Creem
In the beginning Creem was a tabloid-sized newspaper distributed only in Detroit. Within two years Creem had become a glossy color magazine, sized for newsstand distribution, and secured a national distribution deal. (Many Fantastic Colors)
After a long hiatus, Creem continued in 2022 as a quarterly magazine.
We have pictures of only some pages from this early Creem issue and it is not clear, what Mothers' content – announced on the cover page – it contained. The Straight label full-page ad was included. Maybe there was something more.
Worthpoint: [Two parts of the vol. 2 #1 issue.] Both say Volume 2, # 1 on the covers, but are totally different. The issue on the left with Pete Townsend on the cover has a masthead, but the other one does not. The issue on the left is mostly devoted to artists who will appearing at the 1st Annual Detroit Rock & Roll Revival on May 31st, 1969. It also has the schedule on the inside front page. The other issue is mostly record company ads (like the Straight Records and Velvet Underground ads), and local Detroit events and businesses.
Source: Worthpoint, creem.com
“Uncle Meat” is a collage, devoid of logic or even free associations in the order of the different “songs”. And it is perfect (protean non-structure at its zenith). (read more)
Source: Steve Hecht collection, creem.com
1969 August
Vol. 2 No. 4
Trout Mask Replica (reprinted from Rolling
Stone)
By Lester Bangs, p 9
The Age Of Rock
by Jonathan Eisen (review)
By ?, pp 19, 27
Trout Mask Replica
By Richard C. Walls, p 20
1970 May
Vol. 2 No. 13
I Wouldn't Call It Dada Rock
Exactly. What It Is, Is ...
By Ben Edmunds, pp 23-27
1970 July
Vol. 2 No. 14
I Wouldn't Call It Dada Rock
Exactly. What It Is, Is ... (part II)
By Ben Edmunds, pp 24-25
1970 October
Vol. 2 No. 16
New Mothers
By Todd Everett, p 8
Weasels
Ripped My Flesh
By Richard C. Walls, pp 38-39
page 5, "Rock & Roll News": The Mothers of Invention have reformed with Aynsley Dunbar on drums and ex-Turtle Howard Kaylan (the lead singer) on vocals. While the MOI were in Britain Kaylan payed a visit to Tyrannosaurus Rex in the recording studio where they are as work on their fifth album. He ended up doing vocal harmonies with Ty Rex instigator Marc Bolan on a tune called "Seagull Woman".
Source: creem.com
“What’s the deal?” Somebody gave weird old Frank Zappa a bunch of money to make a moving picture. Is that just like years ago when somebody gave Zappa a smaller bunch of money to make records? Well, sort of similar. (read more)
No, this isn't the newest dance craze. This is our boy Frank Zappa demonstrating the tricks of his trade. It may look like monkeyshines, but how would you like to be responsible for riding herd on a pack of mangy instrumentalists, each hot to solo his grand wazoo off given half a chance? You'd have to keep a firm hand, and that's what Frank demonstrates here in ten freeze frames, each commemorating one of his years in the business and immortalizing his distinctive brand of body language. Some say the hand is quicker then the eye, but our photographers disproved that old axiom and caught Frank in his famous fickle fingers act. So the old fart decided to fess up and tell us what all the hand jive means.
Source: The Waldo Scrapbooks
1974 December
Vol. 6 No. 7
Frank Zappa vs. The
Tooth Fairy:
It happened in the Hollywood Hills
nolo contendre by Ed Naha, pp 38-41, 76-77
Ten Years With The Mothers
pp 42-43
The living room could be anyone's. A cheerful, grey-haired grandmother tries to coax her tiny grandson into a state of slumber. An older blonde boy sprawls on the couch and watches a re-run of Hee-Haw. Upstairs, a little girl patters about unseen. It's Los Angeles' answer to suburban Long Island. I sit in the corner, loading my tape recorder, awaiting the subject of this interview. Ozzie Nelson? Glen Campbell? Gerry Ford?
Nope. Frank Zappa.
As I slide the tape cartridge into the sputtering Sony, I try to envision Zappa's entrance. This has to be some sort of set up. Being a fan of Frank's for ten years, I just KNOW he'll do something bizarre. Maybe he'll throw up on the carpet. Or carry in a large stuffed giraffe with a likeness of Jimmy Carl Black strapped on its back. Or burn a carrot on a cross. (read more)
Frank Zappa is incapable of writing a solid, memorable, hummable pop/rock melody; the kind of melody with a hook that sticks in your mind so well it may overstay itself and become obnoxious. (read more)
Source: Fulvio Fiore
1976 January
Vol. 7 No. 10
Penguins In
Bondage. Frank Zappa and Captain Beefheart
By Robot A. Hull, pp 24, 72
The radio programmer has his nose pressed flat against the glass which separates his padded cell from our studio recording booth. Kids are wandering outside our room, waiting for the release of Captain Beefheart and Frank Zappa so they can smother them with hostile affection (and receive the usual cold snub). (read more)
Source: The Waldo Scrapbooks
1976 September
Vol. 8 No. 4
Zappa's been workin' on de railroad
(De Grand Funk Railroad, dat is!)
By Michael Davis, pp 34, 36-37, 68-69
Frank Zappa is the creeping terror. X the Unknown, That's Mr. Z., who set himself up ages ago as the spokesman for the dawn of social correction (listen, Barry McGuire was just clowning around, and Sgt. Barry Sadler just happened to hate gooks, so what?) and told a whole generation of innocent babes (not yet exposed to warfare like Starsky and Hutch but still being fed on Star Trek and Joe Pyne) to TURN OFF THEIR TV SETS (that's what Freak Out was all about, a justification for Zappa's own paranoia, suggesting that the Brain Police were actually seeping out of the tube). (read more)
Beside Zoot Allures review on page 34 you can find Zappa in Best Producers list.
Article on Moon and Frank Zappa based on interview with them.
The first time I heard Frank Zappa’s “Valley Girl” on the radio, I turned up the volume, pulled my car off the road, and sat there slightly shocked. I was turned to KFRC, a very powerful, very popular Top 40 station in the San Francisco Bay Area, a station that generally plays hits like “Waiting For A Girl Like You” and “Keep The Fire Burning.” (read more)
It's Frank Zappa. At last. By trying to have this interview coincide with some of his upcoming releases, I've almost missed connecting with Zappa. He's gearing up for his first tour in over three years, rehearsing his band eight hours a day, all the while trying to tie up loose ends in a number of areas. One of our foremost musicaholics has been as busy as ever: Frank and the band are scheduled to be in Europe as you read this, and "there has been some talk about doing 10 weeks in late summer, outdoor festival type things," west of the Mississippi – his dates earlier this year were confined to the Midwest and Northeast. (read more)