The Zappa Thread

[Cyclopssss]

Yeah, I remember losing my shit laughing out loud when I heard ´Flakes´ for the first time. The second album by him I listened to was Joe´s Garage.... instant fan.

[bout to crash]

I'd heard One Size Fits All years before, but that was in junior high and I had no money.  Sheik Yerbouti came out when I when in high school and had a job, so it was the first Zappa I actually owned.  He had a minor radio hit with "Dancing Fool" (a song about a guy who can't dance?!  ) and "sheek yerbouti" seemed to be a pun which fit the dancing theme.

Years later, I was watching some news thing about Arab oil and they were talking about the sheiks who were all multi-zillionaires, and they kept pronouncing it "shake".  Then it hit me: "shake yerbouti". 

Also, to this day the guitar solo in "Yo Mama" is still my favorite.

Fuck yeah that solo

Joe's Garage was the first album for me (recommended by one of you weirdos on dt.net, I believe) but it didn't stick initially. It wasn't until a friend played Muffin Man and Dinah Moe for me that I thought I should go give it a try again, and I fell in love.

[Mosh]

Muffin Man was one of my firsts too, but it was Inca Roads that instantly made me a fan.

[Orbert]

I had some trouble with Joe's Garage at first, too, and this was after I was already a Zappa fan.  I was a major proghead by then and thought "Really Frank, a concept album?"  The whole thing being narrated by The Central Scrutinizer was wacky, but not itself a horrible idea.  It actually kinda worked, because as with most concept albums, you do need narrative to tie things together.  The whole homoerotic/mechoerotic thing with Gay Bob and Sy Borg was weird and frankly a turn-off.  It didn't help that I'm 100% straight (sorry dudes) and some of my friends took to calling me Gay Bob "to be funny".  The episode with Joe from work didn't really help, either.  (Weird, his name was Joe.  I never thought about that before, although to this day, when I picture Joe from Joe's Garage, he looks like Joe from work.)

But eventually I realized that the story of course was insane as only Frank could do it, parody of the highest order, and the music as always was great.  The story seems to get a bit lost in Acts II and III, but the solos... wow.  And since the music is always more important to me than the concept anyway, I ended up liking it.  But as with most concept albums, I have my favorite parts and rarely have time to listen to the whole thing, and just listening to individual tracks seems somehow wrong.  Which is dumb, but there you go.

[Mosh]

I have a hard time getting through all of it. There's a ton of good stuff but it's long and I'm not really a fan of that sound he was developing from the late 70s through the early 80s.

The solos are awesome though. Love the xenochrony stuff.

[matthewmatt]

Also, Stick It Out is really funny.

"Fick mich, du miserabler Hurensoooohn!"

[bout to crash]

Yeah, I love that whole storyline
There are a few weak spots, but overall I love the album.

[bout to crash]

Sweet, let us know how it is!

Good stuff. I was expecting a lot of it to be stuff I've already seen before but they surprised me with some new interview/concert footage. Was a very "surface level" view of Frank but still very enjoyable.

I agree with most of this. Some pretty common footage (Steve Allen show, Crossfire, the PA state trooper, the one towards the end of his life) but also a bunch of stuff I hadn't seen and some great concert moments. I just about lost it a few times, especially that interview with the lady on the couch, whoever she was. And his comments on his own drug use
Definitely worth a watch. Places it's playing for the rest of you: https://sonyclassics.com/eatthatquestion/dates.html

[Mosh]

Awesome! As far as archival footage goes, I was actually mostly intrigued by some of the concert recordings they showed from the original Mothers. I don't think I've seen that before and I hope the ZFT releases it in full. Or maybe some sort of box set of archival footage.

[Prog Snob]

I'm listening to Tinseltown Rebellion now. Easy Meat is such a killer track!

[matthewmatt]

By the way, has anyone else realised only relatively recently that the person on the cover of Hot Rats isn't Frank? 

[Orbert]

At first glance, I thought it was Frank, but upon closer examination, you can see that it's not him at all.  The eyes aren't right.  In fact it looks like a chick.  Of course, this was back in the vinyl days when the picture was much larger, easier to see.

[Mosh]

I believe the person on the cover is one of Frank's many groupies.

[Orbert]

Something like that.  She was their babysitter.

Her name is Christine Frka, a member of Frank's Girls Together Outrageously project, aka the GTO's.  She is also the one generally credited for connecting Frank with Alice Cooper and Frank ultimately signing Alice Cooper.

What, you didn't know that Frank "discovered" Alice Cooper?  True story.

[matthewmatt]

What, you didn't know that Frank "discovered" Alice Cooper?  True story.

I knew about that and, frankly, the AC debut sounds rather different accordingly...

[Orbert]

The documentary Eat That Question: Frank Zappa in His Own Words (2016) is making the rounds on Starz or one of those other second-tier premium channels, and I recorded it and checked it out.  Very nicely done.

It's literally just a collection of interviews and archival performances, but they're arranged and sequenced in such a way as to give you an excellent view into Frank's mind.  Frank's gone, of course, but rather than having a bunch of people giving their views on Frank or "reminiscing" or whatever, it's all him, and I'd never seen most of it before.  Basically chronological, there's a lot of black-and-white footage in the older stuff, and the newer stuff is color and generally better quality, but none of it is really horrible, and all of it is worthwhile.

Five barking pumpkins out of Five.  Would watch again (and probably will). 

