Frank Zappa & The Mothers Of Invention - We're Only in It for the Money (1968) [Reissue 2012]

The Mothers of Invention answer the sentiments of the suits, the suburb dwellers, and flower children of the 60's with a big fat raspberry. Considered by many to be the Mothers' (and some would say Zappa's) best album, We're Only in it for the Money deals with harsh subject matter in a seemingly glib and light-hearted fashion (eventually a Zappa trademark), sparing no targets with catchy melodies and high-pitched vocals. Zappa applies the same aggressive studio techniques he did on Lumpy Gravy, creating a jarring collage of sound that still sounds avant-garde today. Highlights from this flawless album are numerous and include the hippie bashing "Who Needs thePeace Corps," the bedroom science of "Let's Make the Water Turn Black," the anthematic "Mother People," and the perfect payoff of "What's the Ugliest Part of Your Body?" Quite simply one of the best rock albums of all time. --Andrew Boscardin

This is it, kids: The ultimate stab at hippiedom, the flipside to SGT. PEPPER, the album that didn't leave a single pretense of the counterculture standing. Can it be mere coincidence that the '60s ended within a few years of this album's release?

From its Beatles parody cover design to the lyrical barbs on "Flower Punk" and "Who Needs the Peace Corps?," this was aptly described by Rolling Stone (who picked it as one of the top 100 albums from 1967-1987) as "perhaps the most mercilessly derisive raspberry ever flung at the rock scene by an actual participant therein." The finale, "The Chrome Plated Megaphone of Destiny" still stands as one of the more audacious pieces of composition in the Zappa catalogue.

When WE'RE ONLY IN IT FOR THE MONEY first appeared on CD in 1986, Zappa took the controversial step of technically spiffing up the music with new, digitally-recorded bass and drum tracks. Some fans responded with a resounding "Thanks, but no thanks." Here, the original Verve master has been restored.