Cruising with Ruben & the Jets

Absolutely Free Sandwiched as it is between Freak Out!, Zappa's 1966 debut with the Mothers of Invention, and We're Only in It for the Money, arguably his artistic zenith, Absolutely Free comes in a distant third--but that's only because the competition is so darn fierce. Absolutely Free is a co...	Burnt Weeny Sandwich Japanese limited edition reissue of 1969 album, packaged in a miniature gatefold LP sleeve.	Uncle Meat The soundtrack for a film that remained incomplete for over a decade, Uncle Meat is one of the finest albums produced by Zappa and the original Mothers of Invention. Showcasing every facet of the band, Uncle Meat is filled with quirky Zappa instrumentals like the title track and ...	Lumpy Gravy Imported from Japan by Rykodisc. Packaged in deluxe mini-album jacket sleeves, these 10 classic albums by rock legend FRANK ZAPPA are now available as limited edition Japanese Imports! These packages re-create the original vinyl packaging in miniaturized form!	We're Only in It for the Money The Mothers of Invention answer the sentiments of the suits, the suburb dwellers, and flower children of the 60's with a big fat raspberry. Considered by many to be the Mothers' (and some would say Zappa's) best album, We're Only in it for the Money deals with harsh subject matte...
Chunga's Revenge Japanese limited edition reissue of 1970 album, packaged in a miniature gatefold LP sleeve.	Freak Out! "This is the voice of your conscience, baby..." The recording debut of the Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention is a brilliantly wicked counter-strike to the flower power sensibilities prevalent at the time of it's release in 1966. Arguably rock music's first true "concept al...	Just Another Band from L.A. Japanese exclusive reissue of 1972 album, packaged in a miniature LP sleeve.	Weasels Ripped My Flesh	Waka/Jawaka One of two sets recorded with a mini-big band in the early seventies, Waka/Jawaka is one of the most eclectic releases of Frank Zappa's hyper-eclectic career. The album's dual showpieces, the opening "Big Swifty" and the title track, combine dynamic horn arrangements and free-for...

A masterpiece
Of course, i am talking about the original (vinyl) album. Get it from various places in the internet (type the name of the album and the word 'blogspot' and google it) the original version of this, one of the Mother's best works. I downloaded mine from some one who had a very clean copy and made a great job 'mastering' it. I can't believe that the Zappa family has not rescued this great doo-wop work yet.

A Major Error Of Judgement
During the 80s, Zappa began to reissue his back catalogue on CD. Most suffered some sort of tweaking as Zappa attempted to "improve" on what he'd done in years before. Some albums got through unscathed (Absolutely Free & Burnt Weeny Sandwich) some benefited from well chosen additional material (Hot Rats & Weasels Ripped My Flesh) some suffered from indulgently chosen additional material and crappy remixing/re-editing (Uncle Meat & Freak Out)and a couple were just really sloppily mastered. A quick comparison between portions of "Weasels" and the same material on the beautifully mastered "Ahead Of Their Time" amply demonstrates this point. But the biggest travesty was reserved for "We're Only In It For The Money" and "Cruising With Ruben And The Jets". Both these albums copped new rhythm tracks, recorded using members of his contemporary touring band. It's interesting to note that even the musicians booked to do these sessions thought Zappa was out of his mind. The reason Zappa gave at the time was that the original masters were lost, but as all tracks on the reissued CDs use some components from the original recordings, the original multi track recordings must have been available to Zappa. A remix using all the original performances was - and probably still is - possible. The real reason is likely to be that the ever-litigious Zappa was at war with his old band, The Mothers Of Invention, who wanted to be paid royalties from the reissues. But, whatever the reason, the result was two completely awful sounding albums, completely devoid of the warmth, humour, personality and humanity that enveloped even the most technically difficult Mothers Of Invention albums. This squabble probably resulted in these fine, seminal old albums that had been originally released as Mothers Of Invention albums, being reissued as Frank Zappa albums. Mercifully after a tirade of bad press Zappa eventually "found" a half inch master of "Money", and it was eventually, begrudgingly reissued in all its 1967 glory, the old one being ignominiously withdrawn. "Ruben and the Jets" was not so lucky. Artie Tripp and Jim Black's lovely drum patterns are gone and so is the heart and soul of the album. The last track, "Stuff Up The Cracks" comes the closest to the original recordings but, these days, if I want to hear this lightweight but enjoyable little journey through fifties nostalgia, I dig out my old Verve vinyl. Stephen Renfree

A question
I have not heard his CD but I did own the LP at one time and would rate it 3 stars only because it had a very funny parody of garage band histories (along with a classic picture of Zappa) on the back. It, frankly, was the best part of the LP. However I have this memory of Little Richard's song "Directly from my Heart" being on the LP. Can anyone verify this for me? Is my Alzheimer's taking over?

Beware: This is NOT the Original Recording Remastered
I now own 2 copies of the 1980s didgial remix because this page claims to be the original recording remastered...unfortuneately Roy Estarda's bass and Jummy Carl Black's drums have been replaced with the 1980s sound of Arthur Barrow's Bass and Chad Wackerman's Drums. Ryko please release the actual Original recordings remastered like you did for 'We're Only In It For The Money'

Really close to a masterpiece
Zappa goes back to his roots & writes what I would call a doo wop album,although it is much more than that. Every Zappa fan should own this one. A good first album to start with if you are not a Zappa fan as is 'HOT RATS'. I love the way Zappa sucker-punches everyone with the outro guitar on 'STUFF UP THE CRACKS'. I don't know if the man was genius or not but he left some impressive music behind.