I'm cruisin' for a bruisin' BUT: with hindsight is "We're Only In It for the Money" the best album of 1968?

also hell yeah I'd take White Album and Electric Ladyland first, not to mention Wow, Wheels of Fire and Traffic!

I've never heard it but it would have to be something to top Electric Ladyland.

Do you think you have to have some basic knowledge of how to play the guitar to enjoy this album? Because I've never felt anything for it... I think I might have to start a thread about this.

And I can't answer the Jimi question as I loved that album after I started to learn guitar. Mind you, I strongly suspect I would have loved it anyway.

I'm sure I'll come around to E.L. eventually. I tend to throw something on I haven't listened to in a year and then stay up all night listening to it... It is kind of unwieldy, though. I just clicked with Exile on Main St. a month ago. Holy shite. And I'm still having trouble with London Calling. I listen to the debut probably five times more often.

Yeah it's not always a given that the supposedly GREAT albums from the canon are going to click with me. Pet Sounds took ages, then the penny dropped and I was in heaven! On the other hand, Stevie Wonder's 70's albums were an immediate thrill.

E.L. is a little unwieldly, but it's density can reward. And to return to the thread's original premise, We're Only In It For The Money is concise and joyously crisp!

Soft Machine - s/t
Os Mutantes - s/t
Incredible String Band - Hangman's Beautiful Daughter
Dr John - Gris Gris
Van Dyke Parks - Song Cycle

Other picks which may be more controversial:
Lumpy Gravy
Pink Floyd - Saucerful of Secrets
Sly and the Family Stone - Life
Blue Cheer - Vincebus Eruptum
Van Morrison - Astral Weeks
Pentangle - s/t
Sun Ra - Atlantis
Serge Gainsbourg & Brigitte Bardot - Bonnie & Clyde
Leonard Cohen - Songs of Leonard Cohen
John Fahey - The Voice Of The Turtle
Kinks - Village Green Preservation Society
Red Krayola - God Bless the Red Krayola & All Who Sail With It

More than the Zappa thing anyway. Can't believe I forgot Vincebus Eruptum! Jesus! that's only the greatest rock album of all time!

I don't know. The idea of that thing kind of bums me out. Only becuase I am SO familiar with the original album. I kind of DON'T WANT to to hear that new 3cd thing, you know? which is weird, because usually I am totally a record collecter, buy everything, kind of guy. But I have lived with the original version of that album for so long, and it seems so perfect to me, that I really have no impetus to buy that 3cd thingy.

the one I have is this one. Maybe it makes more sense at this point just to get that deluxe 3cd thing edition.. I dunno, I just honestly love that original album so much. And poortheatre, judging by your taste, which I have noticed and generally agree with and respect!, you will fucking love this album in any context in which you encounter it, for real.

"Days" is the best, most heartbreaking song ever.

http://s38.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=111BB8VIUBF171CFJIIXK4RGOS

http://idisk.mac.com/mysticalbeast/Public/1968.mp3

(I'm so awful at posting HTML stuff, fingers are crossed)

"Strictly Personal" is '68. I like "We're Only In It for the Money" but it tends to be overrated by people who are desperate to prove that Zappa was good once, honest. It's got about 8 minutes of crap musique concrete on it - it can't be that good.

'Electric ladyland', 'hot buttered soul' (Ike Hayes), 'astral weeks', 'beggars banquet' and 'life' are the best albums of 1968, in that order.

I could never listen to "We're Only In It For The Money" all the way through. I even swore at the CD player while pressing stop, usually a bad sign. I'll try again some year.

Beggars Banquet and White Light/White Heat are two my favorite albums ever. So yeah.

The Turtles Present The Battle Of The Bands

The White Album

Crown Of Creation

Orpheus (s/t)

and whatever album Aretha issued (I treat her as a singles artist but '68 was her most prolific year)

And it's still available? I thought the version currently on CD was the '80s version again. See, the whole thing just confused me. I guess I'll have to pick that up then. I apologize if I was spreading misinformation.

Yes, get that one first! Then pick up Dr. John's Babylon as well.

I forgot about Ogden's Nut Gone Flake which I definitely love more than We're Only in it for the Money. If Strictly Personal is '68 it needs to be up there too. I guess the WL/WH issue is still inconclusive? Now I need to go buy Hot Buttered Soul, The Turtles Present The Battle Of The Bands (been looking for it), and What We Did On Our Holidays.

