Just three years into their recording career, the Mothers of Invention released their second double album, Uncle Meat, which began life as the largely instrumental soundtrack to an unfinished film. It's essentially a transitional work, but it's a fascinating one, showcasing Frank Zappa's ever-increasing compositional dexterity and the Mothers' emerging instrumental prowess. It was potentially easy to overlook Zappa's melodic gifts on albums past, but on Uncle Meat, he thrusts them firmly into the spotlight; what few lyrics there are, Zappa says in the liner notes, are in-jokes relevant only to the band. Thus, Uncle Meat became the point at which Zappa began to establish himself as a composer and he would return to many of these pieces repeatedly over the course of his career. Taken as a whole, Uncle Meat comes off as a hodgepodge, with centerpieces scattered between variations on previous pieces, short concert excerpts, less-realized experiments, doo wop tunes, and comedy bits; the programming often feels as random as the abrupt transitions and tape experiments held over from Zappa's last few projects. But despite the absence of a conceptual framework, the unfocused sprawl of Uncle Meat is actually a big part of its appeal. It's exciting to hear one of the most creatively fertile minds in rock pushing restlessly into new territory, even if he isn't always quite sure where he's going. However, several tracks hint at the jazz-rock fusion soon to come, especially the extended album closer "King Kong"; it's his first unequivocal success in that area, with its odd time signature helping turn it into a rhythmically kinetic blowing vehicle. Though some might miss the gleeful satire of Zappa's previous work with the Mothers, Uncle Meat's continued abundance of musical ideas places it among his most intriguing works.
foobar2000 1.4.3 / Dynamic Range Meter 1.1.1
log date: 2020-12-03 21:21:59
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Analyzed: The Mothers Of Invention / Uncle Meat
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DR Peak RMS Duration Track
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DR11 -6.30 dB -20.39 dB 1:58 01-Uncle Meat: Main Title Theme
DR17 -7.33 dB -28.12 dB 0:27 02-The Voice Of Cheese
DR12 -3.97 dB -18.41 dB 6:03 03-Nine Types Of Industrial Pollution
DR14 -3.24 dB -21.39 dB 0:55 04-Zolar Czakl
DR13 -0.70 dB -18.12 dB 3:59 05-Dog Breath, In The Year Of The Plague
DR12 -4.76 dB -20.01 dB 3:28 06-The Legend Of The Golden Arches
DR9 -4.47 dB -19.16 dB 2:19 07-Louie Louie (At The Royal Albert Hall In London)
DR11 -4.52 dB -19.17 dB 1:51 08-The Dog Breath Variations
DR12 -1.15 dB -15.06 dB 0:51 09-Sleeping In A Jar
DR12 -2.70 dB -20.70 dB 1:05 10-Our Bizarre Relationship
DR12 -1.29 dB -17.30 dB 4:46 11-The Uncle Meat Variations
DR12 -0.70 dB -15.48 dB 1:46 12-Electric Aunt Jemima
DR9 -3.31 dB -14.88 dB 3:39 13-Prelude To King Kong
DR14 -0.86 dB -19.93 dB 1:11 14-God Bless America (Live At The Whisky A Go Go)
DR11 -3.76 dB -17.59 dB 1:29 15-A Pound For A Brown On The Bus
DR9 -3.96 dB -17.07 dB 5:11 16-Ian Underwood Whips It Out (Live On Stage In Copenhagen)
DR13 -0.70 dB -15.83 dB 3:14 17-Mr. Green Genes
DR10 -5.24 dB -21.14 dB 2:03 18-We Can Shoot You
DR10 -6.62 dB -21.19 dB 1:14 19-"If We'd All Been Living In California..."
DR13 -2.74 dB -18.46 dB 2:57 20-The Air
DR12 -3.74 dB -19.66 dB 4:49 21-Project X
DR13 -1.22 dB -16.97 dB 2:21 22-Cruising For Burgers
DR10 -2.03 dB -14.21 dB 0:51 23-King Kong Itself
DR11 -2.46 dB -15.88 dB 1:20 24-King Kong II
DR12 -0.70 dB -15.64 dB 1:48 25-King Kong III
DR13 -0.81 dB -15.75 dB 6:14 26-King Kong IV
DR11 -1.90 dB -17.05 dB 0:35 27-King Kong V
DR12 -0.78 dB -15.40 dB 7:25 28-King Kong VI
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