| Ahead of Their Time | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Live album by | ||||
| Released | March 23, 1993 | |||
| Recorded | October 25, 1968 | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 67:39 | |||
| Label | Barking Pumpkin | |||
| Producer | Frank Zappa | |||
| Frank Zappa chronology | ||||
| ||||
| The Mothers of Invention chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   [1] |
Ahead of Their Time is a live album by The Mothers of Invention. It was recorded at the Royal Festival Hall, London, England, on October 25, 1968, and released in 1993 on CD by Barking Pumpkin. It was reissued on Rykodisc in 1995.
The first part of the set is a one-off performance of a musical play retrospectively entitled Progress?, and featuring members of the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Portions of this performance originally found their way on to the second Mystery Disc (released in 1986 as part of the box set The Old Masters Box Two and issued as an individual album in 1998) and the Honker Home Video release of Uncle Meat (1989). Much of the humour and storyline of the play is lost to the casual listener due to primitive recording techniques and the visual nature of some of the performance, necessitating extensive liner notes by Zappa.
According to Zappa's liner notes, the remainder of the set is "A fair – not outstanding – 1968 Mothers of Invention rock concert performance". Different edits of snatches from the second part of the performance ("The Orange County Lumber Truck" and "Prelude to the Afternoon of a Sexually Aroused Gas Mask") were originally released on Weasels Ripped My Flesh (1970).
All tracks written, composed and arranged by Frank Zappa.
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Prologue" | 3:07 |
| 2. | "Progress?" | 4:44 |
| 3. | "Like It or Not" | 2:21 |
| 4. | "The Jimmy Carl Black Philosophy Lesson" | 2:01 |
| 5. | "Holding The Group Back" | 2:00 |
| 6. | "Holiday in Berlin" | 0:56 |
| 7. | "The Rejected Mexican Pope Leaves the Stage" | 2:55 |
| 8. | "Undaunted, the Band Plays On" | 4:34 |
| 9. | "Agency Man" | 3:17 |
| 10. | "Epilogue" | 1:52 |
| No. | Title | Original album | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11. | "King Kong" | Uncle Meat | 8:13 |
| 12. | "Help, I'm a Rock" | Freak Out! | 1:38 |
| 13. | "Transylvania Boogie" | Chunga's Revenge | 3:07 |
| 14. | "Pound for a Brown" | Uncle Meat | 6:50 |
| 15. | "Sleeping in a Jar" | Uncle Meat | 2:24 |
| 16. | "Let's Make the Water Turn Black" | We're Only in It for the Money | 1:51 |
| 17. | "Harry, You're a Beast" | We're Only in It for the Money | 0:53 |
| 18. | "The Orange County Lumber Truck (Part I)" | Weasels Ripped My Flesh | 0:46 |
| 19. | "Oh No" | Lumpy Gravy | 3:22 |
| 20. | "The Orange County Lumber Truck (Part II)" | Weasels Ripped My Flesh | 10:36 |
Frank Vincent Zappa was an American musician, composer, and bandleader. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa composed rock, pop, jazz, jazz fusion, orchestral and musique concrète works; he also produced almost all of the 60-plus albums that he released with his band the Mothers of Invention and as a solo artist. His work is characterized by nonconformity, improvisation sound experimentation, musical virtuosity and satire of American culture. Zappa also directed feature-length films and music videos, and designed album covers. He is considered one of the most innovative and stylistically diverse musicians of his generation.
We're Only in It for the Money is the third album by American rock band the Mothers of Invention, released on March 4, 1968, by Verve Records. As with the band's first two efforts, it is a concept album, and satirizes left- and right-wing politics, particularly the hippie subculture, as well as the Beatles' album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. It was conceived as part of a project called No Commercial Potential, which produced three other albums: Lumpy Gravy, Cruising with Ruben & the Jets, and Uncle Meat.
Absolutely Free is the second album by American rock band the Mothers of Invention, released on May 26, 1967, by Verve Records. Much like their 1966 debut Freak Out!, the album is a display of complex musical composition with political and social satire.
Freak Out! is the debut studio album by American rock band the Mothers of Invention, released on June 27, 1966, by Verve Records. Often cited as one of rock music's first concept albums, it is a satirical expression of frontman Frank Zappa's perception of American pop culture and the nascent freak scene of Los Angeles. It was also one of the earliest double albums in rock music, as well as the first two-record debut album. In the UK, the album was originally released as an edited single disc.
Uncle Meat is the sixth album by the Mothers of Invention, and seventh overall by Frank Zappa, 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.
Hot Rats is the second solo album by Frank Zappa, released in October 1969. It was Zappa's first recording project after the dissolution of the original version of the Mothers of Invention. Five of the six songs are instrumental, while "Willie the Pimp" features vocals by Captain Beefheart. In his original sleeve notes, Zappa described the album as "a movie for your ears".
Chunga's Revenge is the third solo album, and eleventh album counting the work of his band The Mothers of Invention, by Frank Zappa, released on October 23, 1970. Zappa's first effort of the 1970s marks the first appearance of former Turtles members Flo & Eddie on a Zappa record, and signals the dawn of a controversial epoch in Zappa's history. Chunga's Revenge represents a shift from both the satirical political commentary of his 1960s work with The Mothers of Invention, and the jazz fusion of Hot Rats.
