Posted on 06/19/2008 6:36:10 AM PDT by CharlieOK1
I am not really into the music scene of today, as I believe that everything that is touted as 'new' or 'the next big thing' always ends up being something somebody else already did. I have lately found myself digging back into music that really was innovative and ground-breaking. A lot of which was done before I was even around (I am 30). For example, Steely Dan, King Crimson, Yes, David Bowie...
I have always been fascinated by Frank Zappa, as he is basically universally thought of as a musical genius, but just have never really dove into his musical catalog as I really don't know where to start.
Watch where the huskies go, don’t eat the yellow snow...
Zappa= Apostrophe.
Bowie= Ziggy Stardust
Good places to start.
“The price of meat has just gone up... and your old lady has just gone down...”
But I just met a lady named Dyna Mo Hum...
Personally however, when it comes to the "Z's" I prefer the music and quirky lyrics of perhaps one of rock's most underrated figures...Warren Zevon.
words to live by!
Lithuania presents Baltimore with a Frank Zappa statue.
Almost every album is different - for his early period almost every critic admires We're Only In It For The Money, and for his mid-to-late period the same seems to go for Overnite Sensation and Sheik Yerbouti.
You might start with ‘Strictly Commercial’, a greatest hits album.
Frank’s stuff changed in response to societal changes, a good read is ‘Dangerous Kitchen’, to give context, without context even brilliant satire is merely weird. He was heavily influenced by Edgard Varese AND by ‘do-wop’.
There are various ways of looking as Zappa; as satirist, as modern composer, as social commentator. He is regarded much more highly in Europe, particularly in Czechoslovakia than he is here; Václav Have was a huge fan.
Billy The Mountain.
I like Joe’s Garage Acts I,II.III, Sheik Yerbooti and We’re Only in it for the Money.
Well I'm about to get upset
From watchin’ my TV
Been checkin’ out the news
Until my eyeballs fail to see
I mean to say that every day
Is just another rotten mess
And when it's gonna change, my friend
Is anybody’s guess
So I'm watchin’ and I'm waitin’
Hopin’ for the best
Even think I'll go to prayin’
Every time I hear ‘em sayin’
That there's no way to delay
That trouble comin’ every day
No way to delay
That trouble comin’ every day
Wednesday I watched the riot . . .
Seen the cops out on the street
Watched ‘em throwin’ rocks and stuff
And chokin’ in the heat
Listened to reports
About the whisky passin’ ‘round
Seen the smoke and fire
And the market burnin’ down
Watched while everybody
On his street would take a turn
To stomp and smash and bash and crash
And slash and bust and burn
And I'm watchin’ and I'm waitin’
Hopin’ for the best
Even think I'll go to prayin’
Every time I hear ‘em sayin’
That there's no way to delay
That trouble comin’ every day
No way to delay
That trouble comin’ every day
Well, you can cool it,
You can heat it . . .
‘Cause, baby, I don't need it . . .
Take your TV tube and eat it
‘N all that phony stuff on sports
‘N all the unconfirmed reports
You know I watched that rotten box
Until my head begin to hurt
From checkin’ out the way
The newsman say they get the dirt
Before the guys on channel so-and-so
And further they assert
That any show they'll interrupt
To bring you news if it comes up
They say that if the place blows up
They will be the first to tell,
Because the boys they got downtown
Are workin’ hard and doin’ swell,
And if anybody gets the news
Before it hits the street,
They say that no one blabs it faster
Their coverage can't be beat
And if another woman driver
Gets machine-gunned from her seat
They'll send some joker with a brownie
And you'll see it all complete
So I'm watchin’ and I'm waitin’
Hopin’ for the best
Even think I'll go to prayin’
Every time I hear ‘em sayin’
That there's no way to delay
That trouble comin’ every day
No way to delay
That trouble comin’ every day
Hey, you know something people?
I'm not black
But there's a whole lots a times
I wish I could say I'm not white
Well, I seen the fires burnin’
And the local people turnin’
On the merchants and the shops
Who used to sell their brooms and mops
And every other household item
Watched the mob just turn and bite ‘em
And they say it served ‘em right
Because a few of them are white,
And it's the same across the nation
Black and white discrimination
Yellin’ “You can't understand me!”
