Hal Blaine – Have Fun!!! Play Drums!!! (1968)
Artist: Hal Blaine
Title: Have Fun!!! Play Drums!!!
Year: 1968
Format: LP
Label: Dunhill
The busiest West Coast drummer of “Up, Up and Away”, “MacArthur Park” and “Windy” drumming fame, comes up with a clever package of instructions for playing drums.
LP includes printed photo instructions plus disk with Blaine himself narrating the basics of learning on one side and “play-along with Blaine” on the flip. A must for aspiring contemporary drummers. (Billboard Magazine)
Track Listing
- Solo
- Let’s Play Drums Intro
- Playing The Straight 8 Feel
- Playing The Shuffle Feel
- You Take It From Here
- Topsy
- Secret Agent Man
- Rumble
- Drums A-Go-Go
- The Swinger
- The Invaders
Frank Zappa – Lumpy Gravy [Mono Promo] (1968)
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Artist: Frank Zappa
Title: Lumpy Gravy
Year: 1968
Format: LP
Label: Verve
Verve Records Original Yellow Label Promo
From Paul E Curtis:
I own a monaural promo copy of this LP, and unlike the first three Mothers albums, this is simply a reduction of the stereo mix (with perhaps a bit of added compression, to make it sound better on radio). I’ve never seen any stock copies of the mono Lumpy Gravy, but it’s possible that they exist – according to the Billboard album chart for 8 June 1968, it was available in both mono and stereo.
Lumpy Gravy is the debut solo album by Frank Zappa, recorded with a group of session players he dubbed the Abnuceals Emuukha Electric Symphony Orchestra. It is his third album overall. Released on August 7, 1967 on Capitol Records, it was subsequently reedited and reissued by Verve Records, and later reissued independently by Zappa.
In its original incarnation, Lumpy Gravy served as an album of orchestral music written by Zappa and performed by an orchestra assembled for the album. Zappa conducted the orchestra’s performance, and did not perform any instrument on the album. However, MGM Records claimed that the album’s production and release violated Zappa’s contract with Verve Records.
Lumpy Gravy was subsequently reedited by Zappa as part of a project called No Commercial Potential, which produced three other albums: We’re Only in It for the Money, Cruising with Ruben & the Jets and Uncle Meat The reedited Lumpy Gravy, released by Verve on May 13, 1968, consisted of two musique concrète pieces which combined elements from the original orchestral performance with elements of surf music and spoken word dialogue.
Produced simultaneously with We’re Only in It for the Money, the reedited Lumpy Gravy served as the second part of a conceptual continuity which later included Zappa’s final album, Civilization Phaze III. The reedited Lumpy Gravy was critically appraised for its unique music and innovative editing techniques. (Wikipedia)
Track Listing
- Lumpy Gravy Part I
- Lumpy Gravy Part II
The Mothers Of Invention – Cruising With Ruben & The Jets [Promo Lp] (1968)
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Artist: The Mothers Of Invention
Title: Cruising With Ruben & The Jets
Year: 1968
Format: LP
Label: Verve
Cruising with Ruben & the Jets is the fourth studio album by the Mothers of Invention. Released on December 2, 1968 on Bizarre and Verve Records with distribution by MGM Records, it was subsequently remixed by Frank Zappa and reissued independently.
As with the band’s previous three albums, it is a concept album, influenced by 1950s doo wop and rock and roll. The album’s concept deals with a fictitious doo wop band called Ruben & the Jets, represented by the cover illustration by Cal Schenkel, which depicts the Mothers of Invention as anthropomorphic dogs
It was conceived as part of a project called No Commercial Potential, which produced three other albums: Lumpy Gravy, We’re Only in It for the Money and Uncle Meat. (Wikipedia Excerpt)
Track Listing
- Cheap Thrills
- Love Of My Life
- How Could I Be Such A Fool
- Deseri
- I’m Not Satisfied
- Jelly Roll Gum Drop
- Anything
- Later That Night
- You Didn’t Try To Call Me
- Fountain Of Love
- “No. No. No.”
