Lumpy Gravy (1967 album)

Lumpy Gravy, also known as Lumpy Gravy (Primordial), is the recalled original debut solo album by Frank Zappa. It is an entirely orchestral recording written by Zappa and performed by a group of session players he dubbed the Abnuceals Emuukha Electric Symphony Orchestra. Zappa conducted the orchestra but did not perform on the album. It was commissioned and briefly released, on August 7, 1967, by Capitol Records in the 4-track Stereo-Pak format only and then withdrawn due to a lawsuit from MGM Records. MGM claimed that the album violated Zappa's contract with their subsidiary, Verve Records, and the album was recalled.

In 1968, a second album was released under the Lumpy Gravy title by Verve on May 13, 1968, which consisted of two musique concrète pieces that combined elements from the original orchestral performance with aspects of surf music and spoken word. The original 1967 album was reissued in 2018 under the title Lumpy Gravy (Primordial).

Recording
Following the release of Freak Out!, the debut album of the rock band the Mothers of Invention, Capitol Records A&R representative Nick Venet commissioned an album of orchestral music composed by the Mothers of Invention's leader, Frank Zappa, a self-taught composer. Venet spent $40,000 on the album. Because Zappa's contract with Verve and MGM Records did not allow for him to perform on albums recorded for any other label, he could not play any instrument on the proposed album, and instead served as the conductor of an orchestra consisting of session musicians hired for the recording. Zappa stated, "my contract [with MGM] did not preclude me from doing that. I wasn't signed as a conductor."

Lumpy Gravy was conceived as a short oratorio written in eleven days. Zappa named the group assembled for the sessions the "Abnuceals Emuukha Electric Symphony Orchestra". The album's mixing and mastering was completed on May 19, 1967.

Percussionist Emil Richards recalled that he did not know who Zappa was and did not take him seriously as the recording sessions began, believing that Zappa was merely the guitarist for a rock band. However, upon meeting them, Zappa handed the musicians the scores for the pieces, which were dense, complex, and varied in time signatures. Richards' close friend, guitarist Tommy Tedesco, was another member of the recording sessions. Tedesco mocked Zappa, believing that Zappa did not know what he was doing. The bassoonist and bass clarinetist hired for the sessions refused to perform their parts, declaring them impossible to play. Zappa responded, "If I play your part, will you at least try it?" Zappa then used his guitar to demonstrate the parts for the musicians, who then agreed to perform their assigned parts. By the end of the recording sessions, Richards and Tedesco became convinced of Zappa's talent and became friends with the composer. Richards later performed on sessions that appeared on Zappa's album Orchestral Favorites.

Release, lawsuit and reediting
Capitol released Lumpy Gravy on August 7, 1967, only on the 4-track cartridge format, apparently in limited numbers. This version of the album is markedly different from the Lumpy Gravy that would become an official entry in Zappa's catalog. Capitol also intended to release a single consisting of the pieces "Gypsy Airs" and "Sink Trap" to promote its release. In response to the album's release, MGM threatened a lawsuit, claiming that its release violated Zappa's contract. The album was pulled from release and subsequently replaced with a second album of the same name, which contained much of the same music. Still, it was drastically different in composition, incorporating newly recorded dialogue excerpts, surf music, and other elements not present in the original recording.

The 1967 recording was released on compact disc in 2009 as part of the release The Lumpy Money Project/Object. On April 18, 2018, the original 1967 edit of the album was released on limited edition vinyl as a Record Store Day exclusive under the title Lumpy Gravy (Primordial).

Reception
AllMusic wrote, "Some people have said that adding all the dialog was essentially FZ giving the middle finger to Verve by giving them an album that was much more difficult to sell than an album of excellent instrumental music would have been. For many, Lumpy Gravy Primordial will be a much more pleasurable listening experience than Lumpy Gravy since it doesn't have all the distracting dialog."

Personnel

 * Musicians – Abnuceals Emuukha Electric Symphony Orchestra


 * Production credits
 * Frank Zappa – composer, conductor
 * Cal Schenkel – artwork