Line #14 Music/CruisingWithRubenAndTheJets


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cruisin_with_ruben_and_the_jets_9087.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350: ''Is this the Mothers of Invention recording under a different name in a last ditch attempt to get their cruddy music on the radio?'']]
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4	''Cruising with Ruben & the Jets'' is a 1968 album by Music/FrankZappa, in which he and the Mothers of Invention play under the monicker of the FakeBand ''Ruben & the Jets''. The entire album is a nostalgic {{Homage}}[=/=]AffectionateParody to 1950s {{Doowop}}, of whom Zappa was a fan.
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6	At the time ''Cruising with Ruben & the Jets'' was considered to be a remarkable departure from Zappa's trademark style. There was no political {{Satire}}, no sudden experimental changes, no combination of [[GenreRoulette different musical styles]], and no bawdy comedy. For Zappa's already small fanbase this was a huge AudienceAlienatingPremise. Especially since many hippie youngsters considered {{Doowop}} to be completely unhip and passé. As a result many Zappa fans were initially perplexed and disappointed, a reaction this album can still conjure today. [[ParodyDisplacement Especially with later generations who, unfamiliar with doowop, may think Zappa is overdoing it with all the silly high-pitched voices and greasy arrangements]]. However, it has been VindicatedByHistory as a very enjoyable easy-listening experience and very accessible compared to many of his other albums.
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8	In a case of LifeImitatesArt[=/=]TheRedStapler a man named Rubén Guevara started a group named ''Ruben & The Jets'' in the 1970s. Their debut album was aptly titled ''For Real! (1973)'' and produced by Music/FrankZappa too! He even performed the guitar solo during ''Dedicated to the One I Love'' and Mothers of Invention band member Jim "Motorhead" Sherwood played baritone sax. Despite that the songs on that album were all new compositions.
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10	Unfortunately, when releasing ''Cruising With Ruben & the Jets'' on CD in the 1980s Zappa replaced the bass and drum tracks with a New Wave sound, which completely destroys the authentic doo-wop sound he mimicked in the 1960s. For a long time this butchered TheNotRemix was the only available version of this album on CD, which made collectors [[KeepCirculatingTheTapes search for the original]] vinyl version instead. In 2010 the original album was finally released as it was intended, be it under a different name and album cover: ''Greasy Love Songs''. The [=UMe=] remasters of Zappa's catalogue, released in 2012, used the 80s remixed version of this album.
11	----
12	!! Tracklist:
13	[[AC: Side One]]
14	# "Cheap Thrills" (2:39)
15	# "Love of My Life" (3:08)
16	# "How Could I Be Such a Fool?" (3:34)
17	# "Deseri" (2:09)
18	# "I'm Not Satisfied" (4:08)
19	# "Jelly Roll Gum Drop" (2:24)
20	# "Anything" (3:06)
21
22	[[AC: Side Two]]
23	# "Later That Night" (3:00)
24	# "You Didn't Try to Call Me" (3:58)
25	# "Fountain of Love" (3:22)
26	# "No. No. No." (2:16)
27	# "Anyway the Wind Blows" (3:02)
28	# "Stuff Up the Cracks" (4:38)
29	----
30	!!Personnel
31	* Music/FrankZappa: vocals, guitar
32	* Ray Collins: vocals
33	* Roy Estrada: vocals, electric bass
34	* Don Preston: keyboards
35	* Jim "Motorhead" Sherwood: baritone sax, tambourine
36	* Bunk Gardner: tenor & alto sax
37	* Arthur Tripp III: drums
38	* Jimmy Carl Black: drums
39	* Ian Underwood: keyboards, tenor & alto sax
40	* Cal Schenkel: album cover design
41	----
42	!! ''Cheap tropes, up and down my spine, I need it, I need it, 'cause I feel so fine...''
43	* AffectionateParody: The cheesy and greasy songs hold the middle between a cartoony, ironic parody and an affectionate homage to doo wop and pachuco music. Zappa noted that he always wanted to make an album of this type of music.
44	* AlliterativeTitle: "'''N'''o '''N'''o '''N'''o" and "'''L'''ove Of My '''L'''ife".
45	* AndStarring: Some of the lyrics were co-written with Ray Collins.
46	* BreakupSong: "Stuff Up the Cracks", "Later That Night", "You Didn't Try to Call Me", "Anyway the Wind Blows" and "How Could I Be Such a Fool" are all about this topic.
47	* CallBack and ContinuityNod:
48	** Four songs appeared earlier on ''Music/FreakOutAlbum'', in different forms.
49	** "Cheap Thrills" re-uses the line "up and down my spine" from "Wowie Zowie" from ''Music/FreakOutAlbum''.
50	** "Later That Night" references dogs and collars, which are part of Zappa's conceptual continuity.
51	** Ruben & the Jets would reappear in the liner notes of the album ''Music/UncleMeat'', where Zappa wrote down a script for a movie he once planned on making. In his script ''The Story of Uncle Meat'' Ruben and rhe Jets are a band brainwashed by Uncle Meat to seduce the youth. Zappa also explains that the weird noses of the band were created by a nasal mist squeezer which made them erect.
52	** A live version of "Love of My Life" appeared on Zappa's ''Music/TinseltownRebellion'' (1981).
