That or "Jelly Roll Gum Drop".
― Is Lou Reed a Good Singer? (Tom D.), Wednesday, 20 May 2020 19:11 (three years ago) link
"well guess what...you're stupid!" pretty much sums up the gist of every Zappa song, including the instrumentals.
I loled at this, even though there's more than a grain of truth to it. Some of those melodies are so ingrained in my brain since my early teens, though, I do love them. And the lyrics pretty much NEVER help. The other night I pulled out The Ed Palermo Big Band Plays The Music of Frank Zappa for the first time in years and found it really enjoyable. I'm more likely to put that on again soon than any of the two dozen Zappa LPs on my shelf.
― Album Moods: Rambunctious; Snide (Dan Peterson), Wednesday, 20 May 2020 19:14 (three years ago) link
In high school I had an English teacher who was huge into Zappa. he claimed a lot of his guitar god skills came from the fact that he had freakishly big hands. he was really big on Joe's Garage and loaned me his vinyl copy, which must've come out when he was 19 or 20. particularly the song "Catholic Girls", which he said should be our graduation song (I went to a Catholic school). I remember listening to it and just being like "what...the hell". This teacher wasn't a creep or anything as far as I knew, I think it had just been a long ass time since he listened to it. Anyway I finished the album and said to myself "I think I hate this guy". But I bought like 15 of his CDs after that.
― frogbs, Wednesday, 20 May 2020 19:15 (three years ago) link
It would be fine if that not-so-subliminal message were followed by 'and I am too!' but that never happens as far as I can tell.
xp
― pomenitul, Wednesday, 20 May 2020 19:17 (three years ago) link
No, that absolutely never happens.
― Is Lou Reed a Good Singer? (Tom D.), Wednesday, 20 May 2020 19:18 (three years ago) link
That would be infra dig.
― Spocks on the Run (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 20 May 2020 19:21 (three years ago) link
Idk, as someone who loves the Beatles more than Zappa, I don't really think "Oh No" is lyrically dumber than the songs he was responding to.
― Feel a million filaments (Sund4r), Wednesday, 20 May 2020 19:24 (three years ago) link
i don't feel like that's the right way to frame it
― budo jeru, Wednesday, 20 May 2020 19:26 (three years ago) link
How do you think it should be framed?
― Feel a million filaments (Sund4r), Wednesday, 20 May 2020 19:28 (three years ago) link
that basically just makes him Seth Macfarlane
― frogbs, Wednesday, 20 May 2020 19:29 (three years ago) link
zappa writes this sneering take-down of some hippie-era tunes as if john lennon had meticulously penned a political platform rather than write a song that expresses hope for a future of peace and mutual understanding. if anything zappa is "dumber" because in his creepy need to show his intellectual superiority he entirely misses the point. "actually, you DO need more than love! where are you going to sleep, huh? on love??"
― budo jeru, Wednesday, 20 May 2020 19:35 (three years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNGR53wvRRI
― Spocks on the Run (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 20 May 2020 19:35 (three years ago) link
Fwiw, at least one book cites Lennon as saying of "All You Need Is Love" as well as some of his solo songs: "I'm a revolutionary artist. My art is dedicated to change." And Harrison's "Within You Without You" contains the line "With our love, we could change the world if they only knew". These were p grandiose statements (and I like the songs!) and fair game to be poked at imo.
The Zappa song is not just literal pedantry imo. The song isn't saying "where are you going to sleep if all you need is love?", it's saying
You say love is all we needYou say with your love you can changeAll of the fools, all of the hate
i.e. the problems are bigger than that
and
And in your dreamsYou can see yourself as a prophet saving the worldThe words from your lipsI just can't believe you are such a fool
which I think is a defensible riposte to the attitudes expressed. Not exactly Mark Twain but, as lyrics to a cool psych/prog track, I think they work.
― Feel a million filaments (Sund4r), Wednesday, 20 May 2020 19:59 (three years ago) link
God, analysing Frank Zappa's lyrics, has it come to this?
― Is Lou Reed a Good Singer? (Tom D.), Wednesday, 20 May 2020 20:04 (three years ago) link
End times
― Spocks on the Run (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 20 May 2020 20:05 (three years ago) link
I just asked myself the same question tbh. Clearly, I really hate doing taxes.xp
― Feel a million filaments (Sund4r), Wednesday, 20 May 2020 20:05 (three years ago) link
And admittedly Lennon could be p wry so the author there may have misread his tone idk.
