Uncle Meat
Uncle Meat | ||||
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Studio album with live elements by | ||||
Released | April 21, 1969 (Original LP) October 1987 (CD version) | |||
Recorded | October 1967 – February 1968 (studio tracks) September 23, 1967 – July 23, 1968,[1] July 14, 1982[2] (live elements) 1970 and 1982 (film excerpts) | |||
Venue | Royal Albert Hall, London, England Whisky a Go Go, Los Angeles, California Falkoner Theatre, Copenhagen, Denmark Stadio Communale la Favorita, Palermo, Italy Miami Pop Festival, Hallandale, Florida | |||
Studio | ||||
Genre |
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Length |
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Label | Bizarre/Reprise | |||
Producer | Frank Zappa | |||
Frank Zappa chronology | ||||
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The Mothers of Invention chronology | ||||
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Uncle Meat is the sixth album by the Mothers of Invention, and seventh overall by Frank Zappa, 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 the film of the same name, which was released direct-to-video in 1987.
The music is diverse in style, drawing from
Background
Frank Zappa, who had been interested in film since high school, decided to develop a film vehicle for the Mothers of Invention, titled Uncle Meat. The film would combine elements of science fiction and road stories inspired by the band's sexual escapades.[3] Subsequently, Zappa began working on a project called No Commercial Potential, which eventually became the albums We're Only in It for the Money, Lumpy Gravy, Cruising with Ruben & the Jets and Uncle Meat. Zappa stated, "It's all one album. All the material in the albums is organically related and if I had all the master tapes and I could take a razor blade and cut them apart and put it together again in a different order it still would make one piece of music you can listen to. Then I could take that razor blade and cut it apart and reassemble it a different way, and it still would make sense. I could do this twenty ways. The material is definitely related."[4]
According to artist Cal Schenkel, who worked extensively with Zappa, "I started working on the story of Ruben and the Jets that is connected with the Uncle Meat story, which is this old guy turns this teenage band into these dog snout people ... We started that before it actually became Ruben and the Jets. That came out of my love for comics and that style, the anthropomorphic animals, but also it was part of a running story line."[4]
Recording
For the recording sessions, Zappa worked at
Despite not actually playing on Uncle Meat, it having been recorded prior to his arrival, future Mothers rhythm guitarist and Little Feat founder Lowell George is featured in the album's artwork and booklet.
Music and lyrics
Uncle Meat featured a variety of music styles, including
"Nine Types of Industrial Pollution" is melodically formless, rooted in percussion instrumentation, and features a guitar solo that was sped up in post production.[3] "Dog Breath, in the Year of the Plague" is delivered as a rock and roll song, with the same theme being repeated as an instrumental later in the album, performed by keyboards, percussion and acoustic guitar. The rock and roll version features three verses with the first chorus being delivered by opera singer Nelcy Walker, and the second chorus featuring sped up vocals. After the third verse, the song becomes an avant-garde orchestral piece performed by percussion, keyboards and instruments; the album liner notes "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 make[sic] 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 mixing console. 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."[5]
In addition to the studio recordings, Uncle Meat featured live recordings made at the Royal Albert Hall, including a recording of Don Preston playing "Louie Louie" on the Albert Hall pipe organ, at the end of which Zappa announces it as having been performed by the "London Philharmonic Orchestra". The doo wop-influenced "Electric Aunt Jemima" refers to Zappa's guitar amplifier, equating it with the advertising character Aunt Jemima.[3] Zappa explained, "I get kind of a laugh out of the fact that other people are going to try to interpret that stuff and come up with some grotesque interpretations of it. It gives me a certain amount of satisfaction."[3]
The album concludes with "King Kong", a piece in 3/8,
Release and reception
Uncle Meat was released as a double album by Bizarre and Reprise Records, subtitled, "Most of the music from the Mothers' movie of the same name which we haven't got enough money to finish yet."[3] Despite the album's experimental nature, it peaked at No. 43 on the Billboard charts.[3]
Critical reception
Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
Rolling Stone Album Guide | [14] |
Contemporary reviews of the album were highly favorable, recognizing it as an important album in Zappa's discography.
Legacy
In 1987, the Uncle Meat film was released on home video,[3] and the Uncle Meat album was subsequently reissued as a double CD on Rykodisc. This release included a song recorded in 1982, "Tengo na minchia tanta", sung in Sicilian and Italian by Massimo Bassoli, who identifies the song as being translated as "I've Got a Big Bunch of Dick", and over 40 minutes of sounds and dialogue from the film. The track listing programs the new tracks at the beginning of the second disc, placing the material between the album's original third and fourth sides. The original 1969 vinyl mix was reissued in 2016 as the first disc of Meat Light: The Uncle Meat Project/Object Audio Documentary.
