FRANK ZAPPA - Lumpy Gravy (1968-1995) RM / FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Lumpy Gravy, Frank Zappa's first solo album, was released months before the Mothers of Invention's third LP (even though its back cover asked the question: "Is this phase two of We're Only in It for the Money?") and both were conceptualized and recorded at the same time. We're Only in It for the Money became a song-oriented anti-flower power album with one contemporary/musique concrète/sound collage hybrid piece by way of conclusion. Lumpy Gravy collaged bits of orchestral music, sonic manipulations, spoken words, and occasional pop ditties into two lumps of 16 minutes each. This album presents Zappa's first recordings with a decent orchestra, the 50-piece Abnuceals Emuukha Electric Symphony Orchestra. His symphonic writing was very much influenced by Stravinsky and Varèse. It still had to lose its sharp edges and find the lushness found in 200 Motels. The segments of music are loosely tied together by bits of dialogue from inside the piano. MOI members and friends were invited to talk with their head inside a grand piano with the sustain pedal depressed (the technique was immortalized in the song "Evelyn, A Modified Dog"). The reverberating space gave the voices an eerie quality, but made it very difficult to convincingly edit the material. Thus, the plot emanating from these portions remains very vague (it was clarified 25 years later in Civilization Phaze III). The song bits include "Oh No," "Theme from Lumpy Gravy" (aka "Duodenum"), "King Kong," and "Take Your Clothes off When You Dance," all in instrumental versions, all making their first appearance on record. The starting point of Zappa's "serious music," Lumpy Gravy suffers from a lack of coherence, but it remains historically important and contains many conceptual continuity clues for the fan. The opening line of part one ("The way I see it, Barry, this should be a dynamite show") became a classic reference. by François Couture
Tracklist:
     Lumpy Gravy Part One     (15:48)
1.1     The Way I See It, Barry    
1.2     Duodenum    
1.3     Oh No    
1.4     Bit Of Nostalgia    
1.5     It's From Kansas    
1.6     Bored Out 90 Over    
1.7     Almost Chinese    
1.8     Switching Girls    
1.9     Oh No Again    
1.10     At The Gas Station    
1.11     Another Pickup    
1.12     I Don't Know If I Can Go Through This Again    
    Lumpy Gravy Part Two     (15:51)
2.1     Very Distraughtening    
2.2     White Ugliness    
2.3     Amen    
2.4     Just One More Time    
2.5     A Vicious Circle    
2.6     King Kong    
2.7     Drums Are Too Noisy    
2.8     Kangaroos    
2.9     Envelops The Bath Tub    
2.10     Take Your Clothes Off
Credits:
Bass – Bob West, Chuck Berghofer, Jimmy Bond, John Balkin, Lyle Ritts
Chorus – All Night John, Becky, Bruce, Cal, Charlie, Foon The Younger, Gilly, Harold, Jimmy Carl Black, The Other John, Louie The Turkey, Maxine, Monica, Motorhead, Pumpkin, Ronnie, Roy, Sammy, Spider, Tony
Composed By, Arranged By – Frank Zappa
Design [Original Design, Cd Design Consultant] – Cal Schenkel
Drums – Frankie Capp, Johnny Guerin, Shelly Manne
French Horn – Arthur Maebe, Richard Parisi, Vincent De Rosa
Guitar – Al Viola, Dennis Budimer, Jim Haynes, Tommy Tedesco, Tony Rizzi
Orchestra, Chorus – The Abnuceals Emuukha Electric Symphony Orchestra & Chorus
Percussion – Alan Estes, Emil Richards, Gene Estes, Victor Feldman
Piano, Celesta, Electric Harpsichord – Lincoln Mayorga, Mike Lang, Paul Smith, Pete Jolly
Producer – Frank Zappa
Strings – Alexander Koltun, Arnold Belnick, Bernard Kundell, Harold Ayres, Harold G. Bemko, Harry Hyams, James Getzoff, Jerome A. Kessler, Jerome J. Reisler, Jessa Ehrlich, Joseph DiFiore, Joseph Saxon, Leonard Malarsky, Leonard Selic, Phillip Goldberg, Ralph Schaeffer, Raymond J. Kelly, Tibor Zelig, William Kurasch
Trombone – Kenneth Shroyer
Trumpet – Jimmy Zito
Woodwind – Bunk Gardner, Don Christlieb, Gene Cipriano, John Rotella, Jules Jacob, Ted Nash