Zappa fans. The Zappa catalog is now on iTunes. Damn, where to begin.

[alfredo]

Those who haven't really heard much of his music, take a look. Young guitarist, check him out.

[Initech]

1. Too bad I already have most of Frank's back catalog on CD.

[yesphan]

3. Oh yeah !

Lots and lots of vinyl too.

[TroglodyteScholar]

26. Yea, me too!

I already had a lot of it when I discovered an outlet music store in GA called Music For A Song. They where Rhino-affiliated, and had tons of Zappa's Ryko CDs and cassettes at super discounted prices. Not sure Our Man in Nirvana was quite worth the $6.99, but they also had a load of the Beat the Boots series that I'm pretty sure had become rare and/or expensive at that point (2000ish).

I'd still recommend that iTunes users lap it all up! Oh, if only FZ were around today to put our political leaders in perspective for us....

[yesphan]

2. Indeed !

Always the best musicians. On Ruth !

[leveymg]

4. Glad I don't have to pay Apple $1/song!

[whatchamacallit]

5. Miss him... n/t

[hifiguy]

6. That's a question for the world's greatest living philostopher

Quentin Robert DeNameland.

[cbdo2007]

7. "There will come a time when everybody who is lonely will be free to sing and dance and love."

[Canuckistanian]

8. Awesome

I saw that mentioned on iTunes. I haven't looked it up yet

[intaglio]

9. I suspect that buzzing sound is Zappa spinning in his grave

He was never a fan of big corporations

[hifiguy]

10. The Zappa Family Trust owns and controls the rights

to every last note of Frank's music. I am sure Gail and the kids were consulted about this and had final approval. If it gets FZ's music into the hands of a new generation that has to be a good thing.

[zappaman]

14. Finally they got it back!

I don't do Itunes, but HOT RATS is worth picking up on CD.
They used a much better mix and it sounds amazing!

[hifiguy]

16. AFAIK, they've always had it.

Frank spent the last few years of his life getting the rights back to everything he ever recorded. He then created the Zappa Family Trust with Gail and the kids to keep the rights and control of his massive creative output in family hands. Gail still runs it, to the best of my knowledge.

[zappaman]

19. Yes, but I believe it was only issued on vinyl?

I remember he tinkered with a few early MOTHERS LPs and they weren't as good.
Hopefully, the vaults will open now that the family runs it.

[hifiguy]

21. As much as I respect Frank, his "second thoughts"

on some of the earliest stuff sounded very odd. Dubbing the Thunes and Wackerman rhythm section into "We're Only In It For The Money" just did not work.

I've got tons of original Zappa vinyl going all the way back to a nice, clean "Freak Out" on MGM, all of the "You Can't Do That On Stage" CDs and other selected CD reissues. I think the only artists that take up more space in my media racks are Pink Floyd and the extended Fairport Convention family.

[zappaman]

22. I completely agree about those "second thoughts".

I have everything he ever did and the only artist who comes close in terms of amount for me(possibly surpasses him since they are still around) are The Residents.
I really hope they open the vaults.
Although seeing Dweezil last year at the Roxy in LA was pretty great with Ike Willis singing...

[hifiguy]

36. I have been something of a connoisseur of odd music for almost four decades

but I don't think I ever heard the Residents, even when I worked weekends in a record shop for a couple of years. I just checked out the video of "The Festival of Death" from Eskimo on youtube. Very strange, quite disturbing at first, and surprisingly beautifu both musically and visually in a highly surreal way. There also seems to be some oblique jokes/social criticism in the video. The McDonalds logo inthe background for a few seconds and the Coca-Cola sun made me scratch my head a bit. I will definitely be checking out more, though the Elvis cover was kinda pedestrian to someone who was a fan or the early DEVO.

Van der Graaf Generator, Can and other krautrock, trance, space fusion, Jpop and Kpop, Zappa's classical works, Harry Partch's Delusion of the Fury - I've heard, and own, them all. But I can honestly say that I have never heard anything like Eskimo and I am a more informed person for hearing it. But then my favorite film director is David Lynch. Can't wait to hear more.

