Probably the best one would be the "best of" that Rhino put out a couple years ago- I think it's called "The Dust Blows Forward". With this you could sample the sounds from the various stages of Beefheart's music career. Each album has a different feel to it. Otherwise, his most influential is probably "Trout Mask Replica".

My own favorite has always been "Lick My Decals Off, Baby"- it's the wildest sounding. Unfortunately it's hard to find a copy anymore. Some of that stuff is on the Rhino album, though.

Be wary of the various live albums and rehashed bootlegs that have come out in recent years. I bought one of a Liverpool show from the late 70's that was really pretty awful compared to his best, so if you hear that stuff first you'll probably be turned off.

SAM is quite accessible with only a few tunes pointing towards future greatness. Unfortunately it's not that well recorded. Gary Marker began producing it on 8 track before being replaced by Richard Perry who was producing for the first time and found the board too complicated. He dumped what had been layed down to 4 track and finished it on the more primitive board; thus a good deal of fidelity was lost. It's still quite good, particularly the remastered version, but Don's vision is only partly realized on it compared to later work.

I agree with MJ that a compilation such as the Dust Blows Forward would be your best bet, but if you want one discreet recording to begin with, I recommend jumping in with both feet and going for Trout Mask Replica. If you like that work both backwards and forwards. If it's too dense then try SAM, Clear Spot or Shiny Beast. Though I'm sure plenty of fans would disagree, in my view his best works after TMR and Decals are the original Bat Chain Puller and Doc at the Radar Station.

I also concur with MJ that Lick My Decals Off, Baby is the peak of Beefheart & The Magic Band's art, but it's out of print except in Japan.

i think i started with safe as milk...


so - good choice!

"Shiny Beast," which is probably my favorite, but "Dropout Boogie" (I think his first) is pretty good -more garagey.