REVIEWS
Albums
NAZARETH: HAIR OF THE DOG (Union Square Music, SALVOCD035)
Track list: Hair Of The Dog/Miss Misery/Guilty/Changin’
Times/Beggar’s Day-Rose In The Heather/Whiskey Drinkin’ Woman/Please Don’t
Judas Me/Love Hurts (single)/My White
Bicycle (single)/Holy Roller (single)/Railroad Boy (b-side of Holy Roller)/Hair Of the Dog (BBC live recording)/Holy Roller (BBC live recording)/Teenage Nervous Breakdown (BBC live
recording)/This Flight Tonight (BBC
live recording)/Road Ladies (BBC live
recording).
As soon as the title track
started - all cowbells and belly-bum biting rock guitars - it took me back to
first hearing Nazareth as a small lad eating Aztec Bars. And I admit I
salivated a little. The band was successful in the pop charts here but it still
seemed OK to like them, and they really floated my boat with their splendid
cover of Joni’s This Flight Tonight
(a live version of which appears here). Hair
Of The Dog was later covered by Guns N’Roses, who were big fans (Axl sounds
a lot like Dan McCafferty, I think you’ll concur). So why am I reviewing this
loud, proud and remastered re-issue? Aside from the fact that it’s a pretty
damn great album that has now been bolstered by nine bonus tracks, it’s because
of the final cut – a live at the Beeb, bluesy outing of FZ’s Road Ladies. And there is of course
another tenuous Zappa link here: Frank described Tomorrow’s My White Bicycle as “one of the
best-made singles of its time, and it may have been a little ahead of its time
too”. Pretty sure he would’ve liked the Naz’s stab at it– a lot more than that
hippy Neil’s, anyway.
Perfect Partner: Greatest Hits (Union Square Music, 2010)
MICHAEL KIERAN HARVEY: 48 FUGUES FOR FRANK (Move Records, MD3339)
Track list (with obscure Zappa influences): 48 Fugues For Frank #1 (Greggery Peccary,
Pentagon Afternoon)/#2 (The Girl In The Magnesium Dress)/#3 (Jazz From Hell)/#4
(Tink Runs Amok)/#5 (Civilization Phaze III)/#6 (G-Spot Tornado)/#7 (St
Etienne: guitar solo)/#8 (Ruth Is Sleeping)/#9 (The Black Page)/#10 (Baby
Snakes).
Well, Michael sure knows how to tinkle them ivories! I
was a little uncertain about what to expect here, and it's not an easy,
relaxing listen, that’s fer sure. And if you come expecting to readliy identify
the FZ influences, think again. But anything that makes you wanna dig out those
source recordings has got to have something going for it. And this is a great
way of paying homage. The disc is comprised solely of solo piano pieces – while
the CD booklet contains a selection of ten of Arjun von Caemmerer's 60 extant
pieces which collectively comprise the concrete poetry that is Lingua Franka. A tasty little package
indeed. Harvey recorded a version of Frank’s Ruth Is Sleeping some nine years ago on his Storm Sight album, and says that fellow Australian von Caemmerer
(who was amazed to happen upon this earlier recording) was instrumental in
reviving his interest in FZ. Of the album, Harvey has said: “Each of the ten pieces uses four or five ideas inspired
by, reacting to, or developing some of Zappa’s techniques. Number One, for instance started out as an exploration of his
favourite chord, the added 2nd. Number
Two explored the mechanical beauty of some of his Synclavier writing, while
Number Four is a rhythmic looping
exploration of five beats alternating with seven in a general over-arching 12
beat time. Similarly Number Nine
explores the interplay of 21 beat cycles and its prime subdivisions, with
extended modal harmony based on the same divisions realized as pitches.”
That probably tells you all you need to know.
Perfect Partner: Jeffrey Burns
Plays Frank Zappa (Pool Music, 1992)
WESTERN VACATION: STEVE VAI PRESENTS WESTERN VACATION
Track list: Western Vacation/Nocturnal Emissions/Fast
Notes People/Send Us More Light/Patty/The Velvet Line/Delicious/Borrowed
Time/Burning Flame.
I've been wanting to see a CD reissue of this for
sometime, as it's an especially great showcase for the excellent vocals of wee
Bobby Harris. The sleeve notes are new (by Steve and his spanking longtime
friend, Laurel Fishman), but they fail to mention (or, perhaps, don't make
crystal clear) a few things: like Bob (with wondrous back-up from wife Thana)
sings the bulk of the vocals; that Tommy Mars is on virtually all of the tracks
(and the aptly named Delicious is
just him); that Steve Vai appears on just the title track (turning in a
typically great solo); that Marty Schwarz (the main man here) plays all other
guitars; that Scott Thunes plays bass on the final 'bonus track'; that former
Whitesnake drummer Chris Frazier plays on all but Tommy's improv piece (the way
he opens Patty up is a joy to
behold). But let's not let all this distract us from what is a superb album (I
just figured potential purchasers might like to know this nerdy stuff…flavin!).
The opening track pretty much sets things out nicely - a fine singalong track,
with many neat twists and turns. Wondrous to hear that signature Mars sound
punctuating things throughout.
Perfect Partner: The Great
Nostalgia by Bob Harris (Crossfire Publications, 2007)
DWEEZIL
ZAPPA: RETURN OF THE SON OF...
(Z Tornado/Razor & Tie, 7930183102-2)
Disc
One: The Deathless Horsie/Andy/Magic
Fingers/Broken Are Hearts Are For Assholes/Bamboozled By Love/King Kong (with
Band Solos)/Montana/Inca Roads.
Disc Two: The Torture Never
Stops/Dirty Love/Zomby Woof/Billy The Mountain/Camarillo Brillo/Pygmy Twylyte.
Putting
aside the fact that this set duplicates two tracks on the previous Razor &
Tie ZPZ CD, one on the Fresh Cuts
free Guitar Center disc, and at least one actually-the-very-same recording from
the 'free' Chicago 1 YCFOSA download, this is a bloody good album. Starting
with a super bad Horsie, Dweezil
shows what a truly talented guitarist he has become - not that he was too
shabby with Z, but there's a lot more than widdly-widdly-scree to him these
days. Hearing Ben Thomas at such close quarters is also a revelation: he sounds
really, really good, though Ray White sings the bulk of the songs. And Ray
sounds wonderful. But you knew that. In his liner notes, Dweezil describes this
as a snapshot of performances by the band as it was and now is, but has chosen
to only include photos of the current line-up (who perform just two tracks - Montana and Zomby Woof – taken from 2009’s Manchester show). Scheila also sings
lead, on Dirty Love (à la Philly 76 - has anyone else noticed the
surreptitious plugging of ZFT releases by ZPZ: FZ:OZ and the Dub Room
Special DVD are issued, and Napi's their special guest – and they play Imaginary Diseases; Buffalo and the Dub Room
CD coincide with Ray White's stint; more recently, they played summat offa Ruben…). Have to say I felt a twinge of
sadness hearing Aaron Arntz - missed him last tour. So here's hoping Chris
Norton is at least half as good (though I’m positive he’ll be better than
that). Still not sure about the inclusion of Billy The Mountain here, but it's not as depressing as it might’ve
been; it just seems really odd to pretty much replicate the record and treat this
as ‘akin to classical music’, when the piece included much ad-libbing. But I
did laugh along. Again. King Kong has
some nice solos, including one from the Dweez's audio engineer
friend/guitarist, TJ Helmerich. Bottom line is: ZPZ play all the right notes,
and can still improvise like mothers. Despite what some might perceive as my
negativity towards them, do you think I won’t go and see them this summer? Of
course I will. It’s my avid fandom for ALL things Zappa that gives me
these, er, insights. I'm not about spreading 100% positivity throughout the
land, using all the frightening little skills that scientists have made
available. Oh no.
GREASY LOVE SONGS: FRANK ZAPPA (Zappa Records, ZR
20010)
Track
list: Cheap Thrills/Love Of My Life/How
Could I Be Such A Fool/Deseri/I’m Not Satisfied/Jelly Roll Gum
Drop/Anything/Later That Night/You Didn’t Try To Call Me/Fountain Of Love/“No.
No. No.”/Anyway The Wind Blows/Stuff Up The Cracks/Jelly Roll Gum Drop
(Alternate Mono Mix)/“No. No. No.” (Long Version)/Stuff Up The Cracks
(Alternate Mix)/“Serious Fan Mail”/Valerie (Mono Mix)/Jelly Roll Gum Drop
(Single Version)/“Secret Greasing”/Love Of My Life (Pal Studio version).
Great
to finally have the original Ruben &
The Jets on CD, though even this still doesn't feature the original drum
tracks: seemingly FZ had Art Tripp come in and redo them "because he
didn't like what Billy Mundi had played". But (unlike on WOIIFTM) GZ does at least repeat FZ's
original credit to JCB's lewd pulsating rhythm. And Jimmy is even listed as
playing trumpet on Valerie (sic)
recorded at the Money sessions. So he
just doesn't play any instrument on the album? Fuck off. Word. Also, Paul Buff
undoubtedly deserves a less grudging acknowledgement for playing piano, fuzz
bass, drums and all the sax parts, surely? And they wonder why the negativity
toward the ZFT? When they issue this as an overpriced download, you’ll miss out
on the wonderful packaging. Ooh, shiny!
CHICANERY: CHICANERY (dPulse Recordings, B003FSHR7I)
Track list: The
Rung Below/Hubert Selby Song/The Midnight Owls/Ice Page Repo/Solid Gold
Helicopter/Alien Chant/Cut Me From The Mirror/I.O.D./Chessmaniaques/I Came Back
To You/Luminal Dark/Gold Pavilions/Hit The Wall.
While still with Duran Duran, Warren Cuccurullo
briefly (and then literally) rocked out with his cock-out, releasing his first
solo album (Thanks To Frank) and
touring with the material that wound up on Roadrage.
He quickly did a right turn and recorded his ambient Machine Language series, and after DD has briefly returned to
Missing Persons while still working on lots of other stuff. Sadly, it took a
few years before another solo album hit us (Playing In
Tongues). And Chicanery has been an ongoing project for a few
years now. So, finally, their debut is here. Largely because it features the
lyrics and vocals of Brit tone poet Neil Carlill (who sounds like a cross
between Billy Corgan and Hugh Cornwell), we are again treated to something
quite different from DoUBLEyOuSEe. While (as per PIT) it features Terry and Dale Bozzio, as well as Joe Travers on
one track, it's full of concise songs (none more than 4½ minutes) - so no long
fluid solos from Warren. But that's cool. The
Rung Below hits you like tomorrow never knows, and before you know it you're
surfing with the Alien Chant that
features some nice bass from space by Bizarro Patanè. What do Chicanery sound
like? Solid Gold Helicopter reminds
me very much of Garbage, while Hit The
Wall evokes The Bees’ End Of The
Street - on mescaline. Confused? Generally this music will make you want to
perform perverted movements of the body and breakdancing. And other forms of
dancing. You can download the pair’s first collaborative efforts at Warren's
website, but they're not very representative of the by and large more upbeat
material on display here - even Cut Me
From The Mirror, featuring Indian sarangi player and singer Ustad Sultan
Khan, differs a bunch - not least in length. Sounds like it has the Tuvan
throat singers in the mix too. I.O.D.
may have producer Simone Sello plucking a violin. Not sure. I’ll ask. Chessmaniaques is madder than Bobby
Fischer, but less hypnotic than I Came
Back To You. My favourite track is easily Gold Pavillions, which is performed by just Warren, Neil and
Simone, with lots of swirling electronics; it just tickles my fanny - and will
be released as the extra track with the Hubert
Selby Song digital single just ahead of the album's release. Got you
juiced? That was the plan.
