THE MOTHERS OF INVENTION: CRUISING WITH RUBEN & THE JETS

Not only the sleeve is satiric, the music is on the same focus. All the songs are a "joke" using the kind of romantic style of american music of that time, but with typical Mothers vocals. Interesting, but the kind of record you would hardly listen from start to end more than twice a year, or so.

Evergreen. I grew up with this. I love this. The music is a rare slow kind of and in completely perfect composition. The texts are fluid and funny. Lots of "ah haa ah haa" and "do-whap" in the low and high pitched Zappa voice. Better still are the songs when listened to in a different version, wich I have on tape but can not find back on any record.

This album is unique in the large Zappa output. It is also a masterpiece, and one of the great sets in all of rock music.

Zappa, back in the early 70's, told me himself that he was not attempting satire here, but there is an undeniable current of humor underlying all the songs.

Superficially, this is a set of 50's style doo-wop, but there's much more under the surface. Reversing the usual order, the lead singer (Ray Collins) sings in a voice almost devoid of emotion, while the back-up voices are a varitable barnyard. The openings of several of the songs seem to have mistakes in the phrasing, but as the songs progress, you begin to realize that the effect is well planned, and the group playes the phrases with precision. The vocal harmony is oddly voiced, but once the ear becomes acclimated, this treatment becomes very acceptable. It has a way of growing on you.

It's easy to miss the deeper aspect of this work, and hear only the surface, say, if you play this at a party. But it's a deep and very satisfying work, and worthy of one of the most interesting and original composers of the 20th century.

Zappa grew up with Doo Wop. He loves the greasiness of Doo Wop but also loves the repetitive and greasy piano triplets and embarassing lyrics, but likes the melody. This is indeed a concept album, and the concept here is to make fun of Doo Wop.

The most interesting part of this album is that while Frank is making fun of Doo Wop, each song here could have been a bonafide Doo Wop hit, because Frank purposely injected a lot of unused chord progressions and a lot of great melody. Mostly the songs are the same, give or take a few tempo counts, and give or take a few keys. Jelly Roll Gum Drop however is a stomping and upbeat song about, what else, tits! I heard Frank once count this song off and say "This song is about tits, 1, 2, 3, 4!"

All in all, this album was in a few ways a filler album for the record company and a project Frank really wanted to do but didn't treat it as serious because it wasn't necessarily something original and something with incredible compositions like we all knew he wanted to do. It's an interesting listen to hear what Frank did with Doo Wop, and how the Mothers' had good fun with this.

The re-release of this album have Arthur Barrow's bass and Chad Wackerman's drums. Try to hear the old master and the re-release to see if you like Barrow's bass and Wackerman's drums better than Roy Estrada's and Jimmy Black's. Most Frank fans were mad at the decision of the new bass and drum tracks, but Frank said there was a problem with the tape and it was a necessity to do so.

Good but non-essential indeed.

First off, this is not a progressive rock album. This is a Doo-Wop/Comedy album. I'd have to say this is for fans of Frank mostly, those who know Zappa's early Doo-Wop infatuation as a teenager. This is pretty much Doo-Wop through Frank's eyes, in a silly manner. The songs here mix the silliness of the early Mothers having fun with the art of Doo-Wop as they all got a kick out of it. These songs later acted as comic interludes at Mothers' shows. The songs here are actually pretty infectious and orchestrated way out of the Doo-Wop norm, especially Stuff Up the Cracks and Jelly Roll Gum Drop. Of course, the remastered versions needed a bass and drum track because the masters had messed them up, so Arthur Barrow and Chad Wackerman's tracks are on the CD, vinyl will have the originals. 6.9/10

This is actually a more "progressive" record than it seems at first -- listen closely and you'll hear melodies from Stravinsky buried in these songs! But basically it's a tribute / parody of the greasy doo-wop that Zappa loved as a teen (singer Ray Collins had also been active in the doo-wop scene in the 50's, and this album finds Collins more to the fore than any other Mothers album.)

