Low ridin' man (Geronimo Black) (LP 2613)

Geronimo Black  Geronimo Black (Vinyl, MCA Records, 1972) ****  

Genre: Rock 

Places I remember: Amoeba Records (Los Angeles)

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Low Ridin' Man

Gear costume: A County Jail '59 C/S  

Active compensatory factors: Bunk Gardner, Jimmy Carl Black (the Indian of the group) and Denny Whalley make up over half of Geronimo Black (actually named after Jimmy's son - Geronimo Black). All were late of The Mothers Of Invention or The Magic Band (in Denny's case - and he would soon be a Mother as well).

This is the band's only album with this line-up in the seventies. Closest they come to being Zappa-esque is Quakers Earthquake (sic), otherwise it's a cool amalgamation of hard rock, prog experimentation, and jazzy stylings. Right up my alley!

It's also OTT and nuts at times (what would you expect with Bunk Gardner and Jimmy Carl Black?) Jimmy handles the vocals and drums with aplomb. 

Not available on Spotify but YouTube has some of the songs.

Where do they all belong? Another true one-off.

Are you hung up? (The Mothers Of Invention) (LP 443 - 444)

The Mothers Of Invention Absolutely Free (Vinyl, Verve, 1967) *****

The Mothers Of Invention We're Only In It For The Money (Vinyl, Verve, 1968) *****

Genre: Alternative rock 

Places I remember: Lewis Eady's Music (Queen St., Auckland) - now long gone.  

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Call Any Vegetable

Gear costume:  Brown Shoes Don't Make It  

Active compensatory factors: Absolutely Free (their second album) was the first Mothers/Zappa album I ever bought - even before Live At The Fillmore. I don't think Lewis Eady's Music knew what the album was as they were selling it extremely cheaply in their throw out bin.

One look at the cover was probably enough for them to think this wasn't something they wanted to have stick around.

I looked at it in the rack and thought - strange, weird, interesting, and when I saw the flipped cover had written on the bottom right hand corner: 'You must buy this album NOW top 40 radio will never ever play it', I knew I was gonna love it!

When I got it home and stuck it on I was in for a shock. This wasn't pop music like I knew it at all!! There was spoken word from what was clearly a cynical/ satirical higher being (Zappa), collage cut ups, fragments of great songs that would be cut off with discordant piss takes (it seemed) and it was all joined together so each side was like one long track.

What the...?

As I played it I absolutely fell in love with its invention (sorry) and singularity.  

I've been a Zappa fan ever since!

We're Only In It For The Money (their third album) came a bit later as I bought it on a record buying trip to Queen St., with Greg Knowles. It is almost part 2 of Absolutely Free with hippies and The Beatles, specifically Sgt Pepper's, being central targets for Zappa this time.

It is further evidence of his genius. Nuff said!

Where do they all belong? What a trip the Zappa collection is. There's nothing like it - hence it all exists in my Alternative rock section.