― Feel a million filaments (Sund4r), Wednesday, 20 May 2020 20:21 (three years ago) link
I remember being impressed by the sheer volume of Zappa CDs in the racks in the '90s. It seemed to dwarf anything else that made it into your typical chain store in terms of an eccentric voice that bridged pop and art music. I had the impression that whole worlds were contained in all of those double- and triple-CDs, and the impression is fed by the cut-and-paste assembly of some of the Mothers albums. There was so much stuff in Uncle Meat! The fact that most of the music was instrumental did make me take seriously the claim (Zappa's, yes?) that the lyrics were a secondary concern.
I think there may be an argument for Zappa's use of vibrato on "Oh No" as a distancing effect—proclaiming "I can't be-lieeeeve in this quasi-operatic voice. Yes, Zappa was arrogant, but the music's utopianism lies in its tolerance for that arrogance, which is one of its elements rather than the whole of what it is. The tune sounds so wide-eyed, curious and aspirational! As well as vaguely orientalist (thus "naïve"). Maybe Zappa the guy with words can't just let it be that (although he does on Lumpy Gravy).
As much as anything else it was partly Zappa the guy with words that kept me from exploring those worlds on the post-1970 albums, and I'm not necessarily interested in the instrumental ones either—I do like some tunes—but I think these jarring contrasts, the sense that you were just getting these glimpses of worlds, was what made Zappa compelling. Maybe the twenty-first century doesn't have any need for those glimpses, jaundiced by Zappa's smut; maybe it needs real worlds, or failing that other ways of seeing and hearing.
― eatandoph (Neue Jesse Schule), Wednesday, 20 May 2020 20:51 (three years ago) link
I heard it was youTalkin' 'bout a worldWhere all is freeIt just couldn't beAnd only a fool would say thatThe man in the streetDraggin' his feetDon't want to hear the bad newsImagine your faceThere is his placeStanding inside his brown shoesYou do his nine to fiveDrag yourself home half aliveAnd there on the screenA man with a dream
― Paul Ponzi, Wednesday, 20 May 2020 20:56 (three years ago) link
i think there's a difference between lennon's sentiments on "all you need is love" and harrison's on "within you and without you" and i think they do both fall short in different ways.
lennon's faith in the power of love is unfalsifiable to the point of ridiculousness. "there's nothing you can do that can't be done" - this is sheer glurge. and while paul's "hey jude" may have a more interminable coda, "all you need is love" was there first.
"within you without you", otoh, is a frankly paranoid song, openly asking "are you one of them?"
i think both these forms of "love" are quite open to critical interrogation. zappa never provided an alternative to these flawed conceptions of "love", rejected the concept of love altogether, which imo rather diminishes the lasting value of his work, but it seems a fair enough criticism to me.
― Kate (rushomancy), Wednesday, 20 May 2020 22:21 (three years ago) link
The age-old conundrum of how can one be positive without being a naive sucker or a hypocrite, often simply solved by resorting to cynical snark.
― Spocks on the Run (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 20 May 2020 23:07 (three years ago) link
I think the misanthropic angle is a tad overplayed, and that FZ was just interested in exploring topics other than personal relationships, for which he deserves credit, not scorn. I certainly don't defend everything the man wrote but I'd much rather hear a song about spaceships landing in the Andes or turkey farmers in Lancaster or huskies pissing in snow than another goddamn song about someone's sweet darling baby doll and how much they're gonna wuv them fowever
― Paul Ponzi, Thursday, 21 May 2020 00:22 (three years ago) link
inca roads is arguably not even the best prog-rock song about spaceships landing in the andes ("tenemos roads" is a strong competitor)
― Kate (rushomancy), Thursday, 21 May 2020 00:46 (three years ago) link
I think the misanthropic angle is a tad overplayed
― Spocks on the Run (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 21 May 2020 00:48 (three years ago) link
careful paul, if you keep sniffing your own farts all day you're going to wake up with a bad goatee and a hard drive full of erotic ayn rand fanfic
― budo jeru, Thursday, 21 May 2020 08:46 (three years ago) link
I'd much rather hear a song about spaceships landing in the Andes or turkey farmers in Lancaster or huskies pissing in snow than another goddamn song about someone's sweet darling baby doll and how much they're gonna wuv them fowever
You want to hear a song about huskies pissing in the snow? Seriously?