The standout track is the last one, "Stuff Up The Cracks" with amusing lyrics (about suicide by sticking your head in the over, with a wonderfully droll delivery by Collins) and a fantastic guitar solo -- which is incongruous to the 50's-style proceedings, but quite a nice bit of musicianship.

Not really a good entry point to the Zappa universe, but an indispensible LP for fans of the Mothers of Invention era.

1.7/5.0 Yet another satire from Frank Zappa. Now it's a Doo Wop parody... Absolutely nothing really progressive there. That said, it's not a bad album, but it's more of a joke than anything else. I'd probably give a lower rating if I wasn't convinced that is must be great in a funny way. It's difficult to rate a Zappa album, even more when you're guessing "is he joking or is this real?". Well, don't waste your money on this one if you are new to Zappa. Try to get his other albums first.1.7/5.0

Just for fun I guess, musically I can hardly take this album seriously, and I don't think that it was intended to be taken seriously. The music is based on 50's and 60's Doo-wop or however they call it. and somehow all the songs sound so familliar, but he treated them with a Zappaesque brush to make them fit his style. He'd done similar things on Freak Out and Absolutely Free, but then it were just single songs inbetween a bigger concept, as an album it's a bit too much the same for comfort. Funny elements are as usual incorporated in the songs (notice the sesame street tune as the core melody for Cheap Thrills). It's actually quite a nice album, so for Zappa fans it can be great fun, an enjoyable album, but certainly not groundbraking at any level. I want to give it three stars, but in light of his earlier and later work I can only give two.

Cruising with Ruben & The Jets is a very different Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention album. Released in 1968 the same year as the groundbreaking We´re Only in It for the Money you should expect more of the same from The Mothers of Invention. If this was your expectation you would be fooled though, as Cruising With Ruben & The Jets are The Mothers of Invention playing fifties Doo Woop and R´n´B. Some fans were probably pretty upset with this album, but seeing this in retrospect I think it´s a brilliant idea. Zappa always did what he felt for in the moment. On the first couple of Mothers of Invention albums you could also clearly hear the influence from the fifties Doo Woop and R´n´B scene, but the style was mixed with more regular sixties rock, blues and avant garde moments. Here there are only Doo Woop and R´n´B songs.

There are a couple of songs from The Mothers Of Invention´s debut album Freak Out which they have re-arranged and re-recorded, but the rest are new songs. There isn´t much to say about the structure of the songs or their innovative nature because the songs are very simple as it generally is in this style. It´s all done with the classic Zappa gleam in the eye though and you sense a certain humour involved. Songs like Cheap Thrills, Jerry Roll Gum Drop and especially the hilarious lyrics to Stuff Up the Cracks are good examples of this.

The instrumentation is very simple and the vocalists steal the picture here. Frank Zappa with his deep bass vocals, Roy Estrada with his high pitched voice and especially Ray Collins with his smooth and pleasant voice.

This is one of the Zappa albums you got to have on LP as the CD version has re-recorded drums done by Chad Wackermann in the eighties. Even though this was Zappa´s wish it´s a horror, so go find the original LP at any cost, don´t waste your money on the CD version. The sound quality on the original LP is good. A typical Zappa production.

This might not be one of my favorite Zappa albums but I think it is enjoyable and allthough not very proggy this deserves 3 stars in my book.

This one of the essential albums to understand who was Frank Zappa When I bought it in the late sixties I didn't understand it.....It was Uncle meat vs that thing and most of us just went passing by this one ....but listen to the original version now :the first ever recorded drum loops are here ,the production of this album is still avant garde even now like the Shaggs album it is one of the greatest rock album from the sixties....don't buy the overdubbed CD it's crap ....try to download the original mix It's a killer /on my Itunes it melts into Intermission by the Residents and it fits perfectly

In Cruising with Ruben and the Jets , Zappa wanted to tribute all those doo wop and R n' b groups he was a fan in the 50's. This is a parody album and it has no progressive content at all , but it's good to listen once in a while. The melodies are addictive and the vocals hilarious , typical Zappa humour.

