What does it sound like?:
People often ask me “Where’s the best place to start with Zappa?” With a catalogue of such daunting proportions it’s a reasonable question after all. These days all of Frank’s albums are numbered on the CD spine in order of release, starting with his 1966 Freak Out debut as album #1. When I tell you that The Crux Of The Biscuit is album #102, you can see the dilemma facing the novice Zappa listener.
The stock answer to the question is, of course, Hot Rats, or One Size Fits All, or maybe Apostrophe. Those were, after all, his biggest sellers from the early/mid 70s when the rock world finally achieved peak Zappa. But it’s a glib and lazy answer too. FZ covered so much ground over a three decade recording career that to narrow him down to just a handful of well-known albums would do the man a disservice. Classical, heavy rock, jazz fusion, comedy, avant garde, musique concrete, electronic, straight rock and god knows what else, Zappa did it all and he did it in style – and sometimes he did it all on the same album! His records are bursting at the seams with wonderfully diverse musical themes and rich concepts. Often a single Zappa song contains enough stops, starts, twists and turns to fill an entire album by a lesser artist, while a full album by Frank routinely features more musical ideas than most bands are able to come up with during their entire career.
Since Frank died in 1993, leaving a seemingly bottomless vault of unreleased material, the FZ Family Trust has issued a regular trickle of archive albums, some of them truly great, others so-so and a few not really up the high standards Frank set during his lifetime. Thankfully The Crux Of The Biscuit is a goodie. The title is a line from Stink-Foot, a song from the 1973 Apostrophe album and what we have here is a series of outtakes and early, alternate versions of tracks from Zappa’s most commercially successful record in the United States. An alternate Apostrophe album, if you will.
Cosmik Debris sounds great in slightly different remixed form (check out those unheard backing vocals and sound effects) and a second version appears minus Frank’s vocal, so we can hear exactly what that great band of his were up to. When he wanted to, Frank could write a catchy pop song as good as anyone and an outtake of Uncle Remus highlights that fine, hummable melody. Fortunately for his fans, Zappa could never bring himself to write radio friendly lyrics to match the tunes.
Frank tells the convoluted story of St. Alfonzo’s Pancake Breakfast/Don’t Eat The Yellow Snow on a 1973 snippet from Australian radio interview, before a live version from Sydney’s Hordern Pavilion brings it all to life. This is the only concert track, everything else is studio material of the highest quality.
Jack Bruce fans will find much to enjoy here, as the virtuoso bass player is all over this album. In true sardonic Zappa style, Frank once dismissed Jack’s thunder and lightning bass work on the Apostrophe title track as “too busy”. Well, he can be as busy as he likes as far as I’m concerned, this is great music. Jack takes control of what was essentially a jam session with Frank on guitar and Derek & the Dominos drummer Jim Gordon behind the kit and turns it into a thunderous instrumental tour de force. There are several extended versions and outtakes of the track (also titled Energy Frontier), some with a distinct prog feel to enjoy here too.
The album ends with a spoken word track titled “Frank’s Last Words”. Not, thankfully, his actual final utterances, but a happy sounding Zappa winding up a recording session with studio banter and “OK that’s the take” over the talk back speakers.
If you’re a fan of the Apostrophe album and Frank’s music generally from this period, then I can guarantee you’ll love The Crux Of The Biscuit. It’s the perfect companion to one of his most accessible albums. It may even be the ideal place to embark on your Zappa listening experience.
What does it all *mean*?
The Present-Day Composer Refuses to Die
Goes well with…
The other 101 Zappa albums
Release Date:
Might suit people who like…
some of the most inventive and diverse music of the 20th century
Another day, another Frank Zappa album
Sounds great esp the dub version of cosmik debris
Jack Bruce – too busy. Guess all musicians would be prone to that too impress FZ. But talk about a case of pot meet kettle. Yes
Has made me dig out my copy of Apostrophe this evening – lovely writing, thanks.
I really enjoyed the Energy Frontier variations, while the Cosmik Debris (slight variation) felt unnecessary and the Nanook story not really one for repeat listening. Biggest shame for me was no variation or live version of Stinkfoot. I just love that solo – Zappa on an acoustic always a revelation eg Sleep Dirt). Even a rehashed Helsinki Stinkfoot without Chad’s replacement drums would have been welcome. But these are minor quibbles. It’s Apostrophe Variations and that provides a new prism through which to appreciate one of the albums that turned me on to FZ in the first place. Very welcome.
