Frank Zappa

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mudshark
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Re: Frank Zappa

Postby mudshark » 11 Mar 2022, 22:45

'Roxy' was my first serious intro to the world of FZ (meaning including titties & beer), and it caught me hook, line and sinker. Album #1 is just sheer genius in terms of compositions and performers. Album #2 not so much but ONLY because of the Be-Bop tango. I guess you had to be there to enjoy it. But Ruth, George and Chester are just amazing. More Trouble Every Day on Roxy is better than the original in my opinion. It's filthy, bluesy and has an ace solo. Like Matt says, it has to be unique for any band to bring out a live album with almost only never before recorded material,

Let me share a quote from a FZ interview which covers the 'the results of a higher education' comment in Dummy Up:

I was interested in Zen for a long time. That's what got me away from being a Catholic, fortunately. But it's my observation that eastern religions are wonderful if you are living anywhere but the United States. The best they can do for you here is, uh, give you a certain feeling of calm, if you can practice meditation and abstinence by yourself, away from everything else that's happening. The real goal of eastern religión, with mystical experience and all that, those aims are difficult if not impossible to achieve in an industrial society. And I think that most of the people who claim to have made satori someplace in the States today really gotta be pulling your leg. And I think that that sort of enlightenment bears very little relationship to the amount of chants that you can sing.

Adore Pygmy Twylyte, but the rendition on YCSTOSA-2 (the Helsinki concert) beats the crap out of the Roxy performance.
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Re: Frank Zappa

Postby Sneelock » 12 Mar 2022, 00:34

In L.A. in the 70's our FM radio stations were big Zappa boosters. I heard "Penguins in Bondage" a lot when I got home from school. simpler times.

I love Mothers & Zappa across the board but this iteration of the Mothers is really something special to me. there's a bouyancy or something. an esprit de corps. something. they make a joyous noise.
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Re: Frank Zappa

Postby Matt Wilson » 14 Mar 2022, 16:25

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One Size Fits All 1975
Still in classic territory here, with yet another all-time fan fave - this is the last studio album to bear the 'Mothers' name. Which was fine with me, as Frank didn't really need a band identity anymore (if he in fact ever did). Probably most of my favorite FZ albums are under the Mothers banner though, so I will tip my hat to LPs claiming that name. There's a lot of guitar solos here from Zappa. two tracks are live, and the LP made #26 on the Billboard charts - still pretty good for him. The 2012 CD is from the 1975 original master.

Wiki: "The album features the summer/fall 1974 lineup of the Mothers of Invention, with George Duke, Chester Thompson, Ruth Underwood, Tom Fowler and Napoleon Murphy Brock. One track features bassist James "Birdlegs" Youman, who stood in for Fowler when the bassist broke his hand while on tour.

The album features one of Zappa's most complex tracks, "Inca Roads". One of Zappa's heroes, Johnny "Guitar" Watson, guests on two tracks ("flambé" vocals on the out-choruses of "San Ber'dino" and "Andy"). Captain Beefheart also appears under a pseudonym.

Zappa stated in the liner notes that the album was recorded simultaneously with their next album, but this "next album" would be replaced by Bongo Fury, consisting mostly of live recordings with Beefheart from May 1975. From comments Zappa made in radio interviews in April 1975, it seems likely that the unreleased next album would have included "Greggery Peccary," which first appeared three years later on Studio Tan."

Yeah, but not quite. Lots of material was recorded at this time which wouldn't be released for years besides "Greggery Peccary." Ulrich - "The other songs from these recording sessions ended up distributed over Bongo Fury ("Cucamonga," "200 Years Old," and the intro to "Muffin Man") Studio Tan ("Greggery Peccary,"RDNZL," and "Music for Guitar adn Low Budget Orchestra") and Sleep Dirt ( the title track and the Hunchentoot songs). And a couple weren't released until much later on Them or Us ("Planet of My Dreams") and Lather ("Little Green Rosetta")"

So FZ used material from these productive sessions for years after.

As usual, not every critic dug it: "Village Voice critic Robert Christgau wrote in his review: "Zappa's music has gotten a little slicker rhythmically—which is what happens when you consort with jazz guys—but basically it's unchanged. And his satire has neither improved nor deteriorated—if his contempt would be beneath an overbright high school junior, there's also a brief lieder parody that I'd love to jam onto WQXR. What's changed is the tastes of his erstwhile lionizers—they've gotten bored with his repertoire of stylistic barbarities. Us smart people just got bored faster." - Wikipedia

Musicians
Frank Zappa – guitar, lead (4, 6, 9) and backing vocals
George Duke – keyboards, lead (1, 8, 9) and backing vocals, synthesizer
Napoleon Murphy Brock – flute, lead (5, 8) and backing vocals, tenor saxophone
Ruth Underwood – marimba, vibraphone, percussion
Chester Thompson – drums, sound effects, voices
Tom Fowler – bass guitar (all but 2)
James "Bird Legs" Youman – bass guitar (2)
Johnny "Guitar" Watson – vocals (7, 8)
Captain Beefheart (credited as 'Bloodshot Rollin' Red') – harmonica (7)

Image

All tracks are written by Frank Zappa.

