Progarchives, the progressive rock ultimate discography

CUCAMONGA (1962 - 1964)

Frank Zappa

RIO/Avant-Prog


From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website

Frank Zappa Cucamonga (1962 - 1964) album cover
2.05 | 19 ratings | 4 reviews | 5% 5 stars

Write a review

Buy FRANK ZAPPA Music
from Progarchives.com partners
Boxset/Compilation, released in 1998

Songs / Tracks Listing

1. Dear Jeepers (2:30)
2. World's Greatest Sinner (2:29)
3. How's Your Bird? (2:12)
4. Everytime I See You (2:36)
5. Cradle Rock (2:55)
6. Slow Bird (2:11)
7. Blind Man's Buff (1:47)
8. Mr. Clean performed (2:10)
9. Jessie Lee (1:54)
10. Cathy My Angel (2:14)
11. 'Til September (2:28)
12. Heavies (1:48)
13. The Cruncher (2:21)
14. Letter from Jeepers (2:27)
15. Memories Of El Monte (2:43)

Total Time: 37:55

Line-up / Musicians

Features pre-MOTHERS OF INVENTION tracks recorded in the early and mid-'60s, with Frank ZAPPA as producer, writer or instrumentalist.

Releases information

CD Del-Fi 71261

Thanks to for the addition
and to Joren for the last updates
Edit this entry

Buy FRANK ZAPPA Cucamonga (1962 - 1964) Music



FRANK ZAPPA Cucamonga (1962 - 1964) ratings distribution


2.05
(19 ratings)
Essential: a masterpiece of progressive rock music(5%)
5%
Excellent addition to any prog rock music collection(5%)
5%
Good, but non-essential (16%)
16%
Collectors/fans only (47%)
47%
Poor. Only for completionists (26%)
26%

FRANK ZAPPA Cucamonga (1962 - 1964) reviews


Showing all collaborators reviews and last reviews preview | Show all reviews/ratings

Collaborators/Experts Reviews

Review by TCat
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Honorary Collaborator / Retired Admin
2 stars This is simply a collection of recordings that Frank Zappa either performed in or produced. On the songs he performed on, he usually played guitar and provided low bass harmony. The songs are from various groups he had some kind of relationship with way before he produced his debut Mothers of Invention album named "Freak Out!". FZ loved these doo wop and novelty songs and this is the type of music he released with these band that included The Penguins, Baby Ray & the Ferns, Mr. Clean, The Hollywood Persuaders and many others.

This compilation album was released twice, once in 1998 and reissued with additional tracks and a different track order in 2004. I believe both issues are hard to find now. There were other compilations out there that featured the doo wop era and it's hard to find any of them. As FZ started recording his Mothers and his solo albums, he would revisit doo wop and r&b several times and you can hear that influence in many of the "Freak Out!" songs as many of them are in the doo wop style and some of them were revised and released on the "Cruisin' with Ruben and the Jets" album which was performed and released while the original Mothers were together. If you are interested in FZ's doo wop style, that would be the album I would recommend, but if you want a taste of the original doo wop songs released before FZ's rise to fame, then this would be the best collection. Approach it with an open mind as you would any FZ release.

So there some hit and misses here. The collection starts off and end with the worst of the bunch: "Dear Jeepers" and "Letters from Jeepers". These tracks are plain awful and stupid. But there are some excellent doo wop songs here too like "Memories of El Monte", "Everytime I See You", the instrumental surf rock tracks "Tiajanna Surf" and "Grunion Run" and several others. I believe there is overall more good than bad tracks, but the music will only appeal to 2 groups of people: doo wop and novelty music lovers and Frank Zappa collectors/completionists, so for that reason this album gets 2 stars. No prog, no guitar solos, a little comedy, and a lot of 50s-60s style music. Also good for music history buffs.

Latest members reviews

2 stars Here's a compilation made for the real Zappa freaks. If you've read any Zappa biography that goes through those "Cucamonga" years, there are big chances that you'll enjoy listening to this. I, personally, read the book "Zappa" from Barry Miles and a lot of songs from "Cucamonga" are mentioned in ... (read more)

Report this review (#97887) | Posted by drgrowl | Thursday, November 9, 2006 | Review Permanlink

2 stars This stuff doesn't really sound like Zappa. I guess, since he only produced much of it, it's not really Zappa. Most of these tracks would fall into the surf and novelty genres. It's not at all bad. I do enjoy listening to it. And it is interesting in a historical background sort of way. ... (read more)

Report this review (#30296) | Posted by Custodian | Monday, December 27, 2004 | Review Permanlink

2 stars Well what could you expect from this record are musics from the begining of the 60s but with a strange touch, here we have romantic songs, funny songs, beach songs, this record is not bad but maybe interest only for fans or when you come home drunk thinking about a girl... ... (read more)

Report this review (#30295) | Posted by | Friday, July 30, 2004 | Review Permanlink

Post a review of FRANK ZAPPA "Cucamonga (1962 - 1964)"

You must be a forum member to post a review, please register here if you are not.

MEMBERS LOGIN ZONE

As a registered member (register here if not), you can post rating/reviews (& edit later), comments reviews and submit new albums.

You are not logged, please complete authentication before continuing (use forum credentials).

Forum user
Forum password

Copyright Prog Archives, All rights reserved. | Legal Notice | Privacy Policy | Advertise | RSS + syndications

Other sites in the MAC network: JazzMusicArchives.com — jazz music reviews and archives | MetalMusicArchives.com — metal music reviews and archives

Donate monthly and keep PA fast-loading and ad-free forever.