[zappaman]

39. ESKIMO blew my mind when I was a teenager.

Check out HEAVEN AND HELL which is a compilation to see their different sounds.
The Commercial Album is quite good too. It's a collection of 40 songs each a minute long. They believed the perfect pop song was 3 minutes and the idea was you could play a song 3 times in a row and have the perfect pop song. Also, they bought 1 minute blocks of commercial time on radio stations, which is the only way they could get played!

Once you delve into THE RESIDENTS, you may not get out!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Residents

Oh, and you need this if you don't have it already...
http://www.amazon.com/Lost-Tapes-Can/dp/B0080R7P8A/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1345518786&sr=1-1&keywords=can+lost+tapes

[hifiguy]

40. You should check out Magma, a very strange band

Last edited Tue Aug 21, 2012, 10:04 AM - Edit history (1)

led by drummer/visionary Christian Vander. They founded a style now called "zeuhl" back in the early 1970s and are still active and recording.

Combine Carl Orff, Frank Zappa at his most avant garde, choral vocals and have it all arranged by Sun Ra and you will be getting into the approximate corner of the cosmos Vander inhabits. Like FZ, his muscians were all virtuosos on their respective instruments. And it is all sung in the original Klingon. I jest but not much. Vander invented his own language to convey his wigged-out sci-fi scenarios. He also virtually worships John Coltrane.

a sample

[dogknob]

44. Magma's a fuckin trip.

For Alejandro Jodorowsky's aborted production of Dune, each planet was to have its own soundtrack. AJ had Magma lined up for one, Pink Floyd for another... probably Genesis too because Peter Gabriel was really into his films.

Went way over budget and got scrapped; Salvador Dali's never-ending demands for playing the Emperor, etc...

[zappaman]

56. Did not know that about DUNE!

Never heard about the planets each having their own music.
Wow, how trippy would that movie have been?

[dogknob]

58. The story...

[zappaman]

55. Ah yes....MAGMA

If I'm not mistaken, he recently resurrected the band?
Definitely an odd guy...

[dogknob]

49. I had the ultimate krautrock collection hosted on Demonoid until they got raided.

Made a lot of people very happy. Some of that stuff is not easy to find. Instead of burning the Library of Alexandria this time, they have just stuck a Roman Polanski look-alike out front ready to cut your nose off.

[dogknob]

43. Saw all the classic Fairport reissued on 180-gram vinyl...

...at Cow Records in San Diego. Might be better than your original copies of Unhalfbricking and Liege & Lief

[hifiguy]

45. I have a UK Island original of Unhalfbricking that is

frighteningly good. My Italian pressing of Liege and Lief is also pretty fine.

[dogknob]

47. Well OK, then!

Outstanding! My whole collection is now digital. I got no place to keep a buncha vinyl.

[Le Taz Hot]

92. Zappa, Pink AND

Fairport Convention? Wow! I've known VERY few people who listened to all three . . . except me.

Needless to say, LOVE you're taste in music.

[hifiguy]

97. There are three kinds of music

Bad, interesting and great. Classical, pop, jazz, whatever.

I go for interesting and great.

[dogknob]

48. You are referring to the Rykodisc editions of the early Mothers stuff

With the overdubbed Wackerman/Thunes rhythm section. Foul.

Once he got his hands on some software called Sonic Solutions, he went back and got the original tracks right and issued far superior editions.

Sonic Solutions is probably a toy now compared to something like Ableton Live, but in Zappa's paws he was able to do some pretty great stuff. I heard a version of "Lonesome Cowboy Burt" that was culled together from 2 different performances by 2 different bands 15 years apart and it sounded seamless.

[hifiguy]

54. Yup, those are the ones I had in mind.

I don't know of any serious Zappa head who liked those.

He did some amazing stuff, just as you described, with the later live performances released on CD. IIRC there is an amazing performance of "King Kong" that is actually three different live recordings Frank edited together. I want to say it's on The Best Band You Never Heard In Your Life but I could be wrong.

[dogknob]

42. To have been a fly on the wall during Gail's negotiations with Apple.

Watching this right now:

[alfredo]

15. But then this is a great way to spread the gospel of Frank Zappa.

[Canuckistanian]

20. I don't think Frank would have much objection to Apple

But the record companies of the 60s and 70s were bloodsuckers. It's no wonder he set up his own label as soon as he could.

[DonRedwood]

11. Valley Girl?

sorry man, just kiddin'....

