FRANK ZAPPA/MOTHERS Uncle Meat SCARCE US 1969 LP + BOOK & INNERS. SUPERB SOUND

	£		90
	$		119

PLEASE NOTE: I am no longer a professional record seller, I am selling a few albums from my own personal collection. The service I offer will of the standard I used successfully for over 20 years on Ebay.


The pictures are of the actual item I am selling. I would never, and have never used stock images. What you see, is always what you get.


Artist or Band: THE MOTHERS OF INVENTION

Album Title:   Uncle Meat.

Producer:   Frank Zappa.

TRACK LIST:  

Side I: Uncle Meat; 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.

Side II: 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.

Side III Mr Green Genes; We Can Shoot You; If We’d All Been Living in California; The Air; Project X; Cruising for Burgers.

Side IV: King Kong Itself; King Kong by Don Preston; King Kong by Motorhead; King Kong the Gardener varieties; King Kong ‘deranged’; King Kong by Ian Underwood.

Rarity: American imported copies in the UK are quite scarce, even more so with the original inner sleeves and book. The American book was unique to this Mothers classic – although a UK printed book exists, it is very different to the American version, and that is even if you can find one. Conditions also a major factor, most will know American covers from this era are prone to splitting and ring wear, gate folds especially so. This is a really lovely example and plays superbly.

Label/Format:    Bizarre, with matt smooth surfaces, these have a one ring ridge. Please see my label pictures.

Label Conditions:  All four very clean, fresh and attractive with any hint of spindle marks minuscule, the odd one or two seen critically under angled light. As I have two other copies in my collection, this one was barely played and decided I could let one go.

Catalogue Number:   2MS 2024 [on labels]

NOTE:  Alternate Bizarre/Reprise release with ‘9 Types of Industrial Pollution’ song title on side I instead of ‘400 Days of the Year’. Also: side IV backs side I

Mode / Speed:    Stereo / 33.3 rpm.

Warps:    Few vintage records are ever perfectly ‘flat’, so some slight or very gentle arm movement is normal. If any record I offer has more than that, I will mention it, and it can be assumed all I offer will track without issues, even on budget turntables.

Record Weights:  120 and 108 grams.

Country of Manufacture:  U.S.A.

Musicians:  Frank Zappa – guitar, percussion, vocals; Ray Collins – vocals; Jimmy Carl Black – drums; Roy Estrada – electric bass, vocal; Don Preston – electric piano; Billy Mundi – drums; Bunk Gardner – piccolo, flute, clarinet, bass clarinet, soprano sax, alto sax, tenor sax, bassoon (all mostly electrified); Ian Underwood – electric organ, piano, harpsichord, celeste, flute, clarinet, alto sax, baritone sax; Art Tripp – drums, timpani, vibes, marimba, xylophone, wood blocks, bells, small chimes; Euclid James (Motorhead) Sherwood – frenetic sax; tambourine. Guests: Ruth Komanoff (later Underwood) – marimba, vibes; Nelcy Walker – soprano vocal.

Original Year of Release:  1969

Matrix and Stamper Codes:

