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Although it wasn't released until 1993, AHEAD OF THEIR TIME is a live Zappa/Mothers of Invention recording taped on October 28, 1968, at the Royal Festival Hall in London. It was the final date of a lengthy European tour, and Zappa was asked to pick an opening act to warm up this particular show. Throughout the tour, Frank had been composing chamber music pieces in his free time in hotels and airports. So instead of hiring a band to open the show, Frank decided to use this time to his advantage. He hired members of the BBC Symphony to perform these pieces, while having Mothers members Ian Underwood, Bunk Gardner, and Arthur Dyer Tripp III act out a play over the music. Zappa realized he could record the performance, and possibly release it as his next album. For whatever reason, he was not happy with the results at the time, and the tapes of the show sat in a vault for years. Listening today, the performance is comparable to his subsequent play, 1971's UNCLE MEAT, since it's a combination of rock ("Let's Make the Water Turn Black," "Transylvania Boogie"), orchestra ("Prologue"), and theater ("Progress?").

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track list
01.Prologue (3:07)
02. Progress? (4:44)
03. Like It Or Not (2:21)
04. The Jimmy Carl Black Philosophy Lesson (2:01)
05. Holding The Group Back (2:00)
06. Holiday In Berlin (0:56)
07. The Rejected Mexican Pope Leaves The Stage (2:55)
08. Undaunted, The Band Plays On (4:34)
09. Agency Man (3:17)
10. Epilogue (1:52)
11. King Kong (8:13)
12. Help, I'm A Rock (1:38)
13. Transylvania Boogie (3:07)
14. Pound For A Brown (6:50)
15. Sleeping In A Jar (2:24)
16. Let's Make The Water Turn Black (1:51)
17. Harry, You're A Beast (0:53)
18. The Orange County Lumber Truck (Part 1) (0:46)
19. Oh No (3:22)
20. The Orange County Lumber Truck (Part 2) (10:36)

Line-up
- Frank Zappa / guitar, vocals
- Don Preston / piano (electric), noise
- Jimmy Carl Black / drums
- Roy Estrada / bass, vocals
- Bunk Gardner / clarinet, saxophone (Tenor)
- Art Tripp / percussion, drums
- Ian Underwood / piano, saxophone (Alto)
- James Sherwood / saxophone (Baritone), tambourine