FRANK ZAPPA & THE MOTHERS OF INVENTION — Absolutely Free (1967-1995) RM | FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Frank Zappa's liner notes for Freak Out! name-checked an enormous breadth of musical and intellectual influences, and he seemingly attempts to cover them all on the second Mothers of Invention album, Absolutely Free. Leaping from style to style without warning, the album has a freewheeling, almost schizophrenic quality, encompassing everything from complex mutations of "Louie, Louie" to jazz improvisations and quotes from Stravinsky's Petrushka. It's made possible not only by expanded instrumentation, but also Zappa's experiments with tape manipulation and abrupt editing, culminating in an orchestrated mini-rock opera ("Brown Shoes Don't Make It") whose musical style shifts every few lines, often in accordance with the lyrical content. In general, the lyrics here are more given over to absurdity and non sequiturs, with the sense that they're often part of some private framework of satirical symbols. But elsewhere, Zappa's satire also grows more explicitly social, ranting against commercial consumer culture and related themes of artificiality and conformity. By turns hilarious, inscrutable, and virtuosically complex, Absolutely Free is more difficult to make sense of than Freak Out!, partly because it lacks that album's careful pacing and conceptual focus. But even if it isn't quite fully realized, Absolutely Free is still a fabulously inventive record, bursting at the seams with ideas that would coalesce into a masterpiece with Zappa's next project. Steve Huey
"Absoutely Free" (1st In A Series Of Underground Oratorios)    
1.    Plastic People    3:42
2.    The Duke Of Prunes    2:13
3.    Amnesia Vivace    1:01
4.    The Duke Regains His Chops    1:52
5.    Call Any Vegetable    2:15
6.    Invocation & Ritual Dance Of The Young Pumpkin    7:00
7.    Soft-Sell Conclusion    1:40
8.    Big Leg Emma    2:31
9.    Why Don'tcha Do Me Right?    2:37
"The M.O.I. American Pageant" (2nd In A Series Of Underground Oratorios)    
10.    America Drinks    1:53
11.    Status Back Baby    2:54
12.    Uncle Bernie's Farm    2:10
13.    Son Of Suzy Creamcheese    1:34
14.    Brown Shoes Don't Make It    7:30
15.    America Drinks & Goes Home    2:45
Credits :
Artwork By [Cover Art, Layout, Collages Etc.], Liner Notes, Composed By, Arranged By, Conductor – Frank Zappa
Performer – Billy Mundi, Bunk Gardner, Don Preston, Frank Zappa, Jim Black, Jim Sherwood, Ray Collins, Roy Estrada

FRANK ZAPPA & THE MOTHERS OF INVENTION — We're Only in It for the Money (1968-1995) RM | FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

From the beginning, Frank Zappa cultivated a role as voice of the freaks -- imaginative outsiders who didn't fit comfortably into any group. We're Only in It for the Money is the ultimate expression of that sensibility, a satirical masterpiece that simultaneously skewered the hippies and the straights as prisoners of the same narrow-minded, superficial phoniness. Zappa's barbs were vicious and perceptive, and not just humorously so: his seemingly paranoid vision of authoritarian violence against the counterculture was borne out two years later by the Kent State killings. Like Freak Out, We're Only in It for the Money essentially devotes its first half to satire, and its second half to presenting alternatives. Despite some specific references, the first-half suite is still wickedly funny, since its targets remain immediately recognizable. The second half shows where his sympathies lie, with character sketches of Zappa's real-life freak acquaintances, a carefree utopia in "Take Your Clothes Off When You Dance," and the strident, unironic protest "Mother People." Regardless of how dark the subject matter, there's a pervasively surreal, whimsical flavor to the music, sort of like Sgt. Pepper as a creepy nightmare. Some of the instruments and most of the vocals have been manipulated to produce odd textures and cartoonish voices; most songs are abbreviated, segue into others through edited snippets of music and dialogue, or are broken into fragments by more snippets, consistently interrupting the album's continuity. Compositionally, though, the music reveals itself as exceptionally strong, and Zappa's politics and satirical instinct have rarely been so focused and relevant, making We're Only in It for the Money quite probably his greatest achievement. Steve Huey 
Tracklist :
1.    Are You Hung Up?    1:24
2.    Who Needs The Peace Corps?    2:34
3.    Concentration Moon    2:22
4.    Mom & Dad    2:16
5.    Telephone Conversation    0:48
6.    Bow Tie Daddy    0:33
7.    Harry, You're A Beast    1:21
8.    What's The Ugliest Part Of Your Body?    1:03
9.    Absolutely Free    3:24
10.    Flower Punk    3:03
11.    Hot Poop    0:26
12.    Nasal Retentive Calliope Music    2:02
13.    Let's Make The Water Turn Black    2:01
14.    The Idiot Bastard Son    3:18
15.    Lonely Little Girl    1:09
16.    Take Your Clothes Off When You Dance    1:32
17.    What's The Ugliest Part Of Your Body? (Reprise)    1:02
18.    Mother People    2:26
19.    The Chrome Plated Megaphone Of Destiny    6:25
Credits :
Artwork [Plastic Figures & All Other Artwork], Design [CD Design Consultant] – Cal Schenkel
Composed By, Arranged By, Edited By [Scientifically Mutilated By], Supervised By [Orchestral Segments Conducted Under The Supervision Of] – Frank Zappa
Drums, Trumpet, Vocals, Voice [Indian Of The Group] – Jimmy Carl Black
Drums, Vocals, Other [Yak & Black Lace Underwear] – Billy Mundi
Electric Bass, Vocals, Other [Asthma] – Roy Estrada
Guitar, Piano, Lead Vocals, Other [Weirdness], Edited By [Editing] – Frank Zappa
Performer [Retired] – Don Preston
Performer [Snorks] – Dick Barber
Piano, Woodwind, Other [Wholesome] – Ian Underwood
Soprano Saxophone, Baritone Saxophone, Voice [Road Manager], Other [All Purpose Weirdness And Teen Appeal] – Euclid James Motorhead Sherwood
Voice [Has Graciously Consented To Speak To You In Several Critical Area] – Eric Clapton
Voice [Telephone] – Suzy Creamcheese
Woodwind [All], Vocals [Mumbled Weirdness] – Bunk Gardner

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