Frank Zappa & The Mothers Of Invention Cruising With Ruben & The Jets CD

Full performer name: Frank Zappa & The Mothers Of Invention.
Personnel: Frank Zappa (vocals, guitar); Roy Estrada (vocals, bass); Ray Collins (vocals); Motorhead Sherwood (baritone saxophone, tambourine); Bunk Gardner (alto & tenor saxophones); Ian Underwood (alto & tenor saxophones, piano); Don Preston (piano); Jimmy Carl Black, Arthur Dyer Tripp III (drums).
Recorded at Apostolic Studios, New York, New York.
Personnel: Frank Zappa (vocals, guitar, keyboards, sound effects); Jim Sherwood (vocals, guitar, wind); Ray Collins (vocals, guitar); Roy Estrada (vocals, electric bass, sound effects); Ian Underwood (guitar, alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, piano, keyboards, wind); Jimmy Carl Black (guitar, drums, percussion); Art Tripp (guitar); Brian Gardner , Bunk Gardner (alto saxophone, tenor saxophone); Motorhead Sherwood (baritone saxophone, tambourine); Don Preston (piano, keyboards).
Recording information: Apostolic Studios, New York, NY.
Unknown Contributor Roles: Ferenc Dobronyi; Art Tripp; Jimmy Carl Black.
Frank Zappa loved '50s doo wop music. He grew up with it, collected it, and it was the first kind of pop music he wrote (like "Memories of El Monte," recorded by the Penguins in 1962). Cruising With Ruben & the Jets, the Mothers of Invention's fourth LP, is a collection of such music, all Zappa originals (some co-written with MOI singer Ray Collins). To the unexperienced, songs like "Cheap Thrills," "Deseri," and "Jelly Roll Gum Drop" can sound like an average doo wop song. A closer look reveals unusual chord sequences, Stravinsky quotes, and hilariously moronic lyrics -- all that wrapped in four-way harmony vocals and linear piano triplets. A handful of songs from the group's 1966 debut, Freak Out, were rearranged ("How Could I Be Such a Fool" and "Anyway the Wind Blows" give the weirdest results), old material predating the Mothers was recycled ("Fountain of Love"), "Love of My Life," and "You Didn't Try to Call Me" became live staples. [For the album's first CD reissue in 1985, Zappa had bassist Scott Thunes and drummer Chad Wackerman re-recording rhythm tracks for all but one song. Since then, all reissues have followed the 1985 mix, leaving "Stuff up the Cracks" the only surviving example of what Cruising With Ruben & the Jets really sounded like. Unless listeners are particularly fond of Doo Wop music, this album is definitely not the best place to start in Zappa's catalog.] ~ François Couture
Having blown the music world's mind with the Mothers, Frank Zappa made a left turn to indulge his childhood love of doo-wop. Recording with the rest of the Mothers, he created CRUISING WITH RUBEN & THE JETS, an album of "greasy love songs and cretin simplicity." It is also an album of authentically performed doo-wop songs that might have even been hits had they been recorded a decade earlier. From the falsetto voice singing of unrequited love, street-corner background harmonies and "Earth Angel"- styled narratives in "Love Of My Life " and "Deseri" to the questionable production values, Zappa accurately recreated the doo-wop sound. In the process, he proved that there was more to his talent than a crude sense of humor.Q (8/95, pp.150-151) - 3 Stars - Good - "...this indulges solely the Mothers' affection for doo-wop, re-casting some FREAK OUT! songs in that style alongside originals which intermittently transcend the nostalgia..."