Through The Eyes Of Magic'', p. 253. {{ISBN|978-0-9561212-1-9}}</ref> This aborted any opportunity of breakthrough success at Monterey, as Cooder decided he could no longer work with Van Vliet and quit.<ref name="artist formerly known"/> There was no time for the band to find a replacement. Cooder's spot was eventually filled by Gerry McGee, who had played with [[The Monkees (album)|the Monkees]]. According to French, the band did two gigs with McGee, one at The Peppermint Twist near [[Long Beach, California|Long Beach]], the other at the [[Santa Monica Civic Auditorium]], August 7, 1967, as the opening act for [[The Yardbirds]].<ref name="John French p264">French, John. ''Beefheart: Through The Eyes Of Magic'' p. 264. {{ISBN|978-0-9561212-1-9}}</ref>