Cruising with Ruben & the Jets
Encyclopedia
Cruising With Ruben & The Jets is an album
by Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention, released in December 1968
, and controversially reissued in an alternate mix with newly recorded bass and percussion in 1984.
music Frank and many of the Mothers grew up with and worked on. The album has been described as a collision of high and low art, with Stravinsky
-style chord changes and unusual tempos applied to purposely trite and banal teenage pop love songs. The backing vocals at the end of "Fountain of Love", for instance, sing the opening melody from Stravinsky's Rite of Spring.
The album predated a mini-revival of 1950s rock music styles and touched off the Rock and roll revival
movement. Soon after it came out the group Sha-Na-Na formed in New York City
to play their own brand of 1950s style doo-wop
. Chuck Berry
and Elvis Presley
relaunched their careers not long after the album was released.
Like Zappa's remix of We're Only in It for the Money
, which was prepared at around the same time, this new version of the album has proved to be very controversial among fans. Unlike We're Only in It for the Money, which was rereleased in its original form in 1995, the remix of Cruising with Ruben & the Jets was the only version of the album available from 1984 until 2010, when Greasy Love Songs
, was released. A compilation of both the album's original mix and eight previously-unreleased tracks, Greasy Love Songs
was the third collection in a series of FZ audio documentaries following The MOFO Project/Object and Lumpy Money
.
" for their band. Zappa not only approved of the name, he produced the band's first album, which was titled For Real!
, a direct reference to the 1968 Mothers album with the "fake" Ruben & The Jets.
In 2008, the Lagunitas Brewing Company
put out a Stout
named after the album, featuring the cover art on the label. This is one in a series of beers planned to be released on the 40th anniversary of each of Zappa's studio albums.
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
by Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention, released in December 1968
1968 in music
-Events:*January 4 – Guitarist Jimi Hendrix is jailed by Stockholm police, after trashing a hotel room during a drunken fist fight with bassist Noel Redding.*January 6 – Gibson Guitar Corporation patents its Gibson Flying V electric guitar design....
, and controversially reissued in an alternate mix with newly recorded bass and percussion in 1984.
Concept
The album is fashioned as a simultaneous parody of and tribute to the doo-wopDoo-wop
The name Doo-wop is given to a style of vocal-based rhythm and blues music that developed in African American communities in the 1940s and achieved mainstream popularity in the 1950s and early 1960s. It emerged from New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Baltimore, Newark, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and...
music Frank and many of the Mothers grew up with and worked on. The album has been described as a collision of high and low art, with Stravinsky
Igor Stravinsky
Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ; 6 April 1971) was a Russian, later naturalized French, and then naturalized American composer, pianist, and conductor....
-style chord changes and unusual tempos applied to purposely trite and banal teenage pop love songs. The backing vocals at the end of "Fountain of Love", for instance, sing the opening melody from Stravinsky's Rite of Spring.
The album predated a mini-revival of 1950s rock music styles and touched off the Rock and roll revival
Rock and roll revival
Rock and Roll Revival was a back-to-basics musical trend of the late 1960s and early 1970s, in a sort-of backlash against the heavier and psychedelic rock sounds then in vogue....
movement. Soon after it came out the group Sha-Na-Na formed in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
to play their own brand of 1950s style doo-wop
Doo-wop
The name Doo-wop is given to a style of vocal-based rhythm and blues music that developed in African American communities in the 1940s and achieved mainstream popularity in the 1950s and early 1960s. It emerged from New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Baltimore, Newark, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and...
. Chuck Berry
Chuck Berry
Charles Edward Anderson "Chuck" Berry is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter, and one of the pioneers of rock and roll music. With songs such as "Maybellene" , "Roll Over Beethoven" , "Rock and Roll Music" and "Johnny B...
and Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
relaunched their careers not long after the album was released.
Remix and other releases
In 1984, Zappa, unhappy with the sound quality of Cruising with Ruben & the Jets,"Why MONEY & RUBEN Were Remixed" enlisted Arthur Barrow and Chad Wackerman to re-record the original bass and drum parts (although they were not credited) for the Old Masters Box One re-issue of the album. In addition to the new drums and bass, Zappa added several vocal overdubs and heavily remixed the album, resulting in what has been described as "a whole new album"Like Zappa's remix of We're Only in It for the Money
We're Only in It for the Money
We're Only in It For the Money is the third studio album by The Mothers of Invention, released in March 1968. The album peaked at number thirty on the Billboard 200...