Some of the tunes on the album are re works of Freak Out songs such as Love of My Life , How could I be such a fool , Any way the wind blows and other numbers. It's funny to listen to the contrast between Roy Estrada's vocals and Frank's low pitched ones that often are used as a chorus like in Love of My Life.

Some reviewers have complained about the fact that the drum tracks were re recorded in the 80's for the cd version. But I don't own the LP so I can't make a fair comparation. Overall , this release may be fun to listen a couple of times but I don't think it will be worthy of your money. You should get some serious Zappa records instead.

2.5 stars

Frank Zappa's curious retro-rock album was an oddity even for such a famously idiosyncratic talent. It was originally released in 1968, but looked back almost a decade earlier to an already outdated style of popular music, long out of fashion at the politically charged end of the swinging '60s.

In retrospect the album offers a revealing glimpse of Zappa's doo-wop adolescence, always at the core of even his most subversive musical experiments. Remove the Dada cutups, the juvenile humor, the biting social commentary, and the screaming guitar solos, and this might be the skeleton left behind: rock 'n' roll from an earlier, more innocent age, the perfect soundtrack to a high school sock hop, or for necking in the back seat of your Dad's Chevy.

It's easy to see why Zappa would be drawn to such simple sentiments (first love, first heartbreak), besides the obvious nostalgia value to someone who came of age in Southern California during the late 1950s. The music evokes a return to an uncorrupted Golden Age of Rock, before it became part of a tightly controlled consumer industry (and before the industry became a thorn in the side of such a creative nonconformist).

But listen closer, and you might hear something more than just an affectionate parody or a tongue-n-cheek tribute (take your pick). The relentless, unvarying grove of "Cheap Thrills" (continuing even into the fadeout) combines pure pop nostalgia with a repetitive minimalism worthy of John Cage. And the song "No.No.No." includes some convoluted vocal harmonies not far removed from a GENTLE GIANT madrigal.

In short, all fun stuff, but played seriously...or maybe it's the other way around? Only the cartoon cover art hints at the rock 'n' roll mockery more typical of the Mothers of Invention.

A final note: what might seem like a stingy two-star rating is hardly a measure of the album's quality, but merely an acknowledgement that it would only make sense to an already confirmed Frank Zappa aficionado. Join the Club, and hear what you've been missing.

This is Frank's homage to the doo-wop groups he so much loved in the 50's and listen to with his friend Captain Beefheart. He wanted to make a record like Stravinsky did with his new classic compositons. The similar arrangment, thea same feeling, but weird chord progressions. It is not a joke, it is FZ experimenting with different kinds of material. This album was recorded in 1968 in a period of frenetic activity, The brilliant composer was also declare that there is now distinction between high art and low art. The Mothers were only trying to show that they can do whatever music it pleased them. And with great gusto. However, this tentative of trying to get their music on the radio, as they affirm in the cover, falls short in terms of artistic goals. I think if this album was imagined 10 years later FZ with mixed it with music of different kinds like he did with the "Lather" project that upsetted so much WB. There's some great singing by Ray Collins, beautiful melodies, nice arrangements, but it is not an excelent record. 2,5 stars.

In a move that I'm betting Frank had fully planned out even before the band began recording Freak Out!, Cruising with Ruben & The Jets is The Mothers pulling a practical joke on the world by doing what seems to be a straight-up, completely earnest 50's-rock and doo-wop tribute album. Sure, the band had done doo-wop before, but where the doo-wop on Freak Out! had all sorts of bizarre tweaks that made it anything but conventional, Cruising doesn't have any overtly obvious signs of parody. If you didn't know who recorded this, or if your first exposure to the image of Frank Zappa was the picture on the back of the CD reissue (which, for those who are familiar with Frank, is absolutely freaking hilarious), I'm pretty willing to bet you wouldn't be able to tell that this was recorded by one of the most avant-garde collections of musicians in the history of rock music. My goodness, they even re-recorded four of the Freak Out! songs in the form of completely normal doo-wop tracks, and they blend in so well here with the other numbers that I had to check back at the Freak Out! tracklisting the first couple of times I listened to this to remember which ones were the ones taken from there.

