Safe As Milk
by Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band
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Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band bestography
Safe As Milk is ranked 2nd best out of 31 albums by Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band on BestEverAlbums.com.
The best album by Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band is Trout Mask Replica which is ranked number 275 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 5,923.
(N.B. Bestographies include all albums by an artist (and their variations), but do not include albums ranked outside the top 100,000).
Listen to Safe As Milk on YouTube
Safe As Milk track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 80 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
Safe As Milk rankings
Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings). Click to see how the rankings are calculated (Last updated: 3 hours ago)
| Year | Source | Chart | Rank | Rank Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | daCritic | Top 41 Music Albums of 1967 | 17/41 | 3 |
| 2026 |  Wasinski | Top 100 Greatest Music Albums | 60/100 | 41 |
| 2026 | TroutMaskGreg | Top 26 Music Albums of 1967 | 3/26 | 5 |
| 2026 |  RockyRaccoon | Top 100 Music Albums of 1967 | 62/100 | 2 |
| 2026 | martintho | Top 60 Music Albums of 1967 | 18/60 | 4 |
| 2026 |  JMGL95 | Top 100 Music Albums of the 1960s | 70/100 | 6 |
| 2026 | OFarrio | Top 17 Music Albums of 1967 | 14/17 | 1 |
| 2026 |  covecove | Top 30 Music Albums of 1967 | 10/30 | 4 |
| 2026 | Fritz | Top 100 Music Albums of the 1960s | 24/100 | 15 |
| 2026 |  TheDarkOrb | Top 33 Music Albums of the 1960s | 25/33 | 5 |
| Total Charts: The total number of charts that this album has appeared in. | 522 | |||
| Total Rank Score: The total rank score. | 3,294 | |||
Safe As Milk collection
Showing latest 20 members who have this album in their collection | Show all 304 members
Safe As Milk ratings
Average Rating = (n ÷ (n + m)) × av + (m ÷ (n + m)) × AVwhere:
av = trimmed mean average rating an item has currently received.
n = number of ratings an item has currently received.
m = minimum number of ratings required for an item to appear in a 'top-rated' chart (currently 10).
AV = the site mean average rating.
Showing latest 3 ratings for this album. | Show all 635 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 5 days ago | pharoahstune | 251 | 80/100 |
| ! | 09/29/2026 10:20 | Siromynian | 1,786 | 74/100 |
| ! | 08/21/2026 09:33 |  DommeDamian | 7,837 | 48/100 |
Rating metrics:
Outliers can be removed when calculating a mean average to dampen the effects of ratings outside the normal distribution. This figure is provided as the trimmed mean. A high standard deviation can be legitimate, but can sometimes indicate 'gaming' is occurring. Consider a simplified example* of an item receiving ratings of 100, 50, & 0. The mean average rating would be 50. However, ratings of 55, 50 & 45 could also result in the same average. The second average might be more trusted because there is more consensus around a particular rating (a lower deviation).
(*In practice, some albums can have several thousand ratings)
This album is rated in the top 2% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 79.4/100, a mean average of 78.2/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 79.5/100. The standard deviation for this album is 15.8.
Safe As Milk favourites
Showing latest 10 members who have added this album as a favourite | Show all 125 members
Safe As Milk forum mentions
BestEverAlbums 10/02/2026 08:18 in Monthly overall chart movements - September 2026 BestEverAlbums 09/01/2026 16:00 in Monthly overall chart movements - August 2026 BestEverAlbums 08/06/2026 08:00 in Chart of the day (#5396): By pranafilmsSafe As Milk comments
Top Comments First | Newest First | Positive Sentiment First | Longest Comments First
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Even on his first record the Captain exudes a well-rounded palette of contrasting emotions and styles. Compare the contemptuous misanthropic rejections on Dropout Boogie with the tender plebeian complacency on I'm Glad. Like Zappa, Beefheart seems to be utilizing popular genres in order to satirize or comment on them. But unlike Zappa (whose songs mock his subjects at a distance), Beefheart is not afraid to get inside his songs and live out the emotions therein, no matter how ridiculous. Aye Captain, I'll admit: for the longest time I thought Safe as Milk was overrated because of what a brilliant mindfuck Trout Mask Replica is. But this is a very fine album that stands on it's own. (Edited)
Like Morrissey, a true original of popular music. Impossible to categorise. Some of his albums are wilfully uncommercial, but this one has some great tunes and riffs amonst the more experimental stuff. (Edited)
ProfessorSquid 04/12/2013 01:12 | #72542 | TOP COMMENT
Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
If Trout Mask puts you off I'd say go back to the beginning and check this out. I think it made me appreciate Trout Mask more. (Edited)
Beefhearts debut and a shocking album from an amazing year in music. More accessible than trout mask but still had to shock listeners even in these experimental times. Very blues based acid garage sound. A more primitive sound to beef hearts vision at this time. A truly great debut from one of rocks most creative minds. (Edited)
I just bought this album only to discover it has the exact same songs, only in a different order, as an album called Zig Zag Wanderer I've had about 15 years. Although I do like it that I only recognised about 6 of the song titles having had it so long tells a story. Not something I'd consume every day but when I'm in the mood for a portion of blues with a side of surrealism this is where you'll find me.
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