The Mothers Of Invention – Crusing With Ruben & The Jets
(Verve Records 1968 V65055X)
Original US Pressing
Gatefold Sleeve in Very Good+ condition
– ringwear and rubbing on outside & 3 inch split on top edge from opening – original Hype sticker top right corner
Vinyl in Nr MINT condition
(there are some light surface marks visible on the vinyl when held up to the light but they don’t affect the sound quality)
The Mothers of Invention was an American rock band from California. Formed in 1964, their work is marked by the use of sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows.
Originally an R&B band called the Soul Giants, the band’s first lineup included Ray Collins, David Coronado, Ray Hunt, Roy Estrada and Jimmy Carl Black. Frank Zappa was asked to take over as the guitarist following a fight between Collins and Coronado, the band’s original saxophonist/leader. Zappa insisted that they perform his original material, and on Mother’s Day in 1964, changed their name to the Mothers. Record executives demanded that the name be changed, and so “out of necessity,” Zappa later said, “we became the Mothers of Invention.”
After early struggles, the Mothers earned substantial popular commercial success. The band first became popular playing in California’s underground music scene in the late 1960s. Under Zappa’s helm, it was signed to jazz label Verve Records as part of the label’s diversification plans.[1] Verve released the Mothers of Invention’s début double album Freak Out! in 1966, featuring a lineup including Zappa, Collins, Black, Estrada and Elliot Ingber. Don Preston joined the band soon after.
Under Zappa’s leadership and a changing lineup, the band released a series of critically acclaimed albums, including Absolutely Free, We’re Only in It for the Money and Uncle Meat, before being disbanded by Zappa in 1969. In 1970, he formed a new version of the Mothers that included Ian Underwood, Jeff Simmons, George Duke, Aynsley Dunbar and singers Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan (formerly of the Turtles, but who for contractual reasons were credited in this band as the Phlorescent Leech & Eddie). Later adding another ex-Turtle, bassist Jim Pons, this lineup endured through 1971, when Zappa was injured by an audience member during a concert appearance.
Zappa focused on big-band and orchestral music while recovering from his injuries, and in 1973 formed the Mothers’ final lineup, which included drummer Ralph Humphrey, trumpeter Sal Marquez, keyboardist/vocalist George Duke, trombonist Bruce Fowler, bassist Tom Fowler, percussionist Ruth Underwood and keyboardist/saxophonist Ian Underwood. The final album using the Mothers as a backing band, Bongo Fury (1975), featured guitarist Denny Walley and drummer Terry Bozzio, who continued to play for Zappa on non-Mothers releases.
Cruising with Ruben & the Jets is the fourth studio album by the Mothers of Invention. Released on December 2, 1968, on Bizarre and Verve Records with distribution by MGM Records, it was subsequently remixed by Frank Zappa and reissued independently.
As with the band’s previous three albums, it is a concept album, influenced by 1950s doo wop and rock and roll. The album’s concept deals with a fictitious Chicano doo wop band called Ruben & the Jets, represented by the cover illustration by Cal Schenkel, which depicts the Mothers of Invention as anthropomorphic dogs. It was conceived as part of a project called No Commercial Potential, which produced three other albums: Lumpy Gravy, We’re Only in It for the Money and Uncle Meat.
The album and its singles received some radio success, due to its doo wop sound. The band Ruben and the Jets were named after this album.
Track listing
All tracks are written by Frank Zappa except as noted.
| Side one | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
| 1. | “Cheap Thrills” | 2:23 | |
| 2. | “Love of My Life” | 3:10 | |
| 3. | “How Could I Be Such a Fool” | 3:35 | |
| 4. | “Deseri” | Collins, Paul Buff | 2:07 |
| 5. | “I’m Not Satisfied” | 4:03 | |
| 6. | “Jelly Roll Gum Drop” | 2:20 | |
| 7. | “Anything” | Collins | 3:04 |
| Side two | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
| 8. | “Later That Night” | 3:06 | |
| 9. | “You Didn’t Try to Call Me” | 3:57 | |
| 10. | “Fountain of Love” | Zappa, Collins | 3:01 |
| 11. | “”No. No. No.”” | 2:29 | |
| 12. | “Any Way the Wind Blows” | 2:58 | |
| 13. | “Stuff Up the Cracks” | 4:35 | |
| Total length: | 40:34 | ||
Personnel
- Musicians
- Ray Collins – lead vocals
- Frank Zappa – low grumbles, oo-wah and lead guitar (also drums, piano, bass)
- Roy Estrada – high weazlings, dwaedy-doop & electric bass
- Jimmy Carl Black and/or Arthur Dyer Tripp III – lewd pulsating rhythm
- Ian Underwood or Don Preston – redundant piano triplets
- Motorhead Sherwood – baritone sax & tambourine
- Bunk Gardner and Ian Underwood – tenor and alto saxes
- Production
- Producer: Frank Zappa
- Engineer: Dick Kunc
- Cover Art: Cal Schenkel
- Cover Design: Cal Schenkel
- Artwork: Cal Schenkel
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