Our Frank Zappa

eric-vaxxine

Chat about everything FZ here.

In the mid 1980's, I wrote to Frank expressing my concern that
his 'vault' of recordings might end up in the dirt if LA suffered a
major earthquake.

I received a letter from Gail a few weeks later which included an
official price list for the purchase of orchestral 'scores' of FZ compositions.

eric-vaxxine

In the Austin Powers movies there is a reference to
lasers on the moon, namely ... Moon Unit Alpha
and Moon Unit Zappa.

chrisbark

eric vaxxine wrote: I received a letter from Gail a few weeks later which included an
official price list for the purchase of orchestral 'scores' of FZ compositions.

Some of those scores were probably transcribed by the GFSA poster boy for shred bashing .... Steve Vai

"Steve Vai started working for Frank Zappa as a music transcriber in September 1979. Some of Steve's transcriptions were published in 'The Frank Zappa Guitar Book' (Munchkin Music, 1982)."

"Steve toured with Zappa and played on several albums including 'Shut Up 'N' Play Yer Guitar' (1981), 'Tinsel Town Rebellion' (1981), 'You Are What You Is' (1981), Ship Arriving Too Late To Save A Drowning Witch' (1982) and 'The Man From Utopia' (1983)"

From http://www.djnoble.demon.co.uk/ints/STEVEVA.ION.html

While googling I also came across this FZ interview which was pretty cool

http://www.guitarworld.com/frank-zappa-talks-gear-praises-steve-vai-his-first-guitar-world-interview-1982

wirt

Right, so help a man out here. What are the essential Frank Zappa songs? I use this website for finding music from artists I don't know so well, but it does get it dead wrong sometimes. Any other songs I should be listening to?

Keira-WitherKay

@ wirt , i have a lot of mr zappa in my music collection , when i next see you i will bring some along and loan em to you and you can listen to em ..... Please just remind me as i often have the best intensions but a mind like a sieve .... Old age ? and too many years on the touring circuit does take its toll.... But yes i have enough zappa to give you an introduction to this genius of our time ..... Not for everyone but knowing your taste you will appreciate his work

BUT REMIND ME

wirt

Keira WitherKay wrote: @ wirt , i have a lot of mr zappa in my music collection , when i next see you i will bring some along and loan em to you and you can listen to em ..... Please just remind me as i often have the best intensions but a mind like a sieve .... Old age ? and too many years on the touring circuit does take its toll.... But yes i have enough zappa to give you an introduction to this genius of our time ..... Not for everyone but knowing your taste you will appreciate his work

BUT REMIND ME

Awesome, thanks a lot! ? I remember getting drunk one night with a friend and listening to "Billy The Mountain". I kinda pegged him as a more musical version of Weird Al. Yankovich (and I mean that in the best possible way) but seeing the praise heaped upon him on this forum is definitely grounds for a re-examining my opinion of the man.

AlanRatcliffe

wirt wrote: Right, so help a man out here. What are the essential Frank Zappa songs? I use this website for finding music from artists I don't know so well, but it does get it dead wrong sometimes. Any other songs I should be listening to?

That's a decent if somewhat anaemic list, leaning more to songs than the music. He can be incredibly difficult to get a handle on as his output was so huge and so varied (and he didn't really give a damn about what others would like). He also wrote specifically for the musicians he had in his band at any given time.

I usually recommend people start with the 1974 album Apostrophe, which has the perfect balance between songs, music and outrageousness. A good follow-up would be the live Roxy and Elsewhere from the same year. Still, that's a more jazz-tinged era for him and doesn't begin to approach his rockier, classical or experimental output.

wirt wrote: I kinda pegged him as a more musical version of Weird Al. Yankovich (and I mean that in the best possible way)

I don't sniff at Weird Al either. Awesome musician. Take a listen to Hardware Store (from Poodle Hat). BTW - from the same album, Genius in France is a direct crib of Zappa's mid-80s style.

wirt

Thanks for the info, Allen. I'll give a listen once I work through my current back-log of music ?

joealien22

It's no secret my favourite Zappa album is Joe's Garage. My Dad gave it to me for a birthday while I was still in school and I'll never forget the first time I listened to it. I played the whole album through listening to every song with eager ears, and then repeated it twice more. It really changed a lot of my views on music and how music is composed. It's like a musical without any visuals - which I love - you just let your imagination do the work.