Side one

1. "Inca Roads" 8:45
Complex piece with Duke on vocals, including quotations from "Approximate" at 0:57 -1:10, and 1:26 - 1:34. Aliens and UFOs were a big deal in the mid seventies FZ introduced the song thusly:

Incredible as it may seem, forty thousand years ago there has been evidence uncovered to indicate that the Peruvian Air Force knew something we didn't know. And that's why they carved those notches on the top of the plains of Nazca, right up there on top of the Andes. Ladies and gentlemen, those funny little notches on the top of the mountain that are known to the world as the Inca Roads. And here's George Duke to tell you all about it.

"The Nazca lines are straight lines, geometric shapes, and animal figures scratched into the surface of the Peruvian desert. In his best-selling 1969 book Chariots of the Gods?, Erich van Daniken claimed that these had served as landing sites for alien spacecraft." - Ulrich

""Inca Roads" for the most part explores the stereotypes of aliens encountering the Incan civilization. These themes, like the album cover of One Size Fits All seem to parody the spirituality of many progressive rock albums around the same era. The lyrics "Did a vehicle come from somewhere out there, just to land in the Andes? Was it round and did it have a motor or was it something different?" imply that a UFO is landing in the Andes mountains. As the song progresses, the lyrics become sillier and seem to mock the beginning of the song. An example of this is "...or did someone build a place or leave a space for Chester's thing to land (Chester's thing... on Ruth). Did a booger-bear come from somewhere out there..." The non-serious nature of these lyrics and even the music itself seem to be mocking other progressive rock bands and their possibly forced divine depth."

"In an interview vocalist and keyboard player George Duke said that Zappa pushed for him to sing on "Inca Roads" and that beforehand Duke had no intentions of singing professionally and was only there to play keyboards. He went on to explain how Zappa had bought him a synthesizer (an instrument which Duke had disliked) and told him he could play around with it if he wanted. This led to Duke playing the synth part on "Inca Roads" as well.

In 2018, Prog magazine named "Inca Roads" at hundredth position in their list "The 100 Greatest Prog Songs Of All Time."- Wikipedia

2. "Can't Afford No Shoes" 2:38
Straight ahead rock song almost as a palette cleanser from the heaviness of the first track. Zappa - I hate to bring the subject up, but this is a song about the depression. And I don't mean the last one.

It rocks like a mutha though! Zappa plays a fretless guitar solo. The guitar was made by Acoustic and Frank said you didn't push the strings to bend them, you moved them back and forth like violin-type vibrato.

3. "Sofa No. 1" 2:39
Great little instrumental typical of Zappa's work at the time. One could construct a couple of albums' worth of songs like this from Frank's career using nothing from Hot Rocks, Waka Jawaka or The Grand Wazoo, and it would sound epic.

"Sofa" is a composition by American musician Frank Zappa, released in 1975 on One Size Fits All. In 1993, the year of Zappa's death, Steve Vai covered "Sofa" for Zappa's tribute album Zappa's Universe. The cover won a Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance in 1994. This was Vai's first of three Grammies." - Wikipedia

4. "Po-Jama People" 7:39
Side one ends with this monster track with Frank singing lead and playing two guitar solos. So what are pajama people anyway?

Frank Zappa:

I have had bands where everyone has been a reader. The most boring band I had was like that and ultimately led to the song "Po-jama People" which was written about that particular band which had people like Ruth, George and Ponty. You go on the road and you have these people living their life to play Yahtzee on the bus, and chess and engaging in intellectual juiceless pursuits. I like to have guys in the band who want to go out there and want to get laid. Without that attitude the performances of the music doesn't really work.

Hmmm, sounds to me like Frank wanted to hang with people who wanted to fuck groupies on the road like he did.

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Side two

5. "Florentine Pogen" 5:27
There's a quote from "Louie, Louie" at 3:07 - 3:09 if you can catch it. Ulrich says the title refers to a type of cookie (toffee wafers dipped in chocolate) made by the Pagens bakery, marketed in Sweden as Tosca Pager - and in the US as Florentine Pogens. Um, let's see... a Morgan is a Brit sports car, and the "color-note organ" has color-coding over the keys to help beginners learn to play.

Not bad, but not one of my faves either.

6. "Evelyn, A Modified Dog" 1:04
The slightest track here has Frank pontificating on a dog watching all the people inside the piano way back on the Lumpy Gravy album.

Ulrich - "In chapter six of the Them or Us book, Evelyn is a 'tiny toy collie.' When given cocaine, she sprouts 'clown hair,' grows as large as a pony, and becomes a killer."

Remember I told you guys earlier that the Zappas sponsored an echidna at the LA Zoo and named it Evelyn. Conceptual continuity, folks.

7. "San Ber'dino" 5:57
Best cut on side two methinks. This is the one with Beefheart on harmonica and Johnny 'Guitar' Watson singing lead on the ending. Frank soloing on the fretless guitar again too. San Bernardino was the place Frank spent ten days in jail after being arrested for pornography charges in the sixties. There was only one shower for 44 guys there. Looking over the lyrics, a Winnebago is a motorhome, Fontana and Redlands are cities in San Bernardino county. Mojave is in nearby Kern County, and the Zulch Auto Works is is in San Bernardino too. Ulrich says the character of Potato-Headed Bobby comes up again in the "Advance Romance" song on Bongo Fury, and the "Illinois Enema Bandit" cut on Zappa in New York.

