ZAPPA / MOI Uncle Meat Bizarre US 68 N/M LPs + 12p Book

	£		49
	$		65

Hi, I am Mike, now 51. Old enough to remember the golden era of original, high quality music, bands, artists.

Also records from the 1960s and 70s bought from the shops from new, I have been a music collector and enthusiast for over 37 years now. We all wish we could turn back the clock and buy those wonderful brand new records from the 60s and 70s, but alas, this is not possible; so I always try to offer the finest and most accurately described and graded records I can find. No vinyl/music lover really would choose to buy second-hand, but this is only way now to own these valuable, prized and elusive items now. I pride myself on offering a variety of genres to keep my site as interesting as possible. I will rarely offer any record that falls below a true Excellent grading, unless its of a certain rarity which will justify offering a lesser grade. I try, to the best of my ability to describe as accurately and as honesty as I can all items I offer for sale with all the relevant information I can think of to help any potential bidder and collector. You may notice I only submit records sparingly on Ebay - on average ONEADAY, a couple more at weekends if time permits, hence the name - time rarely allows for more as I Play-Grade virtually every record I offer in their entirety, not just bits to guess a grade - visuals alone do not always tell a true or full story. I will mention any defects or flaws no matter how small that I notice to be fair as possible to any interested reader – I am very fussy and my buyers have the right to be too. Every record I offer, whether it be a common or rare item deserves the same respect as far as I am concerned and will be treated the same - just because an item is rare does not always mean its good. I get just as much pleasure offering a relatively common record in stunning near mint condition as the real rare items. All the pictures I use for your guidance are taken with a digital camera or scanned - they are NOT improved, cleaned-up or made better looking than they are with camera trickery or enhancing with digital programmes. What you see is what you get and scanned labels will give a more accurate representation of the genuine colour than flash photography where light is variable. I cannot guarantee one hundred percent is exact colour matching for covers - this depends on the lighting at the time and that is out of my control, but I feel sure most items will be very close to the actual real item. If any picture I take looks more flattering than the actual item for any reason, I will clearly state the fact in the advert and vice-versa. I hope the item below is to your liking - any questions can be emailed and I will do my very best to answer you. I am enthusiastic, and have a fair degree of knowledge about many genres and I promise quality items - bid with confidence - excellence comes as standard and so does Near Mint regularly. Please assume all records I offer have NO jumps, sticks, warps or writing on covers or labels unless clearly stated to the contrary. Thanks for your interest and Good luck – MIKE.

Deck: Linn LP12 with Ittok Mk IV arm and Ortofon Samba Moving Coil cartridge (tracks at 1.8 grams). Amps: Naim Nait 5i with Project USB phono stage and Chord interconnects. Speakers: B&W 704 Floorstanding 3-way Monitors (bi-wired). All records I offer on Ebay are cleaned on a professional Moth vacuum machine before play-grading for the cleanest and best possible sound and will include a brand new lined inner and protective cover too.

First-time, zero-rated bidders, who do not ask permission to bid, will be cancelled immediately and blocked – NO exceptions. For winning bidders who I consider excessively slow to make contact or submit payment, I will use my right to block future bids. If any bidder who wins in the final seconds is present to do so, surely they can at least email me to inform of intention and payment method? If swift or promp payment is a problem, please do not bid.

