Writing and Recording
Most of the tracks were recorded live, then extensively overdubbed in the studio. "Rat Tomago" is bookended by two brief pieces of musique concrète, constructed of studio dialogue, sound effects, and assorted musical fragments. In making "Rubber Shirt", Zappa combined a track of Terry Bozzio playing drums in one musical setting with one of Patrick O'Hearn playing bass in another, and totally different, musical setting. The tracks differed in time signature and in tempo. Zappa referred to this technique as xenochrony. Nearly every song on the album features numerous overdubs.
The album was also notable for being the career break of noted producer and engineer Joe Chiccarelli. In an interview with HitQuarters, Chiccarelli said: " engineer couldn’t make the session and so he decided to take a chance on me. I’m so thankful ever since that day because he gave me a career."
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic | |
| Rolling Stone | (favorable) |
| Robert Christgau | (C) |
Read more about this topic: Sheik Yerbouti
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