8. "Andy" 6:04
Probably my least fave track on the LP has Brock, Duke, and Watson on vocals. Frank provides two guitar solos again. Ulrich: Simon Prentis says the song is:

addressed to God, and true to form with the most 'serious' themes, Zappa clothes it in the garb of absurdity.

He suggests that 'Andy de vine' is a mutation of 'and the divine.' Cal Schenkel recalls a more literal origin for the line:

I remember Pamela Miller & some other GTOs talking about Andy Devine's Thong Rind (they ran into him hitch-hiking or something) in the kitchen at Frank's.

Andy Devine was a raspy-voiced actor best known for playing comic sidekicks in westerns. FZ explained 'thong rind' as

the mutated condition of the skin in the region between the toes irritated by the friction of a thong sandal...The deeper philosophical meaning of the line refers to that special disappointment one might experience after seeing an attractive woman only to discover she has poorly maintained feet -- as if she had just dug her way to the surface performing as an extra in SUPERMAN VS. THE MOLE PEOPLE.

9. "Sofa No. 2" 2:42
George and Frank sing this last number. It's just the same recording as the first sofa only this time with vocals. Ulrich - Flo & Eddie sang the song entirely in German in 1971, but here it is sung half in German and half in English according to Ulrich.

Wiki: "Originally, "Sofa" was only performed in concert and was part of a longer composition around the Flo and Eddie era of Zappa's music, when Mark Volman pretended to be a sofa. In 1975, Sofa made its first album appearance on Frank Zappa's album One Size Fits All as an instrumental version and a vocal version ("Sofa No. 1" and "Sofa No. 2"). There is a huge sofa in the center of the album cover for One Size Fits All, and the album's initials, "OSFA", can be re-arranged to spell "SOFA". In the same year, "Sofa No. 2" was released as a single in Germany and referred to as "Du bist mein Sofa". The same track as "Sofa No. 1", now only titled "Sofa", appeared on the 1976 live album Zappa in New York. On the album You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 1, "Sofa #1" contains the vocals and "Sofa #2" is the instrumental. On both One Size Fits All and You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 1, "Sofa No./#1" is track 3, while "Sofa No./#2" ends each album. It was also referred to as "Divan" on the album Playground Psychotics. "Sofa" is one of the most referenced Zappa songs throughout his discography.

The vocal version of "Sofa" contains lyrics in both German and English. According to critics, because it contains German it stood out the most on the album. The English lyrics sing about being various parts of nature (the heavens, the water, the clouds), while the lyrics in German explain how they are "the sofa's chrome dinette" and "all days and all nights". "Sofa" was a result of Zappa's fascination with the German people as he toured in Europe."

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Re: Frank Zappa

Postby C » 14 Mar 2022, 17:58

mudshark wrote:Album #2 not so much but ONLY because of the Be-Bop tango. I guess you had to be there to enjoy it. But Ruth, George and Chester are just amazing.


An excellent album but Be-Bop Tango is far too long and spoils the flow




.
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Re: Frank Zappa

Postby mudshark » 15 Mar 2022, 15:27

In my opinion: OSFA is a pretty decent album with a few great compositions (SOFA of course, but also San Ber'dino, Inca Roads, Florentine Pogen), but for me the whole thing lacks passion. It's technically excellent but quite 'clinical'. Maybe that's what Frank meant when he was talking about the most boring band he's every had. I've heard better live versions of virtually every song on the album.

But what an amazingly productive period. Enough material for 4 or 5 albums. Not only that, George Duke composed most of the stuff for his great album "The Aura Shall Prevail" during the combo's sessions in Colorado. That record has 2 FZ tracks (Echidna's Arf and Uncle Remus which was co-written by George), and features Alphonse Johnson, bass player in the all-time bestest ever BFF classic line-up of Weather Report.
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Re: Frank Zappa

Postby Fonz » 15 Mar 2022, 17:24

Inca, Florentine, Andy, and San Berdo are all bona fide classic in my book. They were thought very highly of by the readers of T’mershi Duween way back when.
I have little time for Sofa though.

Great album.
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Re: Frank Zappa

Postby C » 15 Mar 2022, 18:43

Fonz wrote:Great album.


Agreed - fantastic album



.
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Re: Frank Zappa

Postby mudshark » 15 Mar 2022, 20:42

It's hard to not like Sofa and understand the 'conceptual continuity' of Zappa's work. Then again: who really gives a fuck.
Then again: SOFA is a wonderful piece of music, especially when Flo & Eddie are not trying to sing too much (just a bit!).
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Re: Frank Zappa

Postby Matt Wilson » 15 Mar 2022, 20:45

I struggle sometimes with the Flo and Eddie era too. The recent 200 Motels box went some way towards giving me a better understanding of that album, and I know I'll enjoy the upcoming live 1971 box dealing with the Fillmore concerts as well.

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Re: Frank Zappa

Postby Fonz » 16 Mar 2022, 07:19

mudshark wrote:It's hard to not like Sofa and understand the 'conceptual continuity' of Zappa's work. Then again: who really gives a fuck.
Then again: SOFA is a wonderful piece of music, especially when Flo & Eddie are not trying to sing too much (just a bit!).



