Ahead of Their Time

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Ahead of Their Time is a live album by The Mothers of Invention. It was recorded at the Royal Festival Hall, London, England, on October 25, 1968 and released in 1993 on CD by Barking Pumpkin. It was subsequently reissued on Rykodisc in 1995.

Performances

The first part of the set is a one-off performance of a musical play retrospectively entitled Progress?, and featuring members of the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Portions of this performance originally found their way on to the Mystery Disc (1998) contained on the second 1986 box of The Old Masters and the Honker Home Video release of Uncle Meat (1969). Much of the humor and storyline of the play is lost to the casual listener due to primitive recording techniques and the visual nature of some of the performance, necessitating extensive liner notes by Zappa.

According to Zappa's liner notes, the remainder of the set is "A fair – not outstanding – 1968 Mothers of Invention rock concert performance". Different edits of snatches from the second part of the performance ("The Orange County Lumber Truck" and "Prelude to the Afternoon of a Sexually Aroused Gas Mask") were originally released on Weasels Ripped My Flesh (1970). "Holiday in Berlin" also appears on Burnt Weeny Sandwich (1970).

Track listing

All tracks written, composed and arranged by Frank Zappa.

"Progress?"

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Prologue"	3:07
2.	"Progress?"	4:44
3.	"Like It or Not"	2:21
4.	"The Jimmy Carl Black Philosophy Lesson"	2:01
5.	"Holding The Group Back"	2:00
6.	"Holiday in Berlin"	0:56
7.	"The Rejected Mexican Pope Leaves the Stage"	2:55
8.	"Undaunted, the Band Plays On"	4:34
9.	"Agency Man"	3:17
10.	"Epilogue"	1:52

1968 performance

No.	Title	Length
11.	"King Kong"	8:13
12.	"Help, I'm a Rock"	1:38
13.	"Transylvania Boogie"	3:07
14.	"Pound for a Brown"	6:50
15.	"Sleeping in a Jar"	2:24
16.	"Let's Make the Water Turn Black"	1:51
17.	"Harry, You're a Beast"	0:53
18.	"The Orange County Lumber Truck (Part I)"	0:46
19.	"Oh No"	3:22
20.	"The Orange County Lumber Truck (Part II)"	10:36

Personnel

• Frank Zappa – guitar, vocals
• Ian Underwood – alto saxophone, piano
• Bunk Gardner – tenor saxophone, clarinet
• Euclid James "Motorhead" Sherwood – baritone saxophone, tambourine
• Don Preston – electric piano, odd noises (homemade oscillation boxes)
• Roy Estrada – bass guitar, vocals
• Jimmy Carl Black – drums, vocals
• Arthur Dyer Tripp III – drums, percussion
• Members of the BBC Symphony Orchestra

External links

• Lyrics and information
• Release details