The Mothers of Invention
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Biography
(1966 – 1969)
Throughout, their output was primarily directed by composer and guitarist, Frank Zappa (1940–1993. Their albums combined a broad span of genres, and utilised diverse instrumentation. Their lyrics were generally humorous, with frequent style-parodies of contemporary pop music (with doo-wop love ballads endlessly lampooned), bountiful surreal imagery, cartoonish vocals and oblique, satirical protest songs. Their diversity and insincerity makes their classification difficult, but Zappa’s increasingly ambitious and avant-garde compositions towards the end of the 1960s share many features of free jazz and 20th century classical music.
Zappa disbanded the original Mothers of Invention line-up in 1970 to create music under his own name, but shortly reformed an entirely new band sometimes known as ‘The Mothers’.
The new incarnation had a strong vaudeville style and were much bawdier than before, with new vocalists Flo & Eddie, previously of the Turtles, taking the lead. After Zappa was pushed offstage in the Rainbow Theatre in 1971, he broke up this second band and concentrated on a jazzier style with a short-lived big band called the Grand Wazoo, but returned with a third lineup of the Mothers in 1973. This reformed group retained musical similarities to the previous group and the chamber music of the late 60s Mothers, but with a tighter, funkier sound; George Duke’s soulful vocals being perhaps the most memorable addition.
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jazzthieve
Spotify playlist: Rock University: 60 years of Rock Music
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robotgiraffe
motherly love
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mquestionable
HAPPY MOTHERS DAY
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PlzDontBan
I'd say that tagging the Mothers wrong isn't as absurd as tagging Hendrix wrong, though.
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PlzDontBan
IF you just tag things properly then it isn't a huge deal.
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sunheadbowed
BigA2, it had little to do with convenience and everything to do with Frank Zappa being a far more famous name than the Mothers of Invention (not to mention that the Zappa estate owns all the music), but your naivety is sweet.
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MoreBRAAAINS
Roxy & Elsewhere is underrated
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Bryanakd1994
Zappa was clearly trolling Last.fm. [2]
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TeenageRiot-
I'm sure most of the people going on about wrong tags are doing so out of either snobbery or the fact that they want more artists in their library. Whatever the reason it's pretty fucking puerile, and I don't see why I should have to scrobble albums from different periods of Zappa's career under several different artists, when like you said it's far more convenient to just have them as Zappa. However, feel free to continue your unrelenting pedantry, as I doubt it bothers me or anyone else for that matter, half as much as it seems to bother most of the people in this shoutbox.
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TheMonadology
Why isn't there just a page called "Frank Zappa & the Mothers of Invention"? That is the artist tag on all of their CDs.
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BigA2
Oh and R.I.P. Ray Collins. The man who introduced the world to Frank Zappa.
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BigA2
@sunheadbowed: Yes but only for the sake of convenience. All the 1966-1070 Mothers of Invention albums are now “Frank Zappa & The Mothers of Invention”. I think Over-Nite Sensation is the only one that’s been inexplicably re-credited to “Frank Zappa” on CD (originally it was “Zappa/Mothers”).
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summertimeblues
Ray Collins, original Duke of Prunes, R.I.P.
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KeithJones
RIP vocalist Ray Collins
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iamholgerczukay
Zappa was clearly trolling Last.fm.
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varovec
Well, Zappa/Mothers albums are credited in various ways. For example: Frank Zappa and The Mothers Of Invention, The Mothers Of Invention, Zappa/Mothers, The Mothers, etc. After 1976, Zappa stopped using The Mothers name for his band. Anyway, it's all Frank Zappa music, where Zappa plays with different bands. The only solo Zappa music is his synclavier music.
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Argamocrypt
Although yeah, that would certainly explain why they usually get scrobbled as Frank Zappa.
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Argamocrypt
As Frank Zappa/Mothers of Invention, actually. Regardless, they are albums by The Mothers of Invention.
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sunheadbowed
"Because the albums are credited to The Mothers of Invention and should be tagged as such!" I think you will find that most of the albums have been reissued on CD as Frank Zappa ones.
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Lowbacca
The same thing goes for the Patti Smith Group, which actually has a redirect to Patti Smith, which is completely ridiculous. [2]
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