Track listing
All tracks are written by Frank Zappa, except where noted
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "Uncle Meat: Main Title Theme" (instrumental) | 1:54 | |
2. | "The Voice of Cheese" | 0:27 | |
3. | "Nine Types of Industrial Pollution" (instrumental; listed as "400 Days of the Year" on the label of the original vinyl release) | 5:56 | |
4. | "Zolar Czakl" (instrumental) | 0:57 | |
5. | "Dog Breath, in the Year of the Plague" | 5:51 | |
6. | "The Legend of the Golden Arches" (instrumental) | 1:24 | |
7. | "Louie Louie" (At the Royal Albert Hall in London) | Richard Berry | 2:28 |
8. | "The Dog Breath Variations" (instrumental) | 1:36 | |
Total length: | 21:42 |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "Sleeping in a Jar" | 0:49 | |
2. | "Our Bizarre Relationship" | 1:05 | |
3. | "The Uncle Meat Variations" | 4:40 | |
4. | "Electric Aunt Jemima" | 1:53 | |
5. | "Prelude to King Kong" | 3:24 | |
6. | "God Bless America" (Live at the Whisky a Go Go) | Irving Berlin | 1:22 |
7. | "A Pound for a Brown on the Bus" (instrumental) | 1:29 | |
8. | "Ian Underwood Whips It Out" (Live on stage in Copenhagen) | 5:08 | |
Total length: | 20:38 |
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "Mr. Green Genes" (Remixed on all CD issues of the album) | 3:10 |
2. | "We Can Shoot You" | 1:48 |
3. | "'If We'd All Been Living in California...'" | 1:29 |
4. | "The Air" | 2:57 |
5. | "Project X" (instrumental) | 4:47 |
6. | "Cruising for Burgers" | 2:19 |
Total length: | 17:06 |
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "King Kong Itself (As Played by the Mothers in a Studio)" (instrumental) | 0:53 |
2. | "King Kong (Its Magnificence as Interpreted by Dom DeWild)" (instrumental) | 1:15 |
3. | "King Kong (As Motorhead Explains It)" (instrumental) | 1:44 |
4. | "King Kong (The Gardner Varieties)" (instrumental) | 6:17 |
5. | "King Kong (As Played by 3 Deranged Good Humor Trucks)" (instrumental) | 0:29 |
6. | "King Kong (Live on a Flat Bed Diesel in the Middle of a Race Track at a Miami Pop Festival...The Underwood Ramifications)" (instrumental) | 7:22 |
Total length: | 18:41 |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "Uncle Meat: Main Title Theme" | 1:55 | |
2. | "The Voice of Cheese" | 0:26 | |
3. | "Nine Types of Industrial Pollution" | 6:00 | |
4. | "Zolar Czakl" | 0:54 | |
5. | "Dog Breath, in the Year of the Plague" | 3:58 | |
6. | "The Legend of the Golden Arches" | 3:27 | |
7. | "Louie Louie (At the Royal Albert Hall in London)" | Richard Berry | 2:19 |
8. | "The Dog Breath Variations" | 1:48 | |
9. | "Sleeping in a Jar" | 0:50 | |
10. | "Our Bizarre Relationship" | 1:05 | |
11. | "The Uncle Meat Variations" | 4:45 | |
12. | "Electric Aunt Jemima" | 1:46 | |
13. | "Prelude to King Kong" | 3:38 | |
14. | "God Bless America (Live at the Whisky a Go Go)" | Irving Berlin | 1:10 |
15. | "A Pound for a Brown on the Bus" | 1:29 | |
16. | "Ian Underwood Whips It Out (Live on stage in Copenhagen)" | 5:05 | |
17. | "Mr. Green Genes" (Remix) | 3:14 | |
18. | "We Can Shoot You" | 2:03 | |
19. | "'If We'd All Been Living in California...'" | 1:13 | |
20. | "The Air" | 2:56 | |
21. | "Project X" | 4:48 | |
22. | "Cruising for Burgers" | 2:17 |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "Uncle Meat Film Excerpt Part I" | 37:34 | |
2. | "Tengo na minchia tanta" | Bassoli/Zappa | 3:46 |
3. | "Uncle Meat Film Excerpt Part II" | 3:51 | |
4. | "King Kong Itself (as played by the Mothers in a studio)" | 0:49 | |
5. | "King Kong II (its magnificence as interpreted by Dom DeWild)" | 1:21 | |
