At this point in time the Mothers was no longer a specific band. It just happened to be whomever was playing or touring with Frank Zappa. On this particular album Frank takes the lead vocals himself. This is not my favorite Frank Zappa album but it is not a bad album. Released in 1973, this album includes much humor having to do with sex (Dinah-Moe Humm, Camarillo Brillo), the media (I'm The Slime), and dental floss (Montana). But on this album Frank happened to have an all star cast of musicians including Tina Turner and The Ikettes on backing vocals. If you like Apostrophe then you would probably enjoy this album. I happen to enjoy Apostrophe more but that's just me.
1. Camarillo Brillo - This is one of the best cuts on the album. It has some good lead guitar work that seems to stand out the most. The verse is very mellow and has some backing horns which goes excellent with the mood of the song. The chorus is probably the only part of the song I dislike. It just seems to not fit the rest of the song but still works well. This is one of my favorite 70s Zappa songs.
Rating: 5/5
2. I'm The Slime - The guitar intro to this song is so gritty that it fits the song perfect. The verse is very dark and has Frank singing about television corrupting minds. The Chorus is great which features Tina Turner and the Ikettes. The ending guitar solo is great, it has a wah effect on it.
Rating: 4/5
3. Dirty Love - This is a fairly decent song, but not one of my favorites on the album. It has a good guitar solo and a pretty good rhythm but seems like it is lacking something. The final chorus "The Poodle Bites, The Poodle Chews It" just seems stupid to me.
Rating: 2.5/5
4. Fifty-Fifty - This is a very strange song that finds someone else in Frank's band, I believe Sal Marquez, singing the lead part. The vocals get annoying at the end of the chorus. The Interlude is really what makes the song. There are some great solos by the synthesizer, the violin, and the guitar. If I were Frank I would have just made this song all instrumental.
Rating: 3.5/5
5. Zombie Woof - A pretty exciting intro leads into a dark guitar riff under Frank's deep voice. The band as a whole is just excellent in this song. This is just a very strange and outlandish song as a whole. The guitar solo as always is creative and ingenius. The song is fairly humorous but the album gets funnier on the last two songs.
Rating: 3/5
6. Dinah-Moe Humm - This song is about a man betting a girl $40 that he could make her come. The chorus just fits perfect with Tina Turner and the Ikettes singing "I got a spot that gets me hot, and you ain't been to it". The lyrics in this song are priceless, "So I pulled on her hair, got her legs in the air, and asked her if she had any cooties in there". In the interlude Frank mentions his famous "Zircon encrusted Tweezers". The last line of the song leaves the final message that maybe he did make her come. "I think I heard some Dinah-Moe Humm".
Rating: 4/5
7. Montana - This is a Frank Zappa classic about moving to Montana to become a dental floss tycoon. The intro is very fast paced and moves into a drum fill and then slows the tempo down as Frank tells how he plans to raise his dental floss. The guitar solo after the chorus is one of my favorite Frank Zappa guitar solos (Besides
Muffin Man). Even if you don't love the album you would probably enjoy this song, the songwriting is just priceless. I wish I could write songs as creative as Frank.
Rating: 5/5
Well, this may not be Frank's finest hour but it is worth checking out. This is my 2nd Favorite Zappa album from the 70s, my first being Live at the Fillmore 1971. The album as a whole is not as strong as the few good songs on the album in my opinion so you would probably be better off downloading a few of the songs on the album instead. Still, not a bad album.
