Ahead of Their Time

Ahead of Their Time
Live album by The Mothers of Invention
Released March 23, 1993
Recorded October 25, 1968
Genre Jazz fusion, progressive rock, art rock, experimental rock
Length 67:39
Label Barking Pumpkin
Producer Frank Zappa
Frank Zappa chronology

Playground Psychotics
(1992)		 Ahead of Their Time
(1993)		 The Yellow Shark
(1993)
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic [1]

Ahead of Their Time is a live album by The Mothers of Invention. It was recorded at the Royal Festival Hall, London, England, on October 25, 1968 and released in 1993 on CD by Barking Pumpkin. It was subsequently reissued on Rykodisc in 1995.

Performances

The first part of the set is a one-off performance of a musical play retrospectively entitled Progress?, and featuring members of the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Portions of this performance originally found their way on to the Mystery Disc contained on the second box of "The Old Masters" and the Honker Home Video release of Uncle Meat. Much of the humor and storyline of the play is lost to the casual listener due to primitive recording techniques and the visual nature of some of the performance, necessitating extensive liner notes by Zappa.

The remainder of the set is "A fair – not outstanding – 1968 Mothers of Invention rock concert performance" (Frank Zappa – Ahead of Their Time liner notes). Different edits of snatches from the second part of the performance ("The Orange County Lumber Truck" and "Prelude To The Afternoon of a Sexually Aroused Gas Mask") were originally released on "Weasels Ripped My Flesh". "Holiday In Berlin" is also known from "Burnt Weeny Sandwich".

Track listing

All tracks written, composed and arranged by Frank Zappa.

"Progress?"
No. Title Length
1. "Prologue"   3:07
2. "Progress?"   4:44
3. "Like It or Not"   2:21
4. "The Jimmy Carl Black Philosophy Lesson"   2:01
5. "Holding The Group Back"   2:00
6. "Holiday in Berlin"   0:56
7. "The Rejected Mexican Pope Leaves the Stage"   2:55
8. "Undaunted, the Band Plays On"   4:34
9. "Agency Man"   3:17
10. "Epilogue"   1:52
1968 performance
No. Title Length
11. "King Kong"   8:13
12. "Help, I'm a Rock"   1:38
13. "Transylvania Boogie"   3:07
14. "Pound for a Brown"   6:50
15. "Sleeping in a Jar"   2:24
16. "Let's Make the Water Turn Black"   1:51
17. "Harry, You're a Beast"   0:53
18. "The Orange County Lumber Truck (Part I)"   0:46
19. "Oh No"   3:22
20. "The Orange County Lumber Truck (Part II)"   10:36

Personnel

References

  1. ↑ Allmusic review

External links