I had to listen very hard to spot any differences on the opening track version of Cosmik Debris, but they are there, mostly in the previously unheard backing vocals and sound effects. The later version minus lead vocals is more interesting. It’s the released version, but it has an earlier guitar solo which Frank replaced before release. The band are doing incredible things on that track, most of which you can’t hear on the released version, but without the vocals it’s all there. Ruth Underwood especially was the star of that band for me. Such a great vibes player.
And one of the versions of Energy Frontier drifts off into raga rock prog territory with an “unknown flute player”.
Even for non-Zappa fans, Jack Bruce features so prominently on this album that it’s worth having just for that.
I never really liked JB’s overbusy playing on the title track – where’s Frank gone – but here it seems to breathe and fit better. I think JB was out to impress sadly. Would have been nice to hear the more chilled guy who occasionally surfaces on the early solo albums.
Agree re Ruth, although George Duke and Nappy right up there for ability and presence (respectively).
Never really liked Napoleon Murphy Brock’s vocals that much. A fine musician but a rather flawed singer. Zappa should have used George Duke’s voice more and Nappy’s less. IMO.
One Size Fits All is about the only Zappa album I like and it never gets mentioned… Nice one Johnny.
Wonderful album. If I could only hear one Zappa album ever again, that would be it. The previous live album, Roxy and Elsewhere is the same band, recorded a few months earlier, honing their incredible chops with similarly challenging fare.
One Size Fits All is the default recommendation for Zappa newbies. It’s mainstream rock with just enough weirdness to make it recognisably Frank, but not enough to put new listeners off for life.
But having said that, Inca Roads, San Ber’dino and Andy are right up there with Frank’s best work.
Whats your favourite Zappa album JC?
It varies. I was lucky enough to hear Freak Out as my first Zappa album in 1967 and since 1970 I’ve heard every album more or less on release. So each one was explored as a new release. I’d hate to have to go back and start again now.
I went though a period of loving You Are What You Is and for years maintained it was the perfect Zappa album. Then I became obsessed with the You Can’t Do That Onstage Anymore set of six double CDs, followed by the 1988 live albums The Best Band You Never Heard In Your Life and Make A Jazz Noise Here.
But these days I’m loving some of the posthumous releases such as Buffalo which is a live show from 1980 in, er, Buffalo, NY. Frank is at his best for me when the comedy matches the virtuoso playing and on Buffalo it’s a perfect mix of the two.
How about you? (other than OSFA, I mean).
Here’s the Zappa album of the moment in our house:
My first was Hot Rats, still remarkable. Love Uncle Meat very much for its beautifully-recorded instrumental detail and the Roxy lineup stuff for the band’s chops. Dark horse: Them and Us.
Lovely review, Johnny.
Thanks Declan. It was around 1970 when Hot Rats, Weasels, Chunga’s and Burnt Weeny Sandwich all appeared with a year of each other that I/we realised this Zappa fellow could well become a long-term proposition.
I maintain that Frank is one of the few 60s figures who improved as time went on. His final albums were just as good if not better than his early releases with the Mothers. Of course, I know 60s buffs who disagree, claiming the Verve albums were the best, but I don’t buy into that.
“within a year”
Neither did FZ, didn’t he argue the point in an early YCDTOSA booklet? Mark I Mothers were slightly ramshackle fun whereas that Duke/Ruth lineup was ridiculously jumpin’. The Thunes/Wackermann bigband with horns was also extremely accomplished if a little reined in and controlled. He had stopped giving the jazz guys (much) room to breathe, basically, even if MAJNH and TBBYNHIYL suggest otherwise. And the Flo+Eddie band never delivered anything substantial.
That’s true, but Frank was rarely happy with even his best bands. I meant that critically most 60s artists are usually thought to make their best records early and then tail off. But that certainly wasn’t the case with Frank.
My favourites tend to vary according to familiarity, memory and context I suppose. It’ll be somewhere between OSFA, Apostrophe, You Are What You Is, Roxy and whatever new release is tickling my fancy – Buffalo, as you mention, Oz, the extended Roxy, that kind of thing. I have huge affection for the live Flo and Eddie albums in parts (albeit wishing I could replace large sections of Billy the Mountain with Divan and rein in some if the scatology and swearing, so I can share it with my kids. And finally Sheik Yerbouti gets an honourable mention for the wonder that is Yo Mama a, the xenochtony of mixing solos and unrelated backing tracks, the production (like nothing else I’d ever heard in vinyl), Adrian Below and Terry Bozzio. The early Mother’s albums were before my time and I struggle to hear anything that hooks me I’m, albeit later live versions (Call Any Vegetable, Ain’t Got No Heart, You Didn’t Try to Call Me etc) have enough musical meat to appeal. Maybe it’s a Ray Collins thing.