53	** Different versions of "Anyway the Wind Blows" and "Fountain of Love" can be heard on Zappa's "The Lost Episodes" (1995).
54	** The album cover of ''Music/JustAnotherBandFromLA'' claims that "any similarities between this album cover and the one for ''Cruising with Ruben & the Jets'' are purely coincidental".
55	* ConceptAlbum: In the sense that all the songs are doowop.
56	* {{Dogfaces}}: The musicians and people on the album cover all have dog snouts and ears. Album cover designer Cal Schenkel did this as a {{Homage}} to Creator/CarlBarks.
57	* {{Doowop}} and DooWopProgression: Duh!
58	* FakeBand: Ruben & the Jets even received a fake backstory in the liner notes. Averted when Ruben & the Jets indeed became a real band for a couple of years, separate from Zappa's camp (their debut album, produced by Zappa, was even titled, ''For Real!'')
59	* GeorgeLucasAlteredVersion: ''Cruising'', along with Zappa's other albums, were remixed in studio between 1986-1995. ''Cruising'' and ''Music/WereOnlyInItForTheMoney'' received massive bass and drums overdubs using 80s production techniques, along with effects like digital reverb, which changed the entire tone of the album. Despite [=UMe=]'s 2012 reissue series using the original analog tapes as remastering sources, ''Cruising''[='=]s 1986 remix made it onto the 2012 reissue, because the original version of the album was remastered and reissued under the name of ''Greasy Love Songs''.
60	* {{Homage}}: Zappa was inspired to pay homage to all the doowop and pachuco bands from the 1950s he liked so much, and by Music/IgorStravinsky's neoclassical music, in which the 20th century composer made pastiches of 18th century classical baroque music. In a stretch of dialogue included on ''Greasy Love Songs'', Zappa even mentions hiding Stravinsky references inside ''Cruising''.
61	* IAmSong: "I'm Not Satisfied".
62	--> ''I'm not satisfied, everything I've tried''
63	--> ''I don't like the way life's abusing me''
64	* JustHereForGodzilla: InUniverse: ''Cheap Thrills'', a song about getting some ''cheap thrills''.
65	* {{Lampshading}}: The album cover looks like it's made by a band named Ruben & the Jets, though a text balloon informs us: "Is this the Mothers of Invention recording under a different name in a last ditch attempt to get their cruddy music on the radio?"
66	* LyricalDissonance: "Stuff Up the Cracks", about a man who decides to stick his head in the oven and end it all, because his lover left him. The jolly arrangement makes the listener glance over this dark subject matter, which consequently is also the closing track of the album, making this an example of a LastNoteNightmare.
67	* MakeAWish: "Fountain of Love", about a couple who throw some coins in a wishing fountain and have been together since that day.
68	* ManlyTears: "You Didn't Try to Call Me" and "Later That Night", takes this to extremes.
69	* NewSoundAlbum: To the average listener this album doesn't sound new or innovative, but to Zappa fans familiar with the psychedelic/neo-classical/musique concrète/jazz fusion rock sound like on ''Music/FreakOutAlbum'' or ''Music/WereOnlyInItForTheMoney'', it is.
70	* NonAppearingTitle: The title doesn't appear in any of the song's lyrics.
71	* NostalgiaFilter: It has a typical 1950s sound.
72	* OneWomanSong: "Deseri".
73	* OneWordTitle: "Anything"
74	* PackagedAsOtherMedium: The cover looks like a comic strip image.
75	* {{Pastiche}}: Zappa really managed to duplicate the sound of 1950s doowop.
76	* QuestioningTitle: "How Could I Be Such a Fool?"
77	* RemixAlbum: The CD edition, which was overdubbed with very 80s-sounding bass guitar and drums, and lots of digital echo added.
78	* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: "I'm Not Satisfied". "Stuff Up the Cracks" takes a morbid turn with this, by having the protagonist consider suicide over a broken love.
79	* SelfDeprecation: Zappa refers to his music as "cruddy" on the album cover.
80	* ShoutOut:
81	** The Pachuko Hop is referenced in "Jelly Roll Gum Drop". This Chuck Higgins instrumental receives another shout-out during "Debra Kadabra" from ''Music/BongoFury''.
82	** The introductory notes of Music/IgorStravinsky's ''Theatre/TheRiteOfSpring'' are heard at the start of "Fountain of Love" and an extract from "Sincerly" by {{Doowop}} band The Moonglows is heard during the "ooohs" and Frank's baritone vocals.
83	** "Later That Night" pays tribute to Ruth Brown's "Three Letters" and/or the Velvetones "Glory of Love".
84	* SillyLoveSongs: All the songs are romantic and very greasy love songs, bordering to parody, but still sang with genuine passion.
85	* SpeechBubbles: On the album cover.
86	* SpokenWordInMusic: "Later That Night", "Love of My Life" and "You Didn't Try to Call Me" have a parlando.
87	* SuicideAsComedy: "Stuff Up the Cracks" is perhaps the most upbeat song you'll ever hear about a man threatening to kill himself with oven gas if his girlfriend breaks up with him.
88	* SurprisinglyGentleSong: Compared to most of Zappa's output all songs are actually quite moving.

Context Music / CruisingWithRubenAndTheJets