, which was prepared at around the same time, this new version of the album has proved to be very controversial among fans. Unlike We're Only in It for the Money, which was rereleased in its original form in 1995, the remix of Cruising with Ruben & the Jets was the only version of the album available from 1984 until 2010, when Greasy Love Songs
Greasy Love Songs
Greasy Love Songs is an album by Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention released in April 2010. It is the first release on CD of the original vinyl mix version of the album Cruising with Ruben & the Jets with the original bass and drum parts .-Track listing:# "Cheap Thrills" 2:23# "Love Of My...
, was released. A compilation of both the album's original mix and eight previously-unreleased tracks, Greasy Love Songs
Greasy Love Songs
Greasy Love Songs is an album by Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention released in April 2010. It is the first release on CD of the original vinyl mix version of the album Cruising with Ruben & the Jets with the original bass and drum parts .-Track listing:# "Cheap Thrills" 2:23# "Love Of My...
was the third collection in a series of FZ audio documentaries following The MOFO Project/Object and Lumpy Money
Lumpy Money
The Lumpy Money Project/Object is an album by Frank Zappa. The album commemorates the 40th anniversary of both Zappa's first solo album, Lumpy Gravy , and his 1968 record We're Only in It for the Money with The Mothers of Invention...
.
Legacy
In 1973, a real doo-wop band, consisting of Ruben Guevara, Tony Duran, Robert "Frog" Camarena, Johhny Martinez, Robert "Buffalo" Roberts, Bill Wild, and Bob Zamora approached Zappa to ask him if they could use the name "Ruben and the JetsRuben and the Jets
For the celebrity photographer go to Tony Duran Ruben and the Jets was a Los Angeles-based doo-wop, rhythm and blues and rock and roll band active between 1972 and 1974. Led by Ruben Guevara, band members included Tony Duran, Robert "Frog" Camarena, Johhny Martinez, Robert "Buffalo" Roberts, Bill...
" for their band. Zappa not only approved of the name, he produced the band's first album, which was titled For Real!
For Real!
For Real! is the debut album of Ruben and the Jets. Released in 1973, the album was produced by Frank Zappa, whose Cruising with Ruben & the Jets album was the source of the band's name...
, a direct reference to the 1968 Mothers album with the "fake" Ruben & The Jets.
In 2008, the Lagunitas Brewing Company
Lagunitas Brewing Company
The Lagunitas Brewing Company is a brewery founded in 1993 in Lagunitas, California, USA. They are known for iconoclastic interpretations of traditional beer styles, and irreverent descriptive text and stories on their packaging...
put out a Stout
Stout
Stout is a dark beer made using roasted malt or barley, hops, water and yeast. Stouts were traditionally the generic term for the strongest or stoutest porters, typically 7% or 8%, produced by a brewery....
named after the album, featuring the cover art on the label. This is one in a series of beers planned to be released on the 40th anniversary of each of Zappa's studio albums.
Side one
- "Cheap Thrills" – 2:20
- "Love of My Life" (Zappa, Collins) – 3:17
- "How Could I Be Such a Fool" – 3:33
- "Deseri" (Buff, Collins) – 2:04
- "I'm Not Satisfied" – 3:59
- "Jelly Roll Gum Drop" – 2:17
- "Anything" (Collins) – 3:00
Side two
- "Later That Night" – 3:04
- "You Didn't Try to Call Me" – 3:53
- "Fountain of Love" (Zappa, Collins) – 2:57
- "No. No. No."– 2:27
- "Anyway The Wind Blows" – 2:56
- "Stuff Up The Cracks" – 4:29
CD
- "Cheap Thrills"– 2:39
- "Love of My Life" (Zappa, Collins) – 3:08
- "How Could I Be Such a Fool?" – 3:34
- "Deseri" (Buff, Collins) – 2:08
- "I'm Not Satisfied" – 4:08
- "Jelly Roll Gum Drop" – 2:24
- "Anything" (Collins) – 3:05
- "Later That Night" – 3:00
- "You Didn't Try to Call Me" – 3:57
- "Fountain of Love" (Zappa, Collins) – 3:22
- "No. No. No." – 2:15
- "Any Way the Wind Blows" – 3:01
- "Stuff Up the Cracks" – 4:36
Personnel
- Frank ZappaFrank ZappaFrank Vincent Zappa was an American composer, singer-songwriter, electric guitarist, record producer and film director. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa wrote rock, jazz, orchestral and musique concrète works. He also directed feature-length films and music videos, and designed...
