Ray Collins, 1936-2012

Collins, Jimmy Carl Black, Pamela "Suzy Creamcheese" Zarubica, Frank Zappa, and Don Preston, London, circa 1968. 

Collins was the primary voice of The Mothers Of Invention in their first incarnation, his creamy tenor croon nicely offseting Zappa's more nasal drawl and/or Roy Estrada's Pachuco interjections, falsetto or otherwise. He really did have the voice and the chops to be a great vocalist in the traditions/modes he genuinely loved—doo-wop and pop balladeering. But the zeitgeist had other plans for him. Enjoy him on Freak Out, Absolutely Free, and particularly Ruben And The Jets (the Zappa-label-issued Greasy Love Songs features that album's original, rather odder mix, and is highly recommended), and ponder how We're Only In It For The Money might have benefited from his more active participation therein. 

Here is an intriguing profile of him from 2009 in a Claremont paper. Rest in peace. 

Comments

[Oliver_C]

R.I.P. too, TV puppeteer Gerry Anderson -- the man who was offered *$750,000* by Hollywood simply to utter a few words of endorsement for the live-action movie adaptation of his signature series 'Thunderbirds', a project which Anderson had had nothing to do with.

Not only did he refuse, he correctly described the adaptation as "the biggest load of crap I have ever seen in my entire life."

[Petey]

You can't, really, cuz I do love the flick Some Came Running, but you ought to change the name of the blog to 200 Motels...

(Truly an under-rated movie.)

[andy]

Gerry Anderson! Speaking of Herbert Lom, Journey to the Far Side of the Sun is a nifty little flick.

[Shawn Stone]

Cue up "America Drinks and Goes Home." My favorite Zappa vocalist.

[Wagesovfeare]

Thanks Glenn! Key voices from formative years need to be remembered. It's how we got here and why laugh so much and pay so much attention to stuff that makes other folks go "Who cares?" Zappa was paying some serious attention and Ray was part of that moment that lifted us from buying all that stuff they told was "Absolutely Free."

PS: Can you believe you still hear that phrase on the radio to hawk stuff???? Sheesh. RAY RIP

[David Ehrenstein]

As I trust you know, Glenn, th world's biggest Zappa fan is Wong Kar Wai.

[David Ehrenstein]

Here ya go Shawn!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4erJjojjvc

[Petey]

The thing that always amazes me is there was a year or so, sometime around the Bicentennial, where the two Most Important Bands in the nation were Zappa's outfit and George Clinton's outfit.

I think we can safely say that was the apogee of the American musical scene...

[Shawn Stone]

Thanks, David.

"'Caravan' with a drumsola? Yeah, we'll do that."

[Matthew Blankman (@blankemon)]

The thing is, if it had been a decade earlier, Zappa and Collins surely could have been very successful as purveyors of doo-wop flavored pop. Hell, "Memories of El Monte" proves that to a point. Not only did Collins have the vocal chops, but Zappa really could write strong pop melodies when he wanted to (which wasn't often).

[preston]

Hey Glenn,

Don't know if you've seen it but there is a pretty interesting doc on Fandor called 'From Straight to Bizarre' about Zappa and Herb Cohen's record labels and those who recorded for them. Kinda long but informative.