Released: 1971
Tracks: Little House I Used to Live In; The Mud Shark; What Kind of Girl Do You Think We Are?; Bwana Dik; Latex Solar Beef; Willie the Pimp Part I; Do You Like My New Car?; Happy Together; Lonesome Electric Turkey; Peaches En Regalia; Tears Began to Fall
Best track: Bwana Dik > Latex Solar Beef > Willie The Pimp
Track to skip: Mud Shark does get old after hearing for the 1,000th time, but it’s still OK
If you think that humor does not have any place in music then don’t bother with this. However, if you think there is a time and place for laughter in music then you just might like this one. Actually, you’d be more likely to enjoy this if you’re a fan of South Park. Not that they really have anything to do with each other, but if you’re not offened by South Park and actually find it funny, then you won’t be offended by this.
I absolutely love this album. It’s one of my top 5 favorite Zappa albums and it still cracks me up after all these years of listening to it. It’s just hysterically funny. Bwana Dik and Latex Solar Beef are indescribable; they are brilliant. Of course no Zappa album would be complete without super fantastic musicianship, and this has it all over. Flo and Eddie (Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan, the former singers for The Turtles) are GREAT singers and are two of the funniest guys to front a rock band. I don’t find them the least bit annoying (like many Zappa Snobs do). The rest of the band is just on fire, esp. Frank’s solo in Willie the Pimp and Aynsley Dunbar’s drum work in Little House.
The 2 sides of the album are really suites. The whole thing (lyrically) has to do with groupies and the lengths rock musicians will go to ‘score’. …New Car (aka The Groupie Routine) is very foul and VERY hilarious. And then to push it even further, the band then launches into a great version of the Turtles’ classic Happy Together. It helps that 3 of the band were former Turtles. For the ‘encore’ of the show we get a small improv bit from a King Kong, a fantastic vocal version of Peaches and a great doo-wop-y song in Tears Began to Fall. The album is just fantastic and it gives me a huge smile every time I play it.
Rating: 95
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