Captain Beefheart - Safe as Milk
Though it's Trout Mask Replica that gets all the press (especially in its native Cali) for its weird not-rock, Safe As Milk is its superior, at least for those of us who like our weirdness with at least a reference point from which to work. It's the first studio album from the defiantly uncommercial Captain Beefheart, and it's a blues- and doo-wop-influenced affair. If those two genres birthed rock 'n' roll, this is rock's identical twin that didn't quite come out right, the one they've been keeping in the attic and feeding fish heads to. Still, there are some strong nearly (dare I say it?) pop songs here, like "Yellow Brick Road" and "Zig Zag Wanderer," presented below. If Trout Mask Replica always seemed too strange, this might be the perfect place to start with the Cap'n's bizarre vocals and nearly free-form instrumental career.