Cheap Uncle Meat (Music) (Frank Zappa & The Mothers of Ivention) Price

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Customer Reviews of Uncle Meat

maybe his 'weirdest' album-and one of the best!
Thefocus here is on instrumental stuff, a lot of sped up music here eg 2nd half of 'dog breath in the year of the plague'. This particular song is one of the highlights of the album. Another highlight is the uncle meat variations, a really top tune. As well as the great keyboard playing we have high-pitched female vocals /gravelly male vocals, singing 'fuzzy dice and bongos'. Bonkers lyrics. Then the tune sort of 'disintegrates' into some awesome zappa twangy guitar playing. There are lots of fun songs like mr green genes, electric aunt jemima, cruising for burgers,sleeping in a jar, the air. Some live moments like prelude to king kong(cd1) and ian underwood whips it out. also a funny louie louie featuring the majestic royal albert pipe organ. Some downright bonkers music like zolar czakl(delightful) and projectx(weirdest track on the album) and a bit of dialogue featuring jimmy carl black, bitching on about money as is his wont. And brilliant guitar solo, 9 types of industrial pollution. CD2 has about 40 minutes of dialogue from the uncle meat film. It's got one or two amusing lines like 'using the chicken to measure it' but is not very essential stuff at all. However there is a mighty segue from the end of the dialogue into King Kong the studio version. This is a superb tune, and the studio version here sounds gorgeous. It's got some lovely keyboard playing and saxophone soloing (doubled up). No ark section here, it's a different version. There's also some great live blowing from ian underwood in the live king kong. And the end bit is hilarious sounding. All in all this album is a must have for true frank zappa fans. Thank you.

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Finally - Good Production!
The early Zappa recordings were somewhat murky in sonic quality. With Uncle Meat, as FZ explains in the original liner notes, they booked into this fabulous studio with an exceptionally clean board, so clean that they were able to do over 100 overdubs in the middle section of Dog Breath, In The Year Of The Plague. Though all the old Zappas have been cleaned up and sound much better than the original vinyls, Uncle Meat always sounded exceptional in vinyl form. The excellent studio cuts start with the experimental mostly instrumental cuts at the beginning, then turning into the Reuben and the Jets style doo wop tunes. These are intermixed with excerpts from field recordings and dialog in the usual Dada style. King Kong is a groovy little quick tempo waltz number that features each member of the band soloing over the riff. (See also John-Luc Ponty "King Kong: JLP plays the music of Frank Zappa" for excellent jazz instrumental versions of early Zappa material featuring Zappa sidemen and FZ himself!)Also featured are original Mothers vocalist Ray Collins singing lead on several cuts (I think this was the last album he was on before Flo and Eddy showed up) and bassist Roy Estrada singing "pachucho falsetto" (Dog Breath). I think Jimmy Carl Black contributes some vocal, but I don't recall right now. Anyway excellent clear sound and exzentrifugal performances on experimental but pleasing tunes make this album impossible to get tired of. Not as much social satire but there's plenty of that Zappa in other albums. This also is the first album where Ruth Underwood appears, playing lots of marimba and percussion.

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Nothing Comes Close to This
Of the almost thirty Zappa albums I own, I can only think of a few that I liked during the very first listen. This is one of them. I had read the reviews and inevitably formed my preconceptions about it, and literally during the first few seconds of the very first song I thought, "YES!!! This is EXACTLY what I was hoping for!!!" As I continued to listen, a whole new universe of sound was slowly opening up before me. Each track got me more and more consumed by this strange and incredible musical journey, and soon I didn't want it to end. This is my all-time favorite Zappa Album.

I've often thought about what makes the original Mothers' music so good, and I think it is because in the late 60's, Frank Zappa hadn't yet formed the lyrical and musical persona that we know today (Arguably, that wouldn't come until 1973's Overnight Sensation). At this point in his career, he was experimenting with all sorts of styles, perhaps subconsciously trying to pinpoint where he wanted to go with his music. In this album, Frank is pushing his band both musically and stylistically to meet his artistic needs. And the results are priceless.

This is the kind of music that just can't be described in words. It's one of those albums that shatters all your preconceptions of what music is, and makes you rethink the very nature of music. I will say this, however: "Dog Breath in the year of the Plague" is one of the most beautiful songs ever released. As well as "Electric Aunt Jemima." And "Sleeping in a Jar." And "The Air." And... ok, well I'll just stop right there.

A lot of people have complained about the film excerpts on disc 2. But you know what? I actually LIKE it. Seriously. It's fun, and interesting as well. And I'm not even a HUGE Zappa nut. So here's my advice for the film excerpts: Listen to it once. If you like it, great. If you don't like it, SKIP it next time. That's what the SKIP button is there for. But at least give it a chance.

All in all, this is a PERFECT album that I would recommend not only for all Zappa/Mothers fans, but for all music fans who crave adventuresome and even strange music. This is a masterpiece that stands apart from all the rest.