Plus I thought the Central Scrutinizer was such a cool character.

eric-vaxxine

wirt wrote: Right, so help a man out here. What are the essential Frank Zappa songs?

Zappa fans love this kind of individual. We can give you 'Zappa' that suits
your immediate expectations and watch you explore more of his work
as you grow to know him.

My all time classic example is: My wife.......
She is Polish and from a village.
I played her Zappa's Country tune 'Harder Than Your Husband' and she liked it.
Then I played her 'Catholic Girls' which she also related to.

Tell us what kind of music you like and we will suggest a slice of Zappa
that fits your ear.

Ray

wirt wrote: Right, so help a man out here. What are the essential Frank Zappa songs? I use this website for finding music from artists I don't know so well, but it does get it dead wrong sometimes. Any other songs I should be listening to?

"Overnite Sensation", "Apostrophe", "Bongo Fury". Give you a grab at Capt Beefheart as well.

eric-vaxxine

Ray wrote:
wirt wrote: Right, so help a man out here. What are the essential Frank Zappa songs? I use this website for finding music from artists I don't know so well, but it does get it dead wrong sometimes. Any other songs I should be listening to?
"Overnite Sensation", "Apostrophe", "Bongo Fury". Give you a grab at Capt Beefheart as well.

You suggested to him Zappa 'Albums' not 'songs' he said he wanted to know
what 'songs' he should seek out !!

We need to know if he wants a funky tune, a guitar loaded song or a chorus to
sing along to.

AlanRatcliffe

eric vaxxine wrote: You suggested to him Zappa 'Albums' not 'songs' he said he wanted to know
what 'songs' he should seek out !!

I also suggested albums - because that's what it takes to get even a basic handle on FZ. Those that Ray mentioned do give a good introduction (or at least enough so that someone can get an idea if they like him enough to want to investigate him further). They are accessible enough to not repel a first time listener, but musically deep enough to please even the most discerning muso. They also give a small insight into the man himself from his spoken parts (although for that, the live albums are best - which is one of the reasons I suggested Roxy).

Ray wrote: ["Bongo Fury". Give you a grab at Capt Beefheart as well.

Hmmm. You think he's ready for the Captain? ? That's a whole other subject altogether. And not an easy one...

Ray

eric vaxxine wrote:
Ray wrote:
wirt wrote: Right, so help a man out here. What are the essential Frank Zappa songs? I use this website for finding music from artists I don't know so well, but it does get it dead wrong sometimes. Any other songs I should be listening to?
"Overnite Sensation", "Apostrophe", "Bongo Fury". Give you a grab at Capt Beefheart as well.
You suggested to him Zappa 'Albums' not 'songs' he said he wanted to know
what 'songs' he should seek out !!

We need to know if he wants a funky tune, a guitar loaded song or a chorus to
sing along to.

OK, all of the songs on those albums. Montana will relax you and make you go mad all at the same time maybe. Well, it did me.

Bob-Dubery

eric vaxxine wrote:
Ray wrote:
wirt wrote: Right, so help a man out here. What are the essential Frank Zappa songs? I use this website for finding music from artists I don't know so well, but it does get it dead wrong sometimes. Any other songs I should be listening to?
"Overnite Sensation", "Apostrophe", "Bongo Fury". Give you a grab at Capt Beefheart as well.
You suggested to him Zappa 'Albums' not 'songs' he said he wanted to know
what 'songs' he should seek out !!

We need to know if he wants a funky tune, a guitar loaded song or a chorus to
sing along to.

Well that's the problem - Zappa is not one thing. He's avant garde. He's a punk rocker. He's an intellectual. He's a potty mouth. He's a liberal. He's a puritan. Musically and lyrically he chops and changes. It's like he has multiple personalities with a different side of him popping out on each album.

It's hard to take in the breadth of what Zappa does, and he's one of, perhaps THE hardest artists to pin down to a few quintessential songs.

I agree with Alan that Zappa is an ALBUMS artist. It's the way to appraise him and appreciate him. Many of his albums are concept albums in as much as there's a thematic and often narrative thread running through the songs. Sure, you could try and deal in single songs, but you'd be doing Frank and the interested party a disservice.

Ray

Ja - not a quick snack. And if you listen and you say you dont like it. Then take a break. Go floss your teeth or something. Then listen again. And repeat - rinsing each time. And you will like it after a while I am sure. And as for Capt Beefheart. Do the same. It may take a little while longer but it will happen.

