Lucille Has Messed My Mind Up

What About This Album?

RDNZL88

There's an online auction of old records at letitbe.com, and I saw a copy of Jeff Simmons' "lucille has messed my mind up" LP on straight records (or was it bizarre...I forgot). Anyway they were asking for a minimum bid of $50.00. Figured somebody here might be interested. By the way, anybody know anything about this album? Is it any good, or is it just a Hard-Core's curiosity?

Patrick Neve

It's both. The music in its own right is not bad at all, it's pretty decent bluesy psychedelic sounding stuff. My favorite song is "I'm In The Music Business". It involves losing all of one's money while trying make a career in the music industry, and resorting to roles in porno films to make ends meet. Then out of nowhere, Jeff sings, "Ah, I need a sandwich." For some reason I find this very funny.

Zappa Involvement

Patrick Neve

The stuff of interest to Zappa fans are:
1. Includes the songs "Lucille has messed my mind up" and "Wonderful Wino", both of which are good versions.
2. Frank plays guitar on "Lucille" and "Raye."
3. It's produced by FZ
4. Ian Underwood is on it.

Richard Williams and Michael Watts, "Mother's Union," Melody Maker, December 5, 1970

Simmons is from Seattle, on the West Coast, and began playing bass in 1967, and had a band of his own in his town called Easy Chair, with a two-guitar/bass/drums line-up.

He met Zappa when Easy Chair played a gig with the Mothers in Seattle, after which they gigged at the Tropicana Motor Hotel in Los Angeles.

Then he made the album, with several friends including guitarist Craig Tarwater, formerly a member of San Francisco bands The Daily Flash and the Sons of Adam, and drummer Ron Woods, who was with Buddy Miles and is now with Pacific Gas and Electric.

"Frank helped me to finish the album," he says. "He played on a couple of tunes, 'Raye' and the title cut, and you might say he re-produced it after we'd done quite a lot." Frank is credited on the sleeve under the name "LaMar Bruister " for contractual reasons. Jeff's verdict is: "Some of it's good and some is a little too sensitive, you know, that philoso-rock bullshit."

The band broke up after the album, however, because of hassles with the Bizarre management, and Jeff joined the Mothers this summer, appearing with them at the Bath Festival.

FZ, interviewed by Michael Branton, Collage, December, 1977

"I was producing an album for a guy named Jeff Simmons," he recalls, "and I changed my name to Lamar Brewster for the record jacket. The reason I changed my name was because he was doing something that, well, maybe it had some radio potential. It wasn't commercial, but it had potential to go into radio. Everybody felt that if my name wasn't on it—even though I did the work—he'd have a better chance."

The Recording Sessions

Chris Huston

What can I tell you? This album was recorded at Mystic, my studio in Hollywood. It was the same room that I also did some of Led Zepplin's second album in. Also, the H.P. Lovecraft "Mountains of Madness" and Screaming Lord Sutch with Jeff Beck.

Jeff Simmons was great to work with and very talented as were Ron Wood and Ian Underwood. My favorite song was "Appian Way" (after a little road that runs along the top ridge of the Hollywood Hills. overlooking the Sunset Strip and West L.A. The album was recorded on a 16 track Ampex MM1000 (one of the first big multi-tracks and real a dog of a tape machine). The sessions were easy-going and fun. Everything was fun back in the '60's. This was the time when the music still ran the business. Now, unfortunately, the business runs the music. The only negative memory that I have of the project was that I loaned Craig Tarwater two of my Gibson guitars. One was a beautiful ES175. He pawned them. I didn't find out until it was too late to redeem them and they had already been sold—Bummer! I still haven't caught up with him. I'm suprised to find a copy of the album displayed on the Internet after all this time.

Jeff Simmons (swoovette), Zappateers.com, January 20, 2013

When I went to Herb [Cohen] with the completed album he was heard to remark: "If I want instrumentals . . . I'll listen to Mantovani!! Get back in the ##$%% studio!!" But I never went back to Mystic . . . in fact I was so broke and things looked bleak . . . so I bought a pack of Winstons . . . and went to Frank's pad and played him the record . . . at some point I got up enough courage to blurt out: "Frank can I borrow $100 bucks?" He filled his cheeks with Winston smoke and replied: "Gail make Jeff some spagetti!"

I guess he had enjoyed what he heard because he grabbed his guitar and showed me "Lucille HMMMU" and said "I'll help you finish this album and you can sing my song."

We went to Whitney Studios in Burbank . . . cut Lucille and Raye (why he liked that I'll never know it makes me cringe) plus we on the spot wrote the lyrics to "Wino Man" (for which Craig [Tarwater] kinda got "Shemped") and changed my instr, to "Music Biz."

Re-Release

J.L. Simmons

Dear Patrick, With Rhino Handmade poised to re-release STS1057 and Naked Angels online, I feel the time is right for me to say, "Send $17.95 and I won't master or release my second album".