Frank Zappa: Weasels Ripped My Flesh [ZAPPA/BARKING PUMPKIN]

Why you'll love it

This Zappa Records edition was mastered by Bernie Grundman in 2016 from the original 1970 analog master and pressed in the EU. It's the wild, improvising flip side of Burnt Weeny Sandwich, with the Mothers at full stretch on stage.

This edition

• Mastered by Bernie Grundman
• Cut from the original 1970 analog master
• Pressed in the EU

About the album

When the Mothers of Invention split in late 1969, Frank Zappa did what any sensible archivist with a mountain of tape would do: he made two albums out of it. Burnt Weeny Sandwich got the tidy studio pieces, and Weasels Ripped My Flesh got the loose, frenetic live material, recorded everywhere from the Philadelphia Arena to Festival Hall in London and a concert in Birmingham.

"Eric Dolphy Memorial Barbecue" is a free-jazz tribute to the multi-instrumentalist Zappa admired, all complex melody, howls and laughter. Don (Sugarcane) Harris sings and plays violin on a straight-ahead cover of Little Richard's "Directly From My Heart to You," Lowell George (who went on to form Little Feat with Mothers bassist Roy Estrada) turns up on "Didja Get Any Onya," "My Guitar Wants to Kill Your Mama" is a gloriously tight rocker, and "The Orange County Lumber Truck" sneaks in the Riddler's theme from the Batman TV show.

The title track closes the album with every player on stage making as much noise and feedback as possible for about a minute and a half, and someone in the crowd can be heard yelling for more. We admire the stamina, if not the advice.

Also at Kops: more Frank Zappa on vinyl · browse Rock

Tracklist

Listen

On Zappa Records / Barking Pumpkin (cat# ZR 3843-1), a reissue of the 1970 album.