Track Listing

1. WPLJ
2. Igor's Boogie Phase One
3. Overture To A Holiday In Berlin
4. Burnt Weeny Sandwich
5. Igor's Boogie Phase Two
6. Holiday In Berlin Full Blown
7. Aybe Sea
8. Little House I Used To Live In
9. Valarie

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7266 in Music
• Released on: 2002-04-01
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Dimensions: .22 pounds

CD Description
BURNT WEENY SANDWICH would be Frank Zappa's last album released in the Sixties (December of 1969, to be exact). Having just split up the original Mothers of Invention line-up, Zappa decided to sift through tapes of unused tracks by the band, which ultimately comprised BURNT WEENY SANDWICH (another compilation of outtakes, WEASELS RIPPED MY FLESH, would be issued one year later). The majority of the album is instrumental, and contains both live and studio material. Although the songs didn't surface the first time around, these aren't throwaways--many worthwhile Zappa cuts reside here.
The only compositions to contain vocals are the album's opener, "WPLJ", and closer, "Valarie". Both are essentially obscure doo-wop covers (Zappa covered doo-wop songs throughout his career), and are expertly performed. Symphonic music is touched upon with two brief tracks, "Igor's Boogie (Phase One)" and "Igor's Boogie (Phase Two)", as well as the lengthier "Holiday in Berlin, Full Blown". "Theme From Burnt Weeny Sandwich" is guitar-driven rock, "Aybe Sea" is beautiful chamber music, and "The Little House I Used To Live In" is a nearly twenty-minute track, beginning as a solo piano piece before turning into a typically twisted Zappa rocker.

Customer Reviews

God! This IS a tasty little sucker!
This is one of the first Mothers albums I heard, and it's partly responsible for setting me on the deranged course of acquiring every available recorded note of FZ's music. It's title comes from the fact that the album is topped and tailed by two lovely doo-wop tunes, which enclose the more adventurous music within. The highlight is the 18 minute "Little House I Used to Live In" which features solos by Ian Underwood, Don "Sugarcane" Harris, Don Preston and FZ (on organ) as well as more organised, composed music. Other high points are "Holiday in Berlin", the full-blown version of which features an extraordinary guitar solo from Zappa, as does "Theme from Burnt Weeny Sandwich" - a wah-wah and percussion extravaganza. A lot of FZ fans like to listen to this when they're not in the mood for the more extreme end of the Mother's avant-garde stuff - this makes it a good album to start with if you haven't listened to much of their music.

You have GOT to have this
What a very curious thing this is. There are hints abounding that this actually is the signpost marking the very apex of Zappas real creative flux, and the people he was with were never quite replaced functionally later, whatever you might think (except Ruth Underwood, but that goes without saying). This is about the closest we ever get to Uncle Meat without a direct parallel.

If Zappa hadn't been compelled to go into rock (which wasn't that certain a thing anyhow), listen to Aybe Sea and think about what this guy could really do on a good day. That's for starters. I listen a great deal to Webern and Berio, and Schoenburg, and I must say that Igor's boogie is one of the most clever pieces of pure music I have ever heard. I downloaded a midi file with this (so I could see the way it worked) and this is quite similar to some otherwise rather inaccessible stuff by Mr Stravinsky in his later pieces (histoire de Soldat for instance), but sharper and very much ... denser.. ? Is that the right word?

Where's the rest of the stuff from this studio booking? There must be loads of this left from those days...

I don't know if this is rock and roll, I guess it would be on that particular shelf, but my goodness me, I like it...

Sublime
see zappa's biggest version of the original mothers tackle some inspired pieces that can not really be sorted into a musical category. Its not classical, its not rock, its not jazz, but one thing is for sure - the pieces are superb, especially the 18 minute tour de force that is The Little House I used to Live In. From Ian Underwoods opening piano to the driving finish it never realeases its grip. Stunning. Every Zappa fan should have this in his collection.