Difference between revisions of "Cruising With Ruben & The Jets"

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==Background Information==  
 
==Background Information==  
  
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The fictitious bio about Ruben Sano next to Frank’s high-school photo on the back cover ends with the fan-club-spoofing fact that the singer “has 3 dogs. Benny, Baby & Martha.” If we return to the back cover of Absolutely Free, we find a wall of graffiti that reads "Benny, Joe, Ruben, Mar[tha], Steve" under an advertisement for Fydo dog collars.
 
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The poodle, a frequent Zappa symbol of the unnatural, repressive shaping of a media-influenced person, appears as Fido the talking dog in "[[Stink-Foot]]" on [[Apostrophe (')]], Fido the sex-starved monster in "[[Cheepnis]]" on [[Roxy & Elsewhere]] and [[Evelyn]] the modified (clipped and sculpted) dog listening to the [[Lumpy Gravy]] piano-dwellers on [[One Size Fits All]]. On the front cover of the latter, God’s hand is tattooed with the Pachuco cross (the Californian Spanish gangster emblem from Frank’s teenage memories), which is also found in the [[Absolutely Free]] graffiti. The "God/dog" blasphemy comes into play, implying in this context that religion’s just another media tool that collars the unwary, when God’s hand is seen in the [[One Size Fits All]] picture and when one considers the title "[[Dog Breath|Dog Breath, in the Year of the Plague]]" from [[Uncle Meat]]; plagues were among the historical events in Christian history, and the character in the song sings like a Pachuco ("mi carrucha," etc.). God’s sofa is seen on the [[One Size Fits All]] cover as well; the Hebrew term En Sof means "the Boundless One."
 
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A small word balloon on Ruben’s front cover, far off to the left, has one of the musicians (whose noses are extended like dogs’ in order to fit their enlarged brains, as the [[Uncle Meat]] booklet explains) going "quackquack," spoofing people who try to be cool at the expense of being themselves (acting like a duck rather than a dog). In this case, the quacking singer’s trying to sound black; it’s Frank’s self-effacing joke about being a white person who tries to sing the blues. Duck bills resemble black people’s lips, as the [[Thing-Fish]] album points out via its sarcasm-based mockery of those who stereotype. In the army to the left on [[The Grand Wazoo]] cover, we see not a singing dog breaking character, but a quacking horse riding into battle (horses have big lips). A similar horse is seen on the back wall in the [[Ahead Of Their Time]] drawing, also quacking. On the floor is a book called Uncle Duck, under the only non-dog character in the drawing: a bird. The French word oiseau (say "wazoo") means "bird."
 
  
 
The songs on [[Cruising With Ruben & The Jets]] are "...more than recreations, they're careful conglomerates of archetypical clichés."  - Frank Zappa interview for International Times (issue 63), 1969
 
The songs on [[Cruising With Ruben & The Jets]] are "...more than recreations, they're careful conglomerates of archetypical clichés."  - Frank Zappa interview for International Times (issue 63), 1969

Revision as of 05:32, 18 April 2006

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Cruising With Ruben & The Jets
Released in November
or December 1968.

Players

1984 Remix:

Tracks

  1. Cheap Thrills (02:39)
  2. Love Of My Life (03:08)
  3. How Could I Be Such A Fool (03:34)
  4. Deseri (02:09)
  5. I'm Not Satisfied (04:08)
  6. Jelly Roll Gum Drop (02:24)
  7. Anything (03:06)
  8. Later That Night (03:00)
  9. You Didn't Try To Call Me (03:58)
  10. Fountain Of Love (03:23)
  11. "No. No. No." (02:16)
  12. Anyway The Wind Blows (03:02)
  13. Stuff Up The Cracks (04:38)

Release Notes

Released November or December1 1968.
Recorded: Apostolic Studios, NYC, December, 1967-February, 1968.
Produced by Frank Zappa.
Engineered by Dick Kunc.
Cover by Cal Schenkel.

Liner Notes

Background Information

The songs on Cruising With Ruben & The Jets are "...more than recreations, they're careful conglomerates of archetypical clichés." - Frank Zappa interview for International Times (issue 63), 1969

Conceptual Continuity

Versions

ZFT # Version # # discs Format Catalog # Release
(YYYY-MM-DD) 		Barcode
(EAN-13) 		Artwork Comment
5 1.1
Original
Stereo 		? LP MGM Verve
V6 5055-X 		1968-11 or1 1968-12-02 None   US edition.
1.2
Original
Mono 		? LP          
Unknown 1 LP Barking Pumpkin
BPR 7777-5 		1985-04-19     Included in The Old Masters, Box I set.
2
Important remix 		1 CD Rykodisc
RCD 10063 		1987-10 0014431006326   US edition.
1 CD VideoArts
VACK 5024 		1994-10-26 4988112405271   Japanese edition.
1 CD Rykodisc
RCD 10505 		1995-05-16 0014431050527   US edition. Matrix # DISCTRONICS RCD 10505 01 IFPI L501 IFPI 8724
1 CD VideoArts
VACK 5118 		1995-10-25 4988112407787   Japanese edition.
1 CD VideoArts
VACK 5253 		1996-06-01 4988112408531   Japanese edition.
1 CD VideoArts
VACK 1207 		2001-09-21 4988112412637   Japanese edition, mini-album papersleeve.

Notes

  1. Depending on the source, released November 1968 (zappa.com - The Official Frank Zappa Website, Zappa Patio and Michael Gray) or December 2 1968 (IINK).
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