Similar Albums:
- Artist: Frank Zappa & the Mothers of Invention
- Rating:
- Release Date: 1969 06
- Total Time: 120:25
- Type: Lyrics are included with the album
- Genre: Rock
Review
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, All Music GuideTracks
CD 1
| Track Title | Composers | Performers | Time |
| Uncle Meat: Main Title Theme | Frank Zappa | (1:56) | |
| The Voice of Cheese | Frank Zappa | (:26) | |
| Nine Types of Industrial Pollution | Frank Zappa | (6:00) | |
| Zolar Czakl | Frank Zappa | (:54) | |
| Dog Breath, in the Year of the Plague | Frank Zappa | (3:59) | |
| The Legend of the Golden Arches | Frank Zappa | (3:28) | |
| Louie Louie (At the Royal Albert Hall in London) | Richard Berry | (2:19) | |
| The Dog Breath Variations | Frank Zappa | (1:48) | |
| Sleeping in a Jar | Frank Zappa | (:50) | |
| Our Bizarre Relationship | Frank Zappa | (1:05) | |
| The Uncle Meat Variations | Frank Zappa | (4:46) | |
| Electric Aunt Jemima | Frank Zappa | (1:46) | |
| Prelude to King Kong | Frank Zappa | (3:38) | |
| God Bless America [Live at the Whisky a Go Go] | Irving Berlin | (1:10) | |
| A Pound for a Brown on the Bus | Frank Zappa | (1:29) | |
| Ian Underwood Whips It Out [Live on Stage in Copenhagen] | Frank Zappa | (5:05) | |
| Mr. Green Genes | Frank Zappa | (3:14) | |
| We Can Shoot You | Frank Zappa | (2:03) | |
| If We'd All Been Living in California... | Frank Zappa | (1:14) | |
| The Air | Frank Zappa | (2:57) | |
| Project X | Frank Zappa | (4:48) | |
| Cruisin' for Burgers | Frank Zappa | (2:18) |
CD 2
| Track Title | Composers | Performers | Time |
| Uncle Meat Film Excerpt, Pt. 1 | Frank Zappa | (37:34) | |
| Tengo Na Minchia Tanta | Frank Zappa | (3:46) | |
| Uncle Meat Film Excerpt, Pt. 2 | Frank Zappa | (3:50) | |
| King Kong Itself [Played by the Mothers] | Frank Zappa | (:49) | |
| King Kong II [Interpreted by Tom Dewild] | Frank Zappa | (1:21) | |
| King Kong III [Motorhead Explains It] | Frank Zappa | (1:44) | |
| King Kong IV [Gardner Varieties] | Frank Zappa | (6:17) | |
| King Kong V | Frank Zappa | (:34) | |
| King Kong VI [Live at Miami Pop Festival] | Frank Zappa | (7:24) |
