Inca Roads

I haven't had much Zappa featured on the blog. Most people have heard his commercially successful songs, and if they were interested he isn't hard to find. Zappa was never my go to sound. I had an album or 2 on vinyl, and I still have at least one CD. You don't have to like everything.

Still, some of the stuff done by The Mothers of Invention is great. I particularly like the section of spoken word near the beginning in today's song. About today's song - it is almost 10 minutes long, so grab a beverage.

Prog magazine included it on their list of The 100 Greatest Prog Songs Of All Time, though it only made it to number 100 in the reader poll.

‘On Ruth!’ Catchy, complex, sweet, sarky and surreal, the fan favourite that kicks off One Size Fits All encapsulates everything good about 70s-era Mothers, including their marimba/xylophone/vibes player, the incomparable Ruth Underwood.

Here's a link to the lyrics. You're gonna need them.

This song is "Inca Roads" by Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention. It was released on the 1975 album One Size Fits All, but this is a live recording from 1974 recorded at KCET in Hollywood, as part of the video project A Token of His Extreme. The video project was never released or broadcast in the US prior to Frank Zappa's death. It was broadcast in Europe.

The line-up exists of Frank Zappa—guitar, percussion, vocals; George Duke—keyboards, finger cymbals, tambourine, vocals; Napoleon Murphy Brock—sax, vocals; Ruth Underwood—percussion; Tom Fowler—bass; Chester Thompson—drums.