Uncle Meat is the fifth studio album by The
Mothers of Invention, released as a double
album in 1969. Uncle Meat was originally developed
as a part of No Commercial Potential, a project
which spawned three other albums sharing a
conceptual connection: We're Only in It for
the Money, Lumpy Gravy and Cruising with Ruben
& the Jets.
The album also served as a soundtrack album
to a proposed science fiction film which would
not be completed, though a direct-to-video
film containing test footage from the project
was released by Frank Zappa in 1987. The music
is diverse in style, drawing from orchestral,
jazz, blues and rock music. Uncle Meat was
a commercial success upon release, and has
been highly acclaimed for its innovative recording
and editing techniques, including experiments
in manipulation of tape speed and overdubbing,
and its diverse sound.
== Background ==
Frank Zappa, who had been interested in film
since high school, decided to develop a film
vehicle for the Mothers of Invention, entitled
Uncle Meat. The proposed film would combine
elements of science fiction and road stories
inspired by the band's sexual escapades. Subsequently,
Zappa began working on a project called No
Commercial Potential, which eventually became
the albums We're Only in It for the Money,
Lumpy Gravy, Cruising with Ruben & the Jets
and Uncle Meat. Zappa stated, "It's all one
album. All the material in the albums is organically
related and if I had all the master tapes
and I could take a razor blade and cut them
apart and put it together again in a different
order it still would make one piece of music
you can listen to. Then I could take that
razor blade and cut it apart and reassemble
it a different way, and it still would make
sense. I could do this twenty ways. The material
is definitely related."According to artist
Cal Schenkel, "I started working on the story
of Ruben and the Jets that is connected with
the Uncle Meat story, which is this old guy
turns this teenage band into these dog snout
people ... We started that before it actually
became Ruben and the Jets. That came out of
my love for comics and that style, the anthropomorphic
animals, but also it was part of a running
story line."
== 
Recording ==
For the recording sessions, Zappa utilized
12 track recording technology, as well as
a variety of techniques which realized his
vision, including a large number of overdubs,
playing unconventional instruments through
studio effects, and speeding up or slowing
down recordings for artistic effect. Zappa
wanted to make an album that would challenge
the complacency of contemporary music fans,
as he felt that his fanbase was "accustomed
to accepting everything that was handed to
them ... politically, musically, socially
– everything. Somebody would just hand it
to them and they wouldn't question it. It
was my campaign in those days to do things
that would shake people out of that complacency,
or that ignorance and make them question things."
=== 
Music and lyrics ===
Uncle Meat featured a variety of music styles,
including orchestral symphonies, free jazz,
blues, doo wop and rock and roll. The album
also contains spoken word segments featuring
Suzy Creamcheese, and features a stronger
focus on percussion instrumentation than previous
works by Zappa, as well as emphasizing his
strengths as a composer and arranger."Nine
Types of Industrial Pollution" is melodically
formless rooted in percussion instrumentation,
and features a guitar solo that was sped up
in post production. "Dog Breath, in the Year
of the Plague" is delivered as a rock and
roll song, with the same theme being repeated
as an instrumental later in the album, performed
by keyboards, percussion and acoustic guitar.
The rock and roll version features three verses
with the first chorus being delivered by opera
singer Nelcy Walker, and the second chorus
featuring sped up vocals. After the third
verse, the song becomes an avant garde orchestral
piece performed by percussion, keyboards and
instruments that, according to the album liner
notes "sound like trumpets (but) are actually
clarinets played through an electric device
made by Maestro with a setting labeled Oboe
D'Amore and sped up a minor third with a V.S.O.
