Wednesday, February 4, 2009

We're Only in It for the Money 1967/1985

When this was released on CD in 1985 the censored bits from 1967 were restored but all new rhythm tracks were laid down as well. ... so it's not OG but still pretty good. For those that slept, Zappa was a sampler long before hip-hop. I'd like to think if he were still with us he'd be making lots of cash from those sampling his original work plus backing some massive cross-genre pieces. Since we'll never know, don't sleep.



1. Are You Hung Up?
2. Who Needs the Peace Corps?
3. Concentration Moon
4. Mom & Dad
5. Telephone Conversation
6. Bow Tie Daddy
7. Harry, You're a Beast
8. What's the Ugliest Part of Your Body?
9. Absolutely Free
10. Flower Punk
11. Hot Poop
12. Nasal Retentive Calliope Music
13. Let's Make the Water Turn Black
14. The Idiot Bastard Son
15. Lonely Little Girl
16. Take Your Clothes Off When You Dance
17. What's the Ugliest Part of Your Body? (Reprise)
18. Mother People
19. The Chrome Plated Megaphone of Destiny

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey, what do you mean by "all new rhythm tracks"?

This was my third CD back in the 80's!

Kevin MacNutt said...

The 1980's version replaced original rhythm tracks with new ones played by Arthur Barrow and Chad Wackerman. Apparently the original master tapes deteriorated and Zappa was left with no choice but to re-record them. He also made all the instruments more stereo center like a more modern release.

Of course if the masters were that bad, what about the 1995 reissue that restores the album to it's original form? My only guess is that digital technology finally got good enough to restore the deteriorated tracks, or Frank made an excuse back in the 80's to replace the rhythm section with one he liked better.

Frank did this all the time, the earliest example was "Freak Out" which was re-mixed in 1969 with some new guitar parts and removing some of the studio effects. In the 90's he also did an extensive re-mix of "Hot Rats" which the original version has yet to make an official CD appearance.