POSTING & PACKING: What You Get: I post all my UK items on FRIDAY every week, most will arrive Saturday to make signed-for delivery easier. All records are posted in professional boxes (NOT mailers) with the record(s) REMOVED from their main cover to avoid edge splits and placed within a brand new polylined inner. The record’s original inner will be included if available. The boxes are then reinforced with TWO massively thick stiffners for even extra protection and bubble wrap if deemed necessary. These stiffners are the thickest possible and custom supplied for ‘Oneadayrecords’ – these are NOT commercially available and you will not have seen thicker protection anywhere. The cover will be placed within a BRAND NEW heavy duty soft protective sleeve and the actual record will be professionally cleaned on my Moth Pro vacuum system to give ultimate clean grooves and playing surfaces and the best possible looks and ultimate sound quality. Printed address labels are used as well as ‘Fragile’ tape for that extra professional touch for the packet. You will NOT get tired, dull looking, dust infested records inside worn and foggy covers with tatty inners from this seller and that’s a promise and guarantee. Customers requests or special needs for P&P will be respected if at all possible but NOT surface mail abroad. I never make profit on posting and offer probably the cheapest and safest shipping possible. I will invoice any winning bidder as soon as possible after the auction ends, with the total costs including ‘standard’ or ‘optional extra insurance’ P&P – ALL UK and Russian packets go out non-negotiable Recorded Delivery. My ‘loss’ or ‘damage rate’ is less than 0.1 per percent based on over 3,500+ items sold in over 5 years of Ebay trading (I am now one of most established sellers via Ebay) and I consider that pretty exceptional.

PLEASE NOTE: I will now only send packets to Russia with Recorded Delivery at a cost of £7 per single LP. If this is unacceptable to Russian collectors, please do not bid. I only want my records to arrive safely and this gives packets a better chance to do so. Also ALL UK packets will be sent with either Recorded or Special Delivery as standard (both have to be signed for). All shipping costs and rules can be found after my description. If they are not acceptable, please do not bid.

Album Title: Uncle Meat .

Produced and Conducted by: Frank Zappa.

TRACK LIST:

Side 1: 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 2: 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 3: Mr Green Genes; We Can Shoot You; If We’d All Been Living in California; The Air; Project X; Cruising for Burgers. Side 4: King Kong Itself; King Kong by Don Preson; King Kong by Motorhead; King Kong the Gardener varieties; King Kong ‘deranged’; King Kong by Ian Underwood.

Label/Format: Bizarre – Please see my label scan.

Label Conditions: All four practically mint as made with barely a spindle trace to be seen.

Special Note About This Album & Copy: This is a US version on Bizarre that includes the elusive US book and Zappa/Herb Cohen inners. Regarding the book, I have stated several times in my previous adverts for this album the UK version did not include the book. Well I feel this is now more uncertain as earlier this year I discovered a UK printed book that includes four extra pages and, apart from the covers, totally different inside artwork. YES, without any doubt whatsoever, TWO versions of an Uncle Meat book exist, and both are quite different. I still feel fairly sure the UK printed book variation was not issued with the UK version of this album but was made available at Mothers gigs when on tour here in the late 60s. The UK book is very rare indeed and that example I had earlier in the year is the only one I have ever seen. The earlier pressed US copies of ‘Uncle Meat’ included the ‘standard’ 12-page book, as here and the majority of copies offered fail to include it at all.

Cat Number: 2MS 2024.

Mode / Speed: Stereo / 33.3 rpm.

Weight of this Records: 116 / 115 grams. [These days, many modern Audiophile reissues are pressed on super-heavyweight 180 gram vinyl. Only a small percentage of ‘vintage vinyl’ was ever pressed this heavy. Records pressed in the 1960s averaged around 140 to 150 grams. Records pressed in the 1970s were usually lighter and averaged more around 115 – 125 grams. Some records pressed around 1973 were very thin and light due an oil crisis and shortage around this time. Some records were even issued on recycled vinyl from this period and sounded poor with crackle and surface noise evident from the very first play. If any record I buy is deemed ‘recycled’, I will never offer it, I have a very simple test to detect these records if I suspect this to be the case other than audible imperfection. Some records from this period were even pressed on other materials the most notable was ‘Dynaflex’, used by RCA around this time. Although inferior to vinyl, this at least mostly sounded reasonably acceptable but pressings on this material were wafer thin and flimsy. Beyond the 70s, records often became thinner and lighter still but most played fine but were never quite the quality as from the ‘Golden Era’]. (This was based on ‘average’ weights for 20 records from these eras. Later pressings were usually lighter still).

Country of Manufacture: US.

