Uncle Meat

[GoogaMooga]

Picked up Frank Zappa's 2 CD wig-out, "Uncle Meat", from thrift. The 1987 fatboy Ryko edition, with a nice hole punched through the back inlay. Whenever I find a cut-out, I know I'm onto something. Now, I know Zappa was a genius, classically-trained counterculture icon, and a beacon of freedom for the Czechs, but this thing is so out there, it's unlistenable. Frank Zappa's back catalog is a veritable minefield, very hit and miss, with emphasis on miss. It's the fifth album by Mothers of Invention, recorded in 1969, but Ryko only credits it to Frank Zappa. Conceptually, it belongs to a cluster of albums: "We're Only In It For the Money", "Lumpy Gravy", and "Ruben and the Jets". Suzy Creamcheese gets a few lines, how she never made it with the beatniks, that sort of conceptual nonsense. There's also a live performance of "Louie Louie" on disc one, as if he thought to throw the listener a tiny morsel of tuneage right in the middle of the cacophonous kack. It's probably worth a fair bit, but I am taking my copy straight to Accord!

One thing I always wondered, how did Frank Zappa make a living from this stuff? I know he was from a middle class family, but he was actually quite well-to-do in much of his adult life. Who bought these things?

[naughty boy]

Picked up Frank Zappa's 2 CD wig-out, "Uncle Meat", from thrift. The 1987 fatboy Ryko edition, with a nice hole punched through the back inlay. Whenever I find a cut-out, I know I'm onto something. Now, I know Zappa was a genius, classically-trained counterculture icon, and a beacon of freedom for the Czechs, but this thing is so out there, it's unlistenable. Frank Zappa's back catalog is a veritable minefield, very hit and miss, with emphasis on miss. It's the fifth album by Mothers of Invention, recorded in 1969, but Ryko only credits it to Frank Zappa. Conceptually, it belongs to a cluster of albums: "We're Only In It For the Money", "Lumpy Gravy", and "Ruben and the Jets". Suzy Creamcheese gets a few lines, how she never made it with the beatniks, that sort of conceptual nonsense. There's also a live performance of "Louie Louie" on disc one, as if he thought to throw the listener a tiny morsel of tuneage right in the middle of the cacophonous kack. It's probably worth a fair bit, but I am taking my copy straight to Accord!

One thing I always wondered, how did Frank Zappa make a living from this stuff? I know he was from a middle class family, but he was actually quite well-to-do in much of his adult life. Who bought these things?

Suckers and fools, Googs.

Suckers and fools





.

[Matt Wilson]

Try "King Kong" and "Dog Breath" first, googs, and ignore all the 'dialogue' from the film. That stuff wasn't on the original LP anyway.

And don't listen to Coan, he's got his head so far up his ass that anything that comes out of his mouth is akin to stool water, or ass gravy.

[GoogaMooga]

Okay, I'll give those two a listen, but I doubt I'll hang on to it for two tracks only. And welcome back to Coan, how's tricks?

[naughty boy]

Nice of you to ask! I'm fine, thanks.

Dump the Zappa, it's an awful mess of self-indulgent, puerile rubbish. If you haven't heard any early Mothers maybe give them a go.

[GoogaMooga]

Nice of you to ask! I'm fine, thanks.

Dump the Zappa, it's an awful mess of self-indulgent, puerile rubbish. If you haven't heard any early Mothers maybe give them a go.

I've got a few: "Freak Out!", "The Grand Wazoo", and of course "Strictly Commercial". I've also got the poster of "Weasels Ripped My Flesh" on the wall, to remind me not to shave!

[C]

Just listen to the original album which is CD1 plus King Kong on CD2. The rest is dialogue from the film and extra bits including a song recorded in 1982, "Tengo Na Minchia Tanta", sung in Sicilian and Italian by Massimo Bassoli, all of which is tedious and unlistenable - it was a big mistake tagging all that stuff on. They could have fitted the original album on one CD

The actual album contains some magnificent music.

I love the whole lot. (Of course)

Try it again







.

[GoogaMooga]

Okay, C, will try again. Probably Ryko trying to make a few extra $$$ off this release.

[C]

Probably Ryko trying to make a few extra $$$ off this release.

Exactly Googs

Exactly



.

[mudshark]

If you don't like King Kong you may as well give up on Uncle Frank (as my now adult children still call him - all four of them fell in love with his music when I played them Greggery Peccary somewhere back in 1996, when they were between 4 and 8. Two of them actually joined my wife and I at the Melkweg venue in Amsterdam in 2018 to watch & listen to Dweezil & Co. It was a great evening especially because I hadn't seen the girls since 2013 or so when they'd finished their studies at Loyola and UNC respectively and went back home to Singapore. Anyhoo, I checked the setlist: they played Dog Breath and King Kong from the Meat album. They also played lots of Roxy stuff incl. Pygmy Twylyte which is a song I like on Roxy but much more on YCDTOSA Vol. 2, if only for his stunning solo).

[ConnyOlivetti]

A masterpiece!
One of my favs by the man.

[pcqgod]

I think all the additional stuff on that cd edition put me off, as well. I did one of C's synch listens of just the original album and found it more palatable. And yet still I don't think it's one of his more accessible ones.

[Fonz]

It’s a great album, but the penalty tracks are a waste of everyone’s time. The film was rubbish.
Kath! Did you ever watch it?

[Charlie O.]

... so out there, it's unlistenable... Who bought these things?

still I don't think it's one of his more accessible ones.

Goes to show that one man's "unlistenable" or "inaccessible" is another man's manna from heaven. I adored the whole thing from first listen (the original album - I'm with everyone else regarding the CD penalty tracks) - and I certainly can't say that about every Zappa album (or even every OG Mothers Of Invention album).

[pcqgod]

Goes to show that one man's "unlistenable" or "inaccessible" is another man's manna from heaven.

Certainly true, though I wouldn't always equate "I loved it" with "accessible."

[Charlie O.]

Goes to show that one man's "unlistenable" or "inaccessible" is another man's manna from heaven.

Certainly true, though I wouldn't always equate "I loved it" with "accessible."

But you wouldn't instantly love something that was inaccessible, would you?

[pcqgod]

But you wouldn't instantly love something that was inaccessible, would you?

I might! My point being that there are always people drawn to certain artists and genres that aren't generally accessible. So I wouldn't say 'Uncle Meat' is one of the more accessible Zappa albums to general rock audiences, even if you immediately fell in love with it.

[C]

Dump the Zappa, it's an awful mess of self-indulgent, puerile rubbish. If you haven't heard any early Mothers maybe give them a go.

I've told you before soft-lad, you know nothing about Zappa - just what you think pseuds like you think you need to like

Sad-fuque