Some great choices there. Funny you should mention Yo Mama. As a guitar kind of guy, I hadn’t really taken that track on board (although I loved Sheik Yerbouti generally, having attended some of the Hamm Odeon shows where much of it was recorded). Then one day a mate who lives and breathes keyboard music (his favourite albums are by Greenslade and ELP, go figure) took me aside and emphasised the majesty of Tommy Mars’ keyboard intro to that track. Ever since, it’s been my favourite Sheik Yerbouti moment.
As for the Vaudeville band, I used to love those Flo and Eddie albums, but find them a little embarrassing now.
I also found them embarrassing – hard not to – but then I had a bit of a pencil album fetish a few months back. It’s such a shame that some of the dialogue obscures some great music. I should also mention YCDTOSA 1. I can remember the anticipation for the rest of the series – and the huge disappointment as more and more 1984 kept coming.
You were at the Odeon gigs?? Seriously jealous. Was that the “I want a garden” Angus o’Reilly Patrick McGinty one? Whatever happened to that guy!
PS I think I’ve always taken Tommy Mars a bit for granted. Reading about Alan Zavod and his hit rate post audition (he got about 70% of the notes right at audition – and his rate didn’t get much better on tour, or something) made me appreciate Mars more. He had a great keyboard sound, albeit it’s not a bit dated. Wonderful playing, as you say. That solo though – it towered over me as a budding guitarist. However much Page, Iommi and Blackmore I could reasonably emulate/reproduce, there was no kidding myself I would ever be that good.
I interviewed Allan Zavod a few years ago and he had nothing but praise for Frank. He’s an Aussie who lives back in Melbourne now. I always thought it was great that after touring with Zappa, AZ should write and perform the opening music for the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
I remember Tommy Mars and a few other band members got busted at the Royal Garden Hotel on Kensington High Street in (I think) the early 80s. It was where Frank used to stay when in London. Mars must have been a valued band member because Frank didn’t sack him, despite the strict “no drugs” rule.
I wasn’t at the “I want a garden” gig, but I was at the famous “Jesus” concert. “Jesus” was a legendary London figure who seemed to get into every gig for free. He’s on the 1972 Glastonbury Fayre film performing with Magic Michael. Anyway, Zappa appeared to know “Jesus” and referred to him by name, so when Frank asked for volunteers from the audience to come up onstage to dance, “Jesus” was the first one up and the last to leave. In fact Frank virtually had to throw him off in the end.
I’ve never bothered to try and learn any of Zappa’s guitar solos. It’s like a different language.
http://www.ukrockfestivals.com/jesus-jellett.html
Excellent! That band was something else.
I got to see him in Birmingham in 88. It was the best sounding show I’d ever heard. Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds was mind melting. No gig-related banter sadly (apart from “What’s a nice girl like you doing in a convention center like this”) and sadly it never featured in the 88 releases, no matter how often I studied the liner notes.
Back to soloing. I think it’s the starting simplicity of the Yo Mama solo that has always had me wanting to master the whole thing. This guy does a pretty good job of showing how close you can get to being an FZ-soundalike using the Lydian scale. FZ loved his mixolydian and minor pentatonic too:
That’s amazing, especially as he looks only about 12 years old. I’m too stuck in the pentatonic mind set to get anywhere near that.
Give me four fours! Some old melodies!
Lydian! Next up to learn. And heartening to see such young folk keeping this music alive (see also that Mahavishnu chap who plays all the instruments, do remind us @ Colin H)
And isn’t it heart-warming to see a young chap like that devoting his energies to something so worthwhile, instead of wandering around the streets playing farking Pokémon Go?
A bit tasty isn’t he! Still, it really is just using the mode and throwing in a few trademark Zappa cues, bends, shuffles, runs and other twists.
Not that I could do that at his age…
@Colin-H
(above)
Nice review JC. I’d heard the extended Apostrophe and didn’t really see the point (ie the edit was done for good reason) but maybe I’ll check out the album now. Cosmik Debris sounds intriguing.
What is really interesting about FZ these days is the number of people who play his music in all sorts of weird and wacky ways – eg here’s Jinta-la-Mvta, a Japanese Klezmer Band, playing Peaches en Regalia
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ca-DtZIhsS0
If you’re the sort of person who, ahem, does a weekly 90 minute radio show based on FZ, you’re always looking for new stuff to play.