Malkav

With Zappa what really made me go from being a casual listener to a straight up fan was actually watching his live DVD "Does Humour Belong in Music" the band is insane, the songs are high energy and quirky, but most of all the performance is flawless and I have a feeling that will be the case regardless of which DVD you get - Here are some of the highlights from that one to me:

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Heck, the whole DVD is on youtube:

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Also one of my personal absolute favourite tracks (I know it's also a bit more mainstream but I don't realy care) ?

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wirt

eric vaxxine wrote:
Ray wrote:
wirt wrote: Right, so help a man out here. What are the essential Frank Zappa songs? I use this website for finding music from artists I don't know so well, but it does get it dead wrong sometimes. Any other songs I should be listening to?
"Overnite Sensation", "Apostrophe", "Bongo Fury". Give you a grab at Capt Beefheart as well.
You suggested to him Zappa 'Albums' not 'songs' he said he wanted to know
what 'songs' he should seek out !!

We need to know if he wants a funky tune, a guitar loaded song or a chorus to
sing along to.

Ain't no problem ? To me it's like asking for a sandwhich and getting a three-course meal instead ?
Also I didn't realize he was so varied. I'm getting the idea that just listening to a couple of songs will provide very little to understanding the man as an artist, so I guess I'm gonna find me some albums.

eric vaxxine wrote: Tell us what kind of music you like and we will suggest a slice of Zappa
that fits your ear.

I wouldn't worry about that. Besides for the massive amount of blues I'm listening to lately, I've got Hildegard Von Bingen, Pearl Jam, Nine Inch Nails, Diary Of Dreams, VAST, The Beatles, Beethoven, Marilyn Manson, Led Zeppelin, Jethro Tull, Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix, Infected Mushroom, Japandroids and more Nine Inch Nails on my play-list. I find it impossible to describe what "kind" of music I like.

eric-vaxxine

wirt wrote:
eric vaxxine wrote:
Ray wrote:
wirt wrote: Right, so help a man out here. What are the essential Frank Zappa songs? I use this website for finding music from artists I don't know so well, but it does get it dead wrong sometimes. Any other songs I should be listening to?
"Overnite Sensation", "Apostrophe", "Bongo Fury". Give you a grab at Capt Beefheart as well.
You suggested to him Zappa 'Albums' not 'songs' he said he wanted to know
what 'songs' he should seek out !!

We need to know if he wants a funky tune, a guitar loaded song or a chorus to
sing along to.
Ain't no problem ? To me it's like asking for a sandwhich and getting a three-course meal instead ?
Also I didn't realize he was so varied. I'm getting the idea that just listening to a couple of songs will provide very little to understanding the man as an artist, so I guess I'm gonna find me some albums.

eric vaxxine wrote: Tell us what kind of music you like and we will suggest a slice of Zappa
that fits your ear.
I wouldn't worry about that. Besides for the massive amount of blues I'm listening to lately, I've got Hildegard Von Bingen, Pearl Jam, Nine Inch Nails, Diary Of Dreams, VAST, The Beatles, Beethoven, Marilyn Manson, Led Zeppelin, Jethro Tull, Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix, Infected Mushroom, Japandroids and more Nine Inch Nails on my play-list. I find it impossible to describe what "kind" of music I like.

As a teenage guitarist in the 1970's/ 1980's, I grew up on Led Zeppelin and Hendrix ,
but I was also absorbing Zappa's higher musical works.

I listened repeatedly to Zappa's orchestral tunes, gathering them note for note,
memorising them.

'Revised Music for Guitar and Low Budget Orchestra'
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Modern interpretation follows .... which is really lovely and full of energy and life............

This is a live version of the composition performed by 'Ensemble Modern'.
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wirt

Finally started listening to "Joe's Garage" after inundating myself with BB King's whining over his harem for several weeks in an effort to educate myself on the Blues. I thought this would be one of those cases where I'd have to listen to an album a couple of times before "getting it", but this just leaped up through my earphones straight to my brain's Happy Lobe. Everything is just pure awesome and I can see myself listening to this guy's entire discography for at least the next 4 months.
One more Disciple of Zappa on the ground!

Anyway, just thought this deserved an update ?

Thanks to everyone for the suggestions!