(variable speed oscillator)".In addition to
the studio recordings, Uncle Meat featured
live recordings made at the Royal Albert Hall,
including a recording of Don Preston playing
"Louie Louie" on the Albert Hall pipe organ,
at the end of which Zappa announces it as
having been performed by the "London Philharmonic
Orchestra". The doo wop-influenced "Electric
Aunt Jemima" refers to Zappa's guitar amplifier,
equating it with the advertising character
Aunt Jemima. Zappa explained, "I get kind
of a laugh out of the fact that other people
are going to try to interpret that stuff and
come up with some grotesque interpretations
of it. It gives me a certain amount of satisfaction."The
album concludes with "King Kong", a piece
in 3/8, although the instrumental's prelude,
a free jazz improvisation over a rhythm section
playing in a 5/8 time signature, occurs much
earlier in the album. Six variations of the
melody appear as the album's finale, with
the first establishing its simple melody,
the second being a Fender Rhodes Electric
Piano solo by Preston, the third showcasing
a saxophone solo by Motorhead Sherwood, and
the fourth featuring Bunk Gardner playing
a soprano saxophone through various electronic
effects that emulate the sound of a contrabassoon
doubling his solo lines. Two more variations
conclude the piece, which include a live recorded
performance featuring a saxophone solo by
Ian Underwood and then finally ending with
a version with sped up gongs, overblown saxophones
and other instruments.
== Release and reception ==
Uncle Meat was released as a double album
by Bizarre and Reprise Records, subtitled,
"Most of the music from the Mothers' movie
of the same name which we haven't got enough
money to finish yet." Despite the album's
experimental nature, it peaked at  No. 43
on the Billboard charts.
=== Critical reception ===
Contemporary reviews of the album were highly
favorable, recognizing it as an important
album in Zappa's discography. The New Rolling
Stone Album Guide described the album as an
"inspired monstrosity ... [an] assault of
glorious noise". AllMusic writer Steve Huey
wrote, "despite the absence of a conceptual
framework, the unfocused sprawl of Uncle Meat
is actually a big part of its appeal. It's
exciting to hear one of the most creatively
fertile minds in rock pushing restlessly into
new territory, even if he isn't always quite
sure where he's going."
=== 
Legacy ===
In 1987, a completed Uncle Meat film was released
on home video, and the Uncle Meat album was
subsequently reissued as a double CD which
included a song recorded in 1982, "Tengo Na
Minchia Tanta", sung in Sicilian by Massimo
Bassoli, who identifies the song as being
translated as "I've Got a Big Bunch Of Dick",
and over 40 minutes' worth of soundbites and
dialogue from the film. The track listing
programs the new tracks at the beginning of
the second disc, placing the material between
the album's original third and fourth sides.
The original 1969 vinyl mix was reissued in
2016 as part of the Meat Light audio documentary
box set.
== Track listing ==
All tracks written by Frank Zappa, except
where noted.
== Personnel ==
=== Musicians ===
The Mothers – at the time of this recording
were:
Frank Zappa – guitar, low grade vocals,
percussion
Ray Collins – swell vocals
Jimmy Carl Black – drums, droll humor, poverty
Roy Estrada – electric bass, cheeseburgers,
Pachuco falsetto
Don (Dom De Wild) Preston – electric piano,
tarot cards, brown rice
Billy (The Oozer) Mundi – drums on some
pieces before he quit to join RHINOCEROS
Bunk (Sweetpants) Gardner – piccolo, flute,
clarinet, bass clarinet, soprano sax, alto
sax, tenor sax, bassoon (all of these electric
and/or no-electric depending)
Ian Underwood – electronic organ, piano,
harpsichord, celeste, flute, clarinet, alto
sax, baritone sax, special assistant, copyist,
industrial relations & teen appeal
Artie (With the Green Mustache) Tripp – drums,
timpani, vibes, marimba, xylophone, wood blocks,
bells, small chimes, cheerful outlook & specific
inquiries
Euclid James (Motorhead/Motorishi) Sherwood
– pop star, frenetic tenor sax stylings,
tambourine, choreography, obstinance & equipment
setter-upper when he's not hustling local
groupiesSpecial thanks to:
Ruth Komanoff – who plays marimba and vibes
with Artie on many of the tracks, and
Nelcy Walker – the soprano voice with Ray
& Roy on "Dog Breath" & "The Uncle Meat Variations".Uncredited:
Pamela Zarubica as Suzy Creamcheese
=== 
Production ===
Frank Zappa – producer
Jerry Hansen – engineer
Euclid James Sherwood – equipment technician,
choreographer
Art Tripp – adviser
Cal Schenkel – package design
Roy Estrada – prop design
Ian Underwood – copyist, public relations,
special assistance
== 
Charts ==
Album – Billboard (United States