PAUL BUFF: PAL AND ORIGINAL SOUND STUDIO RECORDINGS (Crossfire Publications,
download-only packages)
Track lists: see http://www.idiotbastard.com/News/Buff.htm
Remembering that the Early Years CD (and many others) had tracks taken from the vinyl records,
it’s great to at last have good quality, freshly remastered versions of things
like The Cruncher and Heavies (an excerpt of which...blah,
blah) and the song that Frank boasted “was Number
One in Mexico for 17 straight weeks!” but didn’t actually have any
involvement in: Tijuana Surf. Its
B-side, Grunion Run, we all know and
love from those Cucamonga CDs (and, of course, The Tornadoes' live cover as
performed at Zappanale #15 and also made available by Crossfire), but hearing
the original in stereo is a real ear-opener. I'd never heard The Big Surfer before - you've probably
read about it being hastily withdrawn after black activist Medgar Evers'
assassination - but it's a hoot hearing San Bernardino DJ Brian Lord's JFK
impression, and you can clearly hear Zappa's voice in there too. I bought the
Ned & Nelda tunes on a Moxie Records EP years ago (which I later found out
was probably a bootleg): great to hear them without the scratches now. The
quality of the Drums A-Go-Go and Surfin' Bongos albums is excellent, and
there's lots of fun stuff on both: Rush
Street sounds just like Money,
while Sunset Strip borrows from Louie Louie; and then there's some
actual covers of familiar fayre like Wipe
Out!, Bustin' Surfboards, Eve Of Destruction, and Satisfaction. Although both albums are
mainly performed by Mr Buff, that's no reason not to listen to these largely
instrumental gems. Buff can be compared to Les Paul for many of his recording
innovations, and was a huge influence on the young Frank - who told us this
about the ‘amazing gentleman’ in The Real
FZ Book: “He didn't have a mixing console, so
he built one - out of an old 1940s vanity. He removed the mirror and, right in
the middle, where the cosmetics would have gone, installed a metal plate with
Boris Karloff knobs on it. He built his own homemade, five-track, half-inch
tape recorder - at a time when the standard in the industry was mono. He wanted
to become a singer-songwriter, so he listened to all the latest hit records,
figured out what the hooks were and, through a mysterious process, created his
own little hook-laden replicas. He taught himself how to play the five basic
instruments of rock and roll: drums, bass, guitar, keyboards and alto saxophone
- then taught himself how to sing.” While there's much of interest in
the Buff recordings (like Dog Patch
Creeper by The Velveteens, from whence Frank borrowed for Tryin’ To Grow A Chin), it's undoubtedly
the inclusion of the many previously unreleased FZ songs by The Pal Studio Band
that makes this THE release of the year, hands down. You need to hear this
stuff – and there’s many more yet to come.
FRANK
ZAPPA: PHILLY '76 (VAULTernative Records, VR 20091)
Disc One: The
Purple Lagoon/Stink-Foot/The Poodle Lecture/Dirty Love/Wind Up Workin’ In A Gas
Station/Tryin’ To Grow A Chin/The Torture Never Stops/City Of Tiny Lites/You
Didn’t Try To Call Me/Manx Needs Women/Chrissy Puked Twice.
Disc Two: Black
Napkins/Advance Romance/Honey, Don’t You Want A Man Like Me?/Rudy Wants To Buy
Yez A Drink/Would You Go All The Way?/Daddy, Daddy, Daddy/What Kind Of Girl Do
You Think We Are?/Dinah-Moe Humm/Stranded In The Jungle/Find Her
Finer/Camarillo Brillo/Muffin Man.
The ZFT has come up trumps again with this release:
although there are many familiar songs, we've not heard them before with Eddie
Jobson's fantastic violin (during an epic Black
Napkins), Bianca Odin's lead vox (Dirty
Love, an especially soulful You
Didn't Try To Call Me and Advance
Romance), or even FZ's upfront singing on the sequence of Vaudeville
band-era tunes (Flo & Eddie were scheduled to be the opening act and make a
guest appearance with their old boss, but their guitar player Phil Reed fell to
his death from a hotel window a few days before the gig and they naturally
scrubbed such plans). Although Frank sounds a tad shaky at the start of this
medley, things really get going when Bianca joins in. Indeed, one of the many
great things about this album are the vocals: as well as Frank and Bianca,
Terry Bozzio and Ray White get to sing lead (Tryin’ To Grow A Chin and City
Of Tiny Lites respectively) - and Patrick O'Hearn sings back-ups - which
all makes for a very varied set. During Tiny
Lites, we get to hear Ray's great scat singing and it's evident he and
Bianca have a great understanding (Lady B's insightful liner notes reveal that
'twas she who introduced Ray to Frank, so we have much to thank her for). On
first listen, I have to say I wasn’t crazy about Bianca’s vocal on the sacred Napkins, but it grows on you. The same
cannot be said of Eddie’s contribution to the piece, which is something I’ve
longed to hear officially released and loved from the first play. The track
clocks in at nearly 19 glorious minutes. I wonder if Frank would’ve had such an
abrupt intro though? Great to have an official release of Stranded In The Jungle too. During Advance Romance, O’Hearn’s first attempt to solo is quickly
curtailed as his bass rig packs in (Uncle Ian and I played our own low notes on
the way back from Wigan to make up for this temporary fault). How bluesy does What Kind Of Girl Do You Think We Are? -
in which Alice Cooper is replaced by both Punky Meadows and Steven Tyler -
sound? Throughout these two discs, Frank plugs the imminent release of the Zoot Allures album (and why not?) and of
course plays some fine, fine solos (he was reaching his peak around this time,
right kids?). Chrissy Puked Twice is
of course the original tittie for Titles
& Beer. So why did the ZFT not go with the more well-known title, as
they have for Manx Needs Women despite
FZ clearly introducing it as Mars…?
Oh well, whatever. Keep these thrilling examples from less-documented line-ups
coming - give 'em to me right here in the trunk of your Fillmore.
FRANK
ZAPPA: THE INTERVIEW SESSIONS (Chrome Dreams, CTCD7502)
This has eleven tracks, all from different unlisted
sources. It starts with Steve Allen's interview just before Frank played
Candy’s bicycle. The longest track I recognized as being on that B&W
picture disc from a few years back, where FZ talks about his Cucamonga
recordings and early influences, from the comfort of a creaky metal chair.
Another has him telling very specifically what happened with John & Yoko at
the Fillmore. It runs chronologically, and we get to hear (in turn): his
thoughts on
categorising music; a little about the Baby Snakes fillum and his then-current
musical likes (The Slits, Lene Lovich); that Thing-Fish (shock horror) mirrors the AIDS epidemic; about laughing
on stage and Frenchness; how Mr Sting came to play with the Broadway band and
how the Beatles Medley came to be; some stuff about The Real FZ Book; and the state of Czechoslovakia. The quality is
fair, with the more recent naturally sounding better, though some of these are
phone interviews for radio. This is, I guess, really for completists - though
hearing Frank’s wit and wisdom would make any non-believer sit-up and take
note. Plus it adds nicely to the other three Zappa discs Chrome Dreams have
made available in recent years. Get yours here.
VARIOUS
ARTISTS: THE ROOTS OF FRANK ZAPPA (Snapper Music)
Track list: Space Guitar (Johnny 'Guitar' Watson)/Okie
Dokie Stomp (Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown)/Rock, Granny, Roll (Hank
Ballard & The Midnighters)/Head Hunter (Johnny Otis)/To The Aisle (The Five
Satins)/Little Star (The Elegants)/Ionisation (Edgard Varèse & Juilliard
Percussion Orchestra)/Hound Dog (Big Mama Thornton)/Koko Joe (Don &
Dewey)/Oh Yeah! (Guitar Slim)/Could This Be Magic (The Dubs)/Story Untold (The
Nutmegs)/Third Interlude (Maro Ajemian)/Moanin' At Midnight (Howlin'
Wolf)/Standing Around Crying (Muddy Waters)/Don't Start Me Talkin' (Sonny Boy
Williamson)/Work With Me Annie (Hank Ballard & The
Midnighters)/Interpolations from Deserts: Interpolation III (Edgard
Varèse)/Florence (The Paragons)/Goodnight, Sweetheart, Goodnight (The
Spaniels).
The obvious question: how does this compare to last
year’s Jukebox CD?
Well, as it only duplicates a few tracks, it’s a nice companion to it, and
sonically it sounds very good. But (unlike the earlier disc) there’s a distinct
lack of info about each track and their linkage to FZ, which the poorly written
liner notes don’t actually help to clarify. Still, much of the music is great
and you can hear some of the obvious influences on the young Frank. You’ve
probably seen previous Roots Of… CDs
by Snapper and their distinctively similar artwork. Given that MOJO and Uncut often give away similar compilations, I’d never bought one
before. But I’d say this is a must-have if you’ve already got and liked the
afore-mentioned Jukebox CD.
WARREN CUCCURULLO (featuring Terry Bozzio): PLAYING IN TONGUES (Edel
Records/Barfko-Swill)
Track list: The
Definitive Magical Miss Tickle Backwards Alphabet Song/For The Masses I, II,
III/Wreckelection/Meem/Think Kartoonz/Zoomout/Raging Bullshit/Sid Arthur's
Message/Intermission Possible/(Part 1) ImagineOrkestra Rehearsal Absolutely
Free Form/(Part 2) Smile/(Part 3) They're Mintee/(Part 1) Evreedaze Halloween
Bash From Imaginon - Hello Spoky/(Part 2) Holographic Jesus And The Cee Gee
Alien Attack/Prophomation Confirmed/Weedew/Simple Man/We're All Targets.
For The
Masses I, II, III and (Part 2)
Holographic Jesus And The Cee Gee Alien Attack include references to Mylo's
Destroy Rock & Roll (the latter
even samples Duran Duran’s Come Undone)
- something Warren once said he'd like to sample and use to introduce future
solo shows. I'd love to hear that (when are we gonna see you treading the
boards again, Warren?). Al Malkin, in his guise as fast-talking manager of many
Grammy award winners, Sid Arthur (“when I
talk, you listen”), amusingly refers to Warren as 'Cucamonga' and talks
about how he brought Shankar to the top during Zoomout. This album really is quite unlike anything Warren has ever
released before (and older readers may recall I raved about Trance Formed, The Blue, Road Rage and Thanks 2 Frank); it’s even better!
Terry's drumming of course impresses throughout, but there's many other fine musicians
here - including (notably, on We're All
Targets) some of the ZPZ guys and gal. And Dale Bozzio's in the mix, too.
The album has an Angelo Badalamenti/Twin
Peaks feel running through it, with lots of lyrical guitar solos (of which,
Sid Arthur’s is probably the
stand-out). Yes, Warren's conspiracy concerns provide much of the album’s
lyrical content, but that all just adds to the feeling of this being something
a bit special - and you should be aware that Warren does possess a great sense
of humour. What time is it, Andee? Time to download this album.
FRANK
ZAPPA: LUMPY MONEY (Zappa Records, ZR 20008)
Disc One: Lumpy
Gravy (Primordial) - I Sink Trap; II Gum Joy; III Up & Down; IV Local
Butcher; V Gypsy Airs; VI Hunchy Punchy; VII Foamy Soaky; VIII Let’s Eat Out;
IX Teen-Age Grand Finale/Are You Hung Up?/Who Needs The Peace
Corps?/Concentration Moon/Mom & Dad/Telephone Conversation/Bow Tie
Daddy/Harry, You’re A Beast/What’s The Ugliest Part Of Your Body?/Absolutely
Free/Flower Punk/Hot Poop/Nasal Retentive Calliope Music/Let’s Make The Water
Turn Black/The Idiot Bastard Son/Lonely Little Girl/Take Your Clothes Off When
You Dance/What’s The Ugliest Part Of Your Body? (Reprise)/Mother People/The Chrome
Plated Megaphone Of Destiny.