I just find Sofa really pedestrian. Musically uninteresting.
But, yeah, the one big note etc
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Re: Frank Zappa

Postby Matt Wilson » 16 Mar 2022, 16:41

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Bongo Fury 1975
It took me a while to cotton on to this one, but now I like it just fine. The mid seventies represented something of a peak for FZ, where he successfully fused his quirky tendencies with commercial music, creating some of his best LPs. The run from 1973's Over-Nite Sensation through 1976's Zoot Allures (some would include the Zappa in New York record - also recorded in '76) are among his finest achievements, and here we have another live album (with some studio recordings) of new material. This time with the good Captain as well! This is also the last time any current effort would be credited to 'The Mothers' and not 'Frank Zappa.'

"Bongo Fury is a collaborative album by American artists Frank Zappa and the Mothers, with Captain Beefheart, released in October 1975. The live portions were recorded on May 20 and 21, 1975, at the Armadillo World Headquarters in Austin, Texas. Tracks 5, 6 and 9 (intro only) are studio tracks recorded in January 1974 during the sessions which produced One Size Fits All (1975) and much of Studio Tan (1978).

The album is a notable entry in Zappa's discography, because it was the last to feature a majority of his early 1970s band, which appeared on Over-Nite Sensation (1973), Apostrophe (') (1974), Roxy & Elsewhere (1974), and One Size Fits All (1975).

Napoleon Murphy Brock's vocals are featured both on the sprawling "Advance Romance" as well as on the three-part harmonies of "Carolina Hard-Core Ecstasy". Captain Beefheart, in his only tour with Zappa's band, delivers vocals and harmonica on several tracks, including his two short prose readings "Sam with the Showing Scalp Flat Top" and "Man with the Woman Head". Bongo Fury also marks the first appearance of Terry Bozzio, who would become Zappa's featured drummer between 1975 and 1978. - Wikipedia

Frank Zappa – lead guitar, lead (2, 5, 6, 9) and backing vocals
Captain Beefheart – harp, lead (1, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9) and backing vocals, shopping bags (also soprano sax)
George Duke – keyboards, lead (2, 7) and backing vocals
Napoleon Murphy Brock – sax, lead (2, 7) and backing vocals
Bruce Fowler – trombone, fantastic dancing
Tom Fowler – bass, also dancing
Denny Walley – slide guitar, backing vocals
Terry Bozzio – drums, moisture
Chester Thompson – drums (on "200 Years Old" and "Cucamonga")
Robert "Frog" Camarena – backing vocals on "Debra Kadabra" (uncredited)

All tracks performed by Frank Zappa, Captain Beefheart and The Mothers; all tracks composed by Zappa, except where noted.

Side one

1. "Debra Kadabra" 3:54
So this is live but there are vocal overdubs as is so often the case with live LPs from the seventies. The wonderful Capt. Beefheart is singing of course because he was touring with The Mothers at the time (the only occasion this ever happened). I'll let Charles Ulrich give the background of this tune: "This song is based on a true story. Don Vliet's mother was an Avon lady, selling cosmetics door to door. Taking advantage of these free goods, Don put some Avon cologne on his head, which made his hair fall out. He also put Avon cream on his face and got a bad rash. 'His face looked like an alligator and he was losing a great deal of status at the high school.' in Lancaster, so he went to stay with his aunt in East Los Angeles. The mispronunciation of cologne recurs in 'The Blue Light' (Tinsel Town Rebellion).

The 'Mexican rubber-goods mask' and 'Braniac Fingers' allude to The Brainiac, a 1962 Mexican film, which FZ described as

one of the worst movies ever made...not only is the monster cheap, he's got rubber mask that you see over the collar of the guy's jacket and rubber gloves that don't quite match up with the sleeves of his sport coat. When the monster appears there's this trumpet lick that isn't scary. It's not even out of tune. It's just exactly the wrong thing to put there."

There's musical quotes from "Tico-Tico No Fuba," Elmore James' "Dust My Broom," Chuck Higgan's "Pachuko Hop," and Joe Houston's "All Night Long." There's even a Dylan reference when Don says "Cast your dancing spell my way/I promise to go under it." Lankershim Blvd is right here in North Hollywood in the San Fernando Valley, where I live, Flabulent blends flabby and corpulent, and uh...that's about it. Even though Frank wrote this, is sounds more like Beefheart to me.

2. "Carolina Hard-Core Ecstasy" 5:59
Brock in the left speaker, Duke in the right, and Frank is in the middle - all on vocals. FZ said the song was inspired by Lee Clement, who played the gong on "Eat That Question."

She used to work at the recording studio and she was from South Carolina...The song was based on stories that she had told me.

The song quotes "Listen to the Music" by the Doobie Bros. We know who Roger Daltey is, Herb Cohen was Frank's partner in DiscReet Records, Dolores 'Dee' Barnett was the bookkeeper for DiscReet, and Milton Bradley made crayons and board games.

3. "Sam with the Showing Scalp Flat Top" (Don Van Vliet) 2:51
Beefheart poem spoken while the band does improv. It's cool that Frank let Don do this kind of thing not only in concert, but the fact that it was included on a Mothers album.

