Ahead of Their Time
Ahead of Their Time is a live album by The Mothers of Invention. It was recorded at the Royal Festival Hall, London, England, on October 25, 1968, and released in 1993 on CD by Barking Pumpkin. It was subsequently reissued on Rykodisc in 1995.
| Ahead of Their Time | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Live album by | ||||
| Released | March 23, 1993 | |||
| Recorded | October 25, 1968 | |||
| Genre | Jazz fusion, progressive rock, art rock, experimental rock | |||
| Length | 67:39 | |||
| Label | Barking Pumpkin | |||
| Producer | Frank Zappa | |||
| Frank Zappa chronology | ||||
| ||||
| The Mothers of Invention chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   [1] |
Performances
The first part of the set is a one-off performance of a musical play retrospectively entitled Progress?, and featuring members of the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Portions of this performance originally found their way on to the Mystery Disc (1998) contained on the second 1986 box of The Old Masters and the Honker Home Video release of Uncle Meat (1969). Much of the humor and storyline of the play is lost to the casual listener due to primitive recording techniques and the visual nature of some of the performance, necessitating extensive liner notes by Zappa.
According to Zappa's liner notes, the remainder of the set is "A fair – not outstanding – 1968 Mothers of Invention rock concert performance". Different edits of snatches from the second part of the performance ("The Orange County Lumber Truck" and "Prelude to the Afternoon of a Sexually Aroused Gas Mask") were originally released on Weasels Ripped My Flesh (1970). "Holiday in Berlin" also appears on Burnt Weeny Sandwich (1970).
Track listing
All tracks written, composed and arranged by Frank Zappa.
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Prologue" | 3:07 |
| 2. | "Progress?" | 4:44 |
| 3. | "Like It or Not" | 2:21 |
| 4. | "The Jimmy Carl Black Philosophy Lesson" | 2:01 |
| 5. | "Holding The Group Back" | 2:00 |
| 6. | "Holiday in Berlin" | 0:56 |
| 7. | "The Rejected Mexican Pope Leaves the Stage" | 2:55 |
| 8. | "Undaunted, the Band Plays On" | 4:34 |
| 9. | "Agency Man" | 3:17 |
| 10. | "Epilogue" | 1:52 |
| No. | Title | Original album | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11. | "King Kong" | Uncle Meat | 8:13 |
| 12. | "Help, I'm a Rock" | Freak Out! | 1:38 |
| 13. | "Transylvania Boogie" | Chunga's Revenge | 3:07 |
| 14. | "Pound for a Brown" | Uncle Meat | 6:50 |
| 15. | "Sleeping in a Jar" | Uncle Meat | 2:24 |
| 16. | "Let's Make the Water Turn Black" | We're Only in It for the Money | 1:51 |
| 17. | "Harry, You're a Beast" | We're Only in It for the Money | 0:53 |
| 18. | "The Orange County Lumber Truck (Part I)" | Weasels Ripped My Flesh | 0:46 |
| 19. | "Oh No" | Lumpy Gravy | 3:22 |
| 20. | "The Orange County Lumber Truck (Part II)" | Weasels Ripped My Flesh | 10:36 |
Personnel
- Frank Zappa – guitar, vocals
- Ian Underwood – alto saxophone, piano
- Bunk Gardner – tenor saxophone, clarinet
- Euclid James "Motorhead" Sherwood – baritone saxophone, tambourine
- Don Preston – electric piano, odd noises (homemade oscillation boxes)
- Roy Estrada – bass guitar, vocals
- Jimmy Carl Black – drums, vocals
- Arthur Dyer Tripp III – drums, percussion
- Members of the BBC Symphony Orchestra