Problems starting mysql

[ksbrace]

Hello,
When I attempt to start mysql using this command:
sudo mysqld_safe --user=mysql

I get the following errors:
Starting mysqld daemon with databases from /var/lib/mysql
STOPPING server from pid file /var/run/mysqld/mysqld.pid
050223 11:31:46 mysqld ended

The error log states:

050223 11:16:03 mysqld started
050223 11:16:03 InnoDB: Database was not shut down normally!
InnoDB: Starting crash recovery.
InnoDB: Reading tablespace information from the .ibd files...
InnoDB: Restoring possible half-written data pages from the doublewrite
InnoDB: buffer...
050223 11:16:03 InnoDB: Starting log scan based on checkpoint at
InnoDB: log sequence number 0 43634.
InnoDB: Doing recovery: scanned up to log sequence number 0 43634
050223 11:16:03 InnoDB: Flushing modified pages from the buffer pool...
050223 11:16:03 InnoDB: Started; log sequence number 0 43634
050223 11:16:03 [ERROR] /usr/local/libexec/mysqld: Can't find file: './mysql/host.frm' (errno: 13)
050223 11:16:03 [ERROR] Fatal error: Can't open privilege tables: Can't find file: './mysql/host.frm' (errno: 13)
050223 11:16:03 mysqld ended


What do I need to do to make it start properly? Thanks in advance!