I want to stress that I have had some friends who were uanbashed Zappa dorks. Like, people who would claim his version of “Ring of Fire” was better than the Johnny Cash version. Or who would sit around watching Zappa dick around on stage in 1983 with a bunch of drums and chimes. I am not one of those.
However, We’re Only in It for the Money is a pretty amazing album, and this is a pretty amazing outtake. You gotta love this era of Zappa. Everything he touched turned out pretty good in those days, from the Monkees and Alice Cooper to the GTO’s and Cynthia Plaster Caster, and I love this chipmunk-ey version of “Let’s Make the Water Turn Black.”
UPDATE: Just heard word from Dominic Priore (of Riot On Sunset Strip fame) that his buddy Joey Altruda and he put together a great podcast of early Zappa stuff, much of it before the Mothers of Invention. I’m going to listen to it tonight as soon as I get home!