- Anyway The Wind Blows
- Stuff Up The Cracks
The Mothers Of Invention – Uncle Meat [Original Vinyl Version] (1968)
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Artist: The Mothers Of Invention
Title: Uncle Meat
Year: 1968
Format: LP
Label: Bizarre Reprise
Uncle Meat is the fifth studio album by the Mothers of Invention, released as a double album in 1969. Uncle Meat was originally developed as a part of No Commercial Potential, a project which spawned three other albums sharing a conceptual connection: We’re Only in It for the Money, Lumpy Gravy and Cruising with Ruben & the Jets.
The album also served as a soundtrack album to a proposed science fiction film which would not be completed, though a direct-to-video film containing test footage from the project was released by Zappa in 1987.
The music is diverse in style, drawing from orchestral, jazz, blues and rock music. Uncle Meat was a commercial success upon release, and has been highly acclaimed for its innovative recording and editing techniques, including experiments in tape speed and overdubbing, and diverse sound. (Wikipedia)
Track Listing
- Uncle Meat: Main Title Theme
- The Voice Of Cheese
- 400 Days Of The Year
- Zolar Czakl
- Dog Breath, In The Year Of The Plague
- The Legend Of The Golden Arches
- The Mothers Play Louie Louie At The Royal Albert Hall London
- The Dog Breath Variations
- Sleeping In A Jar
- Our Bizarre Relationship
- The Uncle Meat Variations
- Electric Aunt Jemima
- Prelude To King Kong
- God Bless America (Live At The Whiskey A Go Go)
- A Pound For A Brown On The Bus
- Ian Underwood Whips It Out (Live On Stage In Copenhagen)
- Mr. Green Genes
- We Can Shoot You
- “If We’d All Been Living In California…”
- The Air
- Project
- Cruising For Burger
- King Kong Itself (As Played By The Mothers In A Studio)
- King Kong (It’s Magnificence As Interpreted By Dom DeWild)
- King Kong (As Motorhead Explains It)
- King Kong (The Gardner Varieties)
- King Kong (As Played By 3 Deranged Good Humor Trucks)
- King Kong (Live On A Flat Bed Diesel In The Middle Of A Race Track At A Miami Pop Festival… The Zappa_Underwood Ramifications)
The Mothers Of Invention – Mothermania The Best Of Mothers (1969)
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Artist: The Mothers Of Invention
Title: Mothermania
Year: 1969
Format: LP
Label: Verve
Mothermania is a collection of previously released tunes culled from the first three Mothers of Invention albums. So why bother? Well, it’s the only early collection actually compiled by FZ. Verve released a bunch of early compilations without permission, but more importantly, this is the only place you can hear some of these mixes and edits.
Many of the tunes from Freak Out! appear in different mixes, while “It Can’t Happen Here” plays through without the interruptions of the Freak Out! version. The We’re Only In It for the Money tracks might be even more interesting. The backwards snippet that closes side one of the original WOIIFTM album was a censored verse from “Mother People,” and Mothermania is the only place you can hear the original uncensored version of the song.
The version of “Idiot Bastard Son” has an otherwise unheard instrumental introduction and a VERY different mix, and plays through without the edits and interruptions of the WOIIFTM version. Mothermania could hardly be called essential, but it does have some really interesting material that any hardcore fan of FZ’s early years would want to hear. (Allmusic)
Track Listing
- Brown Shoes Don’t Make It
- Mother People
- Duke Of Prunes
- Call Any Vegetable
- The Idiot Bastard Son
- It Can’t Happen Here
- You’re Probably Wondering Why I’m Here
- Who Are The Brain Police
- Plastic People
- Hungry Freaks, Daddy
- America Drinks & Goes Home
The Mothers Of Invention – The **** Of The Mothers (1969)
Artist: The Mothers Of Invention
Title: The **** Of The Mothers
Year: 1969
Format: LP
Label: Verve
The **** of the Mothers is the first of three unauthorized compilations created by Verve/MGM after FZ left the label. It was also the second FZ record I ever owned (the first being Uncle Meat), so I have a real soft spot for it, even though it was dismissed by FZ himself (and almost everyone else) as a ripoff.
It was released July 1969, between Uncle Meat and Hot Rats. I got my copy at the Montgomery Ward department store in San Diego. I didn’t even know it was a compilation when I bought it; I thought the title was a joke (like Phil Ochs’s Greatest Hits).