Disc Two: Lumpy
Gravy (1984 UMRK Remix) - Part One/Lumpy Gravy (1984 UMRK Remix) - Part Two/Are
You Hung Up?/Who Needs The Peace Corps?/Concentration Moon/Mom &
Dad/Telephone Conversation/Bow Tie Daddy/Harry, You’re A Beast/What’s The
Ugliest Part Of Your Body?/Absolutely Free/Flower Punk/Hot Poop/Nasal Retentive
Calliope Music/Let’s Make The Water Turn Black/The Idiot Bastard Son/Lonely
Little Girl/Take Your Clothes Off When You Dance/What’s The Ugliest Part Of
Your Body? (Reprise)/Mother People/The Chrome Plated Megaphone Of Destiny.
Disc Three: How
Did That Get In Here?/Lumpy Gravy “Shuffle”/Dense Slight/Unit 3A, Take 3/Unit
2, Take 9/Section 8, Take 22/“My Favorite Album”/Unit 9/N. Double A, AA/Theme
From Lumpy Gravy/“What The Fuck’s Wrong With Her?”/Intelligent Design/Lonely
Little Girl (Original Composition - Take 24)/“That Problem With Absolutely
Free”/Absolutely Free (Instrumental)/Harry, You’re A Beast
(Instrumental)/What’s The Ugliest Part of Your Body? (Reprise/Instrumental)/Creationism/Idiot
Bastard Snoop/The Idiot Bastard Son (Instrumental)/“What’s Happening Of The
Universe”/“The World Will Be
As most people seem to agree, the first and last discs
are the ones to head for - all that unreleased wondrousness. But even disc two has
its moments (like the Thing-Fish sung opening to the finally available 1984
remix of Lumpy Gravy; makes you
wonder about Rip Rense's claim that, some sixteen years laters, Jerry Lawson
found a novel way to squeeze in the word "duodenum" on The Persuasions'
Frankly A Cappella vershum). For my
lumpy money, How Did That Get In There?
is the big highlight - a 25 minute FZ construction, some of which is familiar
from LG, but not all. Yes, the
original orchestral mono edit for Capitol Records that opens this whole thing
is wonderful, but the start of disc three is just a revelation. And that
particular disc gets better and better (though I could probably live without
the interview interruptions - they would be better placed at the very end, like
on MOFO, as they're listen once or
twice affairs): the instrumental tracks from WOIIFTM are absolutely belter – IBS
in particular. And how apt that this final disc should end with a few words
from God. More soon.
DON
Track list: I
Can't Breathe/How Are You Doing, Really?/Relentless Pursuit (Live)/Eyes Of The
Dead/A Private Lesson/Found Again/Silicone Hump (Live)/Not So Cute/The Eye of
Agamoto/See My Aura (Live)/Progress/The Milky Way/Mothersolo (Live)/Medulla
Oblongata/For Love of Bach/Amsterdam/Un Gawa/Sweet 15/Takeoff
(Live)/Aegospotamos/Acid Rain Pelting the Underground (Live)/What Should You
Do? (Live)/Sacrificial Smoke (Remix).
Following on from the re-release of Vile Foamy Ectoplasm and Works, this third
JIMMY
CARL BLACK: CROSSFIRE DOWNLOAD BUNDLES
Some while ago I posted this page about
Crossfire's JCB download-only packages, providing track and musician details.
What I didn't add was any notes about this joyous stuff. So here goes. Rarities
on Can I Borrow A Couple Of Bucks Until
The End Of The Week? include the immediately post-Mothers Tom Wilson
produced High And Mighty, the
unedited Eternal Question, the Big
Sonny single Love Me Two Times/Love
Potion #9 and Jimmy's 1980 single Albuquerque
Bound/Thank You, Mr. Bill. Where's My Waitress? includes both Black
Olive tracks with Sandro Oliva from 1993 (Take
Your Clothes Off When You Dance and Willie
The Pimp - the latter with Don and Bunk), a stereo remix of Mayonnaise Mountain (featuring a
magnificent vocal from Ray Collins), some live and studio Geronimo Black
tracks, some Holzhaus, Black and Terrazas live material, a couple Jack &
Jim tracks, and the ultra-rare Lo Boys single from 1976 (Play Your Music/Funny Money).
My personal favourite of these downloads, If
We'd All Been Living In
FRANK ZAPPA
& SPECIAL GUESTS: AAAFRNAAA FZ BIRTHDAY BUNDLE (Zappa Records, iTunes Plus)
Track list: Dancin’
Fool (Disco Version)/More Trouble Every Day/Gorgeous Inca/Ancient
Armaments/America The Beautiful/You’re A Mean One Mr. Grinch/Saturday
Girl/Alice/Espanoza/Dumb All Over/Twenty Small Cigars/Lacksadaisial/Dirty Love.
Nice to have the original edit of Ancient Armaments in the official digital domain at last, if still
not on a conventional CD. More Trouble
Every Day by the 88 band smokes – with Frank soloing over a 13-like vamp;
this, and the gorgeously laid-back Inca
solo from 79 are the two maion reasons why you should invest in this. Diva’s
two songs (Alice and Espanoza) are, again, pretty terrible.
When I interviewed Joe Travers back in 01, he said “I
don't write music, I just play everyone else's.” Well, this now sees his debut
as a composer: his Lacksadaisial (sic) features Scheila Gonzalez on sax and reminds me
a lot of Edgar Winter’s Frankenstein. His cover of 20 Small Cigars is pretty spiffy too.
More details can be gleaned here: http://www.zappa.com/fz/aaafnraa/2008aaafnraaa.html
JON
LARSEN: THE JIMMY CARL BLACK STORY
Disc One: En Route/Hi
Boys And Girls, I'm Jimmy Carl Black/An Early Glimpse Of Planet Ruth/Spaceship
Bigear III/Turn It On, Elliot/A Helping Hand From Unca Mickey/Opal, You Hot
Little Bitch/Jimmy Carl Black's Dachs Reduction/Mayday From Space/First
Encounter In Space With A Real Martian/Oh No, She's Trying To Rip My Spacesuit
Open/A Creature Is Lurking In The Shadow/Jimmy-As-A-Ghost.
Disc Two: My
Name Is Jimmy Carl Black/The Atomic Gadget On Anthony-That Happened In Our
Little Town/No Trumpets In Rock'n'roll-The Keys/California In 1964-In Walked
Roy Estrada-The Soul Giants/Then We Went To Hawaii-LSD/Back To LA-Frenchy's A
Go-Go-The Original Suzy Creamcheese/San Francisco And Fillmore West-Freak Out
Comes Out-Turn It On, Elliot!/New York City-Absolutely Free-Off-Off-Broadway At
The Garrick Theater/Europe 1967-Barbarella And Roger Vadim-Zappa Food Poisoned
In Italy/He Didn't Like Hippies-Jammin' With Jimi Hendrix/Miami Pop
Festival-Freak Out At The Cast Away Hotel-Arthur Brown/Captain
Beefheart-Dealing With Herbie-Linda Ronstadt/Back To California 1968-The
Mother's Second European Tour-Royal Festival Hall/Janis Joplin-Grace
Slick-Jefferson Airplane/Donuts In Austin 1973-New Mexico-Big Sunny And The
Little Boys-Bandidos/Albuquerque-Clearly Classical-The Blob Shaped lp/Zappa Music
Again-The Austin Grandmothers 1988-Settlement With Frank/Eugene
Chadbourne-Germany-Dreams On Longplay/Meeting Moni-Not On Sunday, Not In
Bavaria/The Grandmothers 1998-Eating The Astoria-Leukemia.
The first disc has some great harmonica, marimba and violin
dominated, mainly mid-tempo, pieces. Spaceship
Bigear III is a bit of stand-out for me – quite dreamy. Yum. Occasionally,
the ghost of Jimmy Carl Black – the first Indian on Mars - turns up to help
narrate the continuing the story of Captain Zurcon’s exploration of the dark
side of our solar system. And the guitars are rightly a little more upfront
this time. Dach’s Reduction, Mayday and First Encounter are from the unabbreviated JCB sessions for the Strange News From Mars disc, and additionally
feature Tommy Mars. Otherwise, it’s Mr Larsen and his local crew. The sprightly
Oh No, She's Trying To Rip My Spacesuit
Open reminds me of the Austin-era Grandmothers, while A Creature Is Lurking has a Sexual
Harrassment feel to it. The second disc is a whole other other: basically
just JCB rapping ‘bout his actual life. If you listen closely, you’ll hear yer
actual Stones playing. As noted in my review of our
FRANK
ZAPPA: JOE’S MENAGE (VAULTernative Records, VR 20081)
Track list: Honey, Don't You Want A Man Like Me?/The
Illinois Enema Bandit/Carolina Hard-Core Ecstasy/Lonely Little Girl/Take Your
Clothes Off When You Dance/What's The Ugliest Part Of Your Body?/Chunga's
Revenge/Zoot Allures.
Peeps
be saying they can’t hear Norma Jean Bell (who makes this ‘a less documented
line-up’), but she warbles on Chunga’s
and toots her alto a bit elsewhere. So there is some evidence. This includes
yet another Enema Bandit but it’s
early and fresh, and I also like the funky Honey.
But it really is a crying shame that we didn’t get Swallow My Pride or a proto-Any
Downers instead of the Mothers medley that’s pretty much the same as FZ:OZ (though Andre Lewis has trouble
with his organ at the end of Ugliest Part,
sending Frank into some Wizard Of Oz and
It Can’t Happen Here references).
Also, even
ZAPPATIKA:
THE SHORT BUT LEGENDARY FLIGHT OF THE DODO (FreakOutProduktionz, 2008)
Track list: The Secret Word/Music Is The Best/Wino
Willie’s Montana Hop/Gregor The Swami/Snakeman/Dirty Animal/Finally Got It
Right/The Short But Legendary Flight Of The Dodo/Mysterious Masala/Frankie’s
Tune/Joe’s Cajun Garage/Heavy Shark/Indian Joe/I Don’t Think So!/Deception In
The Night/Age Of Megabot.
Must admit I was a little slow cottoning on to
ZAPPATiKA, who hail from my homeland. But when I finally did, I thought: this
is the way! They’re “a very badly disguised” FZ tribute band, who incorporate
lots of ‘fat’ beats, modern noises, and long airy multi-overdubbed guitar lines
– as well as copious FZ references - to create their own unique sound. My
favourite track so far is actually a non-Zappa slow guitar instrumental piece.
Originally titled Boris The Jazz Dog,
band leader and guitarist McInnes wrote it a long time ago, and always had a
sound in his head for the lead guitar melody which he could never quite
capture. Until now – “I finally kind of got it the
way it is in my head!” he exclaimed. So, now the song is simply known
as Finally Got It Right. I think
you’ll agree. Where to start with the Zappa references? Well, just a quick scan
of the track list will give you a good idea. They crop up all over. But as I
say, there’s also much originality on display here. No straight covers. Indeed,
only Joe’s Cajun Garage is actually
credited to FZ, though the band readily admit that the debt is large. Looking
forward to big things from these guys. Check out the album promo here: http://myspacetv.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=44773211
J21:
YELLOW MIND:BLUE MIND
Track list: Within The Space Of 7 Breaths/The Truth
Behind The Veil/Earthspiritual Surgery/Felicidad/On The Shores Of The Cosmic
Ocean/The Edge Of Now/Yellow Mind:Blue Mind.
Experimental guitar player J21 (aka Joseph Diaz, who
put together the Eyeinhand Sampler CD a few years back) has produced a great
debut album here. Mixed and produced by former T-Ride, Snake River Conspiracy
guitar god Geoff Tyson, and featuring performances from Trey Gunn, Graham
Bonnet and Ed Mann, it's essentially a guitar-based rock album, but has lots of
nice spacey interludes and acoustic playing. The CD can be bought from J21's
website (www.lawof21.com) as a digital download, and the
booklet (with some great artwork) can be downloaded for free from there also.
