FRANK ZAPPA — Lumpy Gravy (review)

FRANK ZAPPA — Lumpy Gravy album cover Album · 1968 · Jazz Related Rock Buy this album from MMA partners
4.5/5 ·
FunkFreak75
I only discovered this amazing album upon embarking upon my recent historical research into the advent of the "prog epic" (long-playing multi-part songs or "suite" as well as extended jams and side-long songs). I absolutely love the music here: so much fusion and experimentation within so many musical genres, including jazz, big band jazz, cinematic scoring, classical, Latin, avant-garde, and, of course, rock and pop. As everyone knows, the music is presented within the flow of a kind of burlesque of the mundane life of the Everyman. At first I thought that the album-long radioplay was intended to serve as the interludes for the music, but now I'm almost convinced that the music serves more as the cinematic interludes within the burlesque. My reason for this conversion is due to the extraordinary amount of editing and overdubbing and sound effects applied to the spoken word passages. I mean, yes, the music is intricate and complex--and often stunningly beautiful--but the radioplay is even more so. Plus, the amount of time dedicated to the wacky dialogue scenes (or skits--which HAD to have inspired/motivated future comic legends, Cheech and Chong) eventually exceeds that given to the music! Because of my reverence for all things Cheech and Chong, the excellent (and highly inventive) engineering and production here, as well as for the often-jaw- dropping, envelope-pushing music, I am fully persuaded to give this album full marks. People! This was early 1967 (though the record company delayed the official release date to May of 1968)! The progressive progression to the phenomenon we like to call progressive rock music doesn't get more progressive than this!

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