Frank Zappa - We're Only in It for the Money
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CD Details
Artist: Frank ZappaBrand: ZAPPA,FRANK
Edition: Music CD
Audio: English (Original Language)
Format: Original recording remastered
CD Release Date: 1995-04-18
Music Label: Zappa Records
Soundtracks:
- Are You Hung Up?
- Who Needs The Peace Corps?
- Concentration Moon
- Mom & Dad
- Telephone Conversation
- Bow Tie Daddy
- Harry, You Are A Beast
- What's The Ugliest Part Of Your Body?
- Absolutely Free
- Flower Punk
- Hot Poop
- Nasal Retentive Calliope Music
- Let's Make The Water Turn Black
- The Idiot Bastard Son
- Lonely Little Girl
- Take Your Clothes Off When you Dance
- What's The Ugliest Part Of Your Body? (Reprise)
- Mother People
- The Chrome Plated Megaphone Of Destiny
Music reviews of We're Only in It for the Money
Music Review: Plays like an accessible, poppy "Trout mask replica". 87.5/100
Rating: 4 Stars
After the band's mis-hit second album "Absolutely free", they return to the ambience and accessibility of their debut album "Freak out!"...and surpassing it in the process. This album is listenable, engaging and experimental but accessible in a poppy way, to an extent. Themes of alienation and the culture divide are elegantly constructed (in contrast to their smugness in covering this ground on "Absolutely free"). Musically, there is a combination of 'British invasion' kind of influences and what Captain Beefheart would do soon after with "Trout mask replica". Fortunately for Zappa, he constructs his own experimental explorations in a more accessible way than Beefheart..."Trout mask replica" is so solipsistic that it disappears inside it's own alimentary canal. Will have to check what year my cd was released...don't think it is the remastered version, though it shares the cover art of the album I'm linking to here.
Best songs on first listen "(.)":
Mom & dad - a genteel, melancholy tune...perhaps with a touch of The Velvet Underground to it. Tribal sounding drums on the right hand side. Keyboard and lead guitar feature. Not the first song on the album to deal with police brutality. A nice, pleasant song...bumped up my opinion of it on second listen from "[.]".
Absolutely free - "[.]" piano intro then becomes relatively poppy with military style drumming. Features harmonies and later a harpsichord, I think. Good stereo balance to the song. Sound a bit foggy, a la Blue Cheer's debut album...that is, heavy and dull sound. Atypical for this album.
Let's make the water turn black - features piano, acoustic guitar and dual vocals. Catchy harmonies and melodies.
Next best songs on second listen ">[.]":
The idiot bastard son - comes across as a sort of Beatles meets Captain Beefheart...kind of a demented "She's leaving home" (off of The Beatles' "Sgt.Pepper" album). Features bass guitar, acoustic guitar, later on electric guitar bobs up, keyboard and some studio chit-chat included in the mix.
Lonely little girl - keyboard on this track has a George Harrison/Beatles "While my guitar gently weeps" vibe to it. Also seem to detect a Herman's Hermits vibe to the song too. Intro has acoustic and electric guitar. Strumming, multi-vocals and brass instruments appear.
Mother people - has piano and harmonies. Lead guitar. I like the drumming in this track. Perhaps the archetypal Frank Zappa here...he tries to get into the conformist mind...you get a symptom here of mutual incomprehension of this "other". "Mum & dad" also veers into this thematic territory.
The rest:
Are you hung up? - experimenta - talking voices and weird effects utilised, but that's ok. Bit of a time capsule too, this song...has a lot of 1960s lingo. Sensual at times to the ear.
Who needs the peace corp? - lead guitar on acoustic. Drums on the right hand side. Like the drum tone. Sometimes brassy. Not sure, but this may be the first time you hear the word "shote" in mainstream music. Like the lyric "Every town must have a place where hippies meet".
Concentration moon - drums on right hand side. Multi-vocals/harmonies. More social critique here, revisiting the opening track's themes ("Are you hung up?"). Like the lyric "Hair growing out of every hole in me".