Rarity: Difficult to find US copies in top conditions. The thick card covers are prone to all forms of wear, splits and damage and the book is often not included. This is a lovely, barely played copy and complete with US book and both inners.

Original Year of Release: 1968

Matrix Nos: 30871 MS 2024 A-1C / 30872 MS 2024 B-1F / 30873 MS 2024 C-1F / 30874 MS 2024 D-1C

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, pinao, 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.

Brief Artist & Album Info: It was with great sadness I read the death of Jimmy Carl Black – ‘Indian of the Group’ in this months ‘Record Collector’ magazine aged 71. One of the original Mothers of Invention who featured on the debut ‘Freak Out’ in 1966, he played drums. One this Mothers classic Jimmy features strongly and includes his famous conversation with Zappa about the plight of the band’s finances. 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, a US Bizarre copy of this brilliantly inventive, experimental and challening album. An amazing blend of psych and free-jazz and very 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 had somewhat 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 stated inside the gatefold. A note described the technique of overdubbing, which was used extensively, opening up the weird world of virtual orchestration. New recruits, Art Tripp and Komanoff were both added on percussion with 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 singlehandedly 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 ‘Nine Type 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 piece-de-resistance is Side D 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 solo. Many assume this is a treated electric saxophone solo but not so, the amazing sounds are created on an electric clarinet - you have never heard nothing like this before - the reed’s spit and rasp and creates a sound possibly unique to this amazing album. The instrument is simply blown to destruction, this is Gardner’s tour de force, his finest moment with the Mothers. The large band is in overdrive on ‘Kong Kong’ and sounds created are astonishing. I compared this vinyl record against the new Japanese card cover CD and the vinyl has the edge in all departments with more detail and depth. The prelude to King Kong on side B is pretty amazing too, a vast free-form jazz rock instrumental - this is the band blowing at their very best. (Check out the CD Pachuco Hop if you can find it for more of the same, recorded live in Toronto 1969 - its incredible). For any Zappa fan who has not heard this amazing journey into free jazz and weird creativity, this has to be experienced. This US pressing plays supremely well with barely anything unwanted and for a change the cover has very little wear and no real damage. The elusive book is included in very fine condition. Both the Zappa/Cohen inners are practically pristine too and mostly intact with just the usual (neat in this case) bottom edge splits. As stated already, the UK version was most unlikely sold with a book but a UK version book does exist and was reputed to only be made available at the gigs, not the record shops. The US version was sold officially with the book for a fairly brief time which includes some fantastic early Mothers photographs. 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 this, this record and its importance in progressive and jazz rock is undeniable. If it proved to weird for you back in the late 60s, give it another try today, the best records take time to fully appreciate and this is more than worthy of perseverance. Zappa truly was the Father of Invention, this elusive and scarce US copy should please most-all collectors and I doubt if I will ever find a much cleaner overall example. Regarding this man’s work – this is truly one of the very best ever, long overdue more vinyl fans discovered it. Weird? oh yes, very much so – enjoy!

Cover’s Potential for Wear: Very high++. US covers are notoriously fragile and split, rub and wear so easily unless stored and handled carefully. Best to keep the records out of the cover all the time.

Cover Grade and Format: Strong EX++ and for a near impossible cover, this is not to be underestimated, without doubt, one of the best US-made covers for this title I have yet seen. An unlaminated gatefold printed in the US. Complete with book and Zappa/Cohen inners.

Cover Front: Apart from a light crease near the bottom right corner area, this front is almost as new and looks fantastic. The artwork is somewhat uncompromising but try to find a better looking one. Clean, fresh with few surface marks and, for a change, no rubbing or ring marks.

Cover Back: Very similar to the front with just a few light press marks visible only when viewed up close. The lack of rubbing and ringwear is unusual and very refreshing to see.

Cover Inner Gatefold: Superb, both faces are practically as made, the original put his small neat signature on the right face just to the right of the centre hinge fold.

Top Edges: Both practically as made with barely any traces of any rubbing and NO splits.