6. | "King Kong III (as Motorhead explains it)" | 1:44 | |
7. | "King Kong IV (the Gardner Varieties)" | 6:17 | |
8. | "King Kong V (as played by 3 deranged Good Humor Trucks)" | 0:34 | |
9. | "King Kong VI (live on a flat bed diesel in the middle of a race track at a Miami Pop Festival...the Underwood ramifications)" | 7:23 | |
Total length: | 120:44 |
Personnel
Musicians
The Mothers – at the time of this recording were:[15]
- low grade vocals, percussion
- swell vocals
- Jimmy Carl Black – drums, droll humor, poverty
- Roy Estrada – electric bass, cheeseburgers, Pachuco falsetto
- Don (Dom De Wild) Preston – electric piano, tarot cards, brown rice
- Billy (The Oozer) Mundi – drums on some pieces before he quit to join RHINOCEROS
- Bunk (Sweetpants) Gardner – piccolo, flute, clarinet, bass clarinet, soprano sax, alto sax, tenor sax, bassoon (all of these electric and/or non-electric depending)
- Ian Underwood – electric organ, piano, harpsichord, celeste, flute, clarinet, alto sax, baritone sax, special assistance, copyist, industrial relations & teen appeal
- chimes, cheerful outlook & specific inquiries
- Euclid James (Motorhead/Motorishi) Sherwood – pop star, frenetic tenor sax stylings, tambourine, choreography, obstinance & equipment setter-upper when he's not hustling local groupies
Special thanks to:
- Ruth Komanoff– who plays marimba and vibes with Artie on many of the tracks, and
- Nelcy Walker – the soprano voice with Ray & Roy on "Dog Breath" & "The Uncle Meat Variations".
Uncredited:
- Pamela Zarubica as Suzy Creamcheese
- flugel horn (name appears on back cover along with Lowell George).
Only on the CD version: [16]
- Phyllis Altenhaus, Rodney Bingenheimer, Aynsley Dunbar, Francesca Fisher, Lucy Offerall, Meredith Monk, Janet Neville-Ferguson, Linda Ronstadt, Stumuk, Haskell Wexler, Carl Zappa, guys from Alabama - dialogue on the film excerpts
- Massimo Bassoli - vocals on "Tengo na minchia tanta"
- Tommy Mars - keyboards on "Tengo na minchia tanta"
- Scott Thunes - bass on "Tengo na minchia tanta"
- Chad Wackerman - drums on "Tengo na minchia tanta"
Production
- Frank Zappa – producer
- Jerry Hansen – engineer
- Euclid James Sherwood – equipment technician, choreographer
- Art Tripp – adviser
- Cal Schenkel – package design
- Roy Estrada – prop design
- Ian Underwood – copyist, public relations, special assistance
Charts
Album – Billboard (United States)
Year | Chart | Position |
---|---|---|
1969 | Pop Albums | 43 |
References
- ISBN 1-554201-46-2.
- ^ "Uncle Meat". Information Is Not Knowledge. Retrieved January 12, 2024.
- ^ ISBN 978-0803260054. Retrieved 2012-11-11.
- ^ ISBN 9780802142153. Retrieved 2012-11-11.
- ^ Zappa, Frank (1987). Uncle Meat (8-page booklet). Rykodisc. p. 7. RCD 10064/65.
- ^ Zappa, Frank (1987). Uncle Meat (12-page booklet). Rykodisc. p. 10. RCD 10064/65.
- ^ a b Huey, Steve (2011). "Uncle Meat - The Mothers of Invention | AllMusic". allmusic.com. Retrieved 11 July 2011.
- ISBN 978-0857125958.
- ^ "Frank Zappa: Uncle Meat/Roxy & Elsewhere". 11 February 2014.
- ISBN 978-0-86241-827-4.
- ISBN 978-0-7876-1037-1.
- ^ "Frank Zappa - biografia, recensioni, streaming, discografia, foto".
- ^ "Review: The Mothers of Invention - Uncle Meat | Sputnikmusic".
- ^ DeCurtis, Anthony; George-Warren, Holly; Henke, James, eds. (1992). The Rolling Stone Album Guide. Random House. p. 338.
- ^ Zappa, Frank (1987). Uncle Meat (8-page booklet). Rykodisk. p. 4. RCD 10064/65.
- ^ "Uncle Meat". Information Is Not Knowledge. Retrieved May 31, 2023.