‘N all that other jazz they hand me
In the papers and TV and
All that mass stupidity
That seems to grow more every day
Each time you hear some nitwit say
He wants to go and do you in
Because the color of your skin
Just don't appeal to him
(No matter if it's black or white)
Because he's out for blood tonight
You know we got to sit around at home
And watch this thing begin
But I bet there won't be many live
To see it really end
‘Cause the fire in the street
Ain't like the fire in the heart
And in the eyes of all these people
Don't you know that this could start
On any street in any town
In any state if any clown
Decides that now’s the time to fight
For some ideal he thinks is right
And if a million more agree
There ain't no Great Society
As it applies to you and me
Our country isn't free
And the law refuses to see
If all that you can ever be
Is just a lousy janitor
Unless your uncle owns a store
You know that five in every four
Just won't amount to nothin’ more
Gonna watch the rats go across the floor
And make up songs about being poor
Blow your harmonica, son!
One of my top 5 favorite albums, of which I have no order.
The others; CSNY-Dejavu, Johnny Winter-Illustrated Man, Edgar Winter-White Trash, Steely Dan-Can't Buy a Thrill, The Band-The Best of The Band.
Hot Rats!
If your taste borders on (or you can get past) the banal, “Live in New York” is an interesting album. This is the album where FZ goes off the deep end . . .
My personal favorite is “Roxy & Elsewhere”; entertaining both musically and lyrically.
Deja Vu was a great one.
Re Steely Dan, Countdown to Ecstasy was my fav. My Old School one of the best songs ever. IMO.
From 1969...The best! What a lineup.
You are out of your mind. "Unfocused" is the absolute LAST word I'd use to describe Zappa. Have you ever attempted to play some of his numbers on any instrument?
Reeling in the Years has one of my favorite gutar solos, but I think Jeff "Skunk" Baxter is the guitarist, not Walter Becker.
Zappa used to get the very best musicians, write out the sets they would play in concert, then 10 minutes before they went on stage, he’d go out and rearrange their music so that each one started on a different song! He thought that was hilarious. Didn’t do drugs. Weird beyond belief, though.
One one my friends had some Frank Zappa music. At first I thought he was nuts but it kind of grew on me. What was the album with the line “..I might be moving to Montana soon..gonna be a dental floss tycoon..” in it? That tune just came to my head.
“...Jeff “Skunk” Baxter is the guitarist...”
Now you’re talking. Doobie Bros’ song South City Midnight Lady, another of my favs.
Have half a mind to put all these songs in the CD player and make a day of it...but it’s an awfully pretty day...maybe tonight. :-)
I always wondered about the story behind “Smoke on the Water”: “Frank Zappa and the Mothers, had the best place around, till some punk with a flair gun, burned the place to the ground”
Now you’ve gone and done it....LOL...I’ll have to read this later.
Just a little background - I own virtually the entire Zappa collection in one manner or another, meaning videos, CD’s, cassettes and LP’s. Saw him 12 times live. I was absolutely and pleasantly surprised by Dweezil’s tour of Zappa playing Zappa - WELL DONE!!!
Ha. Already have Apostrophe in the player. Will check out your link tonight though. Thanks.
Better yet, have you ever tried to arrange some of his numbers for any instrument?
Echidna's Arf as a marching band drum feature, for example. One of these years I will finally finish Moggio for symphonic band...
My favorite Zappa is Joe’s Garage - Part 1
I would say his taste was questionable considerably more than sometimes. Which is, of course, absolutely irrelevant to his artistic standing. He was a social commentator along the lines of film maker John Waters, who sometimes has us looking at ourselves in a very uncomfortable fashion.
You look at his work, see that it different from record to record, and call it unfocused. OK. I look at the same body of work and say, wow, one man could do all that? To that level of expertise? Truly remarkable from where I sit.
He is under-rated as a guitar player, and way under-rated as composer. Lyrically, the juvenile locker room stuff leaves me a bit cold (as it does with John Waters), but it doesn’t prevent me from recognizing his serious talents. But, of course, all of that (like your comments) is purely subjective, personal opinion, without a single shred of objectivity.