Here’s a fabulous arrangement by Quebec harpist Valerie Milot of G-Spot Tornado
Thanks Mousey. Do you have a link to your radio show?
The Crux of the Biscuit is the fourth installment of Zappa’s Project/Object series that lets us in behind the scenes at the making of his albums. I like to think of the series as Frank’s weird take on the Beatles Anthology CDs.
Both of those clips are great btw. Hearing a Zappa cover version is always a special thrill. It reminds me of the first time I ever used Spotify in anger. I was in coffee shop and amid all the bland cool jazz they were playing, this version of Chunga’s Revenge came on. I quickly whipped out my phone and identified it as the Gotan Project, an Argentinean group based in Paris.
Have you ever heard Wullie Thon Mink by Saint Andrew? it’s a Dundonian version of willie the Pimp.
Can’t find a version online but here’s something from the same album (The Word on the Pavey) which has some Zappaesque touches:
And Wullie Thon Mink available here:
https://www.musical1.com/saint-andrew/uploaded_audio/14/wullie-thon-mink
Bernard Struber also does a terrific G Spot Tornado* – it’s not on YouTube so you’ll have to take my word for it.
(*I mean the song. I can’t speak for his other talents)
JC google Eastside radio Sydney
Peters show is on Wednesday
No longer using phone so easier to post link
http://eastsidefm.org/onesizefitsall/
Thanks JW, I’m on it
Why am I reading this, when I struggle with all but Hot Rats, which I adore, bar the vocal on the title track.? Which is the crux. I loathe any Zappa with vocals, whether his smug basso or any of the idiotic shrieking and caterwauling he seems to pepper his work with. And the lyrical content seldom adds any likeableness either. And I have tried, o yes, I have tried. Hell I used even to pretend to like him. But I want to find again the instrumental magnificence of Rats. Not the guitar soloing per se, excellent tho’ it is, but the peculiarity of the unison not quite harmony horn motifs in Peaches, the oddness generally of It must be a Camel, especially the bass figures therein. Where can I find this again? The Grand Wazoo and Waka Jawaka touch on it in parts, but not much. Or enough.
Help me here, guys. Resurrect your god for me.
P.S. I sat next to Jesus at Reading in 1975, as he danced. He smelt quite bad, I recall.
When you say the “vocal on the title track” I think you mean Willie The Pimp featuring the good Captain Beefheart on vocals.
I can’t help you with another Hot Rats style album I’m afraid (sometimes regarded as the first jazz rock fusion LP, btw) but those of us of a certain age could certainly start a “Jesus” thread.
Indeed, that Bee Fart man. My bad on the title, but he does mention hot rats, hot zits hot etc etc in the “chorus”
Do try to hear the compilations of his last bigband mentioned upthread, Make A Jazz Noise Here and The Best Band You Never Heard In Your Life. Solid instrumental fare, hardly any vocals or humour (as it were).
@retropath2
Also Roxy and Elsewhere has a fait bit of pure melody. Also Imaginary Diseases, a recording of Zappa’s small touring ensemble from 1972.
I’ve loved Zappa since the age of 15, but I’ve never really warmed to Hot Rats. Beefheart’s vocal rasp and the second side’s songs – just hasn’t ever done much for me. Maybe as I heard it’s best track via the extraordinary and mental version on Tinseltown Rebellion first. Worth a listen if you haven’t heard it before.
@Mousey might have a suggestion or two.
I’ll look those out @declan, ta. Meanwhile I will carry on finding stuff like this, that to my ears is very much in the template of what I seek. Jukka Mauru, from Finland.
And right on cue, here’s the auction catalogue for the sale of Property from the Estate of Frank and Gail Zappa
http://www.juliensauctions.com/images/auctions/2016/frank-and-gail-zappa/flipbook/icatalog.html
If I had to pick the ultimate FZ track it would be this one. A live version of Zomby Woof from 1982. Unbelievably funky, yet with weird, insane stop time rhythms topped off with a killer guitar solo that could strip paint. It all adds up to maximum Zappa.
And here’s the best part. The song was recorded in Italy in July 1982, but the guitar solo is from a month earlier in London. So I was there when the solo was recorded, but not the rest of the song. Go figure that out.
You do surprise me! Never liked it much – possibly Sal’s voice. Camerillo Brillo pretty much the only thing I love from Overnite. 82 band tho – tasty!