WOIIFTM is the only Frank Zappa album I ever loved, but I don't know where my tape of it has gotten to and I don't miss it one danged bit.

Yep, that's the one I have. Then I picked up a vinyl version which frustratingly turned out to be that same mix as well.

Anyway, '68--"Odessey and Oracle," sure. "Notorious Byrd Brothers" is great. "Sweetheart of the Rodeo" came out that year, too. "Electric Ladyland." I believe the Gilberto Gil LP with "Sunday at the Park" is that year, too. "Strictly Personal" is probably better than Zappa's album, but it's not my favorite Beefheart. "Dusty in Memphis" is '69. For that matter, speaking of albums recorded in Memphis, "Cry Like a Baby" by the Box Tops is a good one, it has "Fields of Clover" on it. Merrilee Rush's '68 "Angel of the Morning" also recorded at American, a very good LP I picked up for two dollars a while back, quite nice. And yeah, "Beggars Banquet," of course. One of my friends who's a nut for the Pretty Things burned me pretty much all their '60s stuff--I still don't get "SF Sorrow." I like their earlier stuff better, but they seem like a second-rate band to me. I've tried, and I have a jones for that kind of stuff...

I do admire some aspects of "Money." I see what he was going after but I don't think he got it...I think "Brown Shoes Don't Make It'" and most of "Absolutely Free" work better.

xposts

the Kinks man!

Cool 1975. And we need a somewhat outlandish but potentially winning album to consider as the true best album. Maybe Eno's Another Green World. Oh shit, Led Zep and Neil. It's all over.

I hear they're the Village Green Society, and that they SUCK ASS.

United States of America - s/t
Walter Carlos - Switched on Bach

there were:

Silver Apples - s/t
White Noise - An Electric Storm
Fifty Foot Hose - Cauldron
Morton Subotnick - The Wild Bull
Intersystems - Peachy
Mort Garson - Wozard of Iz
Lothar and the Hand People - Presenting
Probably some Bruce Haack stuff
Plus, the Byrds - Moog Raga, the Monkees - Head, etc.
And I'm sure a lot more serious/academic stuff I'm forgetting.

You're right! I checked my copy, too. AMG has it listed as '67. My bad.

My vote goes to White Light/White Heat now. Although At Folsom Prison is up there now, too.

For me, Beggar's Banquet gets a double whammy: Not only best LP of '68, but also the best Stones album of all.

Searching for audios of this on YouTube, and all I can find is some weird and far inferior remixed version with slap bass all over it, to whit: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=44AF5E040F7F20A2.

Apparently done by Zappa himself. What the fuck? I hope this isn't the official version now.

man, just as I had completely forgotten about this album, it came up on the ipod this morning - so so great. "Who needs the Peace Corps" is still pretty funny/relevant and "Lonely Little Girl" is just beautiful (tto bad it's so short)

Mom & Dad is the one that always gets me choked up. Not my fave '68 album, but close and def my fave Mothers rec.

With all of my friends/Still runnin' free

Still so great

and the best meta-summary of 60's youth culture, generational alientaion and scene politics

sometimes I think this is not just the best record of 1968, but the best record of that decade.

I remember hearing this in high school back in the 80s and it blew my mind. It was the first Zappa record I had ever heard, and I figured the rest of his massive intimidating discography would be just as good. Oooops.

"Absolutely Free" is such a great song that I'm pissed he didn't write more like it

this would be way low on any 1968 list i made, but it's fun. this was just too good a year for this to be the best anything.

It's got about 8 minutes of crap musique concrete on it - it can't be that good.

10 years(!) since I posted that and still true.

right - I think The Kinks are the Village Green Preservation Society is my pick of the year - We're Only In It has higher points but the production is pretty terrible and the last track really puts me off

and the best meta-summary of 60's youth culture, generational alientaion and scene politics

― licorice oratorio (baaderonixx), Monday, April 13, 2015 10:27 AM (1 hour ago)

OTM, and FZ had not been completely consumed by misanthropy at this point, though he was well on his way.

if i played this now it would probably remind me of phish. which is sad. that high voice "zaniness". would much rather play turtles battle of the bands. buzzsaw 4ever!