TV dinners by the pool
I'm so glad I finished school!
Bootleg heaven - thanks!
He's now a missile defense consultant.
I didn't say he was an unfocused composer or instrumentalist.
He was an unfocused artist.
There is a reason why one of his most popular albums is a triple disc collection entitled Shut Up And Play Yer Guitar - an album that consists entirely of his guitar solos removed from the context of his songs. And that reason is that a lot of people love his incredible guitar wizardry, but do not want to have to endure the other parts of his songs to get to them.
As an artist his approach was apparently to record literally any idea he had - whether it was a good idea or not. As a lyricist his approach was apparently to just say anything that popped into his head, unedited.
As a musician, he was peerless. As an artist, he wasn't.
All I need to do is point to Thing-Fish and rest my case.
I agree. He created a lot of really excellent stuff.
But, of course, all of that (like your comments) is purely subjective, personal opinion, without a single shred of objectivity.
I disagree.
There is such thing as an objective standard of craftsmanship in any craft, including the craft of being a recording artist.
In some aspects of that craft, Zappa excelled: he was innovative and had an impressive knowledge of musical theory as well as being a technical master of his instruments.
In some aspects: i.e. shaping ideas into a coherent whole - he was not. There are songs of his whose guitar solos will be considered important compositions in years to come. None of his lyrics will be, and few of his songs, as wholes, will be considered as such.
In fact, outside of his circle of devoted fans, few of his songs are even recognizable to the general public.
BTW, I don't think variety is unfocused - variety for variety's sake is.
I had the opportunity to attend a forum put on by Nebraska Wesleyan University where Zappa appeared to oppose a local chapter of the PMRC. If memory serves, (this was in ‘85 or ‘86 when I was attending the University of Nebraska at Lincoln) Zappa ran verbal and mental rings around the other panel members and the members of the audience who opposed his viewpoint. It was very entertaining (lots of laughs from the miscreants like me who came to see Zappa as I recall).
He was very gracious and hung out afterwards to meet fans. I was lucky enough to shake his hand and get his autograph on my vinyl copy of “Joe’s Garage”. I sure wish I could find that thing. I think one of my college buddies absconded with it.
“I think one of my college buddies absconded with it.”
Shoot, I lost more than half my vinyl in college. Bunch of d*mn thieves. :-)
Oh my! another Zappa thread!
Indeed. But it was a natural eccentricity, honestly acquired.
As you pointed out, he did not approve of drinking or drugging.
Despite his clean living, he tragically died young.
The famous French conductor (and modern composer) Pierre Boulez has conducted some of Zappa's work on record. It's a very interesting look at his work in a different context - like his own London Symphony recordings.
Zappa once uttered a timeless axiom that only improves with age as I see today's mindless, spoiled, over-indulged and yet under-nurtured youth (including twenty-and thirty-somethings) with their incessant need for attention exhibited in their endless facination with themselves manifest by the one-ups-man-shipping each other by mutilating and defacing their bodies.
I paraphrase Zappa as he addressed the crowd at one of his concerts: You all think you're showing your individualism by the way you dress, but each one of you is in fact wearing a uniform.
Those are pretty much the 'essential' Zappa albums IMO.
L
I didn’t say he was an unfocused composer or instrumentalist.
He was an unfocused artist.
_______
So an unfocused artist can be a peerless instrumentalist, create focused compositions, and play his instrument in a focused manner? So his lack of focus as an artist had no bearing on the art he actually produced? On what possible basis, then, do you suggest he was an unfocused artist? And if his lack of focus as an artist did not impact the artistic product, why then even mention it?
I think these apparent contradictions stem from your attempt to make the subjective objective.
I got “Freak Out” from the record club by accident. One album is doo-wop, the other disc is just way out there.
Hot Rats has some good jazzy numbers. Don’t overlook “Willie the Pimp” on the “Zapped” WB promo album, with vocals by Beefheart. Zappa wails on riff after riff through 9 minutes or so.
Overnight Sensation is great, just a little risque.
“Movin’ to Montana soon, gonna be a mental toss flycoon (Yippie Yi Yo Kai-Yay)”
"Peaches En Regalia" called. It wants to kill you.
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