[Cyclopssss]

So NIhil, Any chance of reviving that Discography-thread?   

[Podaar]

The documentary Eat That Question: Frank Zappa in His Own Words (2016) is making the rounds on Starz or one of those other second-tier premium channels, and I recorded it and checked it out.  Very nicely done.

It's literally just a collection of interviews and archival performances, but they're arranged and sequenced in such a way as to give you an excellent view into Frank's mind.  Frank's gone, of course, but rather than having a bunch of people giving their views on Frank or "reminiscing" or whatever, it's all him, and I'd never seen most of it before.  Basically chronological, there's a lot of black-and-white footage in the older stuff, and the newer stuff is color and generally better quality, but none of it is really horrible, and all of it is worthwhile.

Five barking pumpkins out of Five.  Would watch again (and probably will). 

I watched this for the first time last week. It was so good, yet I couldn't help shedding a few tears at the end. Frank died from the exact same cancer I survived and it doesn't seem fair to the world. I dare say we have needed him these past 20 + years.

I give it four Arfs + one Telefunken U47

[Orbert]

With leather?

[Podaar]

Läther?

[Orbert]

You'll love it.  It's a way of life.

[Podaar]

   We could probably go on like that for days.

Just follow the magic footprints.

[jammindude]

So NIhil, Any chance of reviving that Discography-thread?   

[Nihil-Morari]

So NIhil, Any chance of reviving that Discography-thread?   

Hi guys, was just thinking about that actually. I don't see it happening in the near future, but I've always said that somehow I'm going to finish it.

[Cyclopssss]

 

[Podaar]

I'm ready when you are, Nihil!

[Nihil-Morari]

Totally getting back into it. Even made me stack up my Zappa collection. 

[Orbert]

Nice collection!

My piece of resistance (can't be bothered to look up the correct spelling) is a giant six-foot poster of Frank that my sister procured for me.  This was back in the 80's, Frank was playing somewhere near her, and as they did in the old days, these were posted on walls all around town, like six or eight of them all in a row, a media blast.  She took one and sent it to me.  I have no idea where it is right now, or I'd take a picture of it.

[ytserush]

The documentary Eat That Question: Frank Zappa in His Own Words (2016) is making the rounds on Starz or one of those other second-tier premium channels, and I recorded it and checked it out.  Very nicely done.

It's literally just a collection of interviews and archival performances, but they're arranged and sequenced in such a way as to give you an excellent view into Frank's mind.  Frank's gone, of course, but rather than having a bunch of people giving their views on Frank or "reminiscing" or whatever, it's all him, and I'd never seen most of it before.  Basically chronological, there's a lot of black-and-white footage in the older stuff, and the newer stuff is color and generally better quality, but none of it is really horrible, and all of it is worthwhile.

Five barking pumpkins out of Five.  Would watch again (and probably will). 

Didn't know about this. I'll check it out.

[Mosh]

There was some discussion earlier in this thread about the posthumous albums going for ridiculous prices. In case anyone hasn't heard, just about every posthumous album (that wasn't reissued already) is now available on streaming sites and Amazon for very reasonable prices. The only missing albums I've noticed are Trance-Fusion and the 4 disc MOFO.

[Nihil-Morari]

And the 5.1 audio DVD's: Halloween en Quadiophilliac.
Great stuff that all CD's will be rereleased (or have been rereleased if you're from the US). I'm not sure about the packaging, possible all albums will be thin digipacks, I'll order a single one, or possible two or three to check that out, if they look good I guess I will make my Zappa collection near-complete. That would mean ordering 10, but with these prices that's very doable. 

[WebRaider]

Ok people, I think I'm finally at a place in my musical listening where I absolutely want to dig into all things Zappa. I have heard numerous individual pieces and I think I've listened to Joe's Garage and Zoot Allures in whole previously.

Although I really love musicianship all around (which is obviously a good thing with Zappa), I find that I connect most instantly with guitar and I know Zappa has had stellar solos and guitar parts throughout his music. If I wanted to start this journey with individual songs; list songs where I can find the juiciest guitar?

I know "Watermelon in Easter Hay" and "Black Napkins" off the top (they are so, so great) . Feel free to list as many songs you all think I would gravitate to initially!

[Mosh]

Inca Roads
RDNZL (You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore 2)
Montana
Yo Mama
All of Hot Rats

Also there are three albums that are nothing but guitar solos. Shut Up n Play Yer Guitar (originally 3 separate records, now available as one double album), Guitar, and Trance-Fusion. These are worth hearing.

[Nihil-Morari]

The re-releases of nearly all posthumous albums are now out in Europe too. They look really nice, and are remarkably cheap. Listening to Philly 76 now, which is really an awesome live album.

In other news: apparently there is a massive boxset coming. 18 hours of material from a string of shows (Helloween 1977) where the Baby Snakes movie was made from. Among the shows is what Zappa fans call 'the best Zappa live show ever'. Two days of early and late shows of over 1,5 hours each, and then two single night shows of over 3 hours. With extra's I guess.

I'm first and foremost interested to see what the material will be, and what it will cost. I mean, if it's 6 shows, will it mean that we get 6 times Disco Boy, or 6 Poodle Lectures? On the other hand, that will mean 6 versions of Black Napkins. (There is even talk of video, but we'll have to wait and see)

[Orbert]

That sounds really cool, but damn, why?  Why not just release the individual shows for a reasonable price, rather than a huge thing that will cost so much that only very, very few people will buy it?