With you on the Turtles, uh, but not Phish.

also, every jazz record i own from 1968 is probably a more rewarding listening experience.

i would say my VERY favorite 1968 rock records of all time would be...beatles, friends, waiting for the sun, kinks village green, mad river, s.f. sorrow, quicksilver s/t, beggars, sailor, astral weeks, blue cheer, bookends, fantastic expedition of dillard & clark, notorious byrd brothers, truth, sagittarius, millennium, nazz, buffalo springfield, crown of creation, plastic cloud, whitelightwhiteheat.

off the top of my head...

s.f. sorrow probably my ultimate favorite rock record out of those.

i just mean that phish kinda took the parts of zappa that i have the biggest problems with. the "humor" being number one. makes me cringe a little. which is why i'm a beefheart fan in the end.

We're only... has a pretty low "funny" quota and is actually genuinely funny in parts (unusual for FZ stuff). In any case, it's also got some of his most direct lyrics

I still get confused when tracks from this come up on my playlists because I grew up with the altered Rykodisc version that had all the drum and bass parts re-recorded in the late 80s. Hearing the original version still sounds a bit "wrong".

fortunately, repeated listening to the original has erased the sound of that from my head forever - it was my first version as well

call this record out for the music or production or humor if you like, but I don't think there's better "topical" lyrics on any other 60's record. See also "More Trouble Every Day".

to be totally fair to phish, to my knowledge they've never done anything remotely as vile and misogynist as the "humorous" "illinois enema bandit". phish's attempts at humor strike me as more "irritating wacky sitcom neighbor"

Incredibly influential record for me. I don't really want to hear "The Chrome Plated Megaphone of Destiny" now, but when I was a kid it actually made me read Kafka and check Varese LPs out from the library.

"Concentraaaation Mooooooon!"

Was in love w this album when I was in HS. I remember the first time I heard it, was really late at night, and loud on headphones. Right before "Absolutely Free" begins there is someone talking off-hand in one of the stereo channels and it freaked me the fuck out at the time. I thought there was someone behind me shoulder or something.

It's funny that "Let's Make the Water Turn Black" is not some whimsical and bizarre fantasy but somehow an actually straight narration on the habits of some weirdos he knew.

"Do you think that I'm creepy?"

i love the cover, somehow it reminds me of an album released a year before.
http://cps-static.rovicorp.com/3/JPG_400/MI0003/380/MI0003380210.jpg
musically it is the usual zappa collage kind of thing. ok but not really amazing. by no means the best album of 1968. that would be the white album.

TS: Chrome Plated Megaphone vs. Revolution 9.

I've played WOIIFTM at least 10x more than White Album. YMMV.

always strongly preferred freak out! & absolutely free to this

You all seem to be forgetting "Nasal Retentive Calliope Music" is on there too.

xp. the chrome plated megaphone may be more fun than revolution 9 but those two songs are not really characteristic of the albums they are on. they are nice extra tracks givng a supplemental flavour. overall the white album is incredibly varied and inventive, we are in it for the money can't compete there, the title already admits it.

When you add "Are You Hung Up?", which is admittedly a cool way to start an album, that's 10 minutes worth of FZ tape tomfoolery. Still really like this album btw.

if zappa wasn't in it for the money (or the drugs) what was he in it for

The coffee.

The control

I like the Zappa tape collage stuff, "Lumpy Gravy" is almost nothing but that, and it's a great less-poppy version of this album.

Instrumental version of "Take Your Clothes Off When You Dance" being the link.

Beggars Banquet, Electric Ladyland, The Kinks are the Village Green etc etc, WOIIFTM all better than the White Album. Possibly Machine Gun, WL/WH and one or two Byrds albums as well.

xp -- yeah, they're of a piece, with Civilization Phaze III as the 3rd part of that triptych

"Lumpy Gravy" is not much good tbh.

It's cool that he got the record company to put it out, but that's about as far it goes.

... and you were complaining about the spoken words sections on "Space Ritual", Adam?

No way, Lumpy Gravy is top-5 in his discography xp

xp Yeah i was going to bring that up earlier. LOL Maybe spoken word bits are to Hawkwind as fiddly tape collages are to Zappa.

Wish I was back in the alley with all of my friends still runnin' free

The '68 album I probably listen to the most these days is Monk's Underground, followed by Gilberto Gil's s/t.

I first heard the heliumed/faster '84 remix of "Let's Turn The Water Black" before the original, and I still can't used to the slower tempo. Same thing (to a lesser extent) with "Mother People."