[alfredo]

17. Might as well start with "Plastic People."

First cut from "Absolutely Free"

[Comrade Grumpy]

12. More importantly, is it now available on Spotify?

[Egalitarian Thug]

13. K&R #5. Is that a real poncho? And where are your heavy duty zircon encrusted tweezers? n/t

[alfredo]

18. Brown Shoes don't make it.

[iwillalwayswonderwhy]

23. The Idiot Bastard Son

The child will thrive and grow,
and enter the world,
of liars and cheaters and people like you,
who smile and think they know what this is about.

[alfredo]

41. My guitar wants to kill your momma.

[NightWatcher]

24. damn, now I've got Bobby Brown Goes Down stuck in my head

need to clear it out with some

[Octafish]

25. Sam with a Showing Scalp Flat Top

Sam with the showing scalp flat top,
was particular about the point it made.
Why, when I was knee-high to a grasshopper,
this black juice came out on a hard shelled chin.
And they called that "tobacco juice."
I used to fiddle with my back feet music for a black onyx.
My entire room absorbed every echo..
The music was.. thud like. The music was.. thud like.
I usually played such things as rough-neck and thug.
Opaque melodies that would bug most people.
Music from the other side of the fence.
A black swan figurine lay on all color lily pads.
On a little conglomeration table of pressed black felt.
With same color shadows, and seemed knobbed knees, and what-nots.
The long hallway rolled out into the oddball Odd.
Beside the fly-pecked black doorway,
that looked closed on the tar-lattice street.
Up a wrought iron fire escape.
Rolled out a tiny wooden platform with
dark, hard, dark rubber wheels.
Roll, skreek! Roll, skreek! Roll, skreek!
Sam with the showing scalp flat top,
particular about the point it made.

Sam was a BASKET CASE!

A hardened dark ivory clip held.. saleable everyday pencils.
I wish I had a pair 'o bongos!
Bongo Fury! Bongo Fury!
Oowwwww! Bongo Fury!
(boogie!)
Bongo Fury! Bongo Fury!

[alfredo]

38. Damn

[formercia]

27. A rare one, only performed once:

[hifiguy]

33. A grad school friend of mine told me that

he got into some minor trouble when he was in college for blasting this track out of his dorm window. Yes, he's Jewish. He thought it was hysterical.

[90-percent]

28. I was late to the Zappa train

Started with the Oct 17, 1971 Stony Brook late show. The Flo and Eddie band, perhaps only a few weeks prior onstage with John and Yoko at the Fillmore East.

Got a chance to meet Nappy Brock and Don Preston at a Grandmothers show at Infinity Hall about 15 miles nw of my home last March.

They both complimented me on my Bartcop WORST PRESIDENT EVER tee shirt. Tom Fowler was also in the line up, but I didn't know who he was at the meet and greet.

Also met Ike Willis, Ray White and Bunk Gardner at a Project Object show in Teaneck NY a little over a year ago. Ike is a real nice guy.

Frank is my hero and has been a major source of inspiration in my lifetime. In great part due to his values and the clarity of his thinking and reasoning.

Frank eviscerated Al and Tipper Gore at the ratings hearings in the 80's, but Tipper later played drums on a Dweezil song and Al is on the Congressional Record declaring he's a fan of Frank Zappa's music. The Gore's sent Frank a card when they heard he got sick.

Frank was seriously looking into running for President in the early 90's, but got sick.


My sincere thanks for the post.

-90% Jimmy

[alfredo]

37. I got turned onto FZ while in the Army. "Freak Out" in the sub Sahara. Ruined my life.

It needed ruining anyway.

[zappaman]

29. First time I saw him was in 1981

Front row for the YOU ARE WHAT YOU IS tour.
Remember being blown away by the crazy young guitarist Steve Vai.
It's amazing the talent that went thru his band over the years...

[cliffordu]

31. I saw him on that same tour -

It was a gift for my 30th birthday. I'd been a fan since I was 16.....

Amazing.....Vai was incandescent.

[PufPuf23]

30. Do not do cultural heroes in general but FZ, PKD, and several obscure academics

are close.

I saw FZ at Berkeley Community Theatre twice (where my college sweetheart and ex-wife donated panties to the quilt).

