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Song list: 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 |
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Also available at the bottom of this page:
Gerry Pratt's review of the CD release,
and info on I May Be Hungry But I Sure Ain't Wierd which
contains outtakes from this album.
A picture from the CD booklet. It was unlabeled, so I don't
know by who or why or when it was taken. But it's here, so it must be good
for something. :)
Strictly Personal Outtakes and Alternates
Trust Us (Take 6)
Beatle Bones N' Smokin' Stones (Part 1)
Moody Liz (Take 8)
Safe As Milk (Take 12)
Gimme Dat Harp Boy
On Tomorrow (Instrumental)
Trust Us (Take 9)
Safe As Milk (Take 5)
Big Black Baby Shoes (Instrumental)
Flower Pot (Instrumental)
Dirty Blue Gene (Instrumental)
11 ``Digitally remastered'' tracks ``recorded between October 1967 and May 1968'' - mising only Ring Korn Finger, according to Colin Webb, from all known Strictly Personal cuts. Compiled and annotated by John Platt. Note that track 11, Dirty Blue Gene, is mislabeled and is actually an early version of Ice Rose, from the 1978 album Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller). I was told that Dirty Blue Gene was the actual label on the original tapes, so who knows what's really the right name?
It is a Budget CD (UK L 8.99 here) 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. I mean 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 tried it this week-end against the vinyl and there is little difference. Unphased tracks (like ``Gimme Dat Harp Boy'') sound better, 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.
In my Beefheart 'zine (a 72 pager Steal Softly Thru Show #4 - Old Fart At Play should be ready early September '94) I am 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:-
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