4. "Poofter's Froth Wyoming Plans Ahead" 3:03
Another Zappa song that Beefheart was allowed to sing. FZ:

The words are slightly obscure, even though it is a cowboy song...As you know, next year is the two-hundredth anniversary of our wonderful country that we live in here. And I'm sure you'll realize, as soon as 1976 rolls around, that everything that you see and hear about our two-hundredth anniversary is gonna so crass, so commercial, and so cheesy that you won't believe it...All over the US, people who manufacture doodads are preparing the special bicentennial doodad crop that's gonna be unleashed -- all sorts of trinkets and all sorts of sleazy things to take your money away from you in 1976. And this song is only to indicate that the planning for this sleaze attack has been going on for quite some time. It originated in a small, isolated community in Wyoming called Poofter's Froth, which was originally settled by a group of English morphodites.

That's a hermaphrodite, folks. Anyway, since the lyrics to these songs are interesting and contain all kinds of references, let me continue: When Don says 'come out and show them,' he also said that in "Moonlight in Vermont" on the Trout Mask album. That phrase is from Steve Reich's "Come Out" song from '66. Poofter means gay, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks is an organization, Galoot is slang for an oaf, etc. You guys should be able to figure out the rest.

5. "200 Years Old" 4:32
So this one is a studio recording where Frank does the intro and Don sings lead. When they say "She," it means the US of A. This is an edit of a longer version. Ulrich says the breakfast that served as the inspiration for this song was at the Sheraton Hotel in Allentown, Pennsylvania on November 5 or 6, 1974.

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Side two

6. "Cucamonga" 2:24
Another studio cut, with FZ singing double-tracked lead this time. The song recounts something that really happened. It's the studio Z story which was located at 8040 Archibald Ave in Cucamonga, CA. You can hear 'Nanook, no no,' and you know where that line comes from I'll bet. This was originally part of the instrumental 'Farther Oblivion' cut on Apostrophe.

7. "Advance Romance" 11:17
Easily the lengthiest track on the LP - we're back to Armadillo, TX for this number where Frank quotes the coda of "Black Napkins" at 8:00 - 8:04. Corn-fed can mean country, when Don says 'Chicken was never like this' that's from "Bacon Fat" by Andre Williams. There's the 'Potato-Headed Bobby' thing which I explained earlier, more quotes from Joe Houston's "All Night Long" (Frank must have really liked that song), food stamps are for low-income folks here in America, and uh, can't think of too much else.

8. "Man with the Woman Head" (Don Van Vliet) 1:28
Another Captain poem over band improvisation. Kind of like the Beats when you think about it. Ulrich - "Dack's is a Canadian brand of shoes. At one time, Beefheart had worked in a shoe store."

9. "Muffin Man" 5:34
One of the more listener-friendly cuts - eventually finding its way to the Strictly Commercial compilation. The intro to this song was recorded in the studio, while the rest of the track is live with studio overdubbing.

Zappa:

A long time ago, before I started being in the music business, I used to write. And I'd written this little adventure about the muffin man at the Utility Muffin Research Kitchen. And that forms the basis of that little spoken part, prior to the section on the Bongo Fury album. That written part was actually done about 1959. And the reason I got the idea to sick it on the album was I was at a restaurant in Hollywood one time called Du-par's. And I was sitting there, it was about midnight, and I was waiting t get a hamburger. And this guy sat down at this table across from me, and the waitress brought him a muffin -- just a muffin on a dish --that was shaped the same as the guy's head. And I couldn't believe it. I just sat there looking at this guy. He had a head like a muffin. The thing was sitting in front of him. And I thought, this must mean that it's time to go into my cabinet and whip out this particular piece and do it.

Lyrics: A scapular is for Catholics; it's a badge which has two pieces of cloth and worn over the shoulders. When Frank says 'Goodnight Austin, TX, wherever you are!" that's from Jimmy Durant's catch-phrase "Goodnight, Mrs. Calabash, wherever you are." Anyway, too tired to type more.

Wiki - "The meaning of the song was never fully explained by Frank Zappa. The "Muffin Man" of the song appears to be a new kind of food aficionado, one who has taken his love for muffins to a scientific and semi-religious level. There are some who have interpreted his loyalty to his favorite food as a parody of the repetitive bourgeois life that Zappa despised.

Frank Zappa's son, Dweezil, along with his Zappa Plays Zappa (ZPZ) band, have featured "Muffin Man" on many concert tours. In 2010 they offered video footage of Frank Zappa playing "Muffin Man", along with isolated Frank Zappa guitar parts, so that Dweezil and ZPZ could accompany Frank Zappa and his extended guitar solo."

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Re: Frank Zappa

Postby Fonz » 17 Mar 2022, 11:43

I love Bongo Fury. I like the variety of vocalists, and great songs, plus silly songs. PFWPA is absurd, but I love the transgressive humour (as viewed in 2022) of its title. Carolina is a great jam. Fun to play along with.
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Re: Frank Zappa

Postby Matt Wilson » 23 Mar 2022, 16:41

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Zoot Allures 1976
The last of the great run of mid seventies albums which started with Over-Nite Sensation, Zappa performed the basic instruments himself (guitar, bass, keys, drum machine, etc), and then Bozio would play the drums along with the tracks. You can even hear Frank's drum machine track on "Disco Boy." The LP cover has Patrick O'Hearn and Eddie Jobson pictured, but they don't play on the record. FZ's name is written in Japanese, or at least the characters are pronounced as zap-pa. Of course, Frank stands there center stage, with his open shirt and tight disco pants with requisite bulge. The album title plays on the French oath Zut alors!