Side I:  30871 MS 2024 A - 1A

Side II:  30872 MS 2024 B - 1C

Side III:  30873 MS 2024 C - 1A

Side IV:  30874 MS 2024 D - 1F

Artist & Album Info:  In terms of ‘progressive’ music, they don’t come much more progressive than this awesome album. One of the cornerstones of a serious Zappa collection regardless of which pressing or country of issue it comes from. I am happy to offer any super-clean great-sounding copy of what is one of my favourite albums ever. An amazing blend of rock, psych and free-jazz and experimental. The use of early electronics and treatments of voices and traditional musical instruments is quite mind-blowing. This was the Mothers of Invention with eleven members, it introduces us to Ruth Komanoff (later Underwood) a massively talented classically-trained percussionist who really understood Zappa’s complex music, and plays the distinctive marimba and other vibes on this remarkable double set. Zappa was still printing Edgard Varèse’s quote on his albums - ‘The present day composer refuses to die!’ –- but so far his talent for outrage – arguably – had obscured his skills as a composer. Uncle Meat aimed to put that right, a double set release that downplayed lyrics. ‘Basically this is an instrumental album’, it states inside the gatefold. A note described the technique of overdubbing, which was used extensively, opening up the weird world of virtual orchestration. New recruits, Arthur Tripp and Ruth Komanoff were both added on percussion with Jimmy Carl Black. They helped Zappa realise some of his fiendish metrical ingenuities. Ian Underwood played harpsichord: a jangling, absurdist quality infuses all the music. ‘Uncle Meat’ eventually became a great favourite in Europe, and almost single-handedly gave birth to the genre of ‘Art Rock’. The music was to be used in the movie of the same name, but never got actually finished until much later (the money ran out). This is Zappa at the very peak of creativity, predominately instrumental, but not all, it includes some classic live performances taken from tours in the US and UK. ‘Louie Louie’ features Don Preston on the ‘mighty Royal Albert Hall Pipe Organ’ and the band also demolish ‘God Bless America’ (an equivalent statement to the distortions Hendrix was applying to ‘Star Spangled Banner’). Pamela Zarubica (a one time house-mate) appeared as the ‘Voice of the Cheese’ – Zappa takes the listener from domestic intimacy to rock-venue spectacle in breathtaking lurches. Every track is interesting in its complexity either vocally, or more so instrumentally. Zappa’s solo on ‘9 Types of Industrial Pollution’ has inspired many guitarists in the future with its strange chord structures and sound. And ‘The Air’ had lyrics about customs searches and tape recordings and ‘If We’d all Been Living in California’ is a conversation between Jimmy Carl Black and Zappa about why the Mothers were not making more money being on the road and being near destitute. The album’s classic piece is Side IV taken up by one of Zappa’s greatest compositions: ‘King Kong’, this is a six section instrumental featuring some blistering solos from Underwood on electric alto sax, Motorhead on a deranged baritone sax, and best of all Bunk Gardner’s frenzied solo on a soprano saxophone played through electronic effects. The large band is in overdrive on ‘Kong Kong’ and sounds created are astonishing. For any Zappa fan who has not heard this amazing journey into free jazz and weird creativity, this has to be experienced. This American Bizarre pressing plays beautifully with hardly anything unwanted. The sounds embedded in these vintage grooves are priceless and so far ahead of their time they still sound remarkable today. The use of early synths and electronic effects was groundbreaking, and no other album sounds quite like it, this record and its importance in progressive, and jazz rock is undeniable. It was probably the first album to get the title ‘art-rock’. If it proved to weird for you back in the late 1960s, give it another try today, the best records take time to fully appreciate and this is more than worthy of perseverance. This was Frank and The Mothers at their experimental peak and one of their best sets ever. This very fine early US copy, does it nigh-on full justice.

Cover Grade and Format:  EXCELLENT: and arguably better. This never wears well unless carefully looked after. An unlaminated gatefold format with quite smooth surfaces with a hint of a sheen. The inside has a paste-on sheet so typical in the US at the time. This card, but so brittle and fragile – I always recommend storing the records inside gatefold rather than the entrance areas inside, as just insert or removing the records can split the edges. Most record collectors will already know this for sure. As seen, there is no sticker on the front of this cover, some of the very first issues did include a deep red sticker that promoted the band and the book inside, this one never had it. But it does include the original book and the two Zappa and Herb Cohen inner sleeves as seen.

Cover Front:    Superb, and rarely seen as such. Clean, fresh and attractive, the lack of rubbing, creasing, fading and ring wear are all major positives. The tiny piece of wear being a small rub on the bottom right corner tip.

Cover Back:    Very similar again, any rub traces hardly register.

Cover Inside:    Both faces exceptional as seen, they hardly get much better.