So, ok, it's a pretty funny joke on an overall level, but the most important question is whether or not the album itself is enjoyable to listen to. The answer is ... sorta yes. The most important matter along these lines is the fact that the band members (ok, maybe just Frank, I don't actually know how the other people in the group felt about this joke) didn't actually try to create an "enjoyable" (in the proper sense of the word) listening experience with this album (which he refers to, in the liner notes no less, as "an album of greasy love songs and cretin simplicity"). While it is true that Frank grew up largely loving doo-wop, he also loved it despite a perfect awareness of the limitations and ridiculousnesses of the genre, and he sure doesn't try to write around those traits here. Hence, some of the tracks just can't help but be completely unlistenable even after the nature of the joke has been taken into consideration, at least not if you've been weaned primarily on post-50's music.

On the other hand, though, some of the cariactures within these songs are really truly funny, and they help boost this album's rating a long way. Am I the only person who finds the concept of a 50's pop song about "cheap thrills in the back of my car" hilarious? Or who nearly falls over laughing at the sound of Frank's low-pitched backing vocals in "Later That Night?" Or who can barely contain himself when hearing some of the ridiculous spoken monologues on here? The point is, there are a lot of little points within these songs that manage to give the album much more replay value than it theoretically should have. Heck, the closing number goes out with a completely incongruous (and great) Zappa guitar solo, and that's not something you'll find on most 50's tribute albums.

Still, this is an album where you need the full context of Zappa's early career to properly appreciate it. This isn't a bad album by any means, but when you're building a Mothers of Invention collection, this should definitely be your last stop.

With this album not really being a prog album, (more a doo woop 'parody' album) im not gonna go that much into detail here, i have to admit i really didnt like this one, all in all i have given it 3 listens in about 4-5 months and i still dont really get the humour, now as some people know im a fan of Zappa albums with a sence of humour but i didnt like this, the humour can be funny maybe the first 2-3 songs but by then the novelty wears off and your just left with just that..novelty songs (a thing im not a fan of) this is for the die hard Zappa fans that just have to own everything that this man has done in his career, not for every Zappa fan though;

Cheap Thrills - 5/10 Love of My Life - 5/10 How Could I Be Such a Fool - 5/10 Deseri - 5/10 I'm Not Satisfied - 4/10 Jelly Roll Gum Drop - 4/10 Anything - 6/10 Later That Night - 4/10 You Didn't Try to Call Me - 5/10 Fountain of Love - 5/10 No. No. No. - 5/10 Any Way the Wind Blows - 4/10 Stuff Up the Cracks - 4/10

MY CONCLUSION? Eh its up for debate weather this album is good or not, but for me i just didnt get it, sorry

Fifth (I think) album from frank's Mothers, this album is somewhat poorer than most its predecessors, mainly because it seems obsessed with the 50's early rock and doo-wop music. This was and will be always a staple of Frank's works, but here it's a little over the top, as the title of the album indicates. Of course, Zappa's core of his sardonic and caustic humour is hidden in those Doo-wop songs, but the whole point is that generally the humour (not necessarily filled with finesse) quickly wears off after a few listens! In most of Zappa's works, this isn't that dramatic, because the music is deep in surprises and starts unravelling its secrets and mysteries by the time the humour is irritating, but in "Cruising With?", it simply isn't the case, cos the music lacks the usual depth, and the Doo-wop and 50's feel is simply constant, unrelenting and downright wearisome (if it was soporific, I wouldn't complain this much ;o))))) This doesn't mean that all is bad in this album, because the vocals are extremely well carried out, sometimes complex ala Gentle Giant, but this is not enough for progheads to get interested in it until he/she has gotten to the completionist stage. Best avoided, at least in the early stages of your Zappa-ian investigations.

