 Frank Zappa I'm probably in a vast minority in saying that I strongly prefer the 1984 remix of We're Only In It For the Money to its original LP issue (which has now been reissued on CD). The CD reviewed here is the 1986 Rykodisc CD issue, now out of print. It's very strange, I'd say that I love this one while I think the other one is a terrible album. Ah, the magic of mixing! Purists, of course, will rankle, as purists always do no matter what you're talking about, but I feel that the remixed version coheres much better and presents Zappa's best album in the best possible light. For those unfamiliar with it, We're Only in it For the Money is Frank's conceptual suite of pop songs addressing hippie culture and various fallacious notions about society and authority circa the "summer of love." Critics widely comment on its acidic qualities and view the album as an attack on hippies, but for all of its sarcasm, there's a surprising amount of compassion throughout the album that belies this idea. Of course, Frank takes "phony hippies" to task, but spends just as much time ridiculing their dysfunctional parents and criticizing "cops" in general. A lot of the social criticism is pretty simplistic, but the songs are catchy as all get out, perhaps Zappa's most accessible melodies ever. The symphonic bubblegum is interwoven with gnarled, ugly soundbites to offer a more thorough dismissal of psychedelic indulgence, although in the process Zappa made a far more indulgent album than the Strawberry Alarm Clock ever did. The best songs on this album are full of everything that Zappa is revered for (truly intelligent songwriting, great humor, irreverent production values) and for the most part refreshingly free of the things he is reviled for (obsessive scatology, deep misogyny, empty musical showmanship). The songs flow together in an endless stream of patched-together segments and sounds, the closest comparisons I can think of being "Fingertips" by They Might Be Giants or the Residents' "Commercial Album", but in more of a classical modernist way. Was that sentence pretentious enough? 'Cause I'd be happy to go back and make it MORE pretentious. Lots of favorites here: "Let's Make the Water Turn Black," "Take Your Clothes off When You Dance," "Bow Tie Daddy," "What's the Ugliest Part of Your Body," "Harry, You're a Beast." Lots of noisy, snotty interludes, too, interrupting the flow after nearly every song, but not really in a bad way. The sonic experimention (bursts of reverb, electronic twiddling, improbable vocal noises) makes the pop songs all the sweeter when they come on. Frank's vocals throughout are distorted, sped-up for comic effect, and overall quite infectious. The hammy condescension is kept to a bare minimum, making this disc one of the only Zappa discs I can still listen to. In remixing the album for CD, Zappa took the liberty of replacing the original drums and bass with electronic tracks which actually clean up the sound and remove a great deal of the chaos that plagued the original album. I'm not sure why this album crops up so much on critics' "best albums of all time" or "most important albums" lists, since in its original form it's a pompous, embittered piece of dogshit. Somehow, in recasting the album for the 80s (releasing the CD in time to have much relevance toward the idiotic 60s revival that peaked around 1987), Zappa was able to strip away the in-your-face nature of the original mix and in effect present an entirely new album. The multiple layers of sound dance around the spectrum with a clarity that is not present in the earlier version. It's an exciting, unpredictable record, one that reveals new things with each listen. I bought this CD about ten years ago (right before a Dead Milkmen concert, by the way) and I still hear things in it I never noticed before. Musically, Zappa has scarcely had so much focus, at least in terms of sticking to an intent. He uses the textures of the 60's to create a tapestry of acid-rock, surf, classical, avant-garde, jazz, doo-wop, film music.it's all here. And for all its reputation as being a scathing indictment of the 60s popular culture, it really seems to me to just be Frank's twisted way of seeing that era. It's an honest portrayal of the era, although I'm sure that Zappa was far from trying to make it so. Tacked on to this issue of the CD is Lumpy Gravy, a 30 minute "Revolution 9" that demonstrates Zappa's ingenuity as well as his elitism and arbitrariness. I suppose some overly pretentious fools will argue that it's a masterpiece of the avant-garde, but I see it somewhat more as a fairly interesting patchwork of sounds. Some melodies are to be found, along with a lot of toodling around the orchestra. I was surprised to notice, reading the liner notes now, that Shelley Manne and Victor Feldman appear in Zappa's "Abnuceals Emuukha Electric Symphony Orchestra & Chorus." I think part of my problem with Lumpy Gravy is precisely because it is tacked on to the end of We're Only In It. "Two-fers" were a great idea for the beginning of the CD era, but aesthetically I can't handle 'em. It always makes the second album seem like an afterthought. Listening now, I'm actually pretty intrigued by Lumpy Gravy. GODDAMN TWO-FERS! Good luck finding it, but if you can, this is the one great Zappa disc to own. This is a very rare case where I recommend an older edition of a CD. Avoid the newer remastered edition, wherein Zappa reinstated the original instruments and tore down everything that made this CD a great one. Maybe they'll make this one available again as an "alternate mix." Oh well, I'm sure I'm the only one who cares at this point. Go to hell, the all of you!
Review by Jacob Ocular-Migraine |