FRANK ZAPPA & THE MOTHERS OF INVENTION — Uncle Meat (1969-1995) RM | 2CD | FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Just three years into their recording career, the Mothers of Invention released their second double album, Uncle Meat, which began life as the largely instrumental soundtrack to an unfinished film. It's essentially a transitional work, but it's a fascinating one, showcasing Frank Zappa's ever-increasing compositional dexterity and the Mothers' emerging instrumental prowess. It was potentially easy to overlook Zappa's melodic gifts on albums past, but on Uncle Meat, he thrusts them firmly into the spotlight; what few lyrics there are, Zappa says in the liner notes, are in-jokes relevant only to the band. Thus, Uncle Meat became the point at which Zappa began to establish himself as a composer and he would return to many of these pieces repeatedly over the course of his career. Taken as a whole, Uncle Meat comes off as a hodgepodge, with centerpieces scattered between variations on previous pieces, short concert excerpts, less-realized experiments, doo wop tunes, and comedy bits; the programming often feels as random as the abrupt transitions and tape experiments held over from Zappa's last few projects. But despite the absence of a conceptual framework, the unfocused sprawl of Uncle Meat is actually a big part of its appeal. It's exciting to hear one of the most creatively fertile minds in rock pushing restlessly into new territory, even if he isn't always quite sure where he's going. However, several tracks hint at the jazz-rock fusion soon to come, especially the extended album closer "King Kong"; it's his first unequivocal success in that area, with its odd time signature helping turn it into a rhythmically kinetic blowing vehicle. Though some might miss the gleeful satire of Zappa's previous work with the Mothers, Uncle Meat's continued abundance of musical ideas places it among his most intriguing works. Steve Huey

Disc 1 Time: 57:21

1.     Main Title Theme (1:56)

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 (3:59)

6.     The Legend of the Golden Arches (3:28)

7.     Louie Louie (At the Royal Albert Hall) (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 (4:46)

12.     Electric Aunt Jemima (1:46)

13.     Prelude to King Kong (3:38)

14.     God Bless America (1:10)

15.     A Pound for a Brown on the Bus (1:29)

16.     Ian Underwood Whips It Out (5:05)

17.     Mr. Green Genes (3:14)

18.     We Can Shoot You (2:03)

19.     If We'd All Been Living in California... (1:14)

20.     The Air (2:57)

21.     Project X (4:48)

22.     Cruisin' for Burgers (2:18)

Disc 2 Time: 63:05

1.     Uncle Meat Film Excerpt, Pt. 1 (37:34)

2.     Tengo Na Minchia Tanta (3:46)

3.     Uncle Meat Film Excerpt, Pt. 2 (3:50)

4.     King Kong Itself [Played by the Mothers] (0:49)

5.     King Kong II [Interpreted by Tom Dewild] (1:21)

6.     King Kong III [Motorhead Explains It] (1:44)

7.     King Kong IV [Gardner Varieties] (6:17)

8.     King Kong V (0:34)

9.     King Kong VI [Live at Miami Pop Festival] (7:24)

Total Time: 120:26

Line-up / Musicians

Frank Zappa - Guitar, Percussion, Keyboards, Vocals

Don Preston - Bass, Keyboards, Electric Piano

Jimmy Carl Black - Comedy, Percussion, Drums, Voices

Ray Collins - Guitar, Vocals

Aynsley Dunbar - Guitar

Roy Estrada - Basses, Vocals

Bunk Gardner / clarinet, flute, bass clarinet, piccolo, saxes, wind

Ruth Komanofff - Percussion, Marimba

Billy Mundi - Drums, Vocals

Jim Sherwood - Guitar, Vocals, Wind

Art Tripp - Percussion, Chimes, Drums, Marimba, Xylophone, Bells, Tympani, Vibraphone, Wood Block

Ian Underwood - Organ, Clarinet, Flute, Guitar, Piano, Celeste, Harpsichord, Keyboards, Saxes, Wind, Electric Organ

Ruth Underwood - Percussion, Keyboards

Nelly Walker - Vocals

Euclid James Sherwood - Tenor Sax, Tambourine, Voices