I understand that Frank Zappa loved doo-wop music. He certainly had enough doo-wop tracks on his regular albums. But to create an entire album of the music? I'm not sure it was a good idea. And I know Zappa claimed that this was a sincere tribute to the music he loved, but far too often, there seems to be a sneer or snicker behind the vocals. I wonder if The Mothers were editorializing and Frank didn't notice.

Four of the tracks, How Could Be Such A Fool, I'm Not Satisfied, You Didn't Try To Call me, and Any Way The Wind Blows were originally on the first LP of "Freak Out", and all sounded better there. How Could I Be Such A Fool fares the worst, as the original waltz tempo has been rearranged into an awkward 4/4.

There are some cool FZ guitar solos, but the prog rating on this album os absolutely zero.

As he did on the CD pairing "We're Only In It For The Money" and "Lumpy Gravy", Frank, for some reason thought it was a good idea to re-record the drums and bass for the original Ryko CD release (except for Stuff Up The Cracks, who knows why?). Because the album does not have the historical importance that the others did, it's not the abomination that it was on "Money" and "Gravy". So I would give the same rating to either release.

No one can accuse Maestro Zappa and The Mothers of Invention of being afraid to try ANYTHING, because Cruising with Ruben and the Jets is an album of 50's Doo-Wop styled pieces, all original compositions by Zappa with the odd credit going to vocalist Ray Collins. Doo-Wop is NOT Prog (duh), but that's not to degrade this release ; I don't think Zappa and his Mothers intended to set the world ablaze with this project, or to 'get their cruddy music on the radio' (as the voice-bubble states on the amusing cover) . It's definately a well done excercise in reverence to a musical style the boys in the band grew up with and genuinely enjoyed. The melodies are infectious, the vocal arrangements are faithful, even a tad humourous, given the heavy emphasis on falsettos and the backing, low register dooby-doo's (courtesy of Frank) and occasional tweaking of pitch, exemplified by the opening cut 'Cheap Thrills'. The 'redundant piano triplets' are so catchy and effective, Roy Estrada's bass has this twangy edge to it - so 50's really. I truly love this work by the band, even if it was retro already in 1968. Top marks go to 'Deseri' (Collins' voice is superb along with the simple but effective melody), although 'Love of my Life', 'How Could I Be Such A Fool', 'I'm Not Satisfied', 'Later That Night' and 'Fountain of Love' are all really, really good too. Album closer, 'Stuff Up The Cracks' features a cool, wah-wah guitar solo from the man, which stands out from all the other guitar parts on the album. Push this one to 3 and a half stars.

The followup to We're Only In It For the Money is likely to only be of interest to those who particularly like doo-wop music in general, or at least are sufficiently fond of the Mothers' occasional experiments with it (as seen on a few songs on Freak Out!, Uncle Meat and Burnt Weeny Sandwich) to want a whole album in the same vein.

The joke surrounding the album (which might or might not have a grain of truth to it) was that the Mothers, sick of their lack of commercial success, were having a stab at doing something radio friendly. Whilst Zappa's experimental edge is still present - there's a few very subtle Stravinsky references here and there in the music - by and large they attempt to play it straight. But there are cracks in the facade here and there; a cynical sneer occasionally creeps into the vocals, and the lyrics to I'm Not Satisfied could be about a band's irritation at the fickle record-buying public rather than being addressed from a boy to a girl.

To be honest, I'm not sure this particular experiment works. The thing about this sort of cheesy doo-wop music is that it requires a certain sincerity to work; if the performers really believe in the song and get into it, it can be extremely emotionally powerful (as the Mothers had successfully demonstrated on other occasions, such as the unexpectedly beautiful cover of Valerie on Burnt Weeny Sandwich). But if you don't have that sincerity behind the music it just ends up as soulless pop. I'm not sorry to have Cruising with Ruben and the Jets around to listen to now and again but I'd never get into it to the extent I would any of the other Zappa albums and I think its deliberate shallowness and lack of sincerity hampers it from really being the effective doo-wop tribute it wants to be. Still, I have to admit that Cheap Thrills is one hell of a catchy tune.

