Frank Zappa: the 75th anniversary album by album thread

I had to listen to this twice before I could come up with a little review:

An improvement over the first 2 albums, mostly because the songs are much better. "Who Needs The Peace Corps", "What's The Ugliest Part Of Your Body", "The Idiot Bastard Son" and "Let's Make The Water Turn Black" have been part of the setlist for years. They're not just great song titles, but also great pieces of music. There's a lot more: doo-wop parody like "Concentration Moon", classical intermezzo's (the intros of "Harry You're A Beat" and "Absolutely Free"), Zappa even interrupts several songs for complete nonsense. It all works. Because the experiments are all so short I do not find them as annoying as on the 2nd disc of the debut. This still stands up as one of Zappa's better studio albums.

 

A couple tunes on this album work better for me in their instrumental versions, some of which became FZ standards: HYAB, LMTWTB, TYCOWYD

 

Me too. Perhaps for that reason, I like the remix more than most other fans seem to.

As I may have posted in the past, I'm grateful for that CD since I probably wouldn't have bought Lumpy Gravy if it hadn't been combined with WOIIFTM, and I ended up liking it even more (but I guess we'll discuss that album later).

 

I feel that FO, AF and WOIIFTM are like a trilogy. Doesn't Lumpy Gravy come before WOIIFTM?

 

Ha! I had a similar experience. "Whoa, slap bass in 1968?!"

I remember finding a text file on a BBS way back when that meticulously detailed all the differences between the remix and the original. It was until years later that I got to hear the original.

 

I didn't get into Zappa until the late 70s and the early albums were OOP and expensive. The first time I head WOIIFTM and FO was on Italian bootlegs in the 80s that were copied from very beat up originals. My college library had a pristine copy of AF and I was able to make a tape copy. AF is still my favorite of the three.

 

Most of it was recorded before WOIIFTM but it wasn't released until later.

 

LUMPY GRAVY

Released: August 7 1967
Label: Capitol
Producer: Nick Venet

Musicians:
Abnuceals Emuukha Electric Symphony Orchestra (Check wikipedia for full credits)
Frank Zappa: Composer, Conductor

All songs by Frank Zappa

Original 1967 Capitol 4-Track Cartridge:

Side 1
1.Sink Trap (2:45)
2.Gum Joy (3:44)
3.Up and Down (1:52)
4.Local Butcher (2:36)

Side 2
5.Gypsy Airs (1:41)
6.Hunchy Punchy (2:06)
7.Foamy Soaky (2:34)
8.Let's Eat Out (1:49)
9.Teenage Grand Finale (3:30)

1968 Verve Records LP:

Side 1
1.The Way I See It, Barry (0:06)
2.Duodenum (1:32)
3.Oh No (2:03)
4.Bit of Nostalgia (1:35)
5.It's from Kansas (0:30)
6.Bored Out 90 Over (0:31)
7.Almost Chinese (0:25)
8.Switching Girls (0:29)
9.Oh No Again (1:13)
10.At the Gas Station (2:41)
11.Another Pickup (0:54)
12.I Don't Know If I Can Go Through This Again (3:49)

Side 2
13.Very Distraughtening (1:33)
14.White Ugliness (2:22)
15.Amen (1:33)
16.Just One More Time (0:58)
17.A Vicious Circle (1:12)
18.King Kong (0:43)
19.Drums Are Too Noisy (0:58)
20.Kangaroos (0:57)
21.Envelops the Bath Tub (3:42)
22.Take Your Clothes Off (1:53)

 

Zappa's first solo effort fuses instrumental compositions with a lot of nonsense. Where the nonsense worked when combined with songs like on We're Only In It For The Money, here it really disrupts the music flow and the giggling sections on side 2 are just very annoying. Therefore this is the first Zappa release that I'm not so sure about and in my opinion his weakest album up to here. There are the occasional moments of instrumental magic with "Oh No", "I Don't Know If I Can Go Through This Again"and "King Kong", but it's always over before you know it.

