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IanB
IanB
6761 posts

Edited Feb 22, 2010, 19:18
Re: Zappa
Feb 22, 2010, 19:17
Dog 3000 wrote:
Interesting to see all the difference of opinion.

I think the deal with Zappa is that he is a "maximalist" composer (opposite of a "minimalist") -- his music has a little bit of everything, and so probably nobody can possibly like everything he did.

Different listeners find very different vectors of enjoyment . . .


That's why I think Yellow Shark is a great place to start as it strips the melodies of all the Rock shtick - especially the drums. And if you can get into the music as un-rock that then it makes perfect sense when you go the regular records and hear similar music played on rock instruments.
Dog 3000
Dog 3000
4611 posts

Re: Zappa
Feb 22, 2010, 19:23
. . . and that would have never occurred to me! Coming the other direction, I suppose "Hot Rats" is the place to start if you can't NOT listen to tunes played on rock instruments!

Not long ago I was bowled over by "Punky's Whips" -- a notorious song because of it's lyrics, but it's a tremendous piece of MUSIC underneath. Very easy to get put off by the singing sometimes . . . fortunately he also made lots of instrumental music.
IanB
IanB
6761 posts

Edited Feb 22, 2010, 20:36
Re: Zappa
Feb 22, 2010, 20:35
Dog 3000 wrote:
. . . and that would have never occurred to me! Coming the other direction, I suppose "Hot Rats" is the place to start if you can't NOT listen to tunes played on rock instruments!

Not long ago I was bowled over by "Punky's Whips" -- a notorious song because of it's lyrics, but it's a tremendous piece of MUSIC underneath. Very easy to get put off by the singing sometimes . . . fortunately he also made lots of instrumental music.


I think a fair number of people get put off of FZ because of the whole fusion thing - tricky time signatures and, in some of his bands, a lot of sub jazz clever-clever noodling. Especially the drummers and guitar players. The actual tunes have a lot more in common with early 20th century classical so I think listening to them that way may be a way in for the fusionphobic. I may be completely misguided though!

Punkys Whips is a very good example of a great tune buried under a load of crap.
Dog 3000
Dog 3000
4611 posts

Re: Zappa
Feb 22, 2010, 21:36
Well I've never had any problems with the wanky-noodly bits!

That bizarre "sprechstimme" thing he & the other singers often do!! (Like Bozzio on Punky's Whips.) Really grating to me. "Man From Utopia" seems about the worst of this style.

But there's also been a few good singers: Ray Collins was fine, and Napoleon Murphy Brock is a real unsung dynamo all around (played sax & guitar too.)
Citizensmurf
Citizensmurf
1703 posts

Thing Fish
Feb 23, 2010, 00:45
Dog 3000 wrote:
Thing Fish ??? unclassifiable epic that is either absurdly brilliant or the worstest piece of shyte ever perpetrated on record. Folks who say this is their favorite Zappa album tend to be very weird people!!!! This is probably Frank's version of a "Metal Machine Music", if you make it this far you are beyond hardcore!


You're correct in comparing TF to MMM as thee album that splits hardcore fans down the middle. Personally, I love it, it was one of the first 80s period Zappa I bought, so I heard the 'original' versions later. Hilarious dialogue and an absurd plot make me "straighten up in dat chair and pay ATTENTIUM."

I'm still trying to find a copy of the Hustler mag with the Thing Fish pictorial.
micmacmoc
micmacmoc
288 posts

Re: Zappa
Feb 23, 2010, 20:31
Nowt wrong with thing fish!
Personally its Hot Rats for me, you're already there though, next would be Absolutely Free, memories of acid/mushroomsa nd an African Grey Parrot singing along back in the bad ole days whilst it played at the same time as derek and clive.....scary....meanwhile we cut each others hair into mohicans....crazy days.
Then it'd be you are what you is/sheikh yerbouti but I find these a bit silly now.....wiuth the exxception of 'Yer Mama' the last track on sheikh yerbouti, this is my fave zappa track, superb. Its one of my 'one last before bedtime' tracks. Saw zappa, he was so good nd his band so tight you could bounce coins off their bellies and catch them. Excellent musicians, perhaps the 80s stuff is unfashionable at the mo but 'Yo Mam,a' do get that!
Thanks,
LOve from the
CENTRAL SCRUTINIZER
xxxxx
hedlite
hedlite
375 posts

Re: Zappa
Feb 24, 2010, 16:18
Deepinder Cheema wrote:
You can also get his DVD of a 1974 TV show at KCET which is probably at his best called 'Token of my Extreme'


Where?
Kid Calamity
9041 posts

Re: Zappa
Feb 24, 2010, 16:28
I don't own any Frank Zappa records. I never have, even in my younger, student previous life. 'Hot Rats', I assume is where I should be looking to hop on?
The Sea Cat
The Sea Cat
3608 posts

Re: Zappa
Feb 24, 2010, 16:39
Love to you too dude. Just picked up major Frankload from the library after work.
Mr Sals
162 posts

Edited Feb 24, 2010, 17:25
Re: Zappa
Feb 24, 2010, 17:24
I once spent an evening with JCB. Very lovely man. He basically said Zappa worked bloody hard to attain genius but Don Vliet was a natural. However neither were exactly easy to work with. I think he still had a bit of resentment about the way the original Mothers were all dropped from the band.

When i met him he was supposed to be with the Grandmothers but they couldn't make it so the Muffin Men stepped in at the last minute IIRC (it was a long time ago in the Duchess in Leeds). The Muffin Men are indeed scousers and came out of the ashes of a fine band called The Wizards of Twiddly.

As for Zappa albums i suggest most stuff up to about 74 and then the odd later live ones. Live was where it was at really.
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