First saw the Mothers in 67 or 68 at Eureka Municipal Auditorium. Last saw FZ with symphony orchestra and large puppets in Zellerbach Hall circa 1986. Saw multiple times at Winterland and Fillmore West, and at Circle Star Theatre (with Tom Waites going in circles). The Eureka Muni and specific Circle Star do not show on on published lists of appearances.

FZ was a smart and perceptive man.

Deliberate edit: and a good muscician

[alfredo]

34. I came for the music, and stayed for the social commentary.

[dogknob]

66. Not sarcasm -- real question. Please explain "do not do cultural heroes..." n/t

[PufPuf23]

70. Don't seem to me wired for personality cults

FZ is as close as an example in my 60 years.

I have favorite sports stars, muscicians, authors, etc but have never had a wall poster nor adolescent or adult crush nor the like.

[Gabi Hayes]

32. ''Like some tacky little pamphlet.....

in your daddys bottom drawer''

&feature=related

most accessible album?

saw him do most of it live one night........




Interviews, etc:

&feature=related

&feature=related

&feature=related

[alfredo]

35. I remember him from the Steve Allen show. Little did I know.

[bigtree]

46. saw him at what was the Capital Center in Largo, Md. in the '70s

. . . got right up against this huge speaker and absorbed every note from his amazing guitar. Back in the day . . . prime of my youth.

[alfredo]

50. I saw him three times in Detroit. One was with Flo and Eddie at an amphitheater

outside of Detroit. The last time I took acid was at Cobo arena. The ticket was King Crimson, The Mahavishnu Orchestra, and Zappa. I decided that was it for acid no future trip could be anywhere near as good as that one.

I remember there was this young woman riffing off the music. She was framed by an exit, so she was in silhouette, and it was clear she was classically trained. She wore a long dress, and had long flowing hair.

[bigtree]

53. it's just like a penguin in bondage, boy

oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah!

[hifiguy]

57. Holy freaking shit! What a triple bill!!

Was it the Bruford/Wetton edition of KC and the original Mahavishnu Orch? If it was, that has to have been one of the greatest gigs in history.

Three of the best guitarists that ever picked up the instrument all in one night?

[alfredo]

65. Goodman was still with Mahavishnu, and I don't remember all the members of KC.

Fripp was incredible. (Fripp produced the Roches)


Billy Cobham is one of the most fluid drummers one can wish for. Goodman lost his gig because John wanted him to cut his hair and Jerry said no. So the story goes.

Zappa had Sal Marquez and Jean Luc Ponty. That puts the tour in the 73 to 75 timeframe.

[hifiguy]

67. If Jerry was there, that was the original Mahavishnu Orch.

That band was my first ever live concert - I was 16 or 17. Calling it impressive (and unbelievably, pyramids-shattering LOUD) would be a grievous understatement. I was kind of spoiled after that.

[alfredo]

69. Check out John McLaughlin on Miles Davis' "On The Corner."

[MrSlayer]

51. Apostrophe/Overnight Sensation is my favorite.

Just great stuff. He was a great lead guitar player.

[cyberswede]

81. I love Apostrophe (') !

I think I first heard it while babysitting when I was 12 - the little girl played her dad's copy for me 'cause she liked "Don't Eat the Yellow Snow."

I went to a used record store and bought my own copy shortly thereafter.

The musicianship on that album is remarkable.

[99Forever]

