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Them or Us is an album by American musician Frank Zappa, released in October 1984 by Barking Pumpkin Records.

Them or Us
Studio album by Frank Zappa
Released	October 18, 1984
Recorded	November 1981 - June 1984 (elements of "Ya Hozna" and "Planet Of My Dreams" were recorded between 1967 and 1976)
Genre	Hard rock progressive rock comedy rock doo-wop
Length	70:45
Label	Barking Pumpkin
Producer	Frank Zappa
Frank Zappa chronology
Boulez Conducts Zappa: The Perfect Stranger (1984) Them or Us (1984) Francesco Zappa (1984)
Singles from Them or Us
"Baby Take Your Teeth Out" Released: 1984 "In France" Released: 1984

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]

Album content

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,[3] 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.[4]

Release

Following problems with the album Thing-Fish, which MCA Records refused to distribute,[5] Zappa made a deal with EMI Records, which would allow Them Or Us and Thing-Fish to be distributed by Capitol Records in the United States.[5] Zappa wrote a "warning" which appeared on the inner sleeves of these albums, as well as Frank Zappa Meets the Mothers of Prevention, which stated that the albums contained content "which a truly free society would neither fear nor suppress", and a "guarantee" which stated that the lyrics would not "cause eternal torment in the place where the guy with the horns and pointed stick conducts his business."[5]

Track listing

All tracks written by Frank Zappa, except where noted.

Personnel

Musicians

• Frank Zappa – guitar, vocals
• Ray White – guitar, vocals
• Steve Vai – guitar
• Dweezil Zappa – guitar
• Tommy Mars – keyboards
• Bobby Martin – keyboards, saxophone, vocals, harmonica
• George Duke – piano, vocals
• Brad Cole – piano
• Scott Thunes – bass, Minimoog
• Arthur Barrow – bass
• Patrick O'Hearn – bass
• Ed Mann – percussion
• Chad Wackerman – drums
• Ike Willis – vocals
• Napoleon Murphy Brock – vocals
• Roy Estrada – vocals
• Johnny "Guitar" Watson – vocals
• Moon Unit Zappa – vocals
• Bob Harris – vocals
• Thana Harris – vocals

Production staff

• Mark Pinske – chief engineer
• John Matousek – mastering
• Gabrielle Raumberger – artwork, graphic design
• Steve Schapiro – photography
• Bob Stone – engineer
• Donald Roller Wilson - Cover art

References

External links

• Release information

На других языках

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[de] Them or Us

Them or Us (dt. Sie oder wir) ist ein Pop-Rockalbum von Frank Zappa, das 1984 auf Vinyl erschien. Das Album wurde in Zappas eigenem Studio Utility Muffin Research Kitchen produziert.[2] Im gleichen Jahr wurde ein Album mit konzertanten Stücken Zappas veröffentlicht, außerdem erschien Zappas erste Veröffentlichung auf dem Synclavier, Francesco Zappa und die Dreifach-LP Thing-Fish. Die Aufnahmen profitieren von den profilierten Sängern wie Blueslegende Johnny Guitar Watson und Ike Willis. Die Stücke Stevie’s Spanking und Ya Hozna enthalten ausgedehnte Gitarrensoli von Steve Vai. Darüber hinaus findet sich auf dem Album eine Version von Whipping Post, das im Original von Gregg Allman geschrieben wurde. Diesen Song wünschte sich ein Besucher des Helsinki Konzerts im Jahre 1974. Zappa war dieses Stück damals unbekannt.[3] Für die Tournee im Jahre 1981 studierte Zappa das Stück mit seiner Band deswegen ein. Die hier enthaltene Version wurde auf dieser Tour aufgenommen.[4]

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- [en] Them or Us

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[es] Them or Us

Them or Us es un álbum del músico y compositor norteamericano Frank Zappa lanzado en 1984. La primera y última canciones son versiones. El álbum se remezcló para su edición en CD en 1990 por Rob Stone, aunque las diferencias con el original son mínimas.

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