The album's title comes from Don Preston. "I
did an email interview with him for the Arf-Dossier 10 years ago,"
says Joseph, "My last question (not published
in the mag) was if he could gave me a title for my next album. He answered me
"Yellow Mind:Blue Mind".
For some years, I forgot about it, and then when looking for a title for the record
I remembered it, and I really think it is perfect for the record. I tried to
contact Don recently to tell him about it."
VARIOUS ARTISTS: FRANK ZAPPA’S JUKEBOX – The Songs That Inspired The Man (Chrome
Dreams, CDCD5023)
Track list: Riot In Cell Block No. 9 (The
Robins)/Louie Louie (Richard Berry)/Work With Me Annie (Hank Ballard and the
Midnighters)/Ionisation (Edgard Varese)/My Starter Won't Work (Lightnin'
Slim)/Okie Dokie Stomp (Clarence Gatemouth Brown)/Leavin' It All Up To You (Don
& Dewey)/I Asked For Water (She Gave Me Gasoline) (Howlin' Wolf)/The Closer
You Are (The Channels)/Your Cash Ain't Nothing But Trash (The
Clovers)/Louisiana Blues (Muddy Waters)/Song (Cecil Taylor)/Bacon Fat (Andre
Williams)/Rubber Biscuit (The Chips)/Bagatelle (opus 9) (Anton Webern)/Symphony
(opus 21) (Anton Webern)/W.P.L.J. (Four Deuces)No No Cherry (The Turbans)/Out
There (Eric Dolphy)/The Story Of My Life (Guitar Slim)/Three Hours Past
Midnight (Johnny Guitar Watson)/Directly From My Heart (Little
Richard)/Stranded In The Jungle (The Cadets)/Rite Of Spring (extracts) (Igor
Stravinsky)/Nite Owl (Tony Allen).
Way back a long time ago, before I’d heard Edgard
Varese or the Them Or Us album
(mainly because it had still to be recorded), I tuned into FZ being a
fraudulent disc jockey on BBC Radio 1’s Star
Special. He announced “I think that it's
appropriate to make this segue because these are two of my very favourite
records and I think they should be heard as a pair. The first is The Closer You Are by The Channels, and
this will lead directly into Hyperprism.”
What I then heard made me instantly see where Frank was coming from. Well, this
album does that in spades. Hear Lightnin’ Slim exhort Lazy Lester to “blow your harmonica son”. Hear the originals of
songs Frank actually covered over the years. Hear the songs he frequently
referenced in interviews. During the above-mentioned radio show, he also played
I Asked Her For Water by the Howlin'
Wolf (“another person with exquisite diction”).
This CD is really well researched and put together by Derek Barker, whose
excellent liner notes reveal that Richard Berry sings both the first two tracks
on this compilation. This is a must-have for any self-respecting Zappa fan. And
we have more to look forward to from Chrome Dreams: they’re part-way through
the production of a Frank Zappa & The Mothers of Invention Under Review 60s documentary DVD, having
already filmed interviews with Billy James, Art Tripp, Bunk Gardner and Don
Preston.
FRANK
ZAPPA: ONE SHOT DEAL (Zappa Records, ZR 20007)
Track list: Bathtub Man/Space
Boogers/Hermitage/Trudgin' Across The Tundra/Occam's Razor/Heidelberg/The
Illinois Enema Bandit/Australian Yellow Snow/Rollo
Well, the release of this was kinda curious, but at least it’s here and
now we can see and hear what the ZFT has excavated from the Vault for us. As
Gail notes, it’s like a sandwich with Occam’s
Razor (that’s the On The Bus solo
kept simple, stoopid) the meat in the middle. And a tasty little treat it is
for sure. One of the things that leapt out at me (and I really should know this
by now, having purchased Roxy &
Elsewhere shortly after its release) is what an inventive bass player Tom
Fowler. Bathtub Man is a blues with
atypical Duke and Brock (FZ’s co-composers on this one) silliness that extends
into great solos from George and Frank. Space
Boogers has Chester keeping straight 16ths on the hi-hat, a little like
Dummy Up, while George and Frank squirt notes at each other. It sounds like
it’s from a soundcheck. Trudgin' Across
The Tundra is part pf a 30 minute improv by the Petite Wazoo called Seven, the second half of which appears
in edited form as D.C. Boogie on Imaginary Diseases. It features some odd
sheep-like bleats from the horn section. Then follows that mighty full
unfettered Inca solo with a slightly
controlled but still amazing Vinnie. Heidelburg
is A Solo… from The Guitar World According To FZ cassette (so that just leaves the
MIKE
KENEALLY: WINE AND PICKLES (EXOWAX 2409)
Track list: 2CTV/Feelin' Strangely/Li'l/Backwards Deb
(3rd person)/Bubble Creek/Never Ever Wrong/Unused Hum/I Heard About What You
Said/Inhale (with Lyle Workman)/4S/Skull Bubbles (uncut)/Stop For Flashing Red
Light, Part One/Lonely Man (studio)/Selfish Otter (uncut)/A Concise Piano
Statement/AeroDef/Kevorkian 3/Thou Shalt Not Kill/Paloma (alternate
version)/Kevorkian 17/The Endings Of Things.
Comprising mainly outtakes from Dancing, Dog and Nonkertompf, this is a fine MK sampler
showing off the many facets of this multi-talented
guitarist/keyboardist/composist. His vocals are oddly reminiscent of Rufus
Wainwright on Feelin’ Strangely
(which features some nice guitar work, including from Rick Musallam)…and like
Roy Estrada mid-Stop For Flashing Red
Light. Li’l is just a wondrous
instrumental that gives me the same sit up and beg for more feel that most of
the Guitar Therapy CD does. Thou Shalt Not Kill would sound at home
on Wooden Smoke, and The Endings Of Things is a great, great
outtake; sounds like he couldn’t get the vocals just right, but it’s a
beautiful song. This disc provides a great overview of the many talents of MK,
so go get it.
JIMMY CARL BLACK: FREEDOM JAZZ DANCE (Azzurra Music, TBP11473)
Track list: Happy Metal/Taste Of Snakes/Freedom Jazz
Dance/Like A Virgin Queen/The Bad Wolf.
I hadn’t fully appreciated what a busy king bee JCB
had been in the run-up to his 70th birthday, what with tours with the Muffin
Men, the JCB Band and Eugene Chadbourne, his collaboration with Jon Larsen, the
commencement of Crossfire’s reissue campaign of his back catalogue, the release
of the How Blue Can You Get? and Hearing Is Believing CDs, and this.
Recorded in May 2007, it marks a bit of a change musically, being performed
without any guitars, three blow monkeys, two babes (on keys and percussion),
and one DJ T “The Thief” on electronics. Having said that, the first track is
not such a radical departure, being an R&B workout with typical oration and
rock steady drumming from the Indian of this happy metal band. Track two
follows a similar pattern – opening and closing vocals (this time by Valentina
Black – no relation, “but I wish she was!” quippeth Jimmy), with a lengthy
horn-led mid-section – but it’s a more up-tempo spacey psychedelic affair. Dr
Chadbourne comments that Bruno Marini’s organ is dripping with pesto on the
cover of Eddie Harris’s title track. Perhaps they should have renamed it Freedom Jazz Discharge for this outing. Like A Virgin Queen is perhaps the most
atypical thang here – a flute propelled disco platform underpinning airy vox
from Valentina. The Blacks duet on the final track, obviously influenced by
Neil Jordan’s The Company Of Wolves
and starring Valentina as Little Red Riding Hood, Jessica Fletcher as the
Grandmother, and Jimmy Carl Black in the title role. Oh yeah. I like it. I like
it a lot.
ZAPPA
PLAYS ZAPPA: SOUNDTRACK EXCERPTS FROM THE ZPZ FILM (Razor & Tie, 7930182993-2)
Track list: Tell Me You Love Me/Florentine
Pogen/Cheepnis/Cosmik Debris/I’m The Slime/Don’t Eat The Yellow Snow/St.
Alfonzo’s Pancake Breakfast/Father O’Blivion/Black Page #2/Peaches En Regalia/Zomby
Woof/The Torture Never Stops.
With no visuals, you’re able to focus on the
sounds and here you note the differences from the original recordings –
noticeably, Scheila’s back-up vocals, Aaron’s keyboard fills, and the
re-arranged ‘almost Chinese’ part of Cheepnis.
You also hear the amazing playing of percussionist Billy Hulting and Jamie
Kime’s subtle contributions. Did Dweezil really not realise that Napi was able
to pull off his amazing performances as special guest because of his five
year’s of ‘rehearsals’ with Project/Object and the Grande Mothers? There’s a
couple of great guitar solos here: the first from Steve Vai during Zomby Woof (he makes the song his own),
and then young Dweez’s on Torture,
which starts slowly until he flicks a switch and burns the house down. Possibly
because of the way I’m The Slime and Black Page #2 segued into another piece
or a Dweezil rap (he says “thank you very much, everybody” a few times on this
disc), the audience cheers sound a little odd at the end of these pieces, but
that’s a minor quibble: ZPZ are the best FZ tribute band around at the mo’.
VARIOUS
ARTISTS: 20 EXTRAORDINARY RENDITIONS – THE IDIOT BASTARD SON (Cordelia Records,
CD043)
Track list: The
Idiot Bastard Son as interpreted by:
Die Beistelltische, Jerry Outlaw, The Vegetarians, Oldgreygoat And His Girls,
Ensemble Ambrosius, Freedom In Hats, Evil Dick & The Banned Members, The
FoolZ, John Tabacco, DOOT!, Nigey Lennon, The FrazKnapp Fusion Project, The
Thurston Lava Tube, Project/Object, Pojama People, Bogus Pomp Orchestra, Todd
Grubbs Group feat. Bo Smith, The Wrong Object Vs The Friendly Dogs, The Whip It
Out Ensemble and Gamma.
What can I
say? Well, it wouldn’t be right…but maybe I can quote Simon Prentis (Frank's Semantic
Scrutinizer)’s email to me after the London Grande Mother’s show: “…back to Gamma's and your immaculate IBS extravaganza.
Now THAT'S how it should be done. I'm sure Frank would have LOVED it, but
regardless, it does it for me fer sure. I think you've just found a template
for 'exploiting the back catalogue' so to speak. Each and every one of the
different versions comes at the song from a different angle, mining something
unique from the mother fractal without 'fetishing the commodity' in any way whatsoever
(always the downside with 'tribute bands' as far as I'm concerned). What a
great concept. What a great selection. What a great bunch of bands. And what a
wonderful way to revisit and celebrate the work without resorting to nostalgia
for the old folks. Respect!”. High praise, indeed. Read some more-a here. And there’s a proper review (plus
interview with yours truly, and an exclusive Bonus track) at http://www.davemcmann.com/reviews.html
FRANK
ZAPPA: TRANSMISSIONS (Special guest reviewer: Dave from G&S Music – who isn’t stocking this item!)
Track list: I'm The Slime/Purple Lagoon/Peaches En
Ragalia(sic!)/Dancin’ Fool/The Meek Shall
Inherit Nothing/St Alphonso.
Transmissions is just about as bad as you might imagine it could be. Like the Music In Review DVD, you get a
"book" and a disc in one package, but which is CD case size. The book
is a short biography written by Jeff Perkins, who I hadn't heard of before. His
qualification for the job appears to be that he likes Frank's music and works
in journalism. He's written 20,000 words which are mostly his opinion on a few
CDs and a potted history, mostly of the early Mothers. A quick read through
didn't show up any glaring errors of fact but no insights either. The CD has
six tracks (all taken from the December 76 and October 78 Saturday Night Live
shows): audio and "enhanced video" versions of each. The audio runs
exactly 20 minutes. The video plays in Quicktime and, initially, I couldn't get
it to work. I lost interest at that point. The sound quality is poor as well.
