Zappa - C/D

I'd like to hear a strictly instrumental selection of Zappa's best stuff. Somehow I've avoided those Shut Up And Play Yer Guitar comps, as I've been certain they wouldn't represent the best instrumental stuff, like on Hot Rats, Burnt Weenie etc. Roxy & Elsewhere is great if you dig One Size Fits right?

Now that I understand Frank's trauma, THE HEALING CAN BEGIN!

*except for Billy the Mountain

Btw, 200 Motels is incredible, both the soundtrack and the movie. And if u watch it and enjoy it you'll want to watch it several more times just to see if you can understand what's going on.

Missing Persons?

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andymurkin/Resources/MusicRes/ZapRes/Fame.html

i forgot that i had posted that question!

Someone should tell the guy with the webpage who Doc Pomus is.

What kind of keyboard is that at the beginning? Is that a Rhodes? It sounds modified in some way.

Okay, I have a crazy Zappa nut friend who buys everything the trust puts out, even the crazy 4-disc MOFO version of Freak Out! Well, he sent me a copy of last year's Greasy Love Songs, which is the remastered proper version of Ruben & The Jets, and I have to say it's turned me around on what I thought was one of the "meh" Mothers albums. It's brilliant.

One of my favorites. I found a copy of the original vinyl in the early 80s, so I had several years with the proper instrumentation before I had to deal with the Barrow/Wackerman parts.

I've been listening to FZ's compositions a lot lately, but not FZ albums -- putting together a compilation of Zappa's work performed by various big bands and small chamber groups.

That compilation sounds really cool.

Wondering what to make of the forthcoming Zappa reissues. Series starts tomorrow with a set of 12 up to Just Another Band From L.A.
Set seem to have an odd mix of remasters from original tapes and the mixes Zappa himself did before he died, some of which I thought were derided.

There is a rundown here http://gandsmusic.com/ZappaCD1.htm that seems to be accurate about sources.

Hoping that the ones that I want from the next batch are original master based. Have heard that only 1/3 of the reissues are from the tapes though.
But that may skip Hot Rats which seems to be based on a previous vinyl remaster if I'm reading things right.

That's some bullshit. But I'm guessing they're putting out these particular mixes so as not to cut into sales of the Zappa Archives ones that have already come out (MOFO, Lumpy Gravy, Greasy Love Songs, etc).

should be Lumpy Money in that post.

Cruising With Ruben & The Jets

2011 transfer of the 1984 digital remix - yes, that one!

what the fuck, nooooooo

time to buy Greasy Love Songs.

Good info to know. It kinda sucks that they couldn't do vanilla editions of the O.G. Freak Out! & Cruising... ala bare bones dvds sharing shelf space with Criterion/Special Editions of same. If somebody wanted the bonus tracks bad enough, they'd spring for the Archives titles.

Thanks for that - I'd been wondering what the provenance of these new issues would be.

Nobody rushed out and bought them then? Want reviews before i think of picking up several.
Though most of the ones I was thinking of are the next batch the Bitches Brew-alikes and possibly the 2 lps after them.

Thinking I might plunk for Hot Rats & maybe Absolutely Free from this batch. Do have the old Rykos of the mid 60s Mothers stuff. had been thinking of picking up the Threesome vol 2 box which had all the jazz ones from this era together until I found out they'd been deleted.
They're not likely to redo a set like that are they?

All the ones I'm excited for are in the second batch. Never was a huge fan of the classic Mothers records, though the live shows from Beat The Botts are swell.

But it might all change when I see them in the stores tomorrow. Might weaken a bit and pick up Weasels.

beat the botts? How bout boots?

Forgot Weasels, only got the older cd version of that one.
& not sure about date now, Amazon had it down as 30th of July. Read elsewhere that new cds come out on tuesdays in USA. & where that would leave Ireland I don't know, wondering if these will appear locally.

i'm not a zappa expert --- what are the Bitches Brew-alikes? sounds intriguing.

Grand Wazoo has some shades.

I just can't see or hear Bitches Brew as a point of comparison.

I get this low-boiling anxiety and helplessness when I learn that someone who I respect likes Frank Zappa; it's weird. It's this sense that what the person considers "music" is something totally different than what I do--that what they engage with when they listen to things that come out of speakers is just this totally different, alien thing. I find Zappa completely and utterly impenetrable and unrelatable--not musically, but emotionally/intellectually. I understand exactly what Cale meant when he said he doesn't think Zappa actually likes music. Zappa makes me feel empty inside.

So you would say the answer is...dud?

Haha, there was some undercaffeinated oversensitivity happening there, but yeah, one of my all-time duds!

I would say that music is the only thing he liked, and that he hated every other thing in the universe, including himself. I try not to evangelize for his music as much as I used to, though.

Even though I don't like most of Zappa's albums, dislike his comp style as a whole and am constantly frustrated by his ah "zaniness" as was mentioned in that other thread, I would never go so far as to call him a dud. At least Freak Out!, the juicy parts of Joe's Garage and Sheik Yerbouti (Watermelon in Easter Hay, Bobby Brown, Dancin' Fool), and jeez I really like The Yellow Shark, beautiful performances and interesting writing. "Zappa hates music" sounds like an asset in a musician afaic.

"Information is not knowledge. Knowledge is not wisdom. Wisdom is not truth. Truth is not beauty. Beauty is not love. Love is not music. Music is THE BEST."