Mothers Of Invention IN IT FOR THE MONEY classic rock mono LP (Verve VLP9199) EX

	£		39
	$		51

Description

This is the rare original UK mono pressing -- with famous gatefold sleeve -- of the Mothers Of Invention's classic rock/psych/jazz/freak album, discovered in Excellent++ condition having only ever been played once. My dad clearly didn't like that kind of thing!

Notes on condition: Disc is flawless. Outer sleeve is almost flawless except for slight shelf wear and one small, round record shop sticker inside the gatefold. Inner sleeve is almost flawless except for one crease, visible in pics. Overall condition is EX or better. Record Collector's Rare Record Guide 2012 values this disc at £55.

Notes on recording:  (Copyright AllMusic.com)  From the beginning, Frank Zappa cultivated a role as voice of the freaks -- imaginative outsiders who didn't fit comfortably into any group. We're Only in It for the Money is the ultimate expression of that sensibility, a satirical masterpiece that simultaneously skewered the hippies and the straights as prisoners of the same narrow-minded, superficial phoniness. Zappa's barbs were vicious and perceptive, and not just humorously so: his seemingly paranoid vision of authoritarian violence against the counterculture was borne out two years later by the Kent State killings. Like Freak Out, We're Only in It for the Money essentially devotes its first half to satire, and its second half to presenting alternatives. Despite some specific references, the first-half suite is still wickedly funny, since its targets remain immediately recognizable. The second half shows where his sympathies lie, with character sketches ofZappa's real-life freak acquaintances, a carefree utopia in "Take Your Clothes Off When You Dance," and the strident, unironic protest "Mother People." Regardless of how dark the subject matter, there's a pervasively surreal, whimsical flavor to the music, sort of like Sgt. Pepper as a creepy nightmare. Some of the instruments and most of the vocals have been manipulated to produce odd textures and cartoonish voices; most songs are abbreviated, segue into others through edited snippets of music and dialogue, or are broken into fragments by more snippets, consistently interrupting the album's continuity. Compositionally, though, the music reveals itself as exceptionally strong, and Zappa's politics and satirical instinct have rarely been so focused and relevant, making We're Only in It for the Money quite probably his greatest achievement. [Rykodisc's 1987 reissue restored passages censored on the LP, but included re-recorded rhythm tracks and sounded quite different. Their 1995 re-reissue contained both the original music and content edits.]

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