In a word, avoid. Put out by the people that Gail should really be after.
VARIOUS
ARTISTS: ZAPPANALE #18
Disc One: "The
psycho I've become..." (Larry "Wild Man" Fischer)/Pärt
Preston (Don Preston’s Akashic Ensemble)/Help, I'm A Rock-It Can't Happen Here
(Don Preston’s Akashic Ensemble)/Reggie Don't Sweat It (Monty & The
Butchers)/Apostrophe (Monty & The Butchers)/Tapas Nocturne (Christophe
Godin And Mörglbl)/Pygmy Twylyte (Christophe Godin And Mörglbl)/Uncle Meat
Suite (I Virtuosi Dal Pianeta Talento)/Village Of The Sun-Echidna's Arf (Of
You)-Don't You Ever Wash That Thing? (Project/Object)/Filthy Hobbits (Trigon)/The
Disc Two: "GOD!"
(Paul Green Kids)/Electricity (Kimono Draggin' featuring Stephen
Chillemi)/G-Spot Tornado (Octafish)/Sofa (Sex Without Nails Bros)/"He screwed me..." (Larry
"Wild Man" Fischer)/Whales (Space Debris)/Grandchild of Mr. Green
Genes (Polytoxicomane Philharmonie)/Dog Breath Variations (The Great Googly
Moogly)/Debra Kadabra (Wolfhard Kutz featuring Lol Coxhill)/Meeting Of The
Spirits (Jazzprojekt Hundehagen)/Petrushka-Muffin Man (Harmonia Ensemble)/"Nice talking to ya..." (Larry
"Wild Man" Fischer)/Tell Me (Chad Wackerman Trio)/I'm The Slime-Dumb
All Over-The Message (Finale).
Bonus Disc: "I'm
famous in Germany..." (Larry "Wild Man" Fischer)/Central
Community Crisis (Don Preston’s Akashic Ensemble)/Any Downers (Monty & The
Butchers)/Février Afghan (Christophe Godin And Mörglbl)/Andy (I Virtuosi Dal
Pianeta Talento)/Big Swifty (Project/Object)/Zeitgeist Related Accidents
(Trigon)/Let's Get Bizet (Kimono Draggin)/Nothing (Octafish)/Uncle Remus (Sex
Without Nails Bros featuring Napoleon Murphy Brock)/Flight 858 (Polytoxicomane
Philharmonie)/Fifty-Fifty (The Great Googly Moogly)/Black Napkins (Jazzprojekt
Hundehagen)/King Kong (Harmonia Ensemble)/Eat That Question (Finale).
Can you imagine the feeling of walking away from the
Zappanale with the hard-drive of all that weekend’s music tucked under your
arm? Frickin’ gorgeous. John and I soon set to marking up the tracks to be
included on these discs, but were beset by technical problems. We eventually
overcame them, and this is what finally transpired. Friggin’ gorgeous. Shame it
couldn’t have been a 3-CD set, but with the Bonus disc it kinda is. I figure
the main aim is for these to be a souvenir of the event as well as a sort of
sampler so that you then go check out more of the featured bands’ material (and
of course listen to the ‘riginal sources; I personally finally went out and
replaced my old Bird Of Fire vinyl
with a 5-CD Mahavishnu box set). After a lengthy period of time, and for no
apparent reason, I played these discs again recently and they actually blew me
away. I guess I shouldn't blow my own trumpet, but it's really the musicians
that make it what it is. At times ragged, this is mostly a very fine selection
of finely played fineness. Shame there probably won’t be a similar souvenir for
#19.
ZAPPANALE #21: BAD DOBERAN, GERMANY, 13-15 AUGUST 2010
ZAPPA PLAYS ZAPPA, THE BRIGHTON CENTRE, BRIGHTON, 22
JULY 2010 & HIGH VOLTAGE FESTIVAL, VICTORIA PARK, LONDON, 24 July 2010
Brighton
set list: Purple Lagoon/Stink-Foot/Inca
Roads/Daddy Daddy Daddy/What Kind Of Girl Do You Think We Are?/Lonely Little
Girl/City Of Tiny Lites/Blessed Relief/The Blue Light/Pick Me, I'm Clean/The
Little House I Used To Live In/Latex Solar Pimp/Apostrophe/Advance
Romance/T'Mershi Duween/Big Swifty/Montana/Peaches En Regalia/Echidna's
Arf/Keep It Greasey. Encores: Yellow Snow/Easy Meat/Cosmik Debris/I'm The Slime.
High
Voltage set list: Purple
Lagoon/Florentine Pogen/Cosmik Debris/Inca Roads/Big Swifty/Easy Meat/Latex
Solar Pimp/Apostrophe/Keep It Greasey/Peaches En Regalia.
When
ZPZ started, I felt Dweezil seemed to sit back a tad - after all, he had Napi
and Vai and Bozzio along. But now there's no question: he's definitely the main
man, with his guitar solos pretty much stealing the show and his between song
banter now a lot slicker. It was fantastic that he'd obviously noted my request
for Dragonmaster at Brighton at
DweeziZappaWorld, as he referred to "Mr IBS" and relayed the story
behind the song for us all. It also struck me at my first few ZPZ gigs how the
whole band appeared fully engaged at all times: in Brighton, Scheila and Bill
and Ben sat out for a few periods, with Billy really only contributing one big
solo (during Big Swifty). And Jamie
Kime didn't even get to solo by the sea (but did at High Voltage). Okay, bottom
line, brass tacks and all that: I think ZPZ are now better than ever and
Brighton was the best gig I've seen them play (with the possible exception of
Vicar Street); there was none of that carefully rehearsed ad-libbed hand signal
stuff, and the Dweez just blazed his way through some great solos. His playing
really has improved dramatically in the past few years, and Canadian John was
especially thrilled with his quote from Rush's Tom Sawyer during Apostrophe.
At High Voltage, someone was heard saying they might as well go home after ZPZ
as they'd seen the best band of the weekend. High praise, eh? With a much
shorter set, they were a lot livelier with the songs tailored for a
less-discerning (but bigger than Brighton) audience. But that's not to say the
Dweez wasn't mindful of us anoraks: when he introduced Big Swifty, he said it was from the Grand Wazoo album; the second the band finished playing it, he
corrected this statement! Oh yeah - it's great to see Thomas Nordegg is now
back in the fold. Most peculiar, mama.
ZAPPATISTAS, PIZZAEXPRESS, LONDON, 14 JULY 2010
Set
list: Peaches En Regalia/The Grand
Wazoo/Let's Make The Water Turn Black/Sofa/Eat That Question-Sexual Harrassment
In The Workplace/King Kong/Sleep Dirt/Big Swifty/Waka Jawaka/Heavy Duty
Judy/Harry, You're A Beast/Son Of Orange County/Oh No!/Lumpy Gravy/I'm The
Slime.
Having
trekked up to Wigan last year for the 'Tistas no show on Frank's birthday, I
made sure they were playing this time. Mr E wasn't enjoying the best of health,
but he manfully manipulated his wang bar and, I think, this was quite possibly
the best I’ve seen his splendid seven-piece ensemble. While they make no
attempt to replicate the sound of the records (no one can touch ZPZ in that
regard), when they improvise on stuff like King
Kong, that's when they're really happening, maaan. They made me wanna
listen to the version on YCDTOSA as soon
as I got home - which, if I hadn't have drunk so much red wine, would've been
later that night. Yelp, bellow, rasp et cetera. Thorpe Bay’s nice this time of
year, isn’t it? Wonderful to hear their take on Waka Jawaka. Much better than Shakira’s vershum. Er. Princess says
they played Heavy Duty Judy like a Machine Gun. Shame there wasn’t a few
more there as John is a truly great guitarist and more should appreciate that
fact. Annie Whitehead played a couple of great solos – in fact the whole band
took a turn. And most importantly of all, they all looked like they were having
fun. Great night.
ZAPPANALE #20: BAD DOBERAN, GERMANY, 14-16 AUGUST 2009
ZAPPA PLAYS ZAPPA, O2 SHEPHERD’S BUSH EMPIRE, LONDON, 14
JUNE 2009
Set list: Apostrophe/Montana/Village
Of The Sun/Echidna’s Arf (Of You)/Don’t You Ever Wash That Thing?/Cosmik
Debris/Inca Roads/The Black Page Drum Solo-Black Page #1/Black Page #2/Wind Up Workin’
In A Gas Station/Carolina Hard-Core Ecstasy/Peaches En Regalia/Son Of Orange
County/More Trouble Every Day/The Grand Wazoo/Outside Now/Bamboozled By Love.
Encores: Don’t
Eat The Yellow Snow/Zomby Woof/Willie The Pimp.
“The
gal I love is up in the gallery. The gal I love is looking now at me. There she
is, can’t you see, waving her handkerchief, as merry as a robin that sings on a
tree.” Yes, boys and girls, Gail was in attendance, sitting
up in the balcony right alongside Mr Noel Fielding and his Mighty Boosh co-star, L’il Missy Diva. And how proud she was to be
gazing down upon her eldest boy and his chums. Dweezil later said he thought
this “was one of the most fun shows we've played
from any tour we've ever done. Amazing audience…” Pity that the set
consisted of nothing released after 1979 or any MOI originals (with the
exception of More Trouble Every Day’s
lyrics, I suppose). And though the new singer, Ben Thomas, has a good strong
voice, he didn’t actually get to use it to lead too many of the tunes presented
here: the overworked Scheila Gonzalez sang lead on Village Of The Sun and Son Of
Orange County and Joe Travers sang Cosmik
Debris, while a number of songs featured unison singing. So it would be
nice to see Dweezil’s born-again vision of a non-FZ associated band performing
more like one in future - and covering a less-narrowly focused crowd-pleasing
era of his father’s music. Having said that, they played what is – in the
parlance of our times - still great material very competently and looked like
they were really enjoying it on a number of occasions. Dweezil himself seems a
lot more relaxed as the front-man these days, though his cringe-worthy attempts
at emulating Frank (eg. his spoken word intro to Black Page #2 and use of hand signals to conduct the band/audience)
should be binned. While ZPZ do now seem to be attracting a young and more
diverse audience, it was heart-warming to see a couple of coves invited up on
stage to dance during Willie The Pimp
festooned in Zappateers/Zappanale apparel (Ob & Evil Prince, be they you?).
So, what else to report? Echidna’s
featured many soli, including a great one from the under-appreciated Jamie
Kime. Having industriously plunked her keys through the mid-section of Inca, talented Ms Gonzalez failed to hook
her horn up in time and missed a beat. Lacksadaisial? Hardly. It didn’t really
matter. Son Of Trouble Every Wazoo
had a bunch more solo spots, with DZ doing his hand-jobs and Ben showing off
his fine musical powerhorn technique and Nordestino Brazilian Rap meets Afro
Cuban Vocal thang (thanks, Gary!). Oh, and Diva jumped up for the Black Page #2 ballet lesson. Click this
pic to make it come to life:
ZAPPATiKA,
THE PLOUGH INN, WALTHAMSTOW, 18 MARCH 2009
First set list: Spanish
Highwayz/Wonderful Wino Man/Scarlet Pimp/Sexual Harassment In The Workplace/Space
Flip/Rainy Dayz/Santani Variati/Leroy/Bamboozled By Love/The Torture Never
Stops/Lazy Gun/City Of Tiny Lites (a-la-rapido).
Second set list: My
Guitar Wants To Kill Your Mama/Sleep Dirt/My Little Pony-Dark Room/Thru The
Wormhole/Crocodile Smile/Watermelon In Easter Hay/Titties & Beer/Cosmik
Debris/Black Napkins/Bobby Brown/Dirty Love/Muffin Man/I’m The Slime.