 

I love the dialogue. I've gathered that not everyone likes it though.

 

I listen to my custom "Lump Free Gravy" edit with the voices eliminated, combining the best instrumental parts of the mono and stereo versions, way more than I listen to the standard version.

A lot of great music here, but this is the first of many FZ releases that becomes a lot more listenable with significant editing. The dialog is fine, it just gets old with repeat listening while the music remains intriguing.

Must have been a real different experience listening to it before listeners associated words with melodies like Oh No.

 

Some info from discogs.com about the different versions of the album:

Initially recorded by Zappa for Capitol in 1967, as a solo composer & conductor outside of 'The Mothers'. The project made it to disc as MGM vetoed the work, resulting in FZ reworking the release for Verve - the label to whom, it was claimed, he was contracted. Some rare Capitol issues exist. The reworking was released on Verve in 1968. FZ remastered the work in 1985 & 1993.

Zappa comments on the sleeve notes: "Is this Phase 2 of We're Only In It For The Money?" - which echoes his vision on that work, where he comments; "Is this Phase I of 'Lumpy Gravy'?". This "Lumpy Gravy" work contains conversations 'within a piano'.

Themes (& material) in this work can then be picked up in the work Zappa completed before his death: Civilization Phaze III

Original 1967 4-track album:
http://www.discogs.com/Frank-Zappa-Lumpy-Gravy/release/5797422

1968 LP:
http://www.discogs.com/Francis-Vinc...hestra-Chorus-The-Lumpy-Gravy/release/1360805

1995 CD:
http://www.discogs.com/Frank-Vincent-Zappa-Lumpy-Gravy/release/798971

2012 CD (currently in print):
http://www.discogs.com/Frank-Zappa-Lumpy-Gravy/release/4282846

 

CRUISING WITH RUBEN & THE JETS

Released: December 2 1968
Label: Verve
Producer: Frank Zappa

Musicians:
Frank Zappa: Lead Guitar, Drums, Piano Bass
Ray Collins: Lead Vocals
Roy Estrada: Electric Bass
Jimmy Carl Black: Drums
Arthur Dyer Tripp III
Ian Underwood: Piano, Tenor & Alto Sax
Don Preston: Piano
Jim Sherwoood: Baritone Sax, Tambourine
Bunk Gardner: Tenor & Alto Sax



All songs by Frank Zappa, except where noted

Side 1
1.Cheap Thrills (2:23)
2.Love of My Life (Frank Zappa, Ray Collins) (3:10)
3.How Could I Be Such a Fool (3:35)
4.Deseri (Ray Collins, Paul Buff) (2:07)
5.I'm Not Satisfied (4:03)
6.Jelly Roll Gum Drop (2:20)
7.Anything (Ray Collins) (3:04)

Side 2
8.Later That Night (3:06)
9.You Didn't Try to Call Me (3:57)
10.Fountain of Love (Frank Zappa, Ray Collins) (3:01)
11.No. No. No. (2:29)
12.Anyway the Wind Blows (2:58)
13.Stuff Up the Cracks (4:35)

 

Some info from discogs.com:

The vinyl and CD versions are extremely different. In 1984, Zappa enlisted Arthur Barrow and Chad Wackerman to re-record the original bass and drum parts (although they were not credited) for the "Old Masters Box One" re-issue of the album. In addition to the new drums and bass, Zappa added several vocal overdubs and heavily remixed the album.
The remix of "Cruising with Ruben & the Jets" was the only version of the album available from 1984 until 2010, when "Greasy Love Songs" was released.

Original 1968 LP:
http://www.discogs.com/Mothers-Of-Invention-The-Cruising-With-Ruben-The-Jets/release/1615152

First CD issue, 1984 remix:
http://www.discogs.com/Frank-Zappa-...-Cruising-With-Ruben-The-Jets/release/7367373

Currently in print version:
http://www.discogs.com/Frank-Zappa-...-Cruising-With-Ruben-The-Jets/release/3839957

 

I never owned Ruben and the Jets until a year or two after Greasy Love Songs came out. It's much better than I thought it would be.