The version to get, unless you have a vinyl issue with the original mix, is the one on the Greasy Love Songs compilation, which is the only time the original mix got released on CD. All CD issues under the album's original name had a remix which to my ears doesn't do the songs any favours, adding a certain confrontational atmosphere which adds to the sense the band are sneering at their own material rather than being sincere about it.

Believe it or not, this is a concept album. Frank Zappa created the fictional band....the band consisted of a bunch of teenagers that an old man (Uncle Meat) turned into "dog snout" people under the lead of singer Ruben Sano. The album itself belongs to the "No Commercial Potential" project. The other albums that belong to that project are "We're Only in it For the Money", the revised version of "Lumpy Gravy" and "Uncle Meat". FZ said that the song order from these 4 albums could be cut apart with a razor blade and reassembled in any order and it would still make one piece of music that you could listen to and then cut them apart again and assemble them in another order and still listen to it.

This is Frank Zappa's funny yet loving tribute to the 50s style doo wop the he loved so much. Yes he loved it. This album has both new and re-vamped songs on it, all written in the doo-wop style. There is no prog here, but out of all the FZ doo-wop collections, this one is the best, so in a way it is essential if you want to understand and appreciate the artist. FZ always did what he wanted, even though most of the time, he wanted to be recognized for his serious jazz/classical music, and he used popular music to get more people to listen to his serious music.

On the surface, the music here sounds really simple. Apparently, it was a really easy album to record. However, FZ still adds some strange harmonies, some winks to one of his favorite composers, Igor Stravinski. There are some odd key changes throughout the album and even a few weird meter changes. That was FZ adding his touch so that listeners that were listening would know that it really was him. But for the most part, don't expect to find much other than doo wop music, somewhat enjoyable and entertaining for the most part. No guitar solos here except for on the last track, and it is kind of out of place, but still good. Some of the songs are better than others, but on the whole, it's a fun record and a novelty to own the vinyl.

Strangely enough, a 2nd Ruben and the Jets album was recorded by an actual band by the same name. The album name was "For Real" and it was produced by none other than Frank Zappa. Good luck finding that one. Nothing prog here, but essential for those interested in FZ, so I'll call it a 3 star album.

This early Zappa release, performed entirely in the doo-wop style, and almost entirely with a straight-face, is to me sort of from the Island of Misfit records. There's a lot of Zappa style to enjoy here, but I found myself waiting for the punch- line. Frank himself utilized this style sprinkled throughout his library, but always in snippets and with a wry or biting tone. Cruising With Ruben doesn't have that acerbic humor which I really dug in other releases from this time period. If you're going in to this one blind, be prepared for thirteen tunes that aren't quite doo-wop, and aren't quite fully "Zappa-esque." If you're like me you'll be scratching your head a bit, even if you kinda sorta like what you hear. If Zappa were reading this he'd probably encourage me to listen more deeply (and then flip me off or call me a product of the pretentious anglo-centric prog-rock movement), but the fact remains that Cruising With Ruben strikes me as a tertiary album in Zappa's lineup, to be enjoyed in sessions well after you've spun the man's key albums first. Good for fans, not for starters.

Songwriting: 2 - Instrumental Performances: 2 - Lyrics/Vocals: 2 - Style/Emotion/Replay: 3

Very few love for this album, which is a little bit sad. I rate this one a 10/10. Frank Zappa has worked in all areas of music and so it only comes natural that he also would record his "Pop"-album. And in this case "Pop" means "Doo Woop", a musical genre established in the 50s and nearly forgotten today. One thing you must note is that there are at least two different mixes of the album. The original one and the one where bass and drums were re-recorded (along with "We're only in it for the Money"). I think both mixes work incredibly fine, but the latter is considered inferior by some part of the fan base. In fact, I think the 80's mix sounds more fun. Starting with the real catchy "Cheap Thrills" this album moves straight forward and at the end we also have a nice guitar solo with "Stuff Up the Cracks". If you are looking for a real fun album, dig this. It's full of beautiful melodies.

