The Mothers of Invention - We're Only in It for the Money

From the beginning, Frank Zappa cultivated a role as voice of the freaks -- imaginative outsiders who didn't fit comfortably into any group. We're Only in It for the Money is the ultimate expression of that sensibility, a satirical masterpiece that simultaneously skewered the hippies and the straights as prisoners of the same narrow-minded, superficial phoniness. Zappa's barbs were vicious and perceptive, and not just humorously so: his seemingly paranoid vision of authoritarian violence against the counterculture was borne out two years later by the Kent State killings. Like Freak Out, We're Only in It for the Money essentially devotes its first half to satire, and its second half to presenting alternatives. Despite some specific references, the first-half suite is still wickedly funny, since its targets remain immediately recognizable. The second half shows where his sympathies lie, with character sketches of Zappa's real-life freak acquaintances, a carefree utopia in "Take Your Clothes Off When You Dance," and the strident, unironic protest "Mother People." Regardless of how dark the subject matter, there's a pervasively surreal, whimsical flavor to the music, sort of like Sgt. Pepper as a creepy nightmare. Some of the instruments and most of the vocals have been manipulated to produce odd textures and cartoonish voices; most songs are abbreviated, segue into others through edited snippets of music and dialogue, or are broken into fragments by more snippets, consistently interrupting the album's continuity. Compositionally, though, the music reveals itself as exceptionally strong, and Zappa's politics and satirical instinct have rarely been so focused and relevant, making We're Only in It for the Money quite probably his greatest achievement. [Rykodisc's 1987 reissue restored passages censored on the LP, but included re-recorded rhythm tracks and sounded quite different. Their 1995 re-reissue contained both the original music and content edits.] ~ Steve Huey, All Music Guide

Name Credits Billy Mundi Group Member, Vocals, Drums, Wardrobe Bunk Gardner Vocals, Voices, Wind, Woodwind Cal Schenkel Design, Artwork, Design Consultant, Art Direction Dick Barber Vocals, Group Member Dick Kunc Engineer, Remixing, Editing Don Preston ?, Bass, Keyboards Edgard Varèse Author Eric Clapton Speech/Speaker/Speaking Part, Spoken Word Euclid James Sherwood Sax (Baritone), Voices, Group Member, Sax (Soprano) Frank Zappa Editing, Arranger, Execution, Vocals, Keyboards, Group Member, Concept, Producer, Voices, Guitar, Piano Gary Kellgren Whisper, Engineer Herb Cohen Package Concept Ian Underwood Piano, Woodwind, Group Member, Wind, Keyboards, Voices Jerrold Schatzber Photography Jerry Schatzberg Photography Jimmy Carl Black Percussion, ?, Trumpet, Vocals, Drums, Group Member Motorhead Sherwood Sax (Baritone), Sax (Soprano) Pamela Zarubica Vocals Roy Estrada Voices, Bass (Electric), Vocals, Bass, Group Member Shawn R. Britton Mastering Spider ? Suzy Creamcheese Telephone Voice, Group Member The Mothers of Invention Performer Tiger Morse Fashion Advisor, Fashion Stylist Tom Wilson Executive Producer Tony Monaco Booklet, Recreation, Graphic Design