 

I think R&tJs is awesome, both the remix (which I heard first) and the original mix. The songs that are on both this and Freak Out are done better here to my taste. It works totally straight too, not just as parody. Stuff up the Cracks is my fav.

 

Although Barrow was the only bassist on the We're Only In It For The Money remix, Zappa used a few bassists for the Ruben mix, including Barrow, Jay Anderson (on acoustic bass) and possibly Patrick O'Hearn on fretless bass on "How Could I Be Such A Fool."

 

Great Zappa Bubblegum album.

 

Not as varied or weird as most of Zappa's releases, but the doowop style fits this band nicely. With some very good material this is actually strong musically, not just a funny parody. I agree that the remakes of songs previously released on Freak Out come out better here. My favourite moments are "Love Of My Life", "Fountain Of Love" and "Anyway The Wind Blows".

 

Hey, WAIT!!!!!!
I wanna DEFEND "Lumpy Gravy" WITH all the 'studio-talk/bander/BS/'piano people'!!!!!
I, for one, find this makes the 'orchestral' pieces more digestible to 'weirdoes' like ME!
I think Frank knew this.... and, he often said that he was never one to want 'respectability' in, what he called, the pompous world of 'classical' music!
What better way to do this then by adding all this 'weirdo' talk as non-sequiturs..... AND, the 'sped-up' pieces, and, the sounds created by (what sounds to me) like a tornado of 'electronic noise', thoughout!
THEN, the 'celeste-with-snorks'! (fingers to mouth, and a kiss, 'Mwha!')
All these were NOT in the original Capitol version..... and, I not only need 'em, but.... LOVE 'EM!!
They're importance in the 'conceptual continuity' of Frank's future works is.... well, it's IMPORTANT!
I just wanted to give you my side of it..... and, I LOVE IT!
So..... there's that!

 

UNCLE MEAT

Released: April 21 1969
Label: Bizarre/Reprise
Producer: Frank Zappa

Musicians:
Frank Zappa: Guitar, Low Grade Vocals, Percussion
Ray Collins: Swell Vocals
Jimmy Carl Black: Drums
Roy Estrada: Electric Bass
Don Preston: Electric Piano
Billy Mundi: Drums on some pieces before he quit to join RHINOCEROS
Bunk Gardner: Piccolo, Flute, Clarinet, Bass Clarinet, Soprano Sax, Alto Sax, Tenor Sax, Bassoon
Ian Underwood: Electric Organ, Piano, Harpsichord, Celeste, Flute, Clarinet, Alto Sax, Baritone Sax
Artie Tripp: Drums, Timpani, Vibes, Marimba, Xylophone, Wood Blocks, Bells, Small Chimes
Euclid James Sherwood: Tenor Sax Stylings, Tambourine
Ruth Komanoff: Marimba, Vibes
Nelcy Walker: Soprano Voice



All songs by Frank Zappa, except where noted

Side 1
1.Uncle Meat: Main Title Theme (1:54)
2.The Voice of Cheese (0:27)
3.Nine Types of Industrial Pollution (Listed as "400 Days of the Year" on the label of the original vinyl release) (5:56)
4.Zolar Czakl (0:57)
5.Dog Breath, in the Year of the Plague (5:51)
6.The Legend of the Golden Arches (1:24)
7.Louie Louie (At the Royal Albert Hall in London) (Richard Berry) (2:28)
8.The Dog Breath Variations (1:36)

Side 2
9.Sleeping in a Jar (0:49)
10.Our Bizarre Relationship (1:05)
11.The Uncle Meat Variations (4:40)
12.Electric Aunt Jemima (1:53)
13.Prelude to King Kong (3:24)
14.God Bless America (Live at the Whisky a Go Go) (Irving Berlin) (1:22)
15.A Pound for a Brown on the Bus (1:29)
16.Ian Underwood Whips It Out (Live on stage in Copenhagen) (5:08)