I first encountered front-man McInnes at Zappanale
last year, and he’s quite some dude. He
really bigged-up his band of merry men and so I very much looked forward to
seeing them in action. And here was my first opportunity. The Plough is a
little out of the way place, but Uncle Ian and I found it easily enough and had
time for a few beers and a play with the pub moggies. The band were a little
late starting as their young bassist had mislaid his passport. Emergency
arrangements were made, and... to punish him, they played one of their songs
extra fast. Poor lamb! So. Gamma, having counted them in, they were away. Many
of their own songs are sprightly little instrumentals with some pretty obvious
influences (guess what Santani Variati
sounds like). Leroy, though, has fun
lyrics about wanting to be a rock star and tonight quoted Michael Jackson’s Beat It. The FZ stuff was pretty faithful,
though McInnes’s spacey lead lines spiced things up. And while the Keltik
minstrel is indeed a great front-man, his band should not be overlooked: Bongo
Fury on percussion and “odd noises” adds much, but I think the laid-back second
guitarist, Zomby Woof, is their secret weapon – ably doubling up on lead
(notably on Tiny Lites) and playing
some solid rhythm. Sadly no Dr Lau on keyboards tonight – perhaps he’s really
just a shadow? And what a shame more folk didn’t turn out to witness this. I
myself couldn’t stay to the bitter end and so missed loads of classic Zappa
(which Princess Helen assures me was rockin’). But to miss it all for no reason
at all? Special thanks go to Mr Bean who gifted me a bottle of Lagunitas WOIIFTM beer. I’m not worthy, etc. But I
sure as hell didn’t say no! Why would I? Tell me why.
FIVE
PEACE BAND: ROYAL FESTIVAL HALL,
Set list: Stella
By Starlight/Raju/The Disguise/New Blues, Old Bruise/Hymn To Andromeda/Dr.
Jackle/Señor CS. Encore: In
I was most surprised to see all of the gear set up so
closely together on what is a fair sized stage. And Vinnie’s kit, compared to
Mr Bozzio’s, looked miniscule - but what a joyous racket he made on it (which
made you ponder why Terry Ted has such a huge one). First out were the two
stars of the Five Peace Band, Chick Corea and John McLaughlin, for a duet on
Victor Young’s lovely old jazz standard, Stella
By Starlight. Then came the rest of the band: bassist Christian McBride,
alto-saxophonist Kenny Garrett, and one Vincent Colaiuta hitting things.
Throughout, Vinnie was the most animated – applauding his colleagues and
looking genuinely thrilled to be part of this band. But he has every right to
stand/sit shoulder to shoulder with these great players. Chick explained that
they’d be doing two sets so that we could compare one with the other. I have to
say I found the first to be generally a little more accessible, with it
building to a right old frenzy with a busy VC on McLaughlin’s New Blues Old Bruise; unlike the Industrial Zen album version, this one
didn’t fizzle out in a drizzle of electronic frippery. The second set was a
little less fusion-y, though again was filled with some great playing.
Christian McBride played mainly stand-up acoustic throughout the night, and was
just wondrous. I guess if there was anything to be disappointed about, it was
the lack of solos from McLaughlin. Sure, he did a few fine runs, and burned
bright as Señor CS built to its
thrilling denouement. But I think I was hoping for a little more from him. Of
course, Chick was on good form, switching between Moog and grand. And the fact
that the two stars let Kenny, Christian and Vinnie share the limelight was a
measure of how much respect exists between these five great musicians – who
we’ll probably never see play together again. Shame.
A
CONCERT FOR JIMMY: BRIDGE HOUSE II,
Well, what a strange venue – as Ben Watson noted, “like visiting a club
on the moon”. This concert was suggested by Dave McMann when we were trying to figure out how we could help the
ailing Jimmy Carl Black following
the diagnosis of his inoperable lung cancer in August. We were both deeply
affected by Jimmy, who managed to touch us just by being himself. A cursory
scan of the various Zappa fora following Jimmy’s death on 1 November shows that
we were far from alone. I first talked with Jimmy in October 1993 when the Jack
& Jim Show played at The Swan opposite Fulham Broadway tube – yeah, right
near the home of football drinking beer with an idol of my youth. Nirvana! I
was with Fred Tomsett, the editor of
T’Mershi Duween, who was doing most
of the talking, having met Jim before. I just bought them the odd beer. Months
later, the Grandmothers played Dingwalls near Camden Lock. There’s me sat in
the middle of this darkened room with the late Paul Mummery, when up pops Jimmy
– singles me out, comes over, says, “Hi Andy, how
are ya?”, puts his arm round me. How special did that make me feel? And
thus started our friendship. I last spoke with Jimmy in August after that
devastating diagnosis, as he was preparing to leave hospital. He said he
actually felt OK, but had been told that he wasn’t. It seemed that it was just
the chemo he’d been undergoing these past few years for his leukaemia that made him “feel like shit”. So a
concert to raise funds for his mounting medical bills seemed a perfect idea. So
who’s the obvious choice to play such a concert in the
MIKE
KENEALLY (plus special guest, Dave Gregory): RIFFS BAR,
Set list: Hello/Ankle
Bracelet/1988 Was A Million Years Ago/Potato/Thanksgiving/Joe/Song Of The Viking/Airport-Hallmark/Tranquilado/Desired
Effect/Floppy Hat/2001/Sleep Dirt/Skull Bubbles/Cowlogy/The Idiot Bastard
Son/Paranoid Android/Splane/Live In Japan/Aye Aye Monster/Skies Of
LA-Improv-Cold Hands/Pride Is A Sin/Father’s Day/Inca Roads/Rosemary Girl.
I think this was only the second solo visit by Mike to
ZAPPANALE
#19: BAD
THE 3RD
INTERNATIONAL ZAPPA CONFERENCE: PARIS, 5-6 JULY 2008 – special guest reviewer:
Evil Dick
ICE-Z 3, ICE-Z 69 or The 3rd International Zappa
Conference…what was this conference called?
As it turned out, it was called all three things depending on who you
spoke to. This time it was the turn of
MUFFIN
MEN: THE BOARDWALK,
Set list: Willie
The Pimp/Plastic Factory/Road Ladies/Great White Buffalo/Pygmy Twylyte/Jones
Crusher/San Berdino.
King Kong/Big Leg Emma/The Indian Of The Group/City Of
Tiny Lites/Wino Man/Zoot Allures/Yellow Snow/Black Napkins/More Trouble
Everyday/Flower Punk/My Guitar.
Train. Uncle. Drive.
BEN
WATSON AND DIDIER MERVELET ON 1968,
MUSIC, CAPITALISM: CONWAY HALL,
Before this lecture, Didier (Sécrétaire Generale of
Les Fils de l’Invention) confided in me that this would be Ben reading a paper
and "I’m supposed to add (improvise) some entertaining
interpolations". And he did. Say what you like about Ben, he’s an engaging
performer – though he claimed he had to stick to his script because of nerves.
But as someone pointed out during the subsequent Q&A/discussion, he was
just as lucid, interesting and charming when improvising. And the interventions
from Didier throughout were no different. It was during the subsequent
discussion that Ben spoke of the reasons for his avid interest in Zappa over
the MC5, Sun Ra, Hendrix, et al (because of the wider references to music of
all kinds, mainly). So what was the crux of their biscuit? Ben provided a
critique of anniversaries and sectarian attempts to carve up the past by
referencing May 1968 (the time of the
student protests and general strike in
ZAPPATEERS
NL FESTIVAL, 14-15 MARCH 2008
THE
GRANDE MOTHERS:
Set
list: Hungry Freaks Daddy/Let’s Move To Cleveland/Lonely Little Girl/Take
Your Clothes Off When You Dance/Chunga’s Revenge/Call Any Vegetable/The Idiot
Bastard Son/Uncle Meat/Obligatory Drum Solo-T’Mershi Duween/Pygmy Twylyte.
Peaches
En Regalia/Montana/Big Swifty (interpolating
I Come From Nowhere and Evelyn, A Modified Dog)/I’m The Slime/In The Sky/Let’s
Make The Water Turn Black/Harry, You’re A Beast/Oh No/Son Of Orange County/More
Trouble Every Day/San Ber’dino/Sofa No. 1/I’m The Slime.
Encores:
Little House I Used To Live In/Merely A Blues In F/Mother People.
I was
lucky enough to meet the guys backstage beforehand and presented Don with a
copy of the 20 Idiot Bastards CD
(after all, it’s his logo on the back – see top of this page too). Napoleon and
VINCENT BAKKER: THE GANGSTER OF LOVE – JOHNNY “GUITAR” WATSON:
PERFORMER, PREACHER, PIMP
More appreciated outside his native US; never fully crediting his
musicians; Andre Lewis was once a band member; guitar not his first instrument;
influenced by the rapid fire, multi-note guitar shuffle style of Clarence
“Gatemouth” Brown; died too soon, before his mother…yes, Johnny “Guitar” Watson
had a few things in common with Frank. And it’s all detailed here in the first
ever comprehensive biography of The Gangster Of Love. It’s important to note
that English is not the author’s first language (he’s from Amsterdam), which
means you occasionally have to re-read things to get their true meaning
(something he acknowledges by relaying an interview he conducted with
curmudgeonly pianist, Eddie “Gip” Noble), but Vincent’s enthusiam for his
subject more than makes up for this. If you look, you will discover: Watson was
a long-time friend of Obie Jessie (composer of Mary Lou); Watson played guitar on Chuck Higgins’ Pachuco Hop (“let me twirl you!”). Yes,
there’s much of interest here, including a whole ‘Zappa on Watson’ chapter that
reveals how JGW “never got into” Frank’s music, and why he didn’t go on tour
with his friend. More to follow, as I’m still reading it. But meantime, why not
check out http://www.myspace.com/johnnyguitarwatsonbook
and order yourself a copy?
SCOTT
PARKER: THE ZAPPA SUPPLEMENT ONE - A BOX OF HISTORY AND THE MUD SHARK SAGA (SPB
Publishing)
I wasn’t sure that a book looking into The History And Collected Improvisations Of
The Mother Of Invention and all the Mud Shark bootleg elpees would hold the
same sort of appeal as Scott’s two slightly-broader The Recordings Of Frank Zappa series of books. But I does! I didn’t
know Frank ‘wrote’ two different pieces called Kung Fu, did you? What about the uncredited (string) bass player on
Burnt Weeny Sandwich. It’s all in
here, but it’s kinda hard to review properly coz it’s so engrossing.
SCOTT
PARKER: STRICTLY GENTEEL The Recordings of FRANK ZAPPA and the Mothers of
Invention - Volume Two 1970-1971 (Parker Books)
And so, the second of a possible eight volumes of Scott’s
‘Recordings of FZ’ series. This covers 1970-71, which for many is both a period
that got them into Zappa and one which is probably less revered than it
deserves to be. Especially in terms of released material (Burnt Weeny, Chunga’s).
Once again, the level of detail included is outstanding. Talk about guilty
pleasures – you know you want to see the Hebrew lettering on the Israeli
pressing of Weasels and song titles
translated into Spanish. I note that Barfko-Swill is now selling a t-shirt
featuring the famous bowler-hat photo
from Volume 1. Here’s hoping they do similar with the lovely photo on the cover
of this volume. More soon.
PAMELA
DES BARRES: LET’S SPEND THE NIGHT TOGETHER - BACKSTAGE SECRETS OF ROCK MUSES
AND SUPERGROUPIES (Helter Skelter Publishing, ISBN 1-905139-17-9)
Miss Pamela’s new book is based on interviews she
conducted with self-proclaimed groupies, rock wives and others. In it we learn
of Gail Zappa’s psychic powers: she’d see major world events before they
happened and, in 1964, she knew that an important person was to enter her life
and so screwed around for a few years waiting for him to happen along. As a
young girl, seems our Gail felt different from everyone else and believed
the Stones’ Out Of Time was about her. Before Frank, she turned down Tom Jones,
broke The Who in America, had an ‘uninteresting’ relationship with Jim Morrison
(who she met, age 5), blanked Bob Dylan, and got a couple of Lovin’ Spoonfuls.