― Is Lou Reed a Good Singer? (Tom D.), Thursday, 21 May 2020 08:54 (three years ago) link
I don't need this in my life, but maybe you need it in yours:
Zappa Records/UMe issue The Mothers 1970, a four-CD Frank Zappa box set which features 70 unreleased tracks from the 1970 line-up of the Mothers of Invention.
…Like previous Zappa archive projects such as last year’s 50th anniversary edition of Hot Rats, this one has been produced by Ahmet Zappa and “Vaultmeister” Joe Travers to provide a look at a heralded period of creativity. The short-lived Mothers of Invention iteration heard on these discs featured Aynsley Dunbar (drums), George Duke (piano/keys/trombone), Ian Underwood (organ/ keys/guitar), Jeff Simmons (bass/vocals) and Flo and Eddie a.k.a. Howard Kaylan (vocals) and Mark Volman (vocals/percussion) of The Turtles.
In their brief time together, the group not only recorded the successful Chunga’s Revenge, but also toured across North America and Europe. (The next version of the group, with FZ, Flo and Eddie, Underwood, and Dunbar joined by The Turtles’ Jim Pons, can be heard on two acclaimed live albums, Fillmore East 1971 and Just Another Band from L.A. Bob Harris handled keyboards on the former and Don Preston, a guest on Fillmore, on the latter.) This lineup of The Mothers injected a heavily comedic, often off-color element to Zappa’s oeuvre while still retaining the impeccable musicality for which the maverick composer was known.
With over four hours of unreleased material, including sessions from London’s Trident Studios, recently unearthed songs, alternate takes of fan favorites, plus live recordings from The Netherlands, California, Spokane and beyond, this box will be a definitive look at the acclaimed Mothers of 1970 in the studio and onstage.
For the studio material, Travers and Zappa have included early versions and alternate mixes from the Trident sessions, including Roy Thomas Baker’s rough mix of “Sharleena,” “Wonderful Wino,” and newly unearthed versions of “Red Tubular Lighter,” “Giraffe,” and “Envelopes.” The producers have also dug into the vault to find original tapes of the widely circulated VRPO radio session, plus concert recordings from Santa Monica and Spokane which have been presented together to form one hybrid concert. The set also includes a disc of live recordings and candid moments from the 1970 U.S. Tour as captured by Frank Zappa on his trusted UHER recorder.
All tracks were sourced from the Zappa Vault and transferred and compiled by Travers this year. Longtime Zappa Trust member Craig Parker Adams mixed some tracks, while John Polito handled mastering.
Disc 1 – Trident Studios, London, England June 21-22, 19701. Red Tubular Lighter2. Lola Steponsky3. Trident Chatter4. Sharleena (Roy Thomas Baker Mix)5. Item 16. Wonderful Wino (FZ Vocal)7. “Enormous Cadenza”8. Envelopes9. Red Tubular Lighter (Unedited Master)10. Wonderful Wino (Basic Tracks, Alt. Take)11. Giraffe – Take 412. Wonderful Wino (FZ Vocal, Alt. Solo)
Disc 2 – Live Highlights Part 1 – “Piknik” VPRO June 18, 1970 / Pepperland September 26, 19701. Introducing…The Mothers (Live on “Piknik” June 18, 1970)2. Wonderful Wino (Live on “Piknik” June 18, 1970)3. Concentration Moon (Live on “Piknik” June 18, 1970)4. Mom & Dad (Live on “Piknik” June 18, 1970)5. The Air (Live on “Piknik” June 18, 1970)6. Dog Breath (Live on “Piknik” June 18, 1970)7. Mother People (Live on “Piknik” June 18, 1970)8. You Didn’t Try To Call Me (Live on “Piknik” June 18, 1970)9. Agon (Live on “Piknik” June 18, 1970)10. Call Any Vegetable (Live on “Piknik” June 18, 1970)11. King Kong Pt. I (Live on “Piknik” June 18, 1970)12. Igor’s Boogie (Live on “Piknik” June 18, 1970)13. King Kong Pt. II (Live on “Piknik” June 18, 1970)14. What Kind Of Girl Do You Think We Are? (Live at Pepperland September 26, 1970)15. Bwana Dik (Live at Pepperland September 26, 1970)16. Daddy, Daddy, Daddy (Live at Pepperland September 26, 1970)17. Do You Like My New Car? (Live at Pepperland September 26, 1970)18. Happy Together (Live at Pepperland September 26, 1970)