Side 3
17.Mr. Green Genes (3:10)
18.We Can Shoot You (1:48)
19.'If We'd All Been Living in California...' (1:29)
20.The Air (2:57)
21.Project X (4:47)
22.Cruising for Burgers (2:19)

Side 4
23.King Kong Itself (as played by the Mothers in a studio) (0:53)
24.King Kong (it's magnificence as interpreted by Dom DeWild) (1:15)
25.King Kong (as Motorhead explains it) (1:44)
26.King Kong (the Gardner Varieties) (6:17)
27.King Kong (as played by 3 deranged Good Humor Trucks) (0:29)
28.King Kong (live on a flat bed diesel in the middle of a race track at a Miami Pop Festival...the Underwood ramifications) (7:22)

 

From discogs.com:

Early issues in US (& some countries) have a band name & book sticker on cover. Early US issues were auto-coupled. Early sleeves/labels show the original title of "Nine Types Of Industrial Pollution" as "400 Days Of The Year". On the 1st CD issues extra tracks were also added as FZ progressed his concept for Frank Zappa - Presents Uncle Meat The Mothers Of Invention Movie.

The title of this album also relates to 'uncle meat', a nickname bestowed upon Sandy Hurvitz by the band when she worked with them at The Garrick, above the Cafe Au Go Go, in New York. She also effected the introduction of Zappa to sleeve artist Cal Schenkel.

Zappa states on this release:
"The words to the songs on this album were scientifically prepared from a random series of syllables, dreams, neuroses & private jokes that nobody except members of the band ever laugh at, and other irrelevant material. They are all 'very serious' & loaded with secret underground candy-rock psychedelic profundities. (Basically, this is an instrumental album.)"

"The music on this album was recorded over a period of about 5 months, from October 1967 to February 1968. Things that sound like a full orchestra were carefully assembled, track by track, through a procedure known as overdubbing.

The weird middle section of "Dog Breath" (after the line, "Ready to attack") has forty tracks built into it. Things that sound like trumpets are actually clarinets played through an electric device made by 'Maestro' with a setting labeled 'Oboe D'Amore' and sped up a minor third with a 'V.S.O.' [variable speed oscillator]. Other peculiar sounds were made on a 'Kalamazoo' electric organ.

The only equipment at our disposal for the modification of these primary sounds was a pair of 'Pultec Filters', two 'Lang Equalizers', and three 'Melchor Compressors' built into the board at Apostolic Studios in New York. The board itself is exceptionally quiet and efficient (the only thing that allowed us to pile up so many tracks) and is the product of Mr. Lou Lindauer's imagination & workmanship.

The material was recorded on a prototype 'Scully 12-track' machine at 30ips. The whole project was engineered by Richard Kunc, or Dynamite Dick, as he is known in the trade. Special engineering credits go to Jerry Hansen for the percussion effects added later at Sunset Sound in L.A., and to our friend 'Mike' in Copenhagen for the tapes he sent us."

 

Original 1968 LP:
http://www.discogs.com/Mothers-Of-Invention-The-Uncle-Meat/release/544300

First CD issue:
http://www.discogs.com/Frank-Zappa-Uncle-Meat/release/926775

Currently in print CD:
http://www.discogs.com/Zappa-Mothers-Of-Invention-The-Uncle-Meat/release/5375380

 

Still no replies? I hope the thread won't die a quick death after only a few albums. Anyway, here's my own thoughts on the album.

With its heavy use of horns, vibes and marimba, this sounds more like Zappa's later work than anything that came before. It's still a collection of many small fragments and not as focussed as the instrumental albums that would soon follow, but it's an improvement over his previous instrumental experiments. There's still the occasional spoken bit in between, but I don't find it as distracting here as on Lumpy Gravy. Also Ruth Underwood's first appearance on a Zappa album, although she wouldn't join the Mothers permanently until 4 years later.

 

I think an issue is that we have discussed this album many times in past threads here. Some of the later releases could use more attention, though.