Bottom Edges: As above with just the faintest of rub traces near the corners.

Right Edge(s), and Type: Clean and very sharp for thick card US version with no wear or feathering. Records entered on these right outside edges, again, no splits.

Spine and Text: The spine is superb, very thick, robust and solid with no compression and minimal wear. All of the text present and strong with no traces of wear. Minor rubbing to just the very top and bottom only.

Corners: Very light tip rubs only and the odd tiny crease but compared to most seen, these are near immaculate.

Cover Summary: With its bizarre artwork, not the prettiest cover ever made but when found in this exceptional condition it’s still a thing of ‘beauty’. Most collectors, knowing what vintage US covers are like will appreciate how fine this one is and with the contents even better, well a great opportunity.

The Inners: EX++ and both different. These were unique to the US version. Both superb with just a central split at the bottom to both, but very neatly so. As fresh as when made and looking fantastic. These were not lined and both have avoided any significant creasing, again unusual. Rarely seen these Zappa/Cohen inners better than this pair.

The Book: Practically Mint. 12 pages of Zappa weirdness and looking magnificent. Includes text about ‘Uncle Meat’ and great pictures of the band (see picture example). Looks hardly even handled, all pages immaculate with no marks, creasing or blemishes. Fresh and clean and unique to the US early versions. Both original staples strong and unstessed with no rusting or tarnishing. This is the icing on what’s already a very rich cake.

Vinyl Condition/Visual Grading: Mint(-) for all four sides, barely played for certain and finding much cleaner playing surfaces for records of this type better will never prove easy. A superb visual pair that are super clean, shiny, jet black and solidly pressed. A near factory fresh pair and visually immaculate with hardly any noteworthy marks or blemishes, they should please most-all collectors.

Album Played For Grading: Yes. [I play ALL records I offer before submitting to Ebay, also the record is played in its entirety unless clearly stated otherwise. I do NOT play snippetts or joining grooves to check for sound quality and quietness – I play from the beginning to end via clinically revealing B&W speakers that include the legendary tweeter from their awesome Nautilus range that reveals every blemish or miniscule sound present on any record.]

Sound Quality and Audio Grading: Both records play up to their high visual grading with little to fault. Strong, distortion-free sound, all frequencies are sharp and clear - sound quality is very high with a wide dynamic range and very detailed sound. The details of this Bizarre vinyl blows away any CD version where some fine information appears missing. Practically devoid of any surface sounds and no pops or clicks were noted and this is an exceptional clean pressing for a very challenging album. Few copies will match or outperform this excellent US pressing significantly I feel sure. Nothing spoilt my pleasure when play-grading these astonishing records, it’s always a thrill for me to hear this album via the analogue format. This set will prove very difficult to find better and can be strongly recommended.

End Piece: One of the most important, complex and challenging records in the Zappa catalogue. When putting together a collection, this title in such conditions and complete will be one of the harder ones to ever find. The book is lovely as are the inners, both parts unique to the US version. One for the real Zappa fan, this will give years of pleasure and I hope the winning bidder enjoys it as much as I did – do NOT lose this one.

NOTE: First Time Bidders: I will cancel ALL first-time bidders with no feedbacks or excessive negatives who do not ask me if its OK to bid first – NO EXCEPTIONS.

Please Note: I will now offer any item to the runner-up after the mandatory Ebay 3 days if no contact is made by the winning bidder unless prior notice of any delay is given beforehand. The same applies if no payment is received within the mandatory 7 days so any bidder who has just lost out can still email me to reserve the item as priority second chance – it’s always worth asking.