I absolutely loved Overnite Sensation when it came out in 1973, much more than Apostrophe at the time (although they are now regarded as two halves of the same album). I think because it was a move into semi mainstream rock and was the point where Frank really became a guitar hero (Hot Rats notwithstanding).
Apostrophe seems to have aged a little better however.
Fair enough. I think I preferred Apostrophe for the melodies, incredible guitar and less embarrassing lyrics. If you could swap Camarillo for Excentrifigal Forz, I doubt I’d ever listen to Overnite again, but play Apostrophe even more.
His smuttiness eventually became alarming, what must his wife and daughters have thought? Peaking on Man From Utopia (Jazz Discharge Party Hats) and Thing Fish (various – shudder).
And this at the age of 40. He was even only 30 around Dynamo-hum.
I remember enjoying the Flo & Eddie albums on release, but I rarely listen to them now for the reasons you describe. But, hey, it was 1971 and thems were different times.
My very first Zappa concert would have been the 200 Motels show at the Albert Hall in Feb 1971 (I had tickets and everything). But we all know what happened next.
Gotta have a dick that’s a monster is still an amusing concept. Ish. Magdalena even still acceptable. The TMI creepiness came a little later.
For me, on Sheik Yerbouti with I Have Been In You. Yuck.
In its defence, I Have Been In You was lampooning the Peter Frampton hit I’m In You, which was even more creepy because Frampton was being serious. Bobby Brown is the one I’m uncomfortable with, more so with each passing year. Yet those crazy Germans and Dutch took it into the singles chart and made it a hit
Never knew that Frampton angle. Puts a new complexion on it. Sorta.
I was already living in Germany at the time Bobby Brown was a major mainstream radio hit and people would do the old milkman trick of whistling it, then quoting lines they obviously didn’t quite understand. Surreal!
All together now: “as long as I get a little golden shower”.
In concert Frank would often do a long preamble to I Have Been In You mentioning Frampton by name. Zappa loved to ridicule those “cute English rock stars” who were so irresistible to American girls.
He said (quite rightly) that the first time he heard Frampton’s 1977 hit I’m In You he couldn’t quite believe it and felt moved to write a response.
There is a released live version of I Have Been In You containing most of the preamble but I think it omits Frampton’s name.
There are also unreleased versions of this on YouTube all of which are NSFW, so I won’t post them here.
Although we had some Derek & Clive posted the other day, so I don’t think we need to worry about a little Zappa smut.
Still probably NSFW (unless you work in a very sweary place)
Album #102 you say? Hmm.
You’ll forgive me if I stick to the first 10?
Really only waiting for a cheap (non-1980s ‘improvement’) “Ruben & The Jets” and “Uncle Meat.”
An updated Uncut Special would also be nice, and far more interesting than most of the subjects they’ve picked so far.
There are now 105 official Zappa albums: 62 were released during his lifetime and 43 since his death in 1993.
Here’s your first 10 albums as numbered on the spines. If you wanted to drop album #7, the Mothermania compilation, you could have album #11 Chunga’s Revenge (1970) and still stay within your preferred decade.
#1 – Freak Out (1966)
#2 – Absolutely Free (1967)
#3 – Lumpy Gravy (1967)
#4 – We’re Only in It for the Money (1968)
#5 – Cruising with Ruben & the Jets (1968)
#6 – Uncle Meat (1969)
#7 – Mothermania (1969)
#8 – Hot Rats(1969)
#9 – Burnt Weeny Sandwich (1970)
#10 – Weasels Ripped My Flesh (1970)
And where’s @fatima-xberg when you need her? She can give chapter and verse on the availability of those Verve albums Frank partially re-recorded in the 80s.
They’re the ones.
“Uncle Meat” might have #6 on the spine but doesn’t it still have a 1982 recording in the grooves?
If so, do I look like I want to hear “The Girl Is Mine” half-way through the second side of “Abbey Road”???!!
Good point , well made
As for “Bobby Brown” – it’s been a VERY popular song at turkish/arabic weddings for some time now, and yes, most people know what he’s singing about and they get the joke (cue golden confetti being thrown on the couple at “golden shower”). Lots of ridiculously weird fun when you’re watching stuff like that.
But “updated” Uncut special? There wasn’t one. (There is a MOJO Special Edition on Zappa which is highly recommended. It has a guide to all of Zappa’s releases, including the archive editions from after his death.)
You’re right, and that Mojo Special is terrific.