I think "We're Only In It for the Money" from a production standpoint is a pretty amazing record. There is some total madhouse detailed editing on that record. I think from a musical technology stand point, it is as impressive as Sgt. Peppers and probably even goes further in some ways. In a way, it's a late 60s very manual analog tape edited version of a total sample heavy record like say Paul's Boutique.

As for the music itself, it's kind of willfully ugly, but it is an interesting and unique listen.

otm. The Paul's Boutique connection is great I'd never thought of that! WOIIFTM (even the acronym is ugly!) even has guitar god Eric Clapton, but wasted (?) that opportunity by having him just show up as a giggling voice in one of those sound collages. I wonder how many records Clapton guested on in 68? He was on "Wonderwall" as well.

One of the things I loved about the Mothers was the way they embraced ugliness. You could tell these guys were the outcasts at school and people in general probably thought they were weird or gross. Zappa's work ethic and tireless creativity found inspiration in being ugly just as much as singing doo-wop love songs about really stupid corny things.

The production on this album is astounding and I really love the first half, which feels like a sort of twisted take on Beach Boys or "Abbey Road"-style medley making. "Who Needs the Peace Corps?" makes me think of if Weird Al did a song with the Dead Kennedys. Then the record needle skips and we plunge into the sublime "Concentration Moon". You can practically see the angels floating on clouds, harps playing with fluttering wings.

Smack in the middle of the song is a uptempo and angular Devo-esque new wave dance hit with lyrics like "dont cry gotta go bye bye suddenly die die cop kill a creep pow pow pow". There is a lot of potent social commentary on these records.

overall the white album is incredibly varied and inventive, we are in it for the money can't compete there, the title already admits it.

Errr.... to each his own I guess, but I feel the exact opposite.

Zappa was a genius but man could I do without his "potent social commentary", fake doo wop

zappa's non-instrumental side is just complete ipecac to me.
dude recorded hot rats, though, i'll forgive him for almost anything. i love that album so much.

Bet this album wasn't the best record released in that week in '68, never mind the month or year.

call this record out for the music or production or humor if you like, but I don't think there's better "topical" lyrics on any other 60's record. See also "More Trouble Every Day".

― sleeve, Monday, 13 April 2015 Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

'cause I need to know what's going on from my LPs.

We're only... has a pretty low "funny" quota and is actually genuinely funny in parts (unusual for FZ stuff).

this is definitely otm and really my biggest frustration with Zappa - he tries and fails to be funny so often that it's surprising when he actually makes you laugh. and those early Mothers records do that a lot...even complete nonsense stuff like "America Drinks"

on this record there's that bit "and now a little bit of teenage heaven!" followed by someone growling into the microphone...love that part

I hate all that stuff tbh.

The "I will join a rock band and become their road manager" bits are the funny bits.

"I will love everyone, I will love the police as they beat the shit out of me on the sidewalk"

GOOOO TOOOO SAN FRAAA-AAANSIS-COHOOOH!

It's been a long while since I listened to this, but there's so many great moments!

"God, it's God, I see God!"

Aside from teh funny, aside from the spoken word and the tape editing, I really think this album has some of Frank's most indelible melodies, from jaunty/silly ("Water Turn Black") to hauntingly beautiful ("Mom and Dad".) Many of these tunes float through my head often.

listening to this again don't like this as much as i remember :/

thought this was hilarious when i heard it as a teenager ... not sure what i'd think of it now, haven't listened in a few years. still haven't quite unlocked zappa in my old age, it'll probably happen sometime.

this is kind of a lot the stuff i don't like about zappa condensed

well not as bad as like ruben and the jets or like late steve vai era bullshit

which Zappa records do you like, UMS?

this album has some of Frank's most indelible melodies

Yeah I think this is the key to what makes this album special

would be interested to know whether frank had read didion's slouching towards bethlehem prior to writing this album, seems like they're cut from similar cloth.

Talking of tape editing, the tape editing on 'Harry You're a Beast' is impeccable stuff.

Frogbs - Freak Out, Absolutely Free, Weasels, Hot Rats... And I'm by no means an expert so there's plenty I haven't heard

Yes, melodies are good and it doesn't have that annoying everyone shouting/singing at once thing that "Absolutely Free" (the album) has - and no shitty one chord jams for Zappa to solo over.

