Not quite as significant as The Byrds’ Turn, Turn, Turn half century perhaps, but Frank’s 18th LP was released on this day in 1974.
It was his biggest seller in America, peaking at #10 and is one of the most accessible Zappa albums in his vast catalogue.
Along with Frank’s previous album Overnite Sensation it was also one of two FZ albums released in Quadraphonic, the new-fangled four channel system which fizzled out shortly after.
Continued in comments
http://i.imgur.com/5HUHLVz.jpg
There’s so much to enjoy on Apostrophe, but let’s start with the title track, an instrumental featuring Frank on guitar, Jack Bruce on bass and Layla coda hitmaker Jim Gordon on drums.
Typically Frank later said he didn’t much like Jack’s buzzsaw bass playing here, finding it “too busy”. But it sounds just fine to me.
Feel free to post your favourite Apostrophe track. I know you all have one.
Frank finds his playing “too busy”
If you wanted an adjective to describe Frank’s music, I’d have thought busy would fit.
In an interview in Guitar Player Magazine from January 1977, Zappa talks about his experience with Jack Bruce’s bass playing on the song:
Q: What about playing with (bass guitarist) Jack Bruce on Apostrophe?
FZ: Well, that was just a jam thing that happened because he was a friend of (drummer) Jim Gordon. I found it very difficult to play with him; he’s too busy. He doesn’t really want to play the bass in terms of root functions; I think he has other things on his mind. But that’s the way jam sessions go.
well he is really a lead bass player isn’t he ?
ginger a “lead”drummer
and eric lead guitarist
a recipe for exactly what we got.
I agree with you. I love Jack’s playing, but Frank always had to be contrary, didn’t he?
Jack probably overplayed to impress Frank too
Uncle Remus. Had it played at my wedding – I was told to bring 3 songs so they could play in the background while we signed the register. Seeing as you ask, the others were “9 Million Bicycles” by Katie Melua (the newly appointed GLW’s choice) and “Joe and Me” by Robbie McIntosh. A pen malfunction meant that they all got played 3 times.
A rare co-composition for Frank, and a fave because for once he dialed down the zany quotient, as well as including a stonking guitar solo.
Good call. Uncle Remus is almost a pop song by Frank’s standards and as you say, it’s a co-write with George Duke
George Duke’s own version is also superb. I love the 6/8 gospelly feel vs FZ’s straight 4/4. Kind of the black version vs the white version.
I prefer that to Zappa’s original, actually.
George Duke was probably the best musician Zappa ever employed, and it’s a mark of how much FZ appreciated him that he was the only one who he willingly gave a co-write to.
George Duke’s version of Uncle Remus appeared on his 1974 album The Aura Will Prevail together with another Zappa composition, the distinctly non-pop Echidna’s Arf
Yeah @Mike_H, agree on best musician (along with Ruth) but George Duke was also Zappa’s best vocalist, and boy did he wind up employing some stinkers in that area.
Yes @Declan, George was a very good singer. I never thought much of Napoleon Murphy Brock’s voice, but later on Ray White and Bobby Martin were good singers. Ike Willis was okay and very quick-witted and funny to boot.
Never really regarded Willis as suitable Mothers’ member although he was definitely dead right for the stage-negrah voice on Thing Fish @Mike_H.
Thing Fish, now there’s another difficult Zappa listen: good band of course, ludicrous storyline, gob-smackingly obscene. Any views, fans?
Although it seemed very relevant at the time (1984), appearing at the peak of the worldwide HIV/AIDS “scare” with the attendant conspiracy theories, Thing-Fish has not aged well and now appears laboured and self-conscious.
Musically it has a few highlights however (Mammy Nuns, Brown Moses) but probably didn’t warrant a two LP box set with a book.
1984 was a productive year in a long line of productive years for Zappa with four titles totalling 6 LPs appearing in that year:
The Perfect Stranger
Them Or Us
Thing-Fish
Francesco Zappa
Yeah, didn’t quite make the Zappa top 40 list I did at the old place, so probably a 40-something in the catalogue.
When I was a student I shared a flat with someone who worked at Radio 3. He told me that he knew he had to start taking Zappa seriously as a composer was when he heard that Pierre Boulez had conducted one of his pieces.
Them Or Us was the first Zappa album I heard and it’s still one of my favourites. I think it’s my favourite from the 80s, though I also like Make a Jazz Noise Here a lot too.
