Uncle Meat isn't just my favorite Zappa album, it's probably my favorite album of all time. I can't hear the title theme without my brain hearing "fuzzy dice and bongos fuzzy diiiiice..."
Bought this at the recommendation of the original "red" trade paperback Rolling Stone Record Guide, and from the first moments I was mesmerized. I think I already owned and liked Overnite Sensation and Joe's Garage part I, but UM just blew me away, and from that point on I was a full-fledged Zappa fan. Right from the first track it sounded other-worldly, between the syncopation and weird time signature to the harpsichord and bizarro but definitely Southern Cal steeped lyrics, just pure sonic perfection. I was in auditory love.
A beautifully produced masterpiece I had on this morning. On vinyl original or reissue this album is a trip 1967.
I always wondered why "Uncle Meat" cut off in the middle of Bunk (I assume) playing the theme on the modified sax, but one of the outtakes on Meat Light shows that he played some wrong notes a few seconds after the edit.
“Uncle Meat” is one of the Zappa songs my band from high school used to play. The album included the sheet music which made it a lot easier. It’s a march in 3/4 time, an idea similar to Ravel’s “Bolero”. There are a couple of interesting things about it. The first two phrases (from 0.00 to 0.16, and from 0.16 to 0.25) each exist over one chord. Yet those melodies are so strong, they almost create the illusion of chord changes. At 0.34, a simple four bar progression begins. And unless you're really paying attention, the theme at 0.43 feels like it starts on the first bar, when it actually starts on the fourth bar.
Here’s some “Uncle Meat” trivia - The iconic first five notes (F# A E B B) can be heard in the 1960 sci-fi flick, “The Leech Woman”. It’s the scene when the main characters arrive in Africa. I don't know whether Zappa intentionally took the theme from that film. But we all know Frank loved low-budget monster movies, the cheaper the better…
Uncle Meat always sounded like a science fiction theme with the effects thrown in. Perhaps a salute to 1950's sci fi space movies. Great lead off tune for this epic well produced album.
I first heard Zappa back in the mid-70s and dismissed him for quite a while. In 1984, a friend bought me a ticket to the early show at E.M. Loew's in Worcester. The show was wild but for some reason I still didn't get the bug. Then one extremely rainy Saturday night in March 2010, I marched into Newbury Comics and picked up a dozen Zappa CDs, among them Uncle Meat. It's probably among the most dense releases in his catalog, save for some of the classical material, but very rewarding as such. That horn in the main title theme, based on a perusal of the instrumentation list, is most likely Bunk Gardner on bassoon, although it sounds more like an oboe to my ears. Then again, a bassoon in its upper register is like an oboe in sheep's clothing, or something like that. The bassoon is a woodwind, and thus not a horn proper. The French horn is brass, saxes are brass, trumpets, 'bones too. But the English horn is a woodwind and also a horn, so they you have it. I guess if you blow into it, it's a horn, unless it's a harmonica.
Well, I find pre-meat to be a tough slog (hence my initial post back in August). Uncle Meat is tough, but it's not a slog for me (Meat Light is even better). Of the first several albums, only Lumpy Gravy attracts me much and even then it's a bit absurdist at times for my liking. I think I'll stick to the '69-'76 period for the most part to avoid the rotten tomatoes, etc.
I never noticed before that the video begins with Frank adding additional direction to the ensemble while Peter Rundel is conducting (Frank had conducted the previous piece Overture himself). By the end of the Dog/Meat medley he was alone (!) offstage, as shown by the cut to him at the end. It's a detail I find interesting. It makes sense that he would scoot offstage since he wasn't conducting the majority of the show and, IMHO, it was a good, non-sentimental directorial choice not to show him leave the stage but to keep focus on the ensemble and conductor. Showing him at the end allows a viewer to stop thinking "where did Frank go?"
Frank mentioned UNCLE MEAT as one of his favorite compositions during a 1980 interview.... here's an excerpt... "G.W. Looking back throughout the years, do you have any favorite compositions? F.Z. Oh No is one of my favorites, also the theme from Lumpy Gravy. Another of my favorite songs is the Eric Dolphy Memorial Barbecue, and Uncle Meat is in there too. Some classics would be Brown Shoes Don't Make It, Dynamo Hum and Who are The Brain Police." Here's a link to the whole article/interview, it's short and good. 1980-09 On The Record – Frank Zappa
Here is another "FZ's favorites" quote from circa late 1981 with more 70's and early 80's stuff: 1982-04 Frank Zappa