The high voices are so weird but they are part of that LA-sci-fi-b-movie thing he is working with. Sci fi - OG 60s California desert cheap scifi - is a theme throughout his career and I take the whole megaphone and sound collage style to be part of that homage. This hippie/flower power crap was a fantasy made up by marketing people, the same marketing people paying Zappa to produce a sound effects reel.

if i thank zappa for anything its for his record label.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-Vq5jlzmDU

"My hair's getting really good in the back." = teenage 1970s me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kf4eu5y0418

"Go to san francisco"

Aside from teh funny, aside from the spoken word and the tape editing, I really think this album has some of Frank's most indelible melodies, from jaunty/silly ("Water Turn Black") to hauntingly beautiful ("Mom and Dad".) Many of these tunes float through my head often.

― The job killing and likely illegal (Dan Peterson), Tuesday, April 14, 2015 2:36 PM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yeah, I definitely agree with this, and one of the big reasons why I end up recommending this as a starting point for Zappa for the uninitiated.

Zappa's best melodies were often so great that I wonder why he often settled for so much less - stuff like "Oh No", "The Orange County Lumber Truck", "Peaches en Regalia", and "Dog Breath" seems to be really missing from his later (post-1969) work

The 1971 attack that forced him to slow down for a few months produced another compositional burst that comes close to matching the original Mothers peak, imo. Inca Roads, the 2 jazz albums, RDNZL and other highlights on Läther... but yeah, his melodic/compositional highlights after that were fewer and farther between. "Night School" and "Moggio" are great... on a lot of his songs, obnoxious lyrics get in the way of a really interesting melody -- "Yo Mama" comes to mind.

fgti perfectly summarized my eternal irritation with all Zappa records a few months ago in a blazingly clear and acidic capsule

(alas i have no access to it now)

this might be my fave zappa thing ever. though not actually done by zappa.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-jhfDg7vZI

I'm surprised at all the ILM love tbh

xp

Actually, come to think of it, I often find myself recommending Overnite Sensation/Apostrophe as starting points too.

Nah, 10 years after I had my FZ "phase", the 60's stuff is the only stuff I'd recommend

much prefer the Waka/Wazoo/Apostrophe period to the 60s stuff

completely forgot i started this thread; i may still stand by the initial assertion but "Best" is a weird thing to ascribe to anything

The production on this album is astounding

Just listened to this album today and I'm going to have to disagree on this one. The editing on the album is superb but it sounds like (at this stage in his career) Zappa doesn't know how to record bass and drums or else hasn't much interest in how they sound - esp. the bass, which just lies there like a dead fish. Re-recording the bass and drums was an entirely dickish move on Zappa's part of course, but I don't really believe the excuse he gave at the time about there being a technical problem with degradation of the master tape, I think he just didn't like what he heard.

btw same is largely true of "Cruising with Ruben and the Jets", but I wish he'd put a bit more effort into that album all round tbh!

Totally agreed - I always raise an eyebrow when people describe this album's production as being immaculate (even for 1968); as neat as these arrangements are you really can't hear everything, and even though I've never heard the 86 version, I can see why he decided to re-record the drums and bass

I'm assuming he was really into working on a budget. He did release a ton of music, and good recording technology was not widely used in 1968, I mean listen to "Tommy", the recording of the rhythm section is similarly underwhelming.

listening to the '86 version now, it sounds really strange, like someone's playing the Seinfeld theme over all the songs! maybe because I've listened to the original a hundred times but this sounds really bizarre to me - does it sound weird to anyone who bought this album before hearing the original?

no, it didn't, but I was blown away by the originals when I finally heard them, esp. the pitch change on "Water Turn Black"

it's definitely more than just re-recorded drums and bass, there's new stuff everywhere (or previously dropped bits that were restored), a bunch of added reverb, and some songs seem to be noticeably faster or slower

The '86 version is completely uncensored, if I recall.

I had no idea what the reversed part was on "Harry, You're a Beast" was - I thought that was totally intentional (given everything else strange going on in the album)

also holy shit @ the butchering that "Absolutely Free" gets

I mean listen to "Tommy", the recording of the rhythm section is similarly underwhelming.

Well, it isn't but that's beside the point as there was a ton of other records released in 1968 with well recorded rhythm sections!

(xp) I miss the "Shut your fucking mouth about the length of my hair" bit in "Mother People"!