What I meant to say is that, as a new £8 or £10 Uncut Special appears on W.H. Smith’s shelf every month, I hope one on Zappa gets published.
Allegedly this was the closest anyone ever got to performing a Zappa orchestral score as he intended it to be heard.
(Ensemble Modern – Dog Breath Variations/Uncle Meat)
That’s just fantastic. But I couldn’t help myself, I was singing the lyrics along with it…. “Fuzzy dice and bongos…. chromium plated” &etc.
There’s a superb version of “Moggio” by Ensemble Modern. First track on “Ensemble Modern Plays Frank Zappa”.
BONGO FURY!!! As our old friend, James Blast used to say. Or shout. It’s the only Zappa album I can listen to without my teeth being set on edge.
Bongo is a curate’s egg for me. The first Zappa I ever heard – I had to ask the cooler-than-thou record shop assistant what exactly this glorious music was (the wonderful Muffin Man), but Cucamonga sets my teeth on edge. And Advance Romance has never persuaded, no matter how many times FZ tried to rearrange and re-record the thing.
I really like Bongo Fury. Even the title is great.
For those who don’t know, here’s the story. Although they were pals since childhood and are often lumped together in the basket of weirdness (as Hillary might say) Zappa and Beefheart were very different people indeed.
While Frank was meticulous and took every aspect of his music incredibly seriously, Beefheart was disorganised and not such a great musician. In 1974/75 Beefheart’s affairs were in a mess. He’d somehow become contracted to two (or possibly three) record companies at the same time and was unable to record or tour under his own name while it got sorted out in court.
So Frank took pity on his old pal and took him on tour as a Mothers member to earn him some money. It was a shambles from the start. Beefheart wouldn’t rehearse and couldn’t remember the lyrics, so he came onstage every night carrying reams of paper with the words to the songs which he’d place on the floor by his microphone stand. Often these would blow away and Beefheart would go scurrying after them.
Because Beefheart was signed to Virgin records in Britain at that stage, Bongo Fury was never released on vinyl in the UK and all copies were imported from the US.
Oh and the Bongo Fury cover picture is printed back to front.
Genius!
Back to front? That picture’s always looked slightly odd to me and that explains it. Apart from the foreshortening making them look like puppets.
Here’s the released version (top) with the corrected shot below.
http://i627.photobucket.com/albums/tt351/mojoworking01/Bongo_zpsu3sycmtu.jpg
A question for those with even larger FZ collections than mine:
Has anything ever been officially released featuring the 1973 band variant with Jean-Luc Ponty on board?
There are clips aplenty on YT and a few very listenable boots to be found. My absolute favourite lineup.
Here’s a list of releases featuring J-L P, studio and live:
http://wiki.killuglyradio.com/wiki/Jean-Luc_Ponty
So according to that, the live Mothers with J-LP only feature on one track, which is a short burst of “Farther Oblivion” recorded in Sydney, on “You Can’t Do That On Stage Anymore Vol. 6” where it’s incorrectly dated 1972. According to the Zappateers list of known recordings, it was performed on June 25th 1973.
Everything else on that list appears to be studio recordings. I hadn’t previously noticed he was on “Apostrophe”.
Saw that iteration of the band in Melb. I just know you were all dying to know that.
The Beat the Boots recording is live from 1973. Not sure re The Lost Episodes – will check later…
Two tasty cuts (RDNZL and Inca Roads, with J-L playing the melody line), but studio, not live.
Hopefully Ahmet will release some more. Maybe if he can’t make enough money from selling Dweezil’s guitars.
Yes “Piquantique” from the now-deleted Beat The Boots box series features the early ’73 band with Ponty, (recorded in Stockholm and Sydney, though it just says Stockholm on the cover). It’s one of the better BTB releases. Sound quality is pretty good. That one only became an “official” release (Vinly as part of 8-album BTB#1 box only, Individually still available on CD) after previously being sold as a bootleg.
There’s also a good-quality 2-CD bootleg from Arlington, Texas (March 11th ’73) allegedly available at the Eel Market.
Not named in Bartleby’s list is the album Ponty did for Liberty in 1970 called King Kong, featuring Duke, Underwood, Tripp as well as un-Mothers people like Ernie Watts and Wilton Felder. Zappa is credited as composer and arranger and the whole thing is in the tradition of a more orchestral Uncle Meat.
You’d like it @Mike_H.
Yes! Good call,
Yup, it is one even I like (but am always a sucker for electric violin, having many of Pontys other stuff.) He did some good stuff with other Mothers alumnus, George Duke, altho’ Zappaesque silliness creeps in on occasion.
