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27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of Zappa's absolute best albums, August 20, 1996
By A Customer
This review is from: Uncle Meat (Audio CD)
One of the problems with Frank Zappa's immense catalog (nearly 60 releases) is that it can take an interested listenter a long time to find the cream of the crop. I hiope to solve that for you by telling you to BUY THIS CD AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. The "Uncle Meat" double CD contains what could be some of the best and most interesting music of our century. The CD has more than Rock and Roll. In fact, some of the most wonderful things on the discs are the marimba-laden "classical" tracks. Not that the disc doesn't contain fanstatic rock. Zappa knew how to make an _album_, though; the individual songs are difficult to isolate because you will soon think of "Uncle Meat" as a single compositional entity. There is one hitch to this concept-album-like flow. The CD version (as opposed to the cassette or LP) contains nearly a half an hour of audio footage from the filming of the never-really-completed Uncle Meat movie. Instead of putting the "bonus" stuff at the end of the disc, it has been inserted between songs on the second disc. Your listening enjoyment of the music will come to a grinding halt as you reach for the remote. Don't get me wrong! Listen to the audio footage. There's some great stuff. Listen to it often, if you like. But just be prepared when you're lost in the music to bounce out of your reverie. The position of the bonus audio footage is the only thing that holds me back from heartily and readily giving the CD a perfect 10 rating. END
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49 of 53 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of a kind in the universe, December 14, 2000
This review is from: Uncle Meat (Audio CD)
Like Sgt. Pepper or the first Velvet Underground album, Uncle Meat is one of about ten rock albums that throws out the rule book and starts over again. Conceptually, this record is a revolution. Zappa dismantles the whole idea of the rock album as a collection of songs. He fills Uncle Meat with litterally 100s of ideas that flow into each other. The music and sound-bytes don't have beginnings in endings. Rather, they simply set up the next piece, as the album gathers a run-away, hillucanatory momentum. Yet, every sound on this album has merit in and of itself. Zappa was able to let go of the steering wheel only because he understood his craft so well. You don't hear many albums like Uncle Meat. Even in the context of 1969 experimentation, Zappa's ideas are simply too esoteric and sophistacated for mass conception. Only very obscure bands like Henry Cow even hinted at picking up Uncle Meat's massive torch. In an age of Hendrix, Joplin, and Led Zeppelin blasting out flame-thrower blues, Zappa's brillant, mad-geunius confetti was bound to get lost beneath the whale of Stratocasters.
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18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Nothing Comes Close to This, June 15, 2004
This review is from: Uncle Meat (Audio CD)
Of the almost thirty Zappa albums I own, I can only think of a few that I liked during the very first listen. This is one of them. I had read the reviews and inevitably formed my preconceptions about it, and literally during the first few seconds of the very first song I thought, "YES!!! This is EXACTLY what I was hoping for!!!" As I continued to listen, a whole new universe of sound was slowly opening up before me. Each track got me more and more consumed by this strange and incredible musical journey, and soon I didn't want it to end. This is my all-time favorite Zappa Album. I've often thought about what makes the original Mothers' music so good, and I think it is because in the late 60's, Frank Zappa hadn't yet formed the lyrical and musical persona that we know today (Arguably, that wouldn't come until 1973's Overnight Sensation). At this point in his career, he was experimenting with all sorts of styles, perhaps subconsciously trying to pinpoint where he wanted to go with his music. In this album, Frank is pushing his band both musically and stylistically to meet his artistic needs. And the results are priceless. This is the kind of music that just can't be described in words. It's one of those albums that shatters all your preconceptions of what music is, and makes you rethink the very nature of music. I will say this, however: "Dog Breath in the year of the Plague" is one of the most beautiful songs ever released. As well as "Electric Aunt Jemima." And "Sleeping in a Jar." And "The Air." And... ok, well I'll just stop right there. A lot of people have complained about the film excerpts on disc 2. But you know what? I actually LIKE it. Seriously. It's fun, and interesting as well. And I'm not even a HUGE Zappa nut. So here's my advice for the film excerpts: Listen to it once. If you like it, great. If you don't like it, SKIP it next time. That's what the SKIP button is there for. But at least give it a chance. All in all, this is a PERFECT album that I would recommend not only for all Zappa/Mothers fans, but for all music fans who crave adventuresome and even strange music. This is a masterpiece that stands apart from all the rest.
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