The 2012 CD has the original 1976 analog master.

Wiki: "Zoot Allures is the 22nd album by the American rock musician Frank Zappa, released in October 1976 and his only release on the Warner Bros. Records label. Due to a lawsuit with his former manager, Herb Cohen, Zappa's recording contract was temporarily reassigned from DiscReet Records to Warner Bros.

The album was originally conceptualized as a double LP, but Zappa rearranged, edited, and shortened the track listing to what was eventually released as a single album. Zappa played a test pressing of the original album for Circus magazine in 1976, which reported a radically different, though slightly erroneous track listing that included "Sleep Dirt", "The Ocean Is the Ultimate Solution", "Filthy Habits", and "Night of the Iron Sausage". The former three tracks eventually surfaced on the 1979 Sleep Dirt and the posthumous Läther; "Night of the Iron Sausage" remains unreleased, but was seemingly intended to be a guitar solo of fair length. "Wind Up Workin' in a Gas Station" and "Zoot Allures" were absent from test pressings.

Zappa recorded the album after completing a world tour with a band including Napoleon Murphy Brock on tenor sax and vocals, Andre Lewis on keyboards, Roy Estrada on bass and Terry Bozzio on drums. However, this band appeared only on the live track "Black Napkins" with only Bozzio retained to play on the sessions, although Lewis and Estrada contributed backing vocals. After Zappa's death, one of the band's 1976 concerts was released as FZ:OZ. By the time Zoot Allures was finished, Zappa had begun forming a new live band, including Bozzio, Patrick O'Hearn and Eddie Jobson."

Frank Zappa – guitar (all tracks), bass (1, 3–7, 9), lead vocals (1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 9), synthesizer (1, 4, 5, 9), keyboards (3, 5, 7, 9), director of recreational activities (3)
Terry Bozzio – drums (all tracks), backing vocals (5, 9)

Also featuring
Davey Moiré – lead vocals (1), backing vocals (1, 9), engineer
Andre Lewis – organ (2), vocals (2), backing vocals (5, 9)
Roy Estrada – bass (2), vocals (2), backing vocals (4, 5, 9), drone bass (6)
Napoleon Murphy Brock – vocals (2)
Ruth Underwood – synthesizer (4, 6, 7), marimba (6, 8)
Captain Beefheart – harmonica (4, 5) (credited as "Donnie Vliet")
Ruben Ladron de Guevara – backing vocals (5)
Ian Underwood – saxophone (6, 7)
Bruce Fowler – trombone (6, 7)
Sal Marquez – trumpet (6, 7)
Dave Parlato – bass (8)
Lu Ann Neil – harp (8)
Miss Sparky [Linda Sue Parker] (credited as "Sharkie Barker")[7] – backing vocals (9)

All tracks written by Frank Zappa, except "Wonderful Wino", written by Zappa and Jeff Simmons.

Side one

1. "Wind Up Workin' in a Gas Station" 2:35
Franks' pulling out all the stops with this opening number which he sings with Davey Moire, who was a recording engineer. This seems to be another one of Zappa's diatribes against the working man. I never got his disdain for common laborers, whom he considered beneath him for some reason. He was taking that approach as far back as the mid sixties. "Go to work and be a jerk" if memory serves. "Manny the camper wants to buy some white" isn't a drug reference, it means white gas, which is to say without additives sold as fuel - according to Ulrich. Of course, the song also deals with the theme of how education doesn't always guarantee a solid job after graduation.

"Wind Up Workin' in a Gas Station" is the opening song on Frank Zappa's 1976 album Zoot Allures. The song contains a fake German accent from Zappa as a result of Zappa's fascination with the German culture. In concert, the extensive repetition of the lines "Show me your thumb if you're really dumb" was given the response by the audience members putting both thumbs firmly in the air. Despite the lyrics being pessimistic, the song became a fan favorite. A live version can be found on You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 6. - Wikipedia

2. "Black Napkins" 4:18
Now this is more like it. FZ could stretch this 'un out forever in concert. Listen to him rip it up on the gee-tar. This kind of thing is what fans of his six string prowess crave, and I'm no exception. There's a live version on the deluxe bonus version of Zappa in New York which is almost a half an hour. The tune had no title for awhile until it:

...was finally named [on November 27, 1975] when we were having this horrible Thanksgiving dinner in Milwaukee. Sliced turkey roll with the fucking preservatives just gleaming off of it, and this beat up cranberry material. The final stroke to this ridiculous dinner was the black napkins, sitting next to the dishes. - FZ

Wiki: "Black Napkins", one of several guitar-driven pieces on Zoot Allures, began life accompanied by themes that would later make up "Sleep Dirt". The performance heard on the album was culled from Zappa's February 3, 1976 performance in Osaka, Japan, though it was edited for the official release. Along with "Zoot Allures" and "The Torture Never Stops", "Black Napkins" became a signature piece for Zappa, featuring heavily in nearly every subsequent tour and several official releases.