Telephone conversation - 0:48 seconds long. Intriguing telephone conversation...I'm curious to know if it was for real or if the subject matter covered was true. Wikipedia lists this as an additional track for the cd release...not on the original LP in other words, I think.
Bow tie daddy - 0:33. An English style song from the first half of last century, I think...have in mind songs like "Mad dogs and Englishmen"...that kind of vibe. Wikipedia lists the original LP version of this song being almost three times longer than the cd version...there are some discrepancies like that.
Harry, you're a beast - piano intro. Has a Herman's Hermits vibe to it, perhaps. Features acoustic guitar, harmonies and a xylophone or some such instrument, I think. Outro has backwards playing material. More lyrics against conformist people...I like the line "You're phony on top, you're phony underneath".
What's the ugliest part of your body? - 1950s style do-wop, which is cute. Later there's some John Lennon-esque vocals, perhaps. Run time is 1:03. Lyrics have a sting in the tail...a nice twist from what the title hints at.
Flower punk - starts as a sort of "Hey Joe" parody with Bart Simpson singing, it seems! Vocals get a bit more chipmunk like later. Then it seems Beavis and Butthead have some words of wisdom too! Has a cheesy sounding keyboard. You hear two distinct voices in each channel.
Hot poop - 0:26. Soothing, sensual male voice features. You hear a backwards voice too.
Nasal retentive calliope music - screechy electronic noises kick off this instrumental - um, well words do feature in this track, but it's not a song as such - which then ends with a surf music vibe as far as the beat and guitar sounds go.
Take your clothes off - multi-vocals here, including a female singer, I presume. Harmonies. A cutesy, poppy track. You can see which side of the culture divide is on when the lyric "We know that hair ain't where it's at" is sung. Acoustic and electric guitars are catchy, but it's mostly acoustic guitar here.
What's the ugliest part of your body? (reprise) - 1:02. Like the first version of this song here, but becomes chaotic at the end, unlike the first time around.
The chrome plated megaphone of destiny - 6:25. Experimental track. Synthesiser plays then you hear some cursory sounding piano playing, demented cackling and plucking of guitar strings. Maybe this is a kind of an alternative jazz track or something. The word "arbitrary" is used in this song, like it was some kind of catch-phrase. There was a mockumentary series here in Australia called "Summer Heights High" where one of the school girl characters used the phrase "random". I can attest that that catch-phrase actually had some pull...you hear people use that here every now and again. Typical Frank Zappa...even his catch-phrases didn't take on!
Recommendations:
Mothers Of Invention - Freak out! In the same league as this album and similarly catchy.
Captain Beefheart and The Magic Band - Trout mask replica. Not a fan of this album, but if a major objection for anyone who finds Zappa's albums to commercial (so to speak), then this album is a 'take no prisoners' approach...they don't seem to care at all if anyone likes the album apart from themselves!
Description of We're Only in It for the Money
Imported from Japan by Rykodisc.Packaged in deluxe mini-album jacket sleeves, these 10 classic albums by rock legend FRANK ZAPPA are now available as limited edition Japanese Imports! These packages re-create the original vinyl packaging in miniaturized form!
The Mothers of Invention answer the sentiments of the suits, the suburb dwellers, and flower children of the 60's with a big fat raspberry. Considered by many to be the Mothers' (and some would say Zappa's) best album, We're Only in it for the Money deals with harsh subject matter in a seemingly glib and light-hearted fashion (eventually a Zappa trademark), sparing no targets with catchy melodies and high-pitched vocals. Zappa applies the same aggressive studio techniques he did on Lumpy Gravy, creating a jarring collage of sound that still sounds avant-garde today. Highlights from this flawless album are numerous and include the hippie bashing "Who Needs thePeace Corps," the bedroom science of "Let's Make the Water Turn Black," the anthematic "Mother People," and the perfect payoff of "What's the Ugliest Part of Your Body?" Quite simply one of the best rock albums of all time. --Andrew Boscardin
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