Frank Zappa – Them or us (2LP UK import)

Them or Us is a 2LP album by American musician Frank Zappa, released in October 1984 by Barking Pumpkin Records. Its opening and closing songs were not written by Zappa: “The Closer You Are”, was written by Earl Lewis and Morgan Robinson and originally released by The Channels; and “Whippin’ Post“, originally performed by The Allman Brothers Band.

“Ya Hozna” includes backward vocals taken from “Sofa No. 2” (from One Size Fits All, 1975), “Lonely Little Girl” (from We’re Only in It for the Money, 1968) and unreleased outtakes of “Valley Girl” (vocals by Moon Zappa). “Planet of My Dreams” (featuring Bob Harris on vocals) is a 1981 studio recording taken from the score of Zappa’s unrealized 1972 stage musical Hunchentoot (other titles from this show appear on the first-CD edition of the Sleep Dirt reissue from 1993). “Be In My Video”, described as the best song on the album, pokes fun at the cliches in music videos, particularly David Bowie‘s hit single “Let’s Dance“. As with other Zappa rock albums of this era, many of the tracks are sourced from live recordings. Later studio overdubs were liberally applied, although there is no mention of this on the album notes. Vinyl and sleeve are VG+.