Lumpy Money Views

General Goods

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 (originally planned to be released in late 1967, but not available until May 1968), and his 1968 record We're Only in It for the Money with The Mothers of Invention. It is a 3-CD set, and is official release #85 and second in the series of 40th anniversary of Frank Zappa Audio Documentaries (with MOFO released in December 2006 celebrating Freak Out! being the first).

All Music produced/composed & performed/conducted by Frank Zappa. The Lumpy Money Project/Object Compiled & Produced by Gail Zappa & Joe Travers Liner notes: David Fricke Conceptual & Continuous Stuff & Text: Gail Zappa Production Manager: Melanie Starks Solar Dominance: Jupiter Cover Art, Package Design & Layout: Michael Mesker FZ Portrait Photo: Linda McCartney Mastering & Audio Restoration engineer, Discs One and Three: John Polito Mastering, Disc Two: Bernie Grundman

Since the release of The Lumpy Money Project/Object (2009) most of the research and speculation that originally appeared on this article doesn't make any sense any more, but I think the comparison between the different versions of the album and the discussion about the origin of the material is still worth it. So...

According to Greg Russo's investigations on the Local 47 session sheets (available on p. 277 of his book), most of the big orchestra stuff was recorded at Capitol Studios between March 14-16, 1967. But there was an earlier session on February 13, 1967, with a 7-piece ensemble, where a piece called t"Sundaye" was recorded. The instrumentation for that session was guitar, two basses, piano, percussion and drums, and the only part that matches that instrumentation (i.e., no woodwinds or strings) is Part One, from 1:47 to 3:19, part of