Them or Us

Last updated
Them or Us
Zappa Them or Us.jpg
Studio album with live elementsby
Frank Zappa
ReleasedOctober 18, 1984
RecordedNovember 1981 – June 1984 (elements of "Ya Hozna" and "Planet Of My Dreams" were recorded between 1967 and 1976)
Genre
Length73:00
Label Barking Pumpkin
Producer Frank Zappa
Frank Zappa chronology
Boulez Conducts Zappa: The Perfect Stranger
(1984)		Them or Us
(1984)		 Francesco Zappa
(1984)
Singles from Them or Us
  1. "Baby Take Your Teeth Out"
    Released: 1984
  2. "In France"
    Released: 1984
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [1]

Them or Us is an album by American musician Frank Zappa, released in October 1984 by Barking Pumpkin Records.

Contents

"Now, the name of this album is Them or Us, and in America, as far as I'm concerned, it means US, the Pagans, versus THEM, those hideous Christians. And if they want to have a law in Congress that says you can't put anything backwards on a record, well, and how about a record that's got it all backwards?"

— Frank Zappa talks about "Ya Hozna", interviewed by Andy Batten-Foster, BBC Radio 1, UK, September 1984. [2]

Album content

Its opening and closing songs were not written by Zappa: "The Closer You Are", was written by Earl Lewis and Morgan Robinson and originally released by the Channels; and "Whippin' Post", originally performed by the Allman Brothers Band.

"Ya Hozna" includes backward vocals taken from "Sofa No. 2" (from One Size Fits All , 1975), "Lonely Little Girl" (from We're Only in It for the Money , 1968) and unreleased outtakes of "Valley Girl" (vocals by Moon Zappa). "Planet of My Dreams" (featuring Bob Harris on vocals) is a 1981 studio recording taken from the score of Zappa's unrealized 1972 stage musical Hunchentoot (other titles from this show appear on the first-CD edition of the Sleep Dirt reissue from 1993). "Be in My Video", described as the best song on the album, [3] pokes fun at the cliches in music videos, particularly David Bowie's 1983 hit single "Let's Dance".

As with other Zappa rock albums of this era, many of the tracks are sourced from live recordings. Later studio overdubs were liberally applied, although there is no mention of this on the album notes. [4]

Release

Following problems with the album Thing-Fish , which MCA Records refused to distribute, [5] Zappa made a deal with EMI Records, which would allow Them or Us and Thing-Fish to be distributed by Capitol Records in the United States. [5] Zappa wrote a "warning" which appeared on the inner sleeves of these albums, as well as Frank Zappa Meets the Mothers of Prevention (1985), which stated that the albums contained content "which a truly free society would neither fear nor suppress", and a "guarantee" which stated that the lyrics would not "cause eternal torment in the place where the guy with the horns and pointed stick conducts his business." [5]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Frank Zappa, except where noted.

Side one
No.TitleLength
1."The Closer You Are" (Earl Lewis, Morgan "Bobby" Robinson)2:55
2."In France"3:30
3."Ya Hozna"6:26
4."Sharleena"4:33
Total length:18:01
Side two
No.TitleLength
5."Sinister Footwear II"8:39
6."Truck Driver Divorce"8:59
Total length:18:14
Side three
No.TitleLength
7."Stevie's Spanking"5:23
8."Baby, Take Your Teeth Out"1:54
9."Marque-son's Chicken"7:33
10."Planet of My Dreams"1:37
Total length:17:05
Side four
No.TitleLength
11."Be in My Video"3:39
12."Them or Us"5:23
13."Frogs with Dirty Little Lips" (Frank Zappa, Ahmet Zappa)2:42
14."Whipping Post" (Gregg Allman)7:32
Total length:19:40

Personnel

Musicians

Production staff

Related Research Articles

Axe was an American hard rock band from Gainesville, Florida, formed in 1979 and disbanded in 2012. The band is best known for their 1982 song "Rock 'N' Roll Party in the Streets", and had other hits such as "Now or Never", "I Think You'll Remember Tonight" and "Heat in the Street".

<i>Good Singin, Good Playin</i> 1976 studio album by Grand Funk Railroad

Good Singin' Good Playin' is the eleventh studio album by American rock band Grand Funk Railroad. The album was released on August 2, 1976, by MCA Records.

<i>Fillmore East – June 1971</i> 1971 live album by The Mothers

Fillmore East – June 1971 is a live album by The Mothers, released in 1971. It is the twelfth album in Frank Zappa's discography, and was produced by Zappa and mixed by Toby Foster.

<i>Ship Arriving Too Late to Save a Drowning Witch</i> 1982 studio album / Live album by Frank Zappa

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!".

<i>Flex-Able</i> 1984 studio album by Steve Vai

Flex-Able is the debut studio album by American virtuoso guitarist Steve Vai. This was his first as a solo artist, and was created in Stucco Blue, a shed converted into a studio in Vai's old back garden. It is very different from many of his other albums, and is largely influenced by Frank Zappa, whom Vai was a member of his backing band from 1980 to 1983. Flex-Able does not rely as much on massive guitar arrangements and shred moments as the rest of his output from the 1990s onwards, with the exception of Leftovers which is a compilation of bonus tracks and remasters from his sessions at 'Stucco Blue'.