– rockRock musicRock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
, keyboardsKeyboard instrumentA keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
, sound effects, vocalsSingingSinging is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
, bassBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
, drumDrumThe drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments, which is technically classified as the membranophones. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a shell and struck, either directly with the player's hands, or with a...
s - Jimmy Carl BlackJimmy Carl BlackJimmy Carl Black , born James Inkanish, Jr., was a drummer and vocalist for The Mothers of Invention.-Career: 1960s-1990s:Born in El Paso, Texas, Black was of Cheyenne heritage...
– guitar, percussionPercussion instrumentA percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration...
, drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
, rhythm guitarRhythm guitarRhythm guitar is a technique and rôle that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with singers or other instruments; and to provide all or part of the harmony, ie. the chords, where a chord is a group of notes played together... - Ray CollinsRay Collins (rock musician)Ray Collins was born on November 19, 1936 and grew up in Pomona, California singing in his school choir, the son of a local police officer. He quit high school to get married. He started his musical career singing falsetto backup vocals for various 'doo-wop' groups in the Los Angeles area in the...
– guitar, vocals - Roy EstradaRoy EstradaRoy Estrada is an American musician and backing vocalist, best known for his bass guitar work with Frank Zappa and for co-founding Little Feat.-Biography:With drummer Jimmy Carl Black and Ray Collins, Estrada was an original member of Frank Zappa's...
– bassBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
, electric bassBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
, sound effects, vocals, voices - Bunk Gardner – alto saxophoneAlto saxophoneThe alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments invented by Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in 1841. It is smaller than the tenor but larger than the soprano, and is the type most used in classical compositions...
, tenor saxophoneTenor saxophoneThe tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor, with the alto, are the two most common types of saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B, and written as a transposing instrument in the treble... - Don PrestonDon PrestonDonald Ward Preston also known as Dom DeWilde or Biff Debrie born September 21, 1932 in Flint, Michigan. Preston is an American jazz and rock and roll musician.-Biography:Preston was born into a family of musicians and began studying music at an early age...
– bass, pianoPianoThe piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
, keyboards - Euclid James "Motorhead" SherwoodEuclid James SherwoodJim "Motorhead" Sherwood is an American rock musician notable for playing soprano, tenor and baritone saxophone, tambourine, vocals and vocal sound effects in Frank Zappa's Mothers of Invention...
– baritone saxophoneBaritone saxophoneThe baritone saxophone, often called "bari sax" , is one of the largest and lowest pitched members of the saxophone family. It was invented by Adolphe Sax. The baritone is distinguished from smaller sizes of saxophone by the extra loop near its mouthpiece...
, tambourineTambourineThe tambourine or marine is a musical instrument of the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zils". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, though some variants may not have a head at all....
, guitar, vocals, wind - Art Tripp – drums, percussion
- Ian UnderwoodIan UnderwoodIan Robertson Underwood is a woodwind and keyboards player. He began his career by playing San Francisco Bay Area coffeehouses and bars with his improvisational group the Jazz Mice in the mid 1960s before he became a member of Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention in 1967 for their third studio...
– guitar, piano, keyboards, alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, wind - Arthur Barrow – bassBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
on Old Masters and compact disc versions (uncredited on CD) - Chad WackermanChad WackermanChad Wackerman is a jazz, jazz fusion and rock drummer; arguably best known in the United States for his work as a drummer and percussionist in Frank Zappa's band...
– drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
on Old Masters and compact disc version (uncredited on CD) - Jay Anderson – string bass on Old Masters and compact disc version (uncredited)
Production
- Producer: Frank Zappa
- Engineer: Dick Kunc
- Cover Art: Cal SchenkelCal SchenkelCal Schenkel is an artist specialising in album cover design. He was the main visual collaborator for Frank Zappa and was responsible for the art and graphic design of many of Zappa's most well-known album covers. Schenkel's work is iconic and distinctive in style; a forerunner of punk art and...
- Cover Design: Cal Schenkel
- Artwork: Cal Schenkel
- Repackaging: Ferenc Dobronyi
Charts
Album - Billboard (North America)| Year | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 1969 | Pop Albums | 110 |