We also discover that: Tura Satana taught Elvis how to shimmy and orally
pleasure women (both upstairs and downstairs); Cherry Vanilla did publicity
balling for Bowie and Vangelis; the artist formally known as Yusuf liked Patti
D’Arbanville to dress as a schoolgirl.
SCOTT
PARKER: HUNGRY FREAKS, DADDY The Recordings of FRANK ZAPPA and the Mothers of
Invention - Volume One 1959-1969 (Parker Books)
Imagine someone picking up where Norbert Obermann’s
Zappalog left off and correcting the entire bootleg track list errors left be
by the Torchum Team, and you’ve got an idea of what this book’s like. Add to
that some helpful narrative along the way and you’d best zip your anorak’s up
tight ‘cause you’re in for a thrilling ride. Scott doesn’t try to emulate Greg
Russo’s detailed tome, but it is similarly a labour of true love - from the
detailed breakdown of the component parts of the unreleased Capitol Records
version of Lump Gravy to the corrected bootleg track lists. Check out Scott’s
website for more info, including ordering details: http://www.scottparkerbooks.com.
AHMET
ZAPPA: THE MONSTROUS MEMOIRS OF A MIGHTY McFEARLESS (Puffin Books, ISBN
0-141-38309-7)
Review coming just as soon as I’ve read the
thing...but obviously you’ll wanna know stuff like this: the main character
(Minerva McFearless)’s mother’s middle name is the same as Gail’s first
(Adelaide), and her father is played by Ahmet himself in the book’s
accompanying illustrations; a painting of Minerva’s
great-great-great-grandfather (Maximillius McFearless) is based on a Them Or
Us/True Glove-era photo of FZ (see below); and another illustration uses the
pic of Frank from the rear of the Lumpy Gravy sleeve.
KELLY
FISHER LOWE: THE WORDS AND MUSIC OF FRANK ZAPPA (Praeger Publishers, ISBN
0-275-98779-5)
Although Miles’s tome appears to have been generally
well received, it seems most of the recent FZ books have been more academic
studies of his work rather than straightforward biographies like Barry’s. Well,
who really needs another bio? But I was still a little sceptical about this after Kevin Courrier’s scholarly effort. However, it’s
actually very readable and thought provoking. It sets its stall out early on
and Lowe doesn’t come across as no smart
arse, though he’s clearly very knowledgeable - both about
Frank and the pitfalls of rock journalism. And I like the way he’s dismissive
of hard-core anal-retentives
who crave every slightly different version of Frank’s
recorded output (but, yes, I freely admit to feeling like Waylon Smithers when Malibu Stacey gets a new hat, and will of course avidly fetish
Charles Ulrich’s Project Object book once it’s finally baked). It doesn’t
actually get off to a good start, referring to Joe’s Garage and a ‘Fender
Camp,’ on the first page...it gets better, though.
Vids
CHAD WACKERMAN TRIO: HITS LIVE (Drum Channel
DVD, DV10003801-H01)
This live performance was filmed in the Drum Channel studio,
with no audience - and, more importantly, no electronic explosions triggered by
clumsy stage hands! The 'concert' footage is interspersed with brief chats with
the Trio (seems these guys all met through FZ: Doug Lunn met Chad when he
auditioned for Frank in the early 80s; and Mike Miller was invited to play with
Chad in the Banned From Utopia by The Fowler Brothers), with separate
introductions to each song by a solo Chad. He describes Balancing Acts as almost prog-rock, and indeed it is. Tell Me starts with a nice drum solo, as
per the version on the Zappanale #18 CD. Bang. The gentle Holland is so gorgeous, I could wear it as a scrunchie. The City also opens with a CW solo, as
he channels his first NY visit, then builds to a great McLaughlin-esque guitar
solo. Twang. This must be a great gig for MM, who gets to shape the tunes and
play oodles of solos, though he also has the job of replicating the missing
vibe parts from Chad's compositions. Throughout you see what fine, fine players
these are. And unlike Bozzio, Chad actually uses every bit of his kit, and Doug
plays all five strings on his fretless bass. Talk to me. Although this is
played totally live, with no studio trickery, some clips of Chad appear to have
been sped-up. But really, he's just super fast. Wow. The bonus material
consists of Mike's The Good Guys,
played as a tribute to the late Mark Craney. It rocks. And Introduction, which has possibly been relegated from the main
feature because MM has to sight read for most of it. I think the intimate
studio setting suits them a lot better than a field in Germany.
FRANK
ZAPPA: THE FREAK-OUT LIST (Chrome Dreams, SIDVD555)
The first 30 minutes of this documentary focus on
FZ's classical/orchestral influences, then it looks at his R&B likes (some
of the stuff that's featured on Chrome Dreams' excellent Frank Zappa's Jukebox CD), emphasising Johnny
"Guitar" Watson's impact on Frank's guitar playing. It's then on to
doo-wop (including a present day interview with The Cadillacs) and, finally,
jazz. We are guided through these by an insightful Ben Watson (who, God bless
him, bigs up Jimmy Carl Black), various music professors, Don Preston (who
boasts that he introduced many of the classical remnants incorporated into
Zappa's oeuvre), author Greg Russo (who has his own extra, talking us through
‘Frank Zappa's Record Collection’), GZ’s new best friend, Alan Clayson, and
(scooptastically) George Duke and Ian Underwood – really nice to see them
involved. Significant other things: crystal clear snippets of one of the Saturday Night Live performances (unlike
those countless DVDs that flooded the marketplace a year or so back) and
Ensemble Modern rehearsing stuff for The
Rage And The Fury. One of the nice other touches is the Zappa-referencing excerpts
from: Wagner's Valkyrie, performed by
the RPO; Schoenberg and Rite Of Spring,
conducted by Boulez; Holst's Jupiter
by the LSO; and Once, At A Border
(Tony Palmer's film about Stravinsky). It uses the list on the inside cover of Freak Out! as a touchstone, rather than
taking us through it name by name – which would’ve been deadly boring to watch.
If you enjoyed Chrome Dream’s previous FZ
& The MOI In The 60s DVD, you’ll love this.
TONY
PALMER’S FILM OF FRANK ZAPPA’S 200 MOTELS (Voiceprint Records, TPDVD127)
I guess we can forgive Palmer's lack of Zappa
knowledge (for example, he doesn't know who Motorhead is, can't remember Jeff
Simmons' surname, and thinks Herb Cohen was Frank's only manager and they never
had a cross word), but not sure about his dismissal of Frank's orchestral works
- especially when he adds some thing about McCartney being able to get away
with it because he's a genius. Palmer does though point out some things you may
not have noticed before (his nod to his pal, Kubrick; how some of the effects
were achieved) and relays many interesting anecdotes from the making of the
film. And it's really his commentary that makes this a must-buy DVD - you
wouldn't get this on a ZFT-approved product, that's for sure. The quality of
the film is maybe a little better than my old Warner Bros VHS videotape, but
there's no discernible improvement in the sound. Shame. Also, the 16:9 aspect
ratio appears to mean they've squeezed the image throughout so that little is
chopped from the screen - so the camera adds more than 10lbs.
THE
DRUMMERS OF FRANK ZAPPA: ROUNDTABLE
DISCUSSION AND PERFORMANCE (Drum Channel DVD Collection: Vol. One,
DV10005801-H01)
Track
list: Terry’s Intro And Ralph’s
Audition/How Chester Got In The Band/Ruth’s Story Meeting Frank/More Stories
And Chad’s Audition/Discussion Of Other Player’s Audition/The Black Page Of
Frank’s Music/Playing In The Band/Performance. Total time: 140 min.
I
imagine most folks have seen some of this online, but it's wonderful to have
the complete thing collected together on one DVD - something I actually prayed
would happen; thank you, Drum Channel! In the roundtable discussion, Ruth
Underwood is easily the most endearing, and she brings along some of Frank’s
sheet music for the others to marvel at. Chester Thompson and Chad Wackerman
are both pretty modest, but have great tales to tell. Ralph Humphrey and Terry
Bozzio come across as very eloquent (which is not to say that the others are
dummies – far from it), and Terry keeps things moving apace. It's a real nice
mix of informal reminisces - about: the 'clash of the titans' (the Mothers Vs
Mahavishnu); scary in-concert auditions; learning Kung Fu and Approximate;
hanging with Frank; Ruth's cocktail version of Freak Out!; playing quintuplets LOUD; Phil Collins trying to learn More Trouble Everyday; and lots of other
really entertaining stuff. Terry reveals that the intro to The Black Page was ripped off of Tony Williams on the Stanley Clarke album. One of the
highlights is undoubtedly when Ruth calls Chad “dear” (Chad told me, “Ruth
is great. That's the first time I had a chance to speak with her.”)! The 42
minute ‘performance’ part (featuring all but Ruthie, sadly) is pretty cool:
obviously Chester & Ralph built up a great rapport back in the day, and
Chad & Terry have done many duet concerts together since; seeing all four
men-in-black improvising together is sure fine looking, man.
STEVE VAI: WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE (Favored Nations,
FN2610-9)
Disc 1: Paint Me
Your Face/Now We Run/Oooo/Building The Church/Tender Surrender/Band Intros/Fire
Wall/The Crying Machine/Shove The Sun Aside/I’m Becoming/Die To Live/Freak Show
Excess/Apples In Paradise/All About Eve/Gary 7/Beastly Rap/Treasure
Island/Angel Food/Earthquake Sky.
Disc 2: The
Audience Is Listening/The Murder/Juice /Whispering A Prayer/Taurus
Bulba/Liberty/Answers/For The Love Of God.
I think we finally have THE live Vai doovdé. Much as I
loved the Astoria and Sound Theories discs, and Steve’s performances
in the G3 fillums, at times these all lacked a little extry something. This one
seems to have it all for me: it features a great band (enhanced a goodly deal
by the two violinists, whose Apples In
Paradise duet is a delight) and is beautifully/professionally filmed; Steve
doesn’t come across as too cloying or insincere, as he sometimes can (he even
apologises for his James Brown jiving); and much humour is added by the between
song sub-titles. Unlike many so-called music videos, you get close-ups of the
band’s hands here, so all you musos can check what’s really going down (eg. on
Steve’s delicate little solo that is I’m
Becoming). And the sound is phenomenal. I saw this band live in London, and
was lucky enough to be in the front few rows. This video puts you even closer
to the band, and really makes you get up out off your seat and shake your thang
– especially during Die To Live and Freak Show Excess, wherein Steve’s
long-time on-stage foil, Dave Weiner, perfectly duplicates his master’s every
note, and Keneally’s bass-boy, Bryan Beller, gets to strut his stuff. The fact
is, these guys make it all look so easy and, perhaps more importantly,
enjoyable. How anyone can smile and dance while actually performing this music
is quite remarkable. The half-naked, heavily tattooed Jeremy Colson is also fun
to watch: a bit like Placebo’s new drummer, he’s kinda cartoony. But an amazing
player - his left arms swings mesmerize me. Treasure
Island - an acoustic duet, with Jeremy wearing his portable kit - will make
you smile. And the preceding Beastly Rap
allows for some Frank-inspired banter. The truly great thing about Steve is
that he takes his music very seriously and is always changing tack - simply
refusing to rest on his laurels. Yes, we get some old favourites along the way,
but they are always presented in new and interesting ways (aside from the
violins, Zack Wiesinger adds his lap steel during the encores). The whole thing
last over 3½ hours. Phew!
