THE MOTHERS OF INVENTION: UNCLE MEAT

This IS an absolute masterpiece. "Freak Out" might be the one that was there before anything else, as regards psychedelic/prog-beat ("rock" in those days was not something music was or wasn't, but did or didn't). This is all about putting any-and-every-thing into the "beat" - and putting the "beat" into any-and-everything. On Uncle Meat all the directions and stylings from the earlier albums come together - like a one-hour Brown Shoes Dont Make It (the extended style-collage of Absolutely Free). OK, the symphony Orchestra of Lumpy Gravy is missing, but then they play the Royal Albert Hall church- organ instead. After the main theme you are immediately treated to one of the most stunning guitarsolos of those days of the "guitar-gods". Nine Types of Industrial Pollution is just way beyond Jimi Hendrix in subtlety and vision. I guess it Franks first extended solo at all. It is the main feature of side one (of the 2LP). Side 2 also has a lengthy solo too - from new member Ian Underwood whipping it out on sax, but before that you have, among other things, been treated to maybe the best realized doo-wop-number from the Mothers, Electric Aunt Jemima. This gem is fading a bit too soon it seems, but so much stuff should be crammed unto this disc that it is excuseable. Side 3 has an even higher quota of doo-wops, notably Cruising For Burgers, but also a very fine percussive composition called Project X. And side 4 is the totally immortal introduction of the very style "jazz-rock" called King Kong in its full "original" glory, heralding things to come not only on his own Burnt Weeny Sandwich, but on loads of seventies fusion-albums from just about anyone. Add to this a foldout cover so intriguingly eksotic and strange, that it defied description. It was a most important album, and more instantly amusing and, I suppose, accessible to most people than its dark cousin, Beefhearts "Trout Mask Replica". I can understand that Zappa is very hard to get to grips with for the uninitiated. And you might easily get a wrong picture of what he is about, if you start with Bobby Brown, - or Yellow Shark for that matter. Therefore I think that a newcomer to Zappa should skip all precautions and go for something like this, to avoid believing that FZ is about something else than he truly is. This set (minus the soundtrack-tracks of the CD-version, forget them) prepares you for any other style in his diverse world. This is what Zappa is about !