Lumpy Gravy is a 1968 solo album by Frank Zappa, written by Zappa and performed by a group of session players he dubbed the Abnuceals Emuukha Electric Symphony Orchestra & Chorus. Zappa conducted the orchestra but did not perform on the album. It is his fourth album overall: his previous releases had been under the name of his group, the Mothers of Invention.
Burnt Weeny Sandwich is the seventh album by the American rock band the Mothers of Invention, and the ninth overall by Frank Zappa, released in 1970. It consists of both studio recordings and live elements. It was the first of two albums - the second being its follow-up Weasels Ripped My Flesh - assembled by Zappa from unreleased leftover recordings by the band after their late 1969 split. Burnt Weeny Sandwich focuses on mostly on studio recordings and tightly arranged compositions, while Weasels Ripped My Flesh focuses mostly on live recordings and loose/improvisational pieces.
Weasels Ripped My Flesh is the eighth album by the American rock group the Mothers of Invention, and the tenth overall by Frank Zappa, released in 1970. It was the second of two albums - the first being its predecessor Burnt Weeny Sandwich - assembled by Zappa from unreleased leftover recordings by the band after their late 1969 split. Burnt Weeny Sandwich focuses on mostly on studio recordings and tightly arranged compositions, while Weasels Ripped My Flesh focuses mostly on live recordings and loose/improvisational pieces.
Ship Arriving Too Late to Save a Drowning Witch is an album by American musician Frank Zappa, released in May 1982 and digitally remastered in 1991. It features five tracks composed by Zappa, and one song, "Valley Girl", co-written with his then-14 year old daughter Moon Zappa, who provided the spoken monologue mocking Valley girls, including phrases like "Gag me with a spoon!".
You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 3 is a double disc live album by Frank Zappa, spanning from December 10, 1971, to December 23, 1984. It was released in 1989.
You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 5 is a double compact disc collection of live recordings by Frank Zappa. Disc one comprises performances by the original Mothers of Invention, spanning the period from 1965 to 1969. "My Guitar" had been previously released as a single in 1969. Disc two comprises performances from the summer 1982 tour of Europe. It was released in 1992 under the label Rykodisc. The last track on this collection ends with Zappa's anger at some audience members tossing cigarettes on stage; after a warning to stop was not obeyed, the disc ends with Zappa stating, "Houselights! The concert's over!"
Läther is the sixty-fifth official album by Frank Zappa. It was released posthumously as a three-CD set on Rykodisc in 1996. The album's title is derived from bits of comic dialog that link the songs. Zappa also explained that the name is a joke, based on "common bastardized pronunciation of Germanic syllables by the Swiss."
The Lost Episodes is a 1996 posthumous album by Frank Zappa which compiles previously unreleased material. Much of the material covered dates from early in his career, and as early as 1958, into the mid-1970s. Zappa had been working on these tracks in the years before his death in 1993.
Ruben and the Jets was an American rock and roll band from Los Angeles, California. The band originated as an alias for The Mothers of Invention, Frank Zappa's band, to release Cruising with Ruben & the Jets (1968). Later, musician Rubén Guevara Jr. continued the band with his own lineup. Guevara's "Jets" recorded two albums, For Real! (1973) and Con Safos (1974).
The 200 Motels soundtrack to Frank Zappa's film 200 Motels was released by United Artists Records in 1971. The original vinyl release was a two-record set, largely containing alternating tracks of rock music preformed by the Mothers of Invention and symphonic music performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Elgar Howarth, all composed and orchestrated by Zappa. The album peaked at No. 59 on the Billboard 200, though reviewers deemed it a peripheral part of Zappa's catalog. Like the film, the album involves the theme of a rock band on tour and a loose storyline about The Mothers of Invention going crazy in the small town of Centerville and bassist Jeff quitting the group, as did his real life counterpart, Jeff Simmons, who left the group before the film began shooting and was replaced by actor Martin Lickert for the film.
The Dub Room Special is an album by American musician Frank Zappa, released in August 2007. It is a soundtrack for the film of the same name, and combines recordings from a TV-show performance on August 27, 1974, and from a concert in New York City on October 31, 1981. The album, originally prepared for vinyl release by Zappa, was first sold at Zappa Plays Zappa shows in the United States during August 2007. Shortly thereafter, it became available for mail order.
"My Guitar Wants to Kill Your Mama" is a song written by Frank Zappa and originally recorded by The Mothers of Invention in February 1969 at Criteria Studios (Miami), with overdubs recorded sometime between August and September 1969 at TTG Studios and Whitney Studios. This version was included on their 1970 album Weasels Ripped My Flesh, an LP that included various recordings by the band from 1967 to 1969. A second version was released as a single on the Bizarre and Reprise labels as "My Guitar." Despite the more conventional naming, "My Guitar" did not chart.
King Kong: Jean-Luc Ponty Plays the Music of Frank Zappa is an album by French jazz fusion artist Jean-Luc Ponty first released in May 1970 on Liberty Records' World Pacific Records subsidiary label and later released on Blue Note.