3. "The Torture Never Stops" 9:52
Another one where Frank's singing, playing guitar, bass and keys. A couple of minutes have actually been edited out as well. There's a few things worth mentioning about this track. The moaning for instance:

The sound effects were an evening's work. We did most of it in the bedroom of my house. There were two chicks there -- one was my wife -- plus myself. I think they enjoyed it very much. We got four hours on tape and then cut it down to just under ten minutes. My friend opens up with the first grunt and it carries on from there. Er, I don't think it's worth telling you precisely what went on...you wouldn't be allowed to publish it. - Zappa

Remember that in '65, he had been arrested for just such a tape, so this must have been like deja vu! The Evil Prince is also a character in Thing-Fish, and Frank probably got the phrase "dungeon of despair" from the Henry Purcell song from way back in 1688.

"Other versions appear on Zappa in New York, Thing-Fish, You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 1, You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 4, The Best Band You Never Heard in Your Life, FZ:OZ, Cheap Thrills, Buffalo, Philly '76, and Hammersmith Odeon.

Zappa played "The Torture Never Stops" in concert from 1975 to 1978, in 1981 and again in 1988.

The song debuted in 1975 as "Why Doesn't Somebody Get Him a Pepsi?" though few of the instrument parts were similar to the album version. Critics have written that while performing the song, Zappa comes off as calm yet passive-aggressive. Michel Delville, in his essay Frank Zappa, Captain Beefheart and the Secret History of Maximalism contrasted the tone of "The Torture Never Stops" with Brian Eno's album Ambient 1: Music for Airports." - Wiki

Music for Airports? Hmmmm....

"A live solo from the song, called "Rat Tomago", was put on the 1979 album Sheik Yerbouti. Like "The Torture Never Stops", it contains the same basic structure, bass line, and female moaning. "Rat Tomago" was nominated for the inaugural Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance in 1980, but lost to Paul McCartney and Wings' "Rockestra Theme". - Wiki

4. "Ms. Pinky" 3:49
Frank's little sing-along ode to a rubber sex doll head. This is about where I used to realize I enjoyed his instrumental passages and songs more than his attempts at humor. Whereas in the sixties I appreciated his jibes at conservatives, the counter culture, uptight squares, etc. By now he was feeling superior to just about every facet of society you could think of. And everybody in his songs is stupid, of course. But not Frank, never Frank.

Anyway, he's got Roy Estrada on pachuco falsetto, and Captain Beefheart is even on harmonica here, though uncredited. If you're interested in why Zappa would devote a song to this particular subject:

When we got to Amsterdam, I sent Mr. Smothers out on a foraging mission to see if he could locate this device, so we could put one on the crew bus. Ad he found one, brought it back, and it exceeded my wildest dreams because not only was it a rubber head with a mouth open and a foam rubber throat, it had a two-speed vibrator and a little hose and a bulb on the side that made the jaws collapse.

So there ya go.

Image

Side two

5. "Find Her Finer" 4:22
Yet another tune where Frank feels he's smarter than everyone else, this time he's saying women prefer dumb men, so if you want to 'grind her,' you'll have to hide your intelligence. Cute, eh?

"The song was recorded with Zappa's lips extremely close to the microphone, creating an intimate sound. Roy Estrada provided falsetto vocals to create a comic effect to the song. It was intended to be the lead single for Zoot Allures, but failed to chart, unlike its other single "Disco Boy". A live and sped up jazz version can also be found on the album The Best Band You Never Heard in Your Life. It was played in concert in 1976 and 1988.

The song's satirical lyrics suggest that the best way to win a girl over is to show that you are less intelligent than her. His reasoning for this is that women do not care for smart men, but instead a romantic. This parallels the stereotypical belief that men prefer unintelligent women. The songs also metaphorically refers to a clitoris being fingered, extra emphasized by the next track on the album: "Friendly Little Finger" - Wikipedia

6. "Friendly Little Finger" 4:19
A much-needed guitar instrumental after all the sex talk. This was actually recorded in a dressing room before a New York concert on October 26, 1975. Estrada again, this time on bass. He never did this one in concert either. A highlight to these ears.

7. "Wonderful Wino" 3:05
Metallic number where the object of Frank's derision is alcoholics at the lowest rung in society. You can tell I'm getting bored with Zappa's subject matter in these songs. This is the oldest number here, recorded in England in 1970 with overdubs from '73 and '76. It doesn't sound like a song from six years earlier though. It's probably taken from George Carlin's 'Wonderful WINO' number on his Take-Offs and Put-Ons LP, but I'm not sure FZ ever admitted as much. Zappa:

That was originally written in 1969 when we were working in a place in Boston called The Ark. I had written the words...and had practiced with The Mothers an earlier version of this song (using 'Bringing in the Sheaves' for an intro). While working on [Jeff Simmons' 1970 solo album] Lucille has Messed My Mind Up, it became necessary to get another track together for one side. Jeff already had an instrumental cut that seemed to match the mood of the text, so we laid the words on it.

They recorded it for Chunga's Revenge, but didn't use it until now.

8. "Zoot Allures" 4:15
Beautiful number which could be the finest composition here. Only this and "Black Napkins" feature a full band. Luxuriate in the gorgeousness of this cut and lament that too many of these tracks have to contain vocals. LOL. In Guitar Techniques magazine, Guthrie Govan said:

The jerky rhythms of these unison passages illustrate a recurring theme throughout Zappa's work, whereby the idea is to draw on the rhythms of natural human speech... I have met a lot of people who don't get Zappa's quirky style, but I think this solo makes perfect sense if you interpret it as a guitar talking. The contrast between the tight, structured feel of the first couple of minutes and the free-flowing oddness of the fadeout [offers] a good insight into Frank's world of extremes.