Note the bizarre programming choice of including the second and third parts of the “Call Any Vegetable” suite, but not the primary part of the song. Conceptual continuity fiends/Watsonites may consider the positioning of “You Didn’t Try to Call Me” to be a kind of pun in progamming, meaning that Verve literally “didn’t try to call any vegetable” when they omitted that song …
The gatefold cover features a sort of junk collage/sculpture, distinctly reminiscent of Uncle Meat. Most of the objects in the sculpture are the sort of plastic trinkets I used to get out of gumball machines when I was a wee sprout: little skulls and devil faces, rats, toy bottles (one labelled “horse liniment”), tiny gorillas, miniature false teeth (again, reminiscent of Uncle Meat – and doesn’t “Tiny Gorillas” sound like a Zappa title?), mingled with tinted pix of the Mothers, a Chinese laundry list, stylized Zappa faces and other detritus, all in a sort of doll house setting.
There’s a “toilet mouth” image of FZ with what may be a drawing of a turd lurking inside the toilet. The title actually includes a row of those little toys (and a nut and bolt), represented by “****” on the spine and label. (This album predates Led Zeppelin’s unpronounceable title by over two years.) The word “MOTHERS” is spelled out in what looks like alphabet blocks.
Inside the cover are really nice B&W photos of FZ, Motorhead, Don Preston, Ray Collins, Art Tripp, Bunk Gardner and Ian Underwood. (No Roy or Jimmy Carl? Well, at least they appear on the outside.) Why all this detail?
Strangely enough, this is one of my very favorite FZ album covers. Hell, I really, really like this album, even if it’s mostly for nostalgia reasons. (Biffy The Elephant Shrew)
Track Listing
- Status Back Baby
- Wowie Zowie
- You Didn’t Try To Call Me
- Invocation & Ritual Dance Of The Young Pumpkin
- Soft-Sell Conclusions
- Bow-Tie Daddy
- Uncle Bernie’s Farm
- Concentration Moon
- Go Cry On Somebody Else’s Shoulder
- Flower Punk
- Motherly Love
The Mothers Of Invention – Absolutely Free [Mono Promo] (1967)
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Artist: The Mothers Of Invention
Title: Absolutely Free
Year: 1967
Format: LP
Label: Verve
This album is so old it was issued both in mono and stereo versions, and of course the mono version was a bit different. From someone who said “don’t quote me on this”: I used to own this record (maybe I still do. Perhaps I should look).
One notable difference (and this is from memory) is in the “Do it again, and do it some more” segment of “Brown Shoes Don’t Make It”. There is a percussion track in this section which is heard in the left speaker and, after a short delay, in the right speaker – or is it the other way around?
Well, anyway, the mono version mixes in this percussion track without the delayed track. Additionally, now that I think about it, the VOCAL on that particular section is slightly out-of-sync when compared to the stereo version. But don’t quote me on this (unless confirmed from another source).
From David G.:
No extended tracks that I can hear. And the “Brown Shoes Don’t Make It” issue: the delayed percussion track IS there, just very quiet, but ye gods, is the vocal out of sync! Just for this section, too; it sounds like it’s about half a beat late for the entire section. Probably a mistake.
From Paul E Curtis:
On “Status Back Baby”, just before the Stravinsky guitar solo, the ref’s whistle is heard at a slightly different point than on the stereo pressings.
To my ears, side one of Absolutely Free sounds like a reduction of the stereo mix, as does “America Drinks & Goes Home”; however, the remainder of side two sounds like a proper mono mix (albeit one which is very similar to the stereo version). (Internet Source)
Track Listing
- Plastic People
- The Duke Of Prunes
- Amnesia Vivace
- The Duke Regains His Chops
- Call Any Vegetable
- Invocation & Ritual Dance Of The Young Pumpkin
- Soft-Sell Conclusion & Ending Of Side #1
- America Drinks
- Status Back Baby
- Uncle Bernie’s Farm
- Son Of Suzy Creamcheese
- Brown Shoes Don’t Make It
- America Drinks & Goes Home
The Mothers Of Invention – We’re Only In It For The Money [Mono Promo] (1968)
Artist: The Mothers Of Invention
Title: We’re Only In It For The Money
Year: 1968
Format: LP
Label: Verve
The mono vinyl was not only in mono, it was quite a different mix. We’re Only in It for the Money, ’ which was released on March 4, 1968, is even more unconventional than the previous two Mothers albums.
