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Song Of The Day – “The Uncle Meat Variations” by The Mothers Of Invention

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Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “The Uncle Meat Variations” by The Mothers Of Invention

Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, Dvorak…the alphabet of classical composers goes on and on…and then you come to “Z.”

May I offer “Zappa?” Yup, Frank Zappa…an artist whose music will be studied by serious composers for generations to come.

You don’t believe me? Then check out today’s Song of the Day by Eric Berman, “The Uncle Meat Variations” from Uncle Meat.

The Uncle Meat album was released in 1969 and was conceived as a soundtrack to a science fiction film that was never finished. The front cover sported the following subtitle: “Most of the music from the Mother’s movie of the same name which we haven’t got enough money to finish yet.”

A finished version of the film was released in the late 1980s bearing many of the scenes filmed for the movie and was rather incoherent. The double album was also planned as part of a suite of albums called No Commercial Potential that included the Mothers’ records Lumpy Gravy, We’re Only In It For The Money and Cruising with Reuben & the Jets.

Frank Zappa: “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.” (Zappa: A Biography – Barry Miles)

The Mothers consisted of Frank Zappa, Ray Collins on vocals, Jimmy Carl Black on drums, Roy Estrada on bass, Don Preston on keyboards, Billy Mundi on drums, Bunk Gardner on woodwinds, Ian Underwood on keyboards, Artie Tripp on percussion and Euclid James “Motorhead” Sherwood on saxophone.

The album is one of The Mothers’ and Zappa’s finest, and I opine that it will be studied by serious musicians for years to come.

So, “Roll over Beethoven, tell Tchaikovsky the news.”

“Fuzzy dice and bongos”…indeed!

Song Of The Day – “Requiem For John Hurt” by John Fahey

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rainbowrecordsjohnfaheyrequiaI buy most of my music these days on line. I either purchase from Amazon where I can take advantage of free shipping, eBay where I can score clean copies of used records or directly from record labels like Polyvinyl and Third Man Records.

Earlier today I got a rush and went down to a small independent record store in Barrington, Illinois called Rainbow Records with my friend. I had been to Rainbow once before on Black Friday Record Store Day and thought the store was pretty cool, so I made a mental note to come back again sometime.
Rainbow Records is owned by a fellow record geek named John Thominet, who is the fifth owner of the store that began in the 1970s. While there, I picked up a few used records including Tim Buckley’s first album (which I’ve never owned on vinyl) and a 1970 live double album by The Butterfield Blues Band. I also purchased The Rolling Stones’ “Some Girls Live” (Houston Texas 1978) which is seeing its first release on vinyl, and a reissue of John Fahey’s 1968 album “Requia and other compositions for guitar solo.”

I had been interested in the Fahey album, because I love his solo guitar playing and it also includes an experimental four-part piece called “Requiem For Molly” which takes up most of side two and is not unlike The Beatles’ “Revolution No. 9” with solo guitar interspersed throughout the montage. Today’s Song Of The Day is the album’s lead-off track that pays tribute to Mississippi John Hurt, who had at the time recently passed away. John Fahey on this track: “He was in his quiet way, a very great man, and I deeply mourn our loss of him. So, I wrote this requiem for him, about him, but I play it the way Charley Patton would have played it.”

But I got a lot more than records during my visit to the store…I got a great atmosphere and the feeling of community (similar to that of our weekly vinyl gathering at a local bar), but in a record store setting with people of all ages. There were a couple of teenagers at the store who were buying records that I generally take for granted because I’ve had them for so long. Through their eyes, records like an original pressing of Steely Dan’s “Can’t Buy A Thrill” and The Clash’s “Sandinista” were real finds. I really dug the genuine enthusiasm coming from these young record collectors…they reminded me of…well, me…

With the store’s owner and my buddy John also chiming in on the conversation, we were having a great time together. And with prices that are comparable to what I normally spend on eBay for records, that feeling of community, my friends, is something you can’t possibly get on line.

Song Of the Day – “Mother People” by The Mothers Of Invention

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MothersOfInventionEvery Christmas Eve through Christmas morning I manage a homeless shelter in an area church. It gives the regular workers a night off on their holiest of holidays, and it is something that I find very rewarding. Inevitably every year, I either get home after, or someone comes up to me during the 15 hour shift to tell me of some celebrity who has passed. So it was that I came home today, not only to the news that we lost the great actors, Jack Klugman and Charles Durning, but we also lost Ray Collins of The Mothers Of Invention.

Collins was the lead vocalist for the Mothers on their first four albums “Freak Out,” “Absolutely Free,” “We’re Only In It For The Money” and “Cruisin’ with Reuben And The Jets.” Today’s song of the day comes from the Mother’s album “We’re Only In It For The Money” (1968) which was a parody of the flower-power movement of the late 1960s. Ray Collins left the Mothers temporarily during the recording sessions for this album, only to rejoin in time for the “Cruisin’“sessions that took place at the same time.

Now, back to the homeless shelter…it was also six years ago, while managing the shelter on Christmas Eve, that I was told the sad news that James Brown had died. Being that a large part of the guest population at the shelter that year was African American, I felt it behooved me to break the news that “The Godfather Of Soul” had perished during the night during the guests’ morning cigarette break, for which I was the chaperone.

What ensued was one of the liveliest and most loving musical conversations I’ve ever been a party to, as we discussed our favorite James Brown songs, moves and performances, from an artist that certainly touched all of our lives. Just goes to show, that no matter what your economic or ethnic background, music is something we all share and have in common! Peace On Earth!

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – "Easy To Slip" by Little Feat

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Song Of The Day – “Easy To Slip” by Little Feat

This Lowell George classic comes from Little Feat’s 1972 album “Sailin’ Shoes.” Lowell had been a session musician playing oboe and baritone sax on several Frank Sinatra recordings. He formed the band after a stint as a member of Frank Zappa’s Mothers Of Invention along with ex-Mother Roy Estrada . This song was covered by Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead on his 1977 album “Heaven Help The Fool.