Genre: rock
Rating: **** (4 stars)
Title: We're Only In It for the Money
Company: Verve
Catalog: V6 5045X
Country/State: Baltimore, Maryland
Year: 1967
Grade (cover/record): VG+ / VG+
Comments: original inner sleeve
Available: 1
GEMM Catalog ID: 5281
Price: $30.00
A couple of years ago I bought a stack of Zappa and Mothers
of Invention LPs at a yard sale. The
person selling them must have owned everything Zappa ever recorded and it
was all on sale for $2.00 a pop. Even
though I wasn’t a major Zappa fan, I’ve always been curious so I ended
up buying quite a bit of stuff though over the ensuing years I’ve only
managed to actually listen to a handful of the LPs.
Zappa can be difficult and starting off with one of his live sets
may not have been the ideal introduction – I’m still scarred.
Anyhow, this was one of the first ones I played.
Self-produced, 1967’s “We’re
Only In It For the Money” showcased Zappa at his most
barbed – this time the target of his wrath being hippies and the entire
flower power movement. It
also underscored Zappa’s then unheard of anti-drug stance.
A mixture of experimental sound collages (‘The Chrome Plated
Megaphone of Destiny’), snippets of interpersonal and phone conversation
interspersed with actual songs, tracks like ‘Who Needs the Peace
Corps’ and ‘Flower Punk’ made it perfectly clear that Zappa saw
hippies as nothing more than lame and completely pathetic posers.
‘Flower Punk’ was particularly funny –
imagine the melody for ‘Hey Joe’ sped up and sung by Alvin and
the Chipmunks after they’d OD’d on amphetamines.
Interesting how in hindsight Zappa’s instincts were right on the
mark. While the summer of
love may have taken the brunt of his wrath, there was plenty of venom left
for police, women, and pretty much the entire spectrum of American
society. Exemplified by
tracks like ‘Concentration Moon’, the pretty ballad ‘Mom and Dad’,
the doo-wopesque ‘What’s the Ugliest Part of Your Body’ and ‘The
Idiot Bastard Son’ subtlety wasn’t exactly Zappa’s strong point, but
then it would have been wasted on an audience that was self absorbed, and
permanently stoned. Elsewhere Verve actually tapped the album for a single in the
form of ‘Mother People’ b/w ‘Lonely Little Girl’ (Verve catalog
number 10570). Easy to see
why the 45 never had a chance at garnering airplay.
Elsewhere deciding to market the album with a cover featuring Zappa
and company posing in dresses made for one of the year’s more disturbing
marketing plans, though the inner sleeve “Sgt Pepper” parody was
absolutely hysterical. Somehow
it worked the album peaking at # 30, providing the band with their biggest
commercial success. .
While the themes may have aged over the years (I can imagine lots
of aging hippies blanching at the thought of hearing this album again),
the album’s a treat to hear with a good pair of headphones.
"We're Only In It For the Money" track listing:
(side
1)
1.) Are You Hung Up
(Frank Zappa) – 1:23
2.) Who Needs the Peace Corps (Frank Zappa) – 2:34
3.) Concentration Moon
(Frank Zappa) – 2:32
4.) Mom and Dad (Frank
Zappa) – 2:16
5.) Bow Tie Daddy
(Frank Zappa) –1:22
6.) Harry You’re a Beast
(Frank Zappa) –1:22
What’s the Ugliest Part of Your Body (Frank Zappa) - 1:00
Absolutely Free (Frank
Zappa) –3:26
Flower Punk
(Frank Zappa) – 3:57
Hot Poop (Frank
Zappa) – 0:16
(side 2)
1.) Nasal Intentive Calliope Music (Frank Zappa) – 2:00
2.) Let’s Make the Water Turn Black (Frank Zappa) – 1:54
3.) The Idiot Bastard Son
(Frank Zappa) – 3:57
4.) Lonely Little Girl
(Frank Zappa) – 1:20
5.) Take Your Clothes Off When You Dance
(Frank Zappa) – 1:33
6.) What’s Ugliest Part of Your Body (reprise)
(Frank Zappa) – 1:03
7.) Mother People
(Frank Zappa) – 2:30
8.) The Chrome Plated Megaphone of Destiny
(Frank Zappa) – 6:30