Its 19 songs – ranging in length from the just-over-a-minute-long ‘What’s the Ugliest Part of Your Body? ’ to the six-minute closer – take aim at nearly every corner of late-‘60s culture, from political blowhards to hippie simplicity.
The music, a difficult but rewarding mix of intricately structured and played art-rock and symphonic pop, is just as biting. (Ultimate Classic Rock)
Track Listing
- Are You Hung Up?
- Who Needs The Peace Corps?
- Concentration Moon
- Mom & Dad
- Telephone Conversation
- Bow Tie Daddy
- Harry, You’re A Beast
- What’s The Ugliest Part Of Your Body?
- Absolutely Free
- Flower Punk
- Hot Poop
- Nasal Retentive Calliope Music
- Let’s Make The Water Turn Black
- The Idiot Bastard So
- It’s His Voice On The Radio (Lonely Little Girl)
- Take Your Clothes Off When You Dance
- What’s The Ugliest Part Of Your Body? (Reprise)
- Mother People
- The Chrome Plated Megaphone Of Destiny
The Mothers Of Invention – Golden Archive Series (1970)
Artist: The Mothers Of Invention
Title: Golden Archive Series
Year: 1970
Format: LP
Label: MGM
This is an MGM yellow-labe promo in the Golden Archive Series (GAS). Some or all copies had an unknown elliptical 2.5″x1.5″ sticker on the cover. Unique material: none (but some of the songs are unusual edits)
For the Mothers of Invention Golden Archive release, while there is NO NEW MATERIAL, the actual stuff on the album has been edited quite a bit, mostly the We’re Only In It for the Money material. Not censored, but edited. “Absolutely Free” fades out early, for example, and “Mother People” STARTS from the second verse, and contains quite a bit of “The Chrome-Plated Megaphone of Destiny” at the end. Weird. (David Goodwin)
Track Listing
- Mother People
- Who Needs The Peace Corps?
- Flower Punk
- I Ain’t Got No Heart
- Concentration Moon
- Wowie Zowie
- America Drinks & Goes Home
- Call Any Vegetable
- Son Of Suzy Creamcheese
- Absolutely Free
The Mothers Of Invention – Freak Out! [Mono Promo] (1966)
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Artist: The Mothers Of Invention
Title: Freak Out!
Year: 1966
Format: LP
Label: Verve
This album is so old it was issued both in mono and stereo. Of course, the mono version is a bit different: it’s clearly a different mix and a couple of songs are longer. The British single vinyl was also issued in both stereo and mono versions.
Some or all mono versions had sides 1 and 4 on one record, and 2 and 3 on the other. While the mono version is presumably a different and distinct mix, few major variations have been reported.
From Splat:
“You Didn’t Try to Call Me” has a longer fade-out, revealing Ray Collins plaintively exclaiming “Girl!” Also, “Trouble Every Day” is longer by exactly one snare hit at the beginning of the song. [Ed: The stereo vinyl version of "You Didn't Cry to Call Me" ends cold as well]
“This is the voice of your conscience, baby…” The recording debut of the Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention is a brilliantly wicked counter-strike to the flower power sensibilities prevalent at the time of it’s release in 1966.
Arguably rock music’s first true “concept album,” Zappa’s aural collage mashes together chunks of psychedelic guitars, outspoken political commentary, cultural satire, and avant-garde musical sensibilities, and then hides it all under cleverly crafted pop melodies. Not diminished in the slightest by the passage of time, Freak Out! remains as vital and relevant today as it was in the 1960′s. (Andrew Boscardin)
Track Listing
- Hungry Freaks, Daddy
- I Ain’t Got No Heart
- Who Are The Brain Police?
- Go Cry On Somebody Else’s Shoulder
- Motherly Love
- How Could I Be Such A Fool
- Wowie Zowie
- You Didn’t Try To Call Me
- Any Way The Wind Blows
- I’m Not Satisfied
- You’re Probably Wondering Why I’m Here
- Trouble Every Day
- Help I’m A Rock (1st Movement- Okay To Tap Dance)
- Help I’m A Rock (2nd Movement- In Memoriam, Edgar Varesé)
- Help I’m A Rock (3rd Movement- It Can’t Happen Here)
- The Return Of The Son Of Monster Magnet (Tableaux I- Ritual Dance Of The Child-Killer)
- The Return Of The Son Of Monster Magnet (Tableaux II- Nullis Pretti (No Commercial Potential)
