Uncle Meat – THE MOTHERS OF INVENTION**

Uncle Meat Main Title Theme/The Voice Of Cheese/Nine Types Of Industrial Pollution/Zolar Czakl/Dog Breath In The Year Of The Plague/The Legend Of The Golden Arches/Louie Louie/The Dog Breath Variations/Sleeping In A Jar/Our Bizarre Relationship/The Uncle Meat Variations/Electric Aunt Jemima/Prelude To King Kong/God Bless America/A Pound For A Brown On The Bus/Ian Underwood Whips It Out/Mr Green Genes/We Can Shoot You/If We’d All Been Living in California/The Air/Project X/Cruising For Burgers/King Kong (song suite)

Uncle Meat was a double album of avant-garde pretension from Frank Zappa & The Mothers. It is unsurprising that the content is as ugly and unappealing as the cover art. (US:43)

“The Mothers of Invention's Uncle Meat is easily one of the most avant-garde pieces of music ever widely distributed by a major record label. Not all of its experiments are successful, but how many other rock acts would dare to fuse influences ranging from Johann Sebastian Bach, Arnold Schonberg and Edgard Varese to William Burroughs, The Kingsmen and Eric Dolphy? Combining musique concrete, live recordings, interviews, instrumental compositions and instrumental solos, Uncle Meat is always fascinating.”

“Great double album shows Zappa's growing prowess as a composer and guitarist, with complex neo-classical instrumentals with great melodies and extended bluesy solos. The material is consistently strong, the edited assemblages build well, the spoken interludes are intriguing, and Frank begins his long practice of placing studio and live recordings back to back. A great success from beginning to end.”

“I'd love to rate this higher but I'm not really a fan of the way Zappa sabotages his own work. Most of the good tracks have several bad ideas, some thrown in for no other purpose than to challenge the listener.”

“If you want to be listening to Uncle Meat on a regular basis, be prepared to cull this release a lot. Way too much garbage for it to be a classic by any stretch.”

“This album is freak music, a mish-mash of songs, jams, concert tapes, skits, and whatever else they felt like chucking in.”

“To me, Zappa's music has always sounded like it came from someone who both hated music and hated people. Why should anybody listen to or care about this.”

“Perhaps Zappa's strangest, most avant-garde work, but definitely one of his best.”