FRANK
ZAPPA AND THE MOTHERS OF INVENTION IN THE 1960s (Chrome Dreams, SIDVD545)
This includes the last filmed interview with Jimmy
Carl Black (sadly, I think I was the last person to actually interview him),
plus new ones with Don Preston, Bunk Gardner, Art Tripp, Billy James (ANT-BEE),
Alan Clayson and Ben Watson. The archive footage used of Frank & the
Mothers in the 60s is just shortish clips, used legally under review and
criticism fair dealing provisions present in both European and American
copyright acts. This, plus the professional editing and narration, make this a
cut above the Music In
Review DVD or any of those Edgehill/Classic Rock things. Yes,
it's not an official ZFT-sanctioned documentary. But it's also not 'complete
and utter bullshit', as someone who hadn't even seen it claimed at the Zappa
Forum. In fact, it's really well put together and includes some footage I'd
never seen before - of a young, clean-shaven FZ with Ray Collins - plus short
extracts from a really good 'print' of the Steve Allen show when Frank played
sister Candy's bicycle. Watching that, you can see the amazing resemblance
between Frank and his oldest son.
FRANK
ZAPPA: THE TORTURE NEVER STOPS (Honker Home Video, HHD 1221)
Track list: Black Napkins/Montana/Easy Meat/Beauty
Knows No Pain/Charlie's Enormous Mouth/Fine Girl/Teen-age Wind/Harder Than Your
Husband/Bamboozled By Love/We're Turning Again/Alien Orifice/Flakes/Broken
Hearts Are For Assholes/You Are What You Is/Mudd Club/The Meek Shall Inherit
Nothing/Dumb All Over/Heavenly Bank Account/Suicide Chump/Jumbo Go
Away/Stevie's Spanking/The Torture Never Stops/Strictly Genteel/The Illinois
Enema Bandit.
Extras: Teen-Age Prostitute/City Of Tiny Lights/You
Are What You Is (promo).
Review coming soon. But it’s good!
THE
MUFFIN MEN: MUFFINZ MOOVIES (2004-2005) VOLUME THREE
The saga continues, though this time there’s less chat
and more music. The documenta’y part covers two action packed years, and starts
with Roddie’s 50th birthday party which saw some old faces return for
a one-off gig in Liddypool. Fun to see Bammo, Rhino and Jumpy on stage together
again. There’s a return to
STEVE
VAI: VISUAL SOUND THEORIES
Track list: Kill
The Guy With The Ball/The God Eaters/The Murder Prologue/The Murder/Answers/Lotus
Feet/I'm Becoming/Salamanders In The Sun/The Attitude Song/Gentle
Ways/Liberty/For The Love Of God/Shadows And Sparks/Frangelica Pt. I & II.
Bonus features include: an Orchestra-only performance
of Bledsoe Bluvd./an interview at De
Oosterpoort with Steve Vai/feature length commentary with Steve, Michael Mesker
and Jason Feinberg.
Oooo!
ZAPPANALE
#18
Friday
-
Saturday
- August 04, 2007: chen unst (Germany); Team Zappa (Norway); Octafish
(Germany); Kimono Draggin’ (USA); Sex Without Nails Bros. (Austria); Space
Debris (Germany).
Sunday
- August 05, 2007: Polytoxicomane Philharmonie (Germany); The Great
Googly Moogly (Sweden); Jazzprojekt Hundehagen (Germany); Harmonia Ensemble
(Italy); The Chad Wackerman Trio (USA); Good Bye till 2008 Session (all
musicans).
Photos: From artists, crew, backstage, audience & festival ground.
From Christophe Godin And Mörglbl’s set (wrongly
credited to Kimono Draggin’), they’ve included a snippet of his excellent
Village Of The Sun outro (practically a new song in itself) and his wacky take
on AC/DC’s Highway To Hell. This
hopefully contrasts nicely with the CDs (see above).
FRANK ZAPPA: MUSIC IN REVIEW (Ragnarock Films, CRP2569)
Ben Watson told me, “They paid me a derisory fee [£150] to sit in front
of a drum set and answer questions read out by an accomplice paid a slightly
less derisory fee. I suspect a torrent of ‘opinion’ by second-string talking
heads in the manner of most current cheap docus. On the other hand, it does
have ME in it so it's obviously highly collectable.” Indeed. While
there is much to condemn about this (the fact that it only covers the period up
to Apostrophe (’), for starters),
there’s also much to commend it. Certainly I’ve seen worse; the Zeppelin Making Of A Supergroup DVD springs to
mind. And unlike that, there’s at least some ‘talking heads’ whose opinions you
actually respect and want to hear (hi
Ben!), as well as actual clips of yer actual subject (albeit grainy ones
from the Saturday Night Live 76 and
78 shows, Stockholm 73 and 68’s Colour Me
Pop). Melody Maker writer Chris
Welch met Frank in the late 60s, but otherwise has never exactly been a prominent
fan – indeed, he
inadvertently lets slip comments about “inflicting” this “dreadful”
music on people. He also slams the 200
Motels film as a “disaster”. Gem Howard-Kemp apparently worked for Frank
for three months on an early
ZAPPA
PLAYS ZAPPA DVD (Strobosonic, STROBO-D-100)
Disc One: Andy/Call Any Vegetable/Tell Me You Love
Me/Florentine
Pogen/Cosmik Debris/I’m The Slime/Pound For A Brown/Don’t Eat The
Yellow Snow/St. Alfonzo’s Pancake Breakfast/Father O’Blivion/Inca Roads/Eat That Question/I’m So Cute/Tryin’ To Grow A Chin/Punky’s
Whips.
Disc Two: Black Page #1/Black Page #2/Regyptian Strut/Peaches En
Regalia/Montana/Village Of The Sun/Echidna’s Arf (Of You)/Zomby Woof/Black
Napkins/The Torture Never Stops/Oh No/Son Of Orange County/Trouble Every
Day/Sofa. Bonus Material: Cheepnis/Interview with DZ.
Filmed with 12 HD cameras at the Rose Auditorium in
FRANK
ZAPPA: CLASSIC ALBUMS APOSTROPHE (‘)/OVER-NITE SENSATION (Eagle Rock
Entertainment, EREDV625)
The first time I watched this I nearly dribbled, I was
concentrating so hard. It’s a definite must-have DVD, featuring some tantalising - and not nearly enough! - studio footage (you can see them recording
Zomby Woof and parts of the Yellow Snow suite); sped-up on the road shots;
black and white film of a rehearsal with Ponty (playing Zomby); a short clip of
Bianca Odin singing Dirty Love live in 1976; Kerry McNab in the studio now and
then; and on and on. There’s lots of stuff not used on the records (vocals,
studio chatter and such) heard when Joe Travers and Dweezil dissect certain
tracks, and a wondrous segment of Ruth Underwood today showing us Frank’s
beautifully handwritten score for Rollo Interior and playing a small part of
the Idiot Bastard and an almost perfect section from St Alfonzo’s Pancake
Breakfast on her marimba. Gail and three of the kids appear, so we hear Moon
parley about being embarrassed by her father’s lyrics. David McMacken talks
about designing the Over-nite artwork, and many of the musicians who played on
these two albums (Ruth and Ian Underwood, Napi, Ralph Humphrey, Bruce Fowler,
George Duke) look back at those times. Dweezil claims you can find “every aspect of
Frank’s music squeezed into [these] two perfectly formed records”.
The bonus material features longer extracts of Joe and Dweez at UMRK,
highlighting the Ikettes contributions and a whole bunch of the ‘cool little elements’
from Dirty Love, Nanook Rubs It (including an edited out section) and Dinah-Moe
Humm (where they both look amazed to hear Frank espousing the concept of the
pigmy pony - so they maybe haven’t listened to the version on Have I Offended
Someone?). There’s also the Zappa Plays Zappa band competently playing
Camarillo Brillo in Joe’s Garage (with Napi resplendent in red Prawns With
Horns t-shirt) and Montana from the Roxy (as per at zappa.com) and I’m The
Slime by the In New York band from Saturday Night Live in 1976. If you’re still
waiting for your copy to arrive, you’re in for a real treat.
ED
SEEMAN PRESENTS FRANK ZAPPA & THE ORIGINAL MOTHERS OF INVENTION, 1967-1968
(Personal DVD)
A 40 minute psychedelic excerpt from 14 hours of
footage shot be Ed, this includes the Mothers (Billy, Roy, Don, JCB, Ian, Bunk,
Motorhead, FZ) live (at the Garrick Theater and Royal Albert Hall), in
Apostolic studios, and hanging around in London with Suzy Creemcheese (Pamela
Zarubica), groupies and Tim Buckley’s manager. There’s a nice sped-up piece of
Cal Schenkel making a Zappa dummy for the WOIIFTM sleeve with Gail and Ed. Like
Muffin Moovies 2, there’s also a meeting with Arthur Brown. There’s some nice
clips with Gail and baby Moon in Frank’s
MUFFINZ
MOOVIES TWO & THE MUFFIN MEN LIVE @ ZAPPANALE,
The documenta’y picks up where the last one left off
and is indeed a very worthy sequel. I guess some might criticise the fact that
there are very few complete live performances of songs, so for them there’s the
entire performance from Zappanale #14. Also, this is precisely why Ben Watson’s
contention that nobody really wants us talking heads (yes, me and him is both
one) misses the point, because it is the heads that effectively tell the story
of the band. Includes a segment on the excellent When Worlds Collide which can
be viewed on YouTube here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzUk9-McXs4
. Moovies includes a few bonus items, like the
travelling to and from Zappanale, as well as a chunk of their set with Jimmy at
the festival. There’s also a highly amusing interview by an unknown fan when
Jimmy met his old pal Arthur Brown on tour. The Arf Society’s Bands DVD from
Zappanale #14 used a very dark camera for much of the Muffin’s segment;
“luckily we had Esther (Leslie) standing in practically the same place, so we
replaced all the duff camera with our shot, plus we added an audience bootleg
camera for the odd angle or two” Roddie told me. And now this looks really
nifty. In all the excitement of hooking Napi up with the boys and travelling
all day to see them together in
UBin
Twinz presents dErailRoaDed - InsiDe tHe MiNd oF LarRy ‘WILD MAN’ FiScHeR
(Plexi Limited, 802 plexi)
I first saw this at the National Film Theatre in 2005,
where we were treated to a Q&A session with the film’s producer, Jeremy
Lubin. Jeremy told us that the project came about the day Fischer approached
him in a restaurant, stared into his face and proceeded to tell him: he’d been
named ‘Wild Man’ by Solomon Burke; had appeared on Rowan & Martin’s
Laugh-In; made an album with FZ; recorded a further three for Rhino Records; and
sung a duet with Rosemary Clooney. Following such an intriguing introduction, a
semi-believing Lubin (and his partner, the film’s eventual director, Josh
Rubin) had a Google and found it was all true. They realised his story would
make an interesting documentary and were amazed that no one had done it before.
They later realised that no one else would have had the time and patience to
complete it (as was the case with HBO). The mentally ill are not known for
their predictability, after all. Filmed over a three-year period, this film
shows Larry in his 60s convinced that Steven Spielberg wants him dead and
others want to cut his dick off and throw it in the ocean. He remains convinced
he’s the best rock singer in the world, while his mild mannered brother disagrees.
The Wild Man Fischer Story is used to good effect at the start of the film -
listening to that really had my bemused kids laughing. At one point, Larry
claims that FZ wanted a son just like him but, having discovered him, Frank
disowned him the day he smashed a bottle near baby Moon. Despite the subsequent
acrimony (we see puppets re-enacting the scene when Dr Demento played an
enraged FZ Larry’s song Frank live on his radio show), Fischer says the
highpoint of his career was the concert he played with the Mothers at the
Rosebowl. And footage of FZ (who Larry describes as a ‘good businessman’) from
1970 pops up a couple of times - as well as a more recent interview with Gail.
It is indeed an interesting and engaging film, but it only scratches the surface
of why Larry turned out a paranoid schizophrenic. He’s no Syd Barret-type drug
casualty but, ironically, drugs are responsible for enabling him to lead a
comparatively normal life these days - though robbing him of any artistic urge
(or his ‘pep’). