Editing Lumpy Gravy (section)

== Reception and legacy ==
{{Album ratings
| rev1 =  [[AllMusic]]
| rev1Score =  {{Rating|4|5}}<ref name=Allmusic>{{AllMusic|class=album|id=r22630/review|pure_url=no}}</ref>
| rev2 = ''[[Encyclopedia of Popular Music]]''
| rev2score = {{Rating|3|5}}<ref name="Larkin">{{cite book|last1=Larkin|first1=Colin|title=Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music|date=1997|publisher=Virgin Books|location=London|isbn=1-85227 745 9|chapter=Frank Zappa|pages=1293}}</ref>
| rev3      = ''[[The Great Rock Discography]]''
| rev3score = 6/10<ref name="Strong">{{cite book |last1=Strong |first1=Martin C. |title=The Great Rock Discography |date=2006 |publisher=Canongate Books |location=Edinburgh |isbn=1-84195-827-1 |chapter=Frank Zappa |pages=1239}}</ref>
<!--| rev10 =  ''[[Rolling Stone]]''
| rev10Score =  ''(negative)'' <ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/lumpy-gravy-19680622|title= Lumpy Gravy - Album Reviews - Rolling Stone|last= Miller|first= Jim|date= June 22, 1968|work= [[Rolling Stone]]|access-date=12 July 2013}}</ref>-->
| rev4 = ''[[The Rolling Stone Album Guide]]''
| rev4score = {{Rating|3.5|5}}<ref>{{cite book|chapter=Frank Zappa|editor1-last=Brackett|editor1-first=Nathan|editor2-last=Hoard|editor2-first=Christian|title=The New Rolling Stone Album Guide|title-link=The Rolling Stone Album Guide|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t9eocwUfoSoC&dq=lumpy+gravy+rolling+stone&pg=PA902|page=902|publisher=[[Simon & Schuster]]|edition=4th|year=2004|isbn=0-7432-0169-8}}</ref>
| rev5 = ''[[Uncut (magazine)|Uncut]]''
| rev5Score = 7/10<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.uncut.co.uk/reviews/album/frank-zappathe-mothers-of-invention-reissues|title= Frank Zappa/The Mothers of Invention reissues |last= Cavanagh |first= David |date= 14 September 2016 |access-date= 25 December 2016}}</ref>
}}

The 1968 ''Lumpy Gravy'' album was well received by critics, and Zappa called it one of his favorite albums out of his own work, stating that it contains his favorite music.<ref>{{cite book |title= Jazz in Search of Itself|last= Kart|first= Larry|date= 11 Oct 2004|publisher= Yale University Press|page= 166|access-date=August 20, 2012 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uX221dKEmloC&pg=PA166|isbn= 0300128193}}</ref> [[Barry Miles]], writing in ''[[International Times]]'', described the album as fusing [[John Cage]]'s ''Fontana Mix'' (1958) and [[John Carisi]]'s "[[Into the Hot (Gil Evans album)|Moon Taj]]" (1962) with Zappa's distinctive style of "lyricism and cynicism", and praised Zappa's editing of the "loaded" conversation snippets, deeming them "masterpieces of editing".<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Miles |first1=Barry |title=Francis Vincent Zappa & The Abnuceals Emuukha Electric Symphony Orchestra And Chorus: Lumpy Gravy (Verve) |journal=International Times |date=July 12, 1968 |url=https://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/francis-vincent-zappa--the-abnuceals-emuukha-electric-symphony-orchestra-and-chorus-lumpy-gravy-verve |access-date=October 13, 2022}}</ref> In a mixed review, Jim Miller of ''[[Rolling Stone]]'' called it Zappa's "most curious" album to date, finding it to represent the extreme of his "fragmented musical approach", but believed it to be overall "rather inert" and criticised the spoken sections for seeming forced. However, they deemed it an important album, concluding: "It might be said that Zappa makes mistakes other rock composers would be proud to call their own best music; ''Lumpy Gravy'' is an idiosyncratic musical faux pas that is worth listening to for that reason alone."<ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Miller |first1=Jim |title=Lumpy Gravy |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-album-reviews/lumpy-gravy-183500/ |magazine=Rolling Stone |access-date=October 13, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220410133013/https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-album-reviews/lumpy-gravy-183500/ |archive-date=April 10, 2022 |date=June 22, 1968}}</ref>

Retrospectively, [[AllMusic]] writer François Couture wrote, "The starting point of Zappa's 'serious music,' ''Lumpy Gravy'' suffers from a lack of coherence, but it remains historically important and contains many conceptual continuity clues for the fan."<ref name=Allmusic/> [[David Cavanagh]] of ''[[Uncut (magazine)|Uncut]]'' wrote that the "[[sound collage|collage]]-style [[concept album]]" features "some of his most [[avant-garde music|avant-garde]] music as well as some of his most bizarre encounters with his fellow Mothers."<ref>{{cite web |last1=Cavanagh |first1=David |title=Frank Zappa/The Mothers Of Invention reissues |url=https://www.uncut.co.uk/reviews/frank-zappathe-mothers-of-invention-reissues-2317/ |website=Uncut |date=14 September 2012 |access-date=October 13, 2022}}</ref> Ian Stonehouse of ''[[Rough Guides|The Rough Guide to Rock]]'' wrote that the album shows Zappa at his "most original", noting its cut-up blend of musique concrète, [[rhythm and blues|R&B]], [[jazz]] and "mumblings from inside a [[grand piano]]", and deemed it a "masterpiece that anticipated [[sampling (music)|sampling]] technology".<ref>{{cite book |last=Stonehouse |first=Ian |title=The Rough Guide to Rock |publisher=[[Rough Guides]] |year=2003 |isbn=1-85828-457-0 |editor-last=Buckley |editor-first=Peter |edition=2nd |page=1,127}}</ref> Miles, writing for ''[[The History of Rock (magazine)|The History of Rock]]'', wrote that the record "owed far more to [[Varèse]] and [[Stravinsky]] than to rock'n'roll."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Miles |first1=Barry |title=Frank Zappa: Surreal Anarchy From the Mother Superior |journal=The History of Rock |date=1983 |url=https://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/frank-zappa-surreal-anarchy-from-the-mother-superior |access-date=October 13, 2022}}</ref>

[[Edwin Pouncey]] of ''[[The Wire (magazine)|The Wire]]'' writes that the album is "[t]he culmination of Zappa's commitment to [[contemporary classical music|contemporary classical]] and [[electronic music]]", and deemed it crucial for combining "classically motivated interludes, electronic abstractions and rambling [[spoken word]] compositions within a basic rock structure. Whereas other 'rock stars' frequently toyed with vague notions of musique concrète and [[experimental music]], Zappa incorporated them into a medium that extended his musical repertoire and pushed the prowess of The Mothers Of Invention to new heights of skill and endurance."<ref name="Pouncey" /> ''[[Ultimate Classic Rock]]'' writer Ryan Reed describes it as an "avant-garde masterpiece" which has become overlooked in Zappa's discography for being one of his more unorthodox recordings, "branching from musique concrete to gorgeous [[jazz fusion|jazz-fusion]] to proto-electronic hysteria to pitch-shifted rock grooves". They write that it has had "a sizable influence on both rock and avant-garde artists over the years".<ref>{{cite web |last1=Reed |first1=Ryan |title=How Frank Zappa Broke Every Rule with His Solo Debut 'Lumpy Gravy' |url=https://ultimateclassicrock.com/frank-zappa-lumpy-gravy/ |website=Ultimate Classic Rock |access-date=October 13, 2022 |date=May 13, 2015}}</ref>

In 1984, the second version of ''Lumpy Gravy'' was remixed by Zappa, with new [[overdub]]s by bassist [[Arthur Barrow]] and drummer [[Chad Wackerman]].<ref name=Fricke/> This third version of the album was not released in full at the time; an excerpt appeared in a ''[[Old Masters (box set)|The Old Masters]]'' sampler sent to radio stations.<ref>{{cite AV media notes |title=Lumpy Money |title-link=Lumpy Money |others=Frank Zappa |year=2008|first=Gail |last=Zappa | chapter  = track listing notes |publisher=Zappa Records }}</ref> Additional dialogue from the "piano people" sessions was included on Zappa's later album ''[[Frank Zappa Meets the Mothers of Prevention]]'',<ref>{{cite journal |last1= Rense|first1= Rip|date= Jan 1986|title= Flash - Mothers of Prevention|journal= [[Spin (magazine)|Spin]]|volume=  1|issue=  9|pages= 82|publisher= SPIN Media LLC|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=O8JuDPDsl1gC&pg=PA11|access-date= 20 August 2012}}</ref> and his final album, ''[[Civilization Phaze III]]'' in 1993.<ref>{{cite book |title= Classical Music: The Listener's Companion|last= Morin|first= Alexander J.|year= 2002|publisher= Backbeat Books|page= 1067|access-date=August 20, 2012 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ayT5T59ckzIC&pg=PA1067|isbn= 9780879306380}}</ref> In 2009, the box set ''[[Lumpy Money]]'' was released, containing the 1967 and 1984 versions of ''Lumpy Gravy'', and [[radio documentary|audio documentary]] material derived from the sessions that produced the original 1967 orchestral sessions, dialogue which appeared in the 1968 release of ''Lumpy Gravy'', and the album ''We're Only in It for the Money''.<ref>{{citation| title = The Resurrection of Frank Zappa's Soul | url= http://www.laweekly.com/2008-12-11/music/the-resurrection-of-frank-zappa-8217-s-soul/1| date= December 8, 2008 | first = Casey| last = Dolan| journal=LA Weekly | publisher=Village Voice Media}}</ref>