52. Damn !

Now this will be stuck in my head all day...

~~~ Billy the Mountain, Billy the Mountain.

A regular, picturesque, postcardy mountaintain

Residing between...~~~

Thanks a lot. No, really, thanks!


Eddy are you kidding?

[hifiguy]

63. That was the first FZ album I ever heard.

Back in the summer of 1972.

***

Studebaker Hoch, yeah, yeah!
Studebaker Hoch, Stu-de-ba-ker Hoch!!

He was born under the influence of the frozen beef pies....

Don't fuck with Billy (no!)
And don't fuck with Ethel,
You saw what just happened
To the guy with the flies!

[99Forever]

64. I think my first Zappa was...

... "Cruising with Ruben & the Jets", I never looked back, I was hooked.

His brilliance was in a class by itself.

Another:

[Gabi Hayes]

72. you threw my best sharkskin suit out on the lawn....right on top of some dog waste!

[alfredo]

73. Cruising with Rubin and the Jets.

[Gabi Hayes]

89. got it in the vinyl

[alfredo]

90. same here

[HooptieWagon]

59. Zappa special tonight (tues) from 8-10,

on WMNF 88.5fm Tampa. They do a simulcast on web, too. Show is also archived for a week.

[lumberjack_jeff]

60. Sheik Yerbouti was an epiphany to me. n/t

[BeyondGeography]

61. Dumb All Over

[alfredo]

71. 1+

[Initech]

74. We can't really be dumb if we're just following God's orders...

After all - he wrote this book. And in the book it says that we are just like him. So if we are dumb then God is dumb - and maybe a little ugly on the side.

[datasuspect]

62. zappa is like the Dead with me

very little of it I truly LOVE, the rest. meh.

i think back when i was a teenager and i had the time to sit for hours smoking pot and listening to music, i didn't do these two any justice. i probably should have explored them both more.

[alfredo]

68. There's so many layers to his music. Check out the video

This was his last live performance.

[FiveGoodMen]

78. Never knew there was a dance that went with that

Frank and his music were one-of-a-kind!

[alfredo]

83. Those guys really put out for that piece. You could tell they were

Bonked by the end. I think this was Frank's last performance on stage.

[FiveGoodMen]

87. No kidding! I thought they were going to be injured by the end of it.

[alfredo]

88. That last lift was scary.

[hifiguy]

82. That is orchestral playing of

an incredibly high standard. Seriously.

[alfredo]

84. I'd like to see our local orchestra try that.

[alfredo]

85. This will be on my next purchase. This album was stolen,

so I am replacing it.

&sns=em

[Flatpicker]

75. Starting Zappa is always tough

Last edited Thu Aug 23, 2012, 05:37 PM - Edit history (1)

I'd recommend Apostrophe and Over-Nite Sensation as they are pretty accessible.

After that, Try to get your hands on "You Can't to that on Stage Anymore Vols 1-6"

Then fan out into the more esoteric, but stay away from Thing-Fish until you are good and ready.

[alfredo]

76. Yellow Shark is very good too.

[CabCurious]

77. that's nice...

[zappaman]

79. The latest news

And now for some announcements!

The September Batch of singular Old Masters is:
Orchestral Favorites
Joe's Garage Acts 1, 2 & 3
Tinsel Town Rebellion
Shut Up 'N' Play Yer Guitar
You Are What You Is
Ship Arriving Too Late To Save A Drowning Witch
The Man From Utopia
Baby Snakes
London Symphony Orchestra, Vols. I & II
Boulez Conducts Zappa: The Perfect Stranger
Them Or Us
THING-FISH

And ere the frost is on the Pumpkin:
Francesco Zappa
Frank Zappa Meets The Mothers Of Prevention
Does Humor Belong In Music?
Jazz From Hell
Guitar
You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore, Vol. 1
You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore, The Helsinki Tapes, Vol. 2
Broadway The Hard Way
The Best Band You Never Heard In Your Life
Make A Jazz Noise Here
*Mothermania
*Exciting New Title (TBA): Compiled by Frank Zappa just in time for what turns out to be THIS U.S. Presidential Election!!!

WHEW! Did you notice the asterisks? Now that the Dust Of The Ages (DOA) is finally beginning to settle in the Vault - hopefully for the last time - we, Without Regret, are pleased to inform you: Yes, that's right, there will be 60 ACTUAL Titles this year. Something old, something new, something borrowed & something blue. Say I do!

xxx,

gz & the barfies

[alfredo]

80. I need to look into his orchestral works.

[Bonobo]

86. Still, I say fuck Gail and Da Weasel.

The way they have consistently tried to stop the former members of Zappa's band play the music live is an anethema to me.

Da Weasel doesn't understand his dad's music one bit. Of course I saw ZPZ and have seen Project Object many times.

ZPZ plays Zappa's music like it is dead and frozen. PO understands that FZ never played stuff the same way and the joy was in the extemporizing, the variations...

[alfredo]

93. Willie The Pimp is an occasional ear worm.

[Bonobo]

94. Playing it right now.

It's got a very juicy guitar line all right.

[alfredo]

96. Zappa said he can't play guitar and sing at the same time.

[nolabear]

91. Ah, Zappa. It was a long, crazy love affair. I miss that man.

Now I have a Peaches en Regalia earworm.

[alfredo]

95. I meant to reply with "Willie the Pimp."