Despite what many people think, Francesco Zappa was a real 18th century Italian composer.
Around 1971 I worked for a classical music publisher who handled the works of Francesco. I thought it was a truly wonderful thing that we sold orchestral scores with the word “ZAPPA” emblazoned on the front. Naturally, the rest of the staff couldn’t see what I was getting so excited about.
Mind you, we were only up to Hot Rats at that stage, so the FZ industry hadn’t really taken off yet.
How I wish I’d pilfered a few of those scores now.
Them or Us has Ja Hozna on it
(cont.) which was Zappa’s reaction to new legislation outlawing backwards tapes and messages – he did the whole vocals backwards!
Uncle Remus reminds me of Sharleena off Chunga’s
Cozmik Debris
So many great lines and I like the way the way the percussion complements the lyrics.
“I thought it was a razor, and a can of foaming goo”
When FZ played at Knebworth in ’78 they played side one of Apostrophe (‘) as part their set
Who you jivin’ with ?
“I’ve got troubles of my own”, I said
“and you can’t help me out,
so take your medications and your preparations
and ram it up your snout!”
Great album. The live version of Don’t Eat the Yellow Snow on the YCDTOSA series is outstanding. By contrast, I don’t think FZ ever did Stinkfoot justice live.
We may as well bite the bullet and play the Apostrophe version of Don’t Eat The Yellow Snow, one of Frank’s most notorious tracks.
And, time signature fans, the first section of the song is in 7/4 time, so don’t try and dance to it.
I was thinking of posting the YCDTOSA live at Hammersmith Odeon version, but it’s over 20 minutes long and I chickened out in the end.
Can you imagine anyone else but Zappa allowing a drug-addled stranger from the audience to recite 2 of their poems during your live performance?
“I want a garden…”
Q: What’s the name of that poem?
A: Broadmoor.
I like the fact that he lists the various ailments of the band in the introduction to the song.
“Do the walls close in and suffocate’cha
You ain’t got no friends
And all the others they hate’cha”
And then later: Arf! Arf! Arf! Arf! and each syllable underlaid by an exquisitely aharmonic chord on the Rhodes. Gorgeous.
Hope this works (not available in my territory)
Ah yes those aharmonic chords he replies unconvincingly … Wtf
Shoulds said clusters Junior, woulda sounded knowledgeable.
In fact, it’s just Duke whacking the keyboard with the broad of his hand.
Such turbulent beauty.
Frank was very astute like that when it came to “exploiting” freaks and weirdos for musical purposes (see his signing of Wild Man Fischer and the GTOs).
I remember one time at the Hammersmith Odeon in the mid-70s he got the infamous “Jesus” up on stage to dance. Of course, unlike some of the more shy audience members “Jesus” needed no coaxing and was the first one up when Frank asked for volunteers and he was also the last one to leave (in fact “Jesus” outstayed his welcome to the point where Frank was on the verge of getting security to remove him).
The interesting thing was, Frank already knew “Jesus” by name when he asked for people to come up on stage and dance.
For those who don’t remember him, “Jesus” was a notorious street hippy and infamous ligger who seemed to worm his way into every concert for free.
He appears in the Glastonbury Fayre film together with Magic Michael who I mentioned on another thread.
Here’s a webpage about him.
http://www.ukrockfestivals.com/Reading-74-jesus.html
By an amazing coincidence I found this promo for David Hepworth’s book today.
Look at the picture after #20 captioned “A fan enjoying a 1971 show by Humble Pie in Hyde Park”
Yes, it’s “Jesus” mentioned above, getting ready to play his bongos in the dirt. I told you he got in everywhere.
http://teamrock.com/feature/2016-03-22/71-reasons-why-1971-is-rock-s-greatest-ever-year
I seem to recall the NME doing an article about him.
For those who can’t be bothered reading the article, here’s a picture of “Jesus” in typical pose:
http://i.imgur.com/gdkZCy7.jpg
Well my favourite track is Uncle Remus, but it’s already been taken. So let’s choose St Alfonzo’s Pancake Breakfast. I was once in the university town of Miami in Ohio and I saw that one of the cafes was advertising its annual St Alfonzo’s Pancake Breakfast. I like to imagine that it had been started by some Zappa-loving students and had become a regular event.
I bought Apostrophe on the twofer CD with Overnite Sensation. I used to prefer the latter album, but not these days. Overnite can be a bit crude, whereas Apostrophe is playful.