Frank Zappa

[Idisaffect]

LATHER was recorded between 1972 and '76.

Extremely Important Correction: It was recorded between 1973 and '77.

[nosaj]

Wow, haven't listened to Zappa in close to 20 years...his lyrics often turned me off, but a LOT of his albums have been showing up used again at a local store.

Is Joe's Garage any good? If so, which ones? Seems it is in three parts, and they have been packaged together and apart in a few ways, including all three in one collection...or am I nuts?

[czgibson]

Zappa would be my specialist subject on Mastermind. He packed an extraordinary amount into his almost 53 years, and we'll never see his like again. Although, to me, some of his albums (such as Uncle Meat, One Size Fits All, Roxy & Elsewhere and Läther) are much better than others (such as Playground Psychotics, The Man From Utopia and Francesco Zappa), I've learned more about music overall from studying his work than from any one else's.

Is Joe's Garage any good? If so, which ones? Seems it is in three parts, and they have been packaged together and apart in a few ways, including all three in one collection...or am I nuts?

Seeing is believing. 'Act I' was released on its own in September 1979 and 'Acts II & III' came out as a double album the following month; on CD it comes all in one. The whole thing only comes close to making sense if you listen to it all. It's a ludicrous story about music censorship, religious fanatics and sex in various forms that's tied together with extremely well-produced music. 'Act III' has several long instrumentals, including 'Watermelon In Easter Hay', one of the most conventionally beautiful pieces Zappa ever played.

[danielcaux]

Yep, Joe's Garage has some pretty great music on either of its forms, 3 vinyls or 2 CD.

Why Does It Hurts When I Pee? is perhaps the funniest Stairway to Heaven/Prog Rock Ballad parody that there is.

The lyrics of his 70's albums are kinda dumb on first glance, but threre's actually pretty clever social critique hidden between all the dumbness. Kinda like in the same Valley Girl way of the 80s.

If you can, get a copy of Zoot Allures. It's kinda like the closest thing to a "normal" sounding album Zappa ever got in the 70s, and perhaps in his all career, but still it has his own signature style all over it. Great music anyway.

Should I mention "kinda" one more time?

[mags]

Mojo magazine has a special tribute edition dedicated to FZ, just out:
http://www.zappa.com/messageboard/viewt ... =5&t=20596

Looks good,,,I think his catalog is now up to 94 albums, officially- amazing.
Did Frank ever play with Pink Floyd, or the members individually?
I know many think he played with them at the 1969 Belgium concert(Interstellar Overdrive), but he denies such
in this interview:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0gTtFE7NSo

[Stephen]

Mojo magazine has a special tribute edition dedicated to FZ, just out:
http://www.zappa.com/messageboard/viewt ... =5&t=20596

Thanks, going to be getting that one.

[Stephen]

I picked up a copy of the Mojo special today and it looks like it's going to be a good read. I'd already ordered it direct from Mojo but I got impatient waiting for it to arrive

[nosaj]

He's a very prolific brilliant musical iconoclast. He's probably a genius. He always seemed to surround himself with top notch intuitive players. That's because his compositions could be very dense and stylistically varied and complex and he needed each guy to be a virtuoso. He could write an extended composition that could move seamlessly through an unbelievable amount of tempo, stylistic and dynamic changes and yet make it all flow organically...and then he goes and opens his fucking mouth........

Sorry to quote Terry, but one time we got together for some beer and were talking to a Frank Zappa freak. Terry and I both agreed Zappa was an awesome musician, but the lyrics were a turn off. However, I am giving Zappa another chance. I have just obtained a copy of Roxy & Elesewhere, released in 1974. I have just listened to the first track as I am posting this...just onto the second track now...not bad so far.

[olzen]

Speaking of Zappa's instrumental work, I listened to all of "Civilization Phaze III" recently, and I finally understood it. It's a massive work and its complexity will probably turn off a lot of listeners, but give it a shot. It's very, very bleak - the melodies are all dark as hell, and the story, which is pretty much about the end of the world as brought on by mankind, ends with the audience (it was supposed to be staged as an "opera-pantomime") being sprayed with a toxic substance (!)

Even though the compositions are framed by the "piano people", it's no doubt Zappa's most serious and disturbing work. Yet, it's also a very moving farewell from a great composer, who could definitely foresee the world going down the drain. I highly recommend listening to it. Just don't do it in the dark...

[nosaj]

Just don't do it in the dark...

Not sure I am prepared to do anything with Frank Zappa in the dark.

[my breakfast.]

I have Filthy Habits on fairly constant rotation at the moment. I love that track, and it proved he could do all the feedback stuff better than Hendrix when he was up for it.

[olzen]

You've heard the rest of "Sleep Dirt", right? It's right up there as one of Zappa's best instrumental releases.

Note to all interested listeners: make sure you listen to the vinyl version. The CD version has vocals on tracks that didn't have any before. Frank being up to his old digital tricks again...

[The Gunner's Dream]

Most of the good tracks on "Sleep dirt" are on "Lather" anyway, without vocals. You can save a lot of money by just buying "Lather". Then you can avoid buying "Studio Tan", "Orchestral favorites", "Sleep dirt", etc. although some of those albums are worth buying individually for certain tracks not included on "Lather".

and it proved he could do all the feedback stuff better than Hendrix when he was up for it.

Zappa was better at controlling the pitch of his feedback. At least he could keep it in tune. I know he always custom-designed his guitars so he could do stuff like that; he did all kinds of weird stuff to the electronics.

[olzen]

Most of the good tracks on "Sleep dirt" are on "Lather" anyway, without vocals. You can save a lot of money by just buying "Lather". Then you can avoid buying "Studio Tan", "Orchestral favorites", "Sleep dirt", etc. although some of those albums are worth buying individually for certain tracks not included on "Lather".

Not really; some of the cuts on "Sleep Dirt" that are also on "Läther" have been shortened substantially - "Flambay" loses around 3 minutes).

I would say that the individual albums are worth getting either way. While "Läther can seem overwhelming at first, those three albums offer three different aspects of Zappa's sound. In fact, if you analyse the whole Läther-situation, it seems likely that those three albums were meant to be released individually at first. Zappa had already made up titles for them and when he finally had complete control over his catalogue during the 80's, he obviously chose to put out the individual albums (complete with "unauthorized" cover art) and not Läther. And we know from the two remix fiascos that he didn't give a shit about which configuration his fans were expecting.

[Vlad The Impaler]

Most of the good tracks on "Sleep dirt" are on "Lather" anyway, without vocals. You can save a lot of money by just buying "Lather". Then you can avoid buying "Studio Tan", "Orchestral favorites", "Sleep dirt", etc. although some of those albums are worth buying individually for certain tracks not included on "Lather".

Not really; some of the cuts on "Sleep Dirt" that are also on "Läther" have been shortened substantially - "Flambay" loses around 3 minutes).

I would say that the individual albums are worth getting either way. While "Läther can seem overwhelming at first, those three albums offer three different aspects of Zappa's sound. In fact, if you analyse the whole Läther-situation, it seems likely that those three albums were meant to be released individually at first. Zappa had already made up titles for them and when he finally had complete control over his catalogue during the 80's, he obviously chose to put out the individual albums (complete with "unauthorized" cover art) and not Läther. And we know from the two remix fiascos that he didn't give a shit about which configuration his fans were expecting.

Lather was supposed to be released as a whole...Frank delivered it to the record company who wouldn't pay him for it...according to him. So he took the whole thing to a radio station and got it broadcast, encouraging listeners to tape it for free. The record company later released the set broke up and THEY chose the art work....pissing Frank off even more.