Disc 3 – Live Highlights Part 2 – Hybrid Concert: Santa Monica August 21, 1970 / Spokane September 17, 19701. “Welcome To El Monte Legion Stadium!” (Live)2. Agon (Live)3. Call Any Vegetable (Live)4. Pound For A Brown (Live)5. Sleeping In A Jar (Live)6. Sharleena (Live)7. The Air (Live)8. Dog Breath (Live)9. Mother People (Live)10. You Didn’t Try To Call Me (Live)11. King Kong Pt. I (Live)12. Igor’s Boogie (Live)13. King Kong Pt. II (Live)14. “Eat It Yourself…” (Live)15. Trouble Every Day (Live)16. “A Series Of Musical Episodes” (Live)17. Road Ladies (Live)18. “The Holiday Inn Motel Chain” (Live)19. What Will This Morning Bring Me This Evening? (Live)20. What Kind Of Girl Do You Think We Are? (Live)
Disc 4 – Live Highlights Part 3 – FZ Tour Tape Recordings1. “What’s The Deal, Dick?”2. Another M.O.I. Anti-Smut Loyalty Oath (Live)3. Paladin Routine #1 (Live)4. Portuguese Fenders (Live)5. The Sanzini Brothers (Live)6. Guitar Build ’70 (Live)7. Would You Go All The Way? (Live)8. Easy Meat (Live)9. “Who Did It?”10. Turn It Down! (Live)11. A Chance Encounter In Cincinnati12. Pound For A Brown (Live)13. Sleeping In A Jar (Live)14. Beloit Sword Trick (Live)15. Kong Solos Pt. I (Live)16. Igor’s Boogie (Live)17. Kong Solos Pt. II (Live)18. Gris Gris (Live)19. Paladin Routine #2 (Live)20. King Kong – Outro (Live)
― but also fuck you (unperson), Thursday, 25 June 2020 16:40 (three years ago) link
rejected the concept of love altogether
I don't agree that he was doing this in "Oh No" btw, which seems more like rejecting simplistic interpretations of love, nor that his life demonstrated this.
― Feel a million filaments (Sund4r), Thursday, 25 June 2020 16:45 (three years ago) link
like King Crimson there seems to be an infinite number of recordings of this guy
― frogbs, Thursday, 25 June 2020 16:50 (three years ago) link
My least favorite period of his work, so I'll give it a cursory streaming listen but nothing more than that.
― Irritable Baal (WmC), Thursday, 25 June 2020 18:52 (three years ago) link
Yeah, not particularly keen to explore this but, still, surprised to see Uncle Meat material show up in the live sets.
― licorice oratorio (baaderonixx), Friday, 26 June 2020 08:58 (three years ago) link
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EbYLmBHXYAAnZmM?format=jpg
― mark s, Friday, 26 June 2020 10:22 (three years ago) link
I know I'm in the minority but this might be my fave Zappa era, this is the last time it feels like a "band" and not Zappa with various players and I think Flo & Eddie are funny, which obv ymmv
However, do I really need another record when there are already 4 lps from the era, plus the 3 disc Carnegie Hall live box and I'm sure more I'm not thinking of? I mean...no, but I'll listen to it for sure
― chr1sb3singer, Friday, 26 June 2020 15:48 (three years ago) link
I like a lot of the Flo and Eddie stuff, but this seems like scraps from all already well mined era. I doubt that there's a tin of stuff left in the vault that's really new or essential. It's been picked over very thoroughly for the last 30+ years.