I have that on CD.
Zappa plays guitar on one (Ponty-composed) track “How Would You Like To Have a Head Like That?”.
Oh, by the way. According to Ammmazzzon, there’s another 2-CD Zappa release in the pipeline, scheduled for 21st October release.
“Solid Gold Live On Air”
Disc 1 Highlights From Saturday Night Live 1976 and the Palladium 1977.
Disc 2 Highlights From the Ritz Theatre 1981.
Not sure if it’s a proper ZFT release or an iffy one though.
From the label(s), it sounds decidedly iffy!
ZFT about to release 78 Chicago, a deluxe Uncle Meat variant called Meat Light and Little Dots, a 72 Petit Wazoo set. Licks lips in anticipation… of the first and last at least.
Yes, all due next month (November 2016). For those still counting they will be albums #106, 107, 108
Zappa and violin players. He’s had a few.
There was Don “Sugarcane Harris” who played on four Zappa albums, including Hot Rats
Then there was Jean Luc Ponty as discussed.
Then, not forgetting L.Shankar who worked with Frank in the late 70s. Frank produced Shankar’s Touch Me There album and supplied guitar and vocals. FZ also wrote this track Dead Girls Of London
The first version was recorded with Van Morrison on vocals, but The Man’s record company nixed the release. So Frank replaced Van’s vocals for this version.
This is some pretty dirty sounding violin here, I’m sure you’ll agree.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrTClVeCVUY
Bloody hell this is absolutely my kind of thread here and I’ve not been around (= too busy with, um, staying alive) to spend the time here over the last few days…
Brilliant cover versions, thanks all who posted. They’ll find a spot on my radio show which is mentioned above.
And brilliant “cover explanation” thanks @Johnny_Concheroo
Frank Zappa is UNDENIABLY A MAJOR FIGURE in late 20th century, and early 21st century music.
You don’t have to like him.
There are so many other folks that fit the description “UNDENIABLY MAJOR FIGURES” in music. Who I dislike. I don’t deny their status, I just don’t like their music.
But Frank Zappa deserves a look, and a listen. It might be HOT RATS, it might be APOSTROPHE, it might be ONE SIZE FITS ALL, or maybe it’s just this…
(And if you’ve got this far on this thread, well, you’ll give it a go…)
Cheers Mousey. I’ve bookmarked your radio show.
The great thing about Zappa (one of many great things in fact) is that his music ranges from Cheech and Chong*-style comedy to impenetrable Karlheinz Stockhausen musique concrete and all stops in-between.
The comedy does sometimes put people off, but what other “serious” composer was as funny as Frank? Nobody, that’s who.
*probably better than Cheech & Chong now I think about it, except for a bunch of albums in 1971.
Too much brilliance for one man, despite his downsides (pointless smut, not much taste in choosing vocalists): the sheer daring in terms of shaking up genres, the fun and humanity, the corny doowop, the guitar mastery, the stunningness of his best arrangements being played properly, the work rate. Aye, we’ll never see his like again.
And jusy like FZ used to be annoyed about Varese having stopped composing for 25 years, I have now turned me into a crusader for all chaps of a certain age. Have your annual checkup done and GET THAT PROSTATE CHECKED. If only Frank had..
BTW Johnny, serious and funny composer? Shoshtakovitch!
“pointless smut”…. serious cognitive dissonance here. I don’t see how those two words belong together.
(agree with everything else you say, FWIW)
“Not much taste in choosing vocalists?!” Now that’s an interesting subject!
Who do you mean? I’m not a fan of Ray Collins, Mike Keneally or Ike Willis. But Nappy, Ray White, Below, Bobby Martin, Bob Harris, Flo & Eddie, Bozzio and Jimmy Carl Black hit my sweet spot. In particular, Ray’s Doreen, of which, the studio vocal of which is incredible. Here’s the not blocked live version:
Great performance by Ray there. The studio version on You Are What You Is is simply amazing with, seemingly, a million overdubs building up to an incredible climax.
Here in Australia one of the largest real estate companies is called Ray White & Co and I always get a Pavlovian urge to break into Charlie’s Enormous Mouth or something similar whenever I see one of their signs, which is literally every day.
Ray White sometimes guests with Zappa Plays Zappa and I saw him with Dweezil at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire some years ago in the early days of ZPZ.
It seems Ray is quite religious and he wasn’t happy singing some of Frank’s lyrics.