I really think this album has some of Frank's most indelible melodies, from jaunty/silly ("Water Turn Black") to hauntingly beautiful ("Mom and Dad".) Many of these tunes float through my head often.

― The job killing and likely illegal (Dan Peterson), Tuesday, April 14, 2015 2:36 PM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

And sometimes it's just the little segments, too, like that beautiful "All your children are poor unfortunate victims" part in "What's the Ugliest Part of Your Body." The fact that parts of "Absolutely Free" are actually quite beautiful too puts it above things like some of the psychedelic Rutles songs in my mind.

i love this album. "Concentraion Moon" is such a delight to here. it is very Devo ("American way/threatened by us/drag a few creeps/away in a bus").

the album has a very coherent theme to it. i dig the cynical take on flower power excess, the sped-up voices, the giggly subversion of Flower Power as pseudo-rebellious commodity. the sped up effect fits the very punk material, alot of it kind of proto-The Damned sarcasm anthems. the drum-and-bass speed metal (complete w screaming bloody murder backing vocals) of "Flower Punk", the cartoonishly cynical proto-Black Flag machine gun punk of "Who Needs the Peace Corps?".

"What's the Ugliest Part of Your Body" is so nice, Frank's safe space of 50s Cheez. its like a raunchy Garbage Pail Kids take on Herman's Hermits or something out of a cartoon. there is an instrumental surf guitar version of "Take Your Clothes of When You Dance" on Lumpy Gravy that is really lovely, with sort of Bossanova-era Pixies dreamy wordless vocals.

the album cut is nice but the vocals verge on turning into an Alvin and the Chimpmunks record. then again Zappa has never shied away from doing something potentially annoying on record lol.

perhaps "Who Needs the Peace Corps" is more mid-90s Fugazi

"Who cares if you're so poor you can't afford to buy a pair of Mod-A-Go-Go stretch elastic pants?" = 24 notes for 24 syllables.

the kind of bossa nova "take your clothes off when you dance" is an old recording from the studio z days - the complete take is on the "lost episodes" cd. similarly that surf guitar snippet that shows up on, i think it's somewhere on woiifm? is another studio z recording, "the heavies" by the rotations. it's a good recording, the whole thing shows up on rhino's surf box

A lot of the reference points are of the time on this record. Whether it’s Jefferson on other people (which weirdly they referenced on the first track on volunteers) or the Beatles. Cool it sounds like future bands to some of ya but this record to me has always been very of its time

*mother people

let me take a minute and tell you my plan
let me take a minute and tell who i am

Still think "Absolutely Free" is one of Zappa's greatest songs. I know it's supposed to be making fun of hippies but it's genuinely pretty in the exact way a lot of hippies were aiming for at the time.

^^

Favorite part is after the piano break: "Freedom, freedom" etc.

Yeah definitely agree frogbs. It’s my favourite Zappa track by miles and one of the few handful that captures his indignation at a hollow movement with empathy and not just sneering. His anger at the checked out parents and their lost children is inspiring. Flower power sucks!

Also a song like what’s the ugliest part of your body just feels more relevant as the years go by

Flower power was great. There were aspects of hippie culture that were horrible and Zappa was right to react against them, but overall I'm not sure in retrospect that the Mothers of Invention represented a way of life that was preferable on the whole. At least they weren't mired in drugs.

Yeah Tim not dogging on flower power, I just love that sample (is that Suzy cream cheese?) :)

Maybe it was a "piano person."

Yeah definitely agree frogbs. It’s my favourite Zappa track by miles and one of the few handful that captures his indignation at a hollow movement with empathy and not just sneering. His anger at the checked out parents and their lost children is inspiring. Flower power sucks!

― Droni Mitchell (Ross), Wednesday, 11 April 2018 03:29 (seven hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Spot on and describes well my love of "Lonely Little Girl".

"Mom & Dad" still pretty good, almost a proto-"Ohio". he's really interrogating the inter-generational conflict here:

Ever tell your kids you're glad that they can think?
Ever say you loved 'em? Ever let 'em watch you drink?

One of these days I am going to erase all the tape in the world . . .

Tomorrow I may do it . . .

All the Frank Zappa Masters . . .

I think this might be correct, did not realize it was released in March of '68

just like the earlier "More Trouble Every Day" a lot of these songs still hold up as valid critiques of American society, the same as they did almost 60(!) years ago