Top & Bottom Edges: All four edges are intact and remain straight. The top pair have little wear, the bottom storage edges have only main light surface rubbing, the odd area towards the spine end nearer moderate. Few these days will be more solid and less worn than these.

Right Edge(s), and Type:    Firstly, the cover was not folded dead square in manufacture, hence the back edge sits a little behind the front edge, that is not so unusual. Again, all four ends are neat with any thickening minimal and light. The back especially, is little short of as-made being protected by the proud front as explained. The record storage area is on these open edges.

Spine and Text:  Solid and quite thick with barely any hint of compression. No splits and hardly any traces of rubbing. The text solid and virtually all intact with any rub traces or loss minimal and very small indeed – all seen in the pictures.

Corners:    The spine pair especially have minimal wear at all, just the odd tiny tip rub. The right tips have the odd smallish rub or crease which is almost the least to be expected on a cover this age and type.

Cover Summary:  One of the finest US early covers I have seen, being so fragile from day one, few will survive much better. It will prove difficult to find significantly better and should please many collectors.

The Inner Sleeves:   EXCELLENT(++) both:  These slightly later Zappa/Cohen promotional inners are both exceptional, as they are also so prone to splitting on the edges and tearing. These ones vary to the very first ones as they now include a coupon panel to send for the ‘Zapped’ sampler album at the princely cost of 1 dollar. I would imagine a high percentage of buyers would have taken up that offer, hence these inners are seldom seen intact or even at all within this album (and other early Bizarre records of the era). They are solid and unlined and as fresh and clean as when made. The lack of creasing and edge splits make these quite elusive inners remarkable. The both have a recessed top opening, and even these damage prone areas are immaculate. I have never seen these variant inners better.

The Book:   NEAR MINT: a 12-page book with text, and black and white, and colour pictures of the legendary early Mothers of Invention. This is the correct US made book – as stated further up – a UK made book does exist too, but they are very elusive and seldom seen or offered. It differs from this standard US version. This book is double spine stapled, so its strong and can be looked at without it falling apart. Quite honestly, this has barely anything to fault at all. Very clean, fresh and attractive with no creasing, wear or damage. They don't get much better than this.
Vinyl Condition/Visual Grading: EXCELLENT: with any surface blemishes few, light and faint as seen critically under bright light. I am certain this pair has hardly been played and sound superb. All four sides clean, fresh with very fine shine. The surfaces are unbanded and side I backs side IV. I have always found vintage American records tend to mark easier than European vinyl, so the fact this set, now around 55 years old, remains in this fantastic condition, makes it all the more remarkable. Both should please many collectors.

Album Played For Grading:    Yes. [Equipment used: Pro-Ject X2 B Turntable, Ortofon MC X30 moving coil cartridge, Pro-Ject DS3 B Phono Preamp, Naim SuperNait 2 and Spendor A7 floorstanding speakers.]
Sound Quality and Audio Grading:  A groundbreaking and landmark release for Frank’s first double set – Zappa really was king of the bizarre. Both records play even above their splendid visuals with hardly anything to fault. The complexities, detail and sound quality of both records is fantastic. Playing one of my very favourite Zappa/Mothers albums in this condition was a pure joy, and like the rest of the set, should please most wanting this legendary album. Not one to lose lightly, and strongly recommended.


The record has been professionally cleaned on my German-made Nessie vinyl record cleaning machine.
The record will always be removed from the main cover and placed inside a soft-lined white inner to avoid edge splits in transit. Then put inside a protective plastic sleeve.
It will be posted for UK delivery via a Royal Mail tracked service. More expensive albums will be posted Special Delivery. The price will be £4.50.
The price to Europe will be £14 and overseas £24 using a tracked DPD courier service. I will NOT send to Russia or Belarus.
Payment required within 4 days of sale or will be cancelled with no exceptions. Payment via Paypal is preferred.