<i>Thing-Fish</i> 1984 studio album by Frank Zappa

Thing-Fish is an album by Frank Zappa, originally released as a triple album box set on Barking Pumpkin Records in 1984. It was billed as a cast recording for a proposed musical of the same name, which was ultimately not produced by Zappa, but later performed partially in 2003, ten years after his death.

<i>Sleep Dirt</i> 1979 studio album by Frank Zappa

Sleep Dirt is an album by Frank Zappa, released in January 1979 on his own DiscReet Records label, distributed by Warner Bros. Records. It reached No. 175 on the Billboard 200 album chart in the United States.

<i>You Cant Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 5</i> 1992 live album by Frank Zappa

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!"

<i>You Cant Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 6</i> 1992 live album by Frank Zappa

You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 6 is the last of six double-disc collection volumes of live performances by Frank Zappa recorded between 1970 and 1988. All of the material on Disc one has a sexual theme. Zappa used the monologue in "Is That Guy Kidding or What?", to ridicule Peter Frampton's album I'm in You with its double entendre title and pop pretensions. Disc two includes performances from Zappa's shows between 1976 and 1981 at the Palladium in New York City, as well as material like "The Illinois Enema Bandit" and "Strictly Genteel" that he frequently used as closing songs at concerts. It was released on October 23, 1992, under the label Rykodisc.

<i>The Man from Utopia</i> 1983 studio album by Frank Zappa

The Man from Utopia is an album by American musician Frank Zappa, released in March 1983 by Barking Pumpkin Records. The album is named after a 1950s song, written by Donald and Doris Woods, which Zappa covers as part of "The Man from Utopia Meets Mary Lou".

<i>Frank Zappa Meets the Mothers of Prevention</i> 1985 studio album by Frank Zappa

Frank Zappa Meets the Mothers of Prevention is a 1985 album by American musician Frank Zappa. The album was originally released in two slightly different versions in the US and Europe.

<i>Back Against the Wall</i> 2005 studio album (tribute album) by Billy Sherwood

Back Against the Wall is an album released in 2005 by Billy Sherwood in collaboration with a number of (mostly) progressive rock artists as a tribute to Pink Floyd's album The Wall. A year later, Sherwood followed it with the release of Return to the Dark Side of the Moon, a tribute to Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon.

<i>The Lost Episodes</i> 1996 compilation album by Frank Zappa

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.

<i>Buffalo</i> (Frank Zappa album) 2007 live album by Frank Zappa

Buffalo is a live album by Frank Zappa, posthumously released in April 2007 as a two-CD set, consisting of the complete concert given on October 25, 1980 at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium in Buffalo, New York with a band that has previously been heard on Tinsel Town Rebellion (1981) and Shut Up 'n Play Yer Guitar (1981). It is the second installment on the Vaulternative Records label that is dedicated to the posthumous release of complete Zappa concerts, the first release being FZ:OZ, the concert on January 20, 1976 at the Hordern Pavilion in Sydney.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thinking Plague</span> American avant-rock group

Thinking Plague is an American avant-garde progressive rock group founded in 1982 by guitarist/composer Mike Johnson and bass guitarist/drummer Bob Drake. Based in Denver, Colorado, the band has been active off and on since 1982, taking on a number of musicians over the years. They have made seven studio albums between 1984 and 2017, and released one live album recorded at NEARfest in 2000.

"Willie the Pimp" is a song from Frank Zappa's 1969 album Hot Rats. It features an idiosyncratic Captain Beefheart vocal and one of Zappa's classic guitar solos. It is the only track that is not instrumental on the album, though the track features a long guitar solo.

<i>Tinsel Town Rebellion</i> 1981 live album with studio elements by Frank Zappa

Tinsel Town Rebellion is a double live album released by Frank Zappa in May 1981. The album was conceived by Zappa after he scrapped the planned albums Warts and All and Crush All Boxes, and contains tracks that were intended for those albums.

<i>You Are What You Is</i> 1981 studio album by Frank Zappa

You Are What You Is is a 1981 double album by American musician Frank Zappa. His 34th album, it consists of three musical suites which encompass pop, doo-wop, jazz, hard rock, reggae, soul, blues, new wave and country. The album's lyrics satirize a number of topics, including hippies, socialites, fashion, narcotics use, cultural appropriation, religion, televangelists and the military draft.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">I Don't Wanna Get Drafted</span> 1980 single by Frank Zappa

"I Don't Wanna Get Drafted" is a 1980 single by American musician Frank Zappa. The song peaked at #103 US Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 and #68 on the Cash Box charts, but more successfully reached #3 in Sweden. The original single version has never been reissued on LP or CD.

<i>Finer Moments</i> 2012 posthumous album by Frank Zappa

Finer Moments is a compilation album by Frank Zappa. It was compiled and mastered by Zappa in 1972 and released posthumously in 2012.

References

  1. ↑ Couture, F. "Them or Us - Frank Zappa | AllMusic". allmusic.com. Retrieved 21 July 2011.
  2. ↑ Batten-Foster, Andy (September 1984). "Marc Riley's Musical Time Machine". BBC. Retrieved 8 August 2022.
  3. ↑ Kelly Fisher Lowe. The Words and Music of Frank Zappa. University of Nebraska Press, 2007, p. 186
  4. ↑ "Them or Us". globalia.net/donlope/fz. Retrieved 12 April 2016.
  5. 1 2 3 Zappa, Frank with Occhiogrosso, Peter (1989). The Real Frank Zappa Book . New York: Poseidon Press. pp.  278–279. ISBN   0-671-63870-X.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.