SHIPPING COSTS & OPTIONS:

Posting & Packing: UK & CHANNEL ISLANDS all now sent Recorded Delivery:

1 LP (First Class Recorded Delivery with Standard Royal Mail Insurance) [Signed For] = £4 (OPTIONAL).

1 LP (Special Delivery with Standard £500 Maximum Insurance) [Signed For, Next Day] = £7 (OPTIONAL).

Posting & Packing: EUROPE & SCANDINAVIA (NOT RUSSIA, see below) (Airmail Only):

1 LP (Small Packet Standard with Standard Royal Mail Insurance) = £5.

1 LP (Small Packet ‘Signed For’ with included Insurance to Item’s ‘Sold’ Value, £500* Maximum) = £9 (OPTIONAL).

Posting & Packing: RUSSIA (Recorded Only, if this is unacceptable, please do not bid):

1 LP (Small Packet ‘Signed For’ only £7) = £9 (OPTIONAL extra insurance as above).

Posting & Packing: OVERSEAS (non-European) e.g. US; Australia; Far East; (Airmail Only: I NEVER use Surface Mail):

1 LP (Small Packet Standard with Standard Royal Mail Insurance) = £8.

1 LP (Small Packet ‘Signed For’ with included Insurance to Item’s ‘Sold’ Value, £500* Maximum) = £13 (OPTIONAL).

* If Rules allow for that country.

PLEASE NOTE: I always get a Royal Mail ‘Proof-of-Posting’ receipt for ALL packets that are sent out and I am happy to prove this to any customer who wishes to see it via email.

Payment Conditions:

I prefer PayPal or cheque from UK winning bidders. I can accept PayPal from overseas bidders.

The customer can choose their method of shipping with the exception of second class or surface mail overseas – these I will NOT use. The winner bidder chooses his/her posting method and if uninsured is chosen, its their decision and they have to stick with it, I can accept no responsibility if an item is lost in the post. I can only try to claim at standard levels if no enhancement is chosen (£35).

Potential Bidders: Please do not bid if you have negative feedback unless checking first, I will cancel any bids I feel are timewasters. A maximum 3 days for communication and 7 days for payment to arrive - if not I will relist the item or offer to the runner-up. Fast deals get great feedback from me. Any questions - please ask and thanks for looking.

My Guarantee: If any winning bidder is not satisfied with their purchase I will offer a complete refund minus the Posting and All Ebay costs as long as the item detail has been read and understood. I will not refund if any defect detail is clearly stated on the advert and missed by the buyer. If any overseas collector does not understand anything in my listing, please email and ask me to help.

SOME GENERAL GUIDES TO WEAR AND CONDITIONS TO HELP YOU DECIDE

My Use of Description Terminology: Surface Marks = Superficial, usually light marks, hairlines or light scuffs that rarely sound. Scratch = a needle mark that goes below the record’s surface, some will sound, some will not, my play-grade will inform. Original = a record that has been pressed with the first label design which does NOT neccessarily mean a very first pressed record. First Pressing = A record that I believe or know to be a genuine very first pressed record. I do not claim to always know for sure, and that’s why I state the stamper and matrix numbers if at all possible, for those who claim to know what they all mean, the information is there for the collector to decide. I prefer to use terms like ‘Early Copy’ rather than ‘First Pressing’ if I am not totally sure. Surface Sound = Mild, light sound, usually light crackle or similar. Distortion = Break up of the actual sound caused by groove wear or damage from a chipped stylus – the most undesirable form of unwanted sound, vintage mono records were the most prone to this happening but not exclusively so. The symptoms of distortion are high frequency clipping, moderate constant crackle or an echo type sound quality. Violin, piano and vocals are most prone to groove-wear distortion. Feathering = Fraying or softening of the entry edge of a cover. Covers with feathered entrance edges are more likely to have had the actual record inserted and removed more than a non-feathered, sharp-edged cover which are always far more attractive. Set Off, actually a printer’s term for dark ink leaving mild residue on pale or white ink when rested upon. e.g. when a gatefold cover has black ink closed against white, this can leave some black residue on the pale area – this is mostly unavoidable or course.

The Argument for Vinyl Original sound and mix (mono mixes are rarely available on CD), high quality sound on clean copies (played on a hi-end dedicated analogue system – breathtaking sound!), beautiful, large format covers, artwork, inserts and even full size posters etc; huge investment potential, and the pleasure of owning ‘the real thing’.