Ulrich says "Zoot Allures" was one of FZ's three 'signature guitar tunes.' After his death, the Zappa Family Trust requested that no one else perform or record it.

9. "Disco Boy" 5:28
This one sounds like it could've received radio action, but I never heard it. Frank wrote the song after watching Danish disco guys looking at themselves in the mirror at a club in Denmark. Looking at the lyrics - "Do a little dance" is from the KC & The Sunshine Band song "Get Down Tonight." Chicken Delight was a fast food chain at the time. Don't think I've ever seen one in fact.

Wikipedia - "Disco Boy" is a single composed by musician Frank Zappa from his 1976 album Zoot Allures. It was featured on Frank Zappa's best of album Strictly Commercial.

A sped-up version of the song appears in both the film Baby Snakes and its subsequent soundtrack, as well as best of album Son of Cheap Thrills.

The song's structure is similar-sounding to previous work by Zappa. However, in this particular song, Zappa satirically added a more pop feel to it to go along with the theme of the song. The song addresses the stereotypes affiliated with the disco era. The vain tone of the song is set by the lyrics, "Leave his hair alone, but you can kiss his comb." The lyrics, "Disco boy, do the bump every night, 'til the disco girl who's really right, gonna fall for your line, and feed you a box full of Chicken Delight" indicate that the disco boy is not looking for love, but just a one-night stand. The lyric "but thank the lord that you still got hands, to help you do that jerkin' that'll blot out your disco sorrow" alludes to his lust for the disco girl and that when he loses her, he can always simply masturbate. Besides disco, this song is also a commentary on Zappa's dislike of men who find themselves irresistible to women."

Okay, but FZ wasn't looking for love when he was on the road either, just one-night stands. So how come it's okay when he does it? LOL.

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Matt Wilson
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Re: Frank Zappa

Postby Matt Wilson » 23 Mar 2022, 16:42

I think I'm gonna take a break from this thread for awhile. I've done all the '66 - '76 LPs, so this seems like a good time to quit for a spell.

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soundchaser
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Re: Frank Zappa

Postby soundchaser » 23 Mar 2022, 20:45

I’m looking forward to hearing the ‘71 tour box.

Different takes on Billy The Mountain will be fun…though maybe not on consecutive listens.

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C
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Re: Frank Zappa

Postby C » 23 Mar 2022, 21:11

Matt Wilson wrote:I think I'm gonna take a break from this thread for awhile. I've done all the '66 - '76 LPs, so this seems like a good time to quit for a spell.


You're doing a great job Matt

Zoot Allures is a tremendous album

Every track a corker! Not a weaker track in sight

Of course. Tip-top Frank


.
Lord Rother wrote:And there was me thinking you'd say "Fair enough, you have a point Bob".

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Hightea
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Re: Frank Zappa

Postby Hightea » 24 Mar 2022, 15:09

Still way behind but did get thru Weasels Ripped My Flesh, Chunga's Revenge and the great Fillmore East – June 1971.
Of course listening while reading your right ups.

Was a big fan of the Fillmore East album but over the years it might have gotten a little stale for me and no longer consider it my favorite Live Zappa.
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mudshark
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Re: Frank Zappa

Postby mudshark » 26 Mar 2022, 00:11

Drove home today with Zoot on the speakers, after many years, because I mostly listen to live albums these days. It's pretty much the most guitar-driven 'studio' album of the lot. Quite basic and perhaps the most 'solo' thing until Jazz From Hell. The Black Napkin and Zoot Allures solos are absolutely superb. These, in my opinion, put him up there with the greats.

Master Wilson is spot on with his review, and for me the album as a whole is still a joy to listen, apart from Disco Boy. Matt mentioned the albums on which the albums the song The Torture Never Stops appears, and I'd like to draw your attention to the YCDTOSA Volume 4 version. It's from the Bongo Fury tour (also recorded at the Armadillo World Headquarters) and features the good Captain. It's not only that I enjoy that version, for me it's just amazing to hear how a composition can develop from what you hear in 1975 to what it had developed into in 1988.

What I also wanted to mention: once an album is finished, Qbuz in its infinite wisdom makes a random choice of what I think is supposed to be music in the same frame as the album that has just been played. So after Zoot it played Why Am I So Short by Soft Machine, which was a pleasant surprise. But thereafter: Two Weeks In Spain by Gentle Fucking Giant! And I didn't dislike it at all. I didn't understand how that was possible, so I looked it up: turns out that their The Missing Piece album has one side with 'pop music', and is completely different from anything else they'd ever done. That little pearl of knowledge saved my from suffering a serious identity crisis.
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Re: Frank Zappa

Postby frimley_greener » 28 Mar 2022, 07:36

Could I just point out that the triple "Live at the Fillmore East" vinyl release is truly wonderful?
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Re: Frank Zappa

Postby frimley_greener » 28 Mar 2022, 07:45

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You wanna be a big cop in a small town? Fuck off up the model village.


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