Lumpy Gravy [Original recording remastered]

Frank Zappa | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 18, 1995)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Label: Zappa Records
• ASIN: B0000009RZ
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (50 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #56,935 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Lumpy Gravy, Pt. 1: The Way I See It, Barry/Duodenum/Oh No/Bit of ...

2. Lumpy Gravy, Pt. 2: Very Distraughtening/White Ugliness/Amen/Just ...

Editorial Reviews

No Description Available.
Genre: Popular Music
Media Format: Compact Disk
Rating:
Release Date: 18-APR-1995

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Amok in the Lab, June 9, 2001

By 

Solo Goodspeed (Granada Hills, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lumpy Gravy (Audio CD)

Before he evolved into the guitar monster and equal opportunity offender we knew and loved, and a culturally challenged music industry allocated him to little more a role than a cultish novelty act, Francis Vincent Zappa had a reputation as quite the experimentist. In his autobiography he explains that one of his earlier career goals was to be a scientist. In this extraordinary early recording, which to this day knows no equal, Zappa's experimentist side is exemplified and cemented for posterity.

Not so much a music collection as a work of recorded collage performance art, it is at first listening a random, unpredictable assault of spoken word, musical snippets and manipulated audio, which Zappa describes as a "curiously inconsistent piece that started out as a ballet but probably didn't make it". Interestingly enough, it never loses that randomness on repeated listenings; aside from some repeated references to pigs and ponies (the metaphorical implications of which are left entirely up to the listener), there is no real unifying theme or pattern, no repeated musical motifs, no one style to distingush or classify Lumpy Gravy as a whole. The whole purpose, if any, seems to be inconsistency itself, as a concept.

What saves this work from being condemned as an empty exercise in "musique concrete" is, of course, Zappa's unique and bizarre humor (and to an extent, social views) lightening the dialogue sections ..... most of which are recorded underneath a grand piano with the sustain pedal held down to lend resonance to the voices. There is an extended monologue concerning a guy and the fates of his various cars. In another section a man explains that his paranoia causes water in his washing machine to turn dark .... out of sympathy. In still another, we hear Louie the Turkey (so named for his frantic, gobbling cackle) describe a fight and escape from sinister fanged boogeymen.

Oh yes, the music. Lumpy Gravy contains the earliest recorded orchestral works of Zappa, and are (of course) predominantly cacophonous and dissonant and give more than a nod to his Edgard Varése influence. There is also a bit of loungey-sounding jazz, some cheesey pop, instrumental versions of "Oh No" and "Take Your Clothes Off When You Dance" and an early study of the classic "King Kong". Plus some noises created with a box invention seemingly designed to turn sound inside out. For more on this device, check out "The Real Frank Zappa Book" or Ben Watson's "The Negative Dialectics of Poodle Play", which sheds some intriguing light on these curious early recordings of FZ.

Frank Zappa was indeed a Mother of Invention. On this album (released concurrently with "We're Only In It For The Money" and even sharing recorded elements of that work) we hear the Mad Scientist set loose to run amok in his laboratory, resulting in a jarring, abstract and very humorous piece that is without comparison. The four star rating is due to a diminuitive length (just barely over half an hour) and the way the CD re-release is separated into tracks (the original release was just Part One and Part Two), which I feel deprives the listening experience of its necessary abstraction. These are petty complaints, and in no way diminish this very vital work by one of the most misunderstood and under-appreciated recording artists to ever conquer a studio.

So why did he do it? What was the motivation? A possible explanation lies in the last line of dialogue, which I am tempted to quote ..... but if you're at all curious at this point, you might as well just get the freakin disc. Round things, indeed .......

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great "going to sleep" album (not an insult......), October 24, 2004

By 

Chris Carter (my music room) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Lumpy Gravy (Audio CD)

Howdy. This is my favorite Frank Zappa album. My tastes are strange, I suppose, but in my opinion this is a wonderful, intuitive work, very stream-of-conscious. Imaginative orchestral/'60's music parodies interspersed with curious, often hilarious dialogue. It is unpredictable and insanely imaginative, and therein lies its appeal for me. Did I mention it is imaginative? I thought so. I have been listening to this album A BUNCH recently. Just seem to be in the mood for it or something. It is NOT typical of most FZ releases, which usually tend to be very deliberately crafted. This one makes me laugh.

16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bull Dada Insanity, March 24, 2005

By 

Gregory Mills "Greg" (Grosse Pointe Farms, MI) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Lumpy Gravy (Audio CD)

This is not "nice" rock and roll Zappa, with the goof ball lyrics and ten minute solos. This is full music concrete, at least as it is practiced by junior college dropouts from the high desert of California. Prepare to get hit with a layered club sandwich of styles: Stravinsky, Varese, doo-wop, acid rock freak-out, often within the same bar. I wouldn't call anything on here a song, in fact I think you could drop in at any moment and it would make as much sense as starting at the beginning. But that's the charm. I've had friends complain that this is a difficult album, but I'm not so sure. Zappa got his hands on a studio, and a impressively large group of competent and willing musicians, two tools he struggled with his entire career. This is the sound a fiercely iconoclastic and talented musician putting his favorite toys through their paces. Wonderful, weird album.