The year 1968 was a pivotal year in American history as the USA was shaken to its core with assassinations, riots and political scandals but on the positive side the world got three albums in this calendar year from FRANK ZAPPA AND THE MOTHERS OF INVENTION! That's right, FZ & his boyz in this year began releasing at least two albums a year with a whopping three coming out in 1968. This came about from what was a project called "No Commercial Potential" which produced enough material for four albums. The first released was "Lumpy Gravy" which technically emerged in 67 but for most it was delayed until early 68 followed by "We're Only In It For The Money" followed by this experimental pop and doo-wop soaked release CRUISING WITH RUBEN & THE JETS. The fourth, "Uncle Meat" wouldn't come out until 1969.

While the other three albums were exercises in avant-guard experimentalism laced with political protest and societal satire, CRUISING WITH RUBEN & THE JETS was the oddball of the pack and looked back to the previous decade and served more as a tribute album to the R&B, soul and doo-wop sounds that kept malt shops in America the coolest hippest places of the era. Believe it or not, this album is a concept album that deals with a fictitious Chicano doo-wop band called, you guessed it - RUBEN & THE JETS! However if you're like me you own this and have it sit and the shelf and haven't listened to it enough to figure that out! Inspired by artists like the Four Aces, the Four Freshmen, Frankie Lane, Frank Sinatra and Jesse Baldwin, this is one of those albums that an artist just has to get out of his system before he can move on. Thank the creator that mr ZAPPA did!

After several experimental albums steeped with irreverence towards social norms and pretentious fads, this one seems woefully out of place in the MOTHERS canon as it is the most normal rated G album of the entire ZAPPA universe! There are no digs at power structures, no calling out phony baloney societal nonsense and no freaky sound experiments. None! This is on the other hand a fairly faithful representation of the malt shop music of ZAPPA's youth and honestly not a very good one at that. Ironically radio stations picked up on this one as some sort of long lost doo-wop classic that somehow got overlooked during the 50s and many of the tracks received steady airplay although they were actually referred to as being performed by RUBEN & THE JETS instead of the MOTHERS themselves. ZAPPA sure had a way of playing practical jokes in ways even he couldn't have anticipated!

What we get on this one is basically 13 tracks of doo-wop and 50s soul and R&B with authentic themes and even more convincing sounds however everything is just too faithful to really be of any interest. Another interesting fact is that four years later ZAPPA gave permission for Ruben Guevara to use the name RUBEN & THE JETS for a real band who released two albums. Honestly, if i want to listen to 50s music which i actually do love, i'd rather go straight to the source than hearing THE MOTHERS do a decent but rather unflattering attempt at recreating it. There is nothing inherently bad about this album but seriously if i'm in the mood to hear malt shop music than i'll throw on some Coasters, Flamingos or perhaps Frankie Valli! Grease is the word ya know ;)

Review #140

(Considering this an album by THE MOTHERS OF INVENTION and not a Frank ZAPPA album)

"Cruisin' with Ruben & The Jets" is probably the album I like the less in the whole THE MOTHERS OF INVENTION catalog: the excellent and very interesting highly experimental style that THE MOTHERS achieved in the three previous albums ("Freak out!", "Absolutely free" and "We're only in it for the money") went completely down the drain with this boring, monotonal and with a huge lack of creativity record.

The songs in here are an ugly attempt to sound exactly like a 50's Rockabilly band, the instrumentation didn't show any interesting moments, the guitar is asleep, the drums are dry and the bass is as much recognizable, there is not even a single song in here that made further than the album: everything in here is forgettable, if I wasn't listening to the album right now I couldn't remember any of the songs in it.

However, this is not an awful album: actually, if I was as interested in Rockabilly music in the vein of Jerry LEE LEWIS, Johnny CASH, or Elvis PRESLEY as much as I'm interested in Progressive Rock I would enjoy this album much more, maybe if it wasn't an album by THE MOTHERS OF INVENTION I would love it, but the problem here is when I start to compare this record with any other MOTHERS or single ZAPPA album, that's where this album feels poor and not interesting at all.

Collector/fans only, that's the best I can do.