Mother Bobo

God bless Instant Karma at the Earth House, but I payed way too much for Zappa records in high school. Cruisin' With Ruben and the Jets cost me $45 alone. I keep the price tag on the protective sleeve as a badge of honor...of sorts.

But lately I've been practically stealing rare Zappa titles. A couple months ago it was a near mint copy of Freak Out! (original Verve inserts and all) at Looney Tunes for something like $15. Today, it was Mothermania for $9.99 at the Record Exchange. It was unpriced and the fella got the owner on the horn for a pricing. I know my poker face is pretty shitty so when he gave that price, I nearly bit my tongue off trying not to cry out in joy.

Brought it home. The vinyl has exactly two skips. One at the beginning of "Brown Shoes Don't Make It" and the beginning of "Hungry Freaks, Daddy." The latter blows because that song has such great momentum and the mix on this album is way brighter than on Freak Out! Hasn't stopped me from listening to it in its entirety twice already. It's a great album for a best of. It's the only where FZ actually picked the sequencing and some of the mixes are better than the original versions. Thus making it highly sought after.

Also saw that the cat that owned it before me had his way with the gatefold and inner groove. Even though this permanently keeps the album in only the tens of dollars, it makes it probably the most badass copy of Mothermania I've ever come across. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Mother Bobo-

I'm kinda OK with this.

Side note- if I ever have a record store, I may called it Wicked Out of Print. Eventually called Wicked in due time. Even my fantasies have fantasies.