I’m also a fan of Ike Willis. For my money he was one of the best Zappa foils of all time and I think his vocals are not far behind Ray White.
I was at that gig JC! Was so delighted to get to hear Ray after he’d pulled out of the 88 tour (for the reasons you mention – also the political nature of the 88 stuff – or did I misremember that?). Amazing gig.
Early backing vocal and Joe Ike I can cope with. He seems to have a fairly limited range tho, not a particularly pleasing rasp (c/f Nappy) and a fairly obvious and dull sense of humour – which for some reason, Frank found hilarious. Maybe I still can’t forgive him for Thing Fish – it cost a lot of my teenage pennies and to this day I wish I could unhear “De Mammy Nuns”, “De Torchum Never Stop” etc
That ZPZ show was the one where Dweezil played along with Frank via a filmed backdrop, wasn’t it? Very moving, but I’m not sure if he still does it.
That trip to London was absolutely manic. I was only passing through for a week, yet managed to squeeze in three shows in four days: ZPZ, Russell Brand and Ricky Gervais. Must have been 2007.
Ah yes, Thing Fish. That was one Zappa project which certainly went off half-cock, wasn’t it? So much so that I appear to have expunged it from my memory.
It was one of 7 LPs Frank released within a few months after signing to EMI in 1984 (a triple, a double and two single albums). I guess EMI gave him carte blanche at first.
Wow – sounds a great week! If you saw Russell Brand in Chiswick (where he peed into his water bottle on stage and pulled 2 girls in the audience”for later”, I was there too.
The ZPZ show was exactly as you describe, with the video backdrop. He’s now promoting his album and has been mixing his material up. The tour is called ‘Cease and Desist’, presumably a reference to the ongoing legal battle with his younger brother over use of his father’s name etc. Which must be awful.
Thing Fish possibly the worst musical item I ever owned. I can’t even remember what I did with it. Horrible. He probably had a lot of stuff ready to go. That famed synclavier!
Damned not famed
I saw ZPZ when he toured “Apostrophe” in 2014, and Frank appeared in the video backdrop for a few songs. As JC says, it was really quite moving – Dweezil would look up at the screen as he was playing and Frank appeared to be looking back. It was used sparingly so it didn’t seem too cheesy.
At the end, in a rather nice touch, Dweezil sat on the edge of the stage and signed cards he had brought on with him for as many fans who wanted one.
The Russell Brand show was at the Hackney Empire. It was the show filmed for the Doing Life – Live DVD.
As for Thing-Fish, I still have the CD for the sake of completeness, but sold the 3/LP vinyl box a while ago.
Well Bozzio, Black, Harris, Belew, George, etc were more cameos than guys who were all over several albums. Duke was really good and Brock more than adequate. My beef is with White and Willis, whose soul crooner personae (?) never, I think, really suited the great man’s music.
Bit more than cameos, but hear what you’re saying about the White/Willis era. Willis, a far less talented singer, seems to have edged White out somehow. Compare the White-tastic, inventive and masterful You Are What You Is to the strained pale shadow that is Them or Us.
Ah, but did Shostakovich ever do any poodle gags?
Arf!
The primary reason Frank wrote all those ridiculous lyrics was because he knew that the tolerance of yer average “rock fan”, or yer average record label, to purely instrumental music was pretty close to zero.
He wrote lyrics to disguise the complexity of the compositions and also because he liked corny/smutty stuff and also sometimes had serious things to say to his audience but didn’t want to come over too preachy about the serious subjects.
Apparently he *did* get it checked, according to his last interview. The finger of truth is not 100% reliable, unfortunately.
Me?
Edit: Sorry, correcting “turned me into a crusader”, above.
BTW – Zappa in numerical order: http://chickswithdisks.wordpress.com/2016/10/04/zappa-complete/
Fantastic, as always Fatima.
Excellent. But Sheik Yerbouti before Joe’s Garage, no?
It’s not the Sheik Yerbouti sleeve, it’s the originally proposed cover of the “Läther” box. We’ve put it there to kind of summarize the previous four releases.
The next batch (coming soon) will start with Sheik and Joe’s Garage proper, with Garage represented by the Vol. 2/3 cover. (You see, a LOT of thought goes into these…)
I stand corrected! I didn’t know the planned Läther cover differed from the one that was eventually released. Well well! I look forward to seeing the next batch – excellent stuff.
Another batch added. 36 done, nine more to go, phew.
Lovely. They’d look great as T-shirt designs too.