― Mario Meatwagon (Moodles), Friday, 26 June 2020 15:56 (three years ago) link
"Red Tubular Lighter" is so great
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 26 June 2020 16:17 (three years ago) link
I'm listening to a vinyl copy of We're Only In It For the Money...I've actually never heard the original version before, I had the 90's Ryko CD. I never knew the 'censored version' meant they just clipped entire sections out. I thought the record skipped a few times but apparently that's how it actually is. I almost understand FZ's desire to re-record this now, it sounds kinda bad. whoever remastered this in the 90s did a really good job.
― frogbs, Friday, 24 July 2020 03:46 (three years ago) link
This guy did an outstanding job of restoring an 'uncensored version' using the best available materials. The bulk of it came from MFSL's reissue - it wasn't an ideal reissue as it uses the exact same digital master created for Rykodisc's '90s CD, but that was still a rock solid transfer of the original analog master tape and MFSL's mastering is a slight improvement that doesn't do anything wrong.
― birdistheword, Friday, 24 July 2020 22:57 (three years ago) link
Magnolia Presents: ZAPPA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4F0rT0F6OQ
Directed by Alex WinterProduced by Alex Winter, Glen Zipper, Ahmet Zappa, John Frizzell, Devorah DeVries, and Jade AllenExecutive Producers Robert Halmi and Jim Reeve of Great Point Media
With unfettered access to the Zappa family trust and all archival footage, ZAPPA explores the private life behind the mammoth musical career that never shied away from the political turbulence of its time. Alex Winter’s assembly features appearances by Frank’s widow Gail Zappa and several of Frank’s musical collaborators including Mike Keneally, Ian Underwood, Steve Vai, Pamela Des Barres, Bunk Gardner, David Harrington, Scott Thunes, Ruth Underwood, Ray White and others.
129 Minutes
Magnolia Pictures will release ZAPPA everywhere November 27th, 2020Special one-night-only theatrical event on Monday, November 23rd, 2020
― Loud guitars shit all over "Bette Davis Eyes" (NYCNative), Wednesday, 28 October 2020 18:40 (three years ago) link
Sorry everyone, I'm gonna go see this
― Mr. Cacciatore (Moodles), Wednesday, 28 October 2020 18:47 (three years ago) link
I kinda want to see this too. Alex Winter is a pretty good director. just worried it's gonna be too rapturous about him as I'd imagine the Zappa family trust wants it to be
― frogbs, Wednesday, 28 October 2020 19:01 (three years ago) link
Wondering if Dweezil had any input on this or if he's just out in the cold completely.
― Mr. Cacciatore (Moodles), Wednesday, 28 October 2020 19:04 (three years ago) link
Dweezil & Moon I don't think were involved at all, Moon didn't have anything positive to say about Winter: "He wouldn’t have been my first choice. He might not have been my 100th choice.”
But I am pretty curious to see it
― chr1sb3singer, Wednesday, 28 October 2020 19:20 (three years ago) link
I'm curious about it too. If it's like $5 on Amazon Prime, or if it pops up on Netflix or Hulu, I'll probably watch.
― but also fuck you (unperson), Wednesday, 28 October 2020 22:03 (three years ago) link
I'd rather see a good Zappa doc than listen to anything by Zappa, tbh. He's an interesting, important figure, second almost to the Dead in how the *idea* of the music is in some ways ultimately more important than the music itself.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 28 October 2020 22:12 (three years ago) link
Thought this might be a biopic for a mad second, no such luck
― logout option: disabled (Matt #2), Wednesday, 28 October 2020 22:12 (three years ago) link
Same, Josh! I'd absolutely see a biopic about one-of-my least-favourite musicians, for real
I did listen to Uncle Meat on a whim last night and... I still do love it
― flamboyant goon tie included, Wednesday, 28 October 2020 22:35 (three years ago) link
I listened to Apostrophe recently, which I used to love, and found it mostly grating and tiring to be honest.
― chap, Wednesday, 28 October 2020 23:20 (three years ago) link
Not too many artists I'll say this about, but Zappa was waaaay too sober.
― octobeard, Thursday, 29 October 2020 00:32 (three years ago) link
i hate judging a doc by its trailer but that whole bit at the end with zappa running for prez....
dude was politically abhorrent
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Thursday, 29 October 2020 00:37 (three years ago) link
Zappa was waaaay too sober.
― octobeard, Wednesday, October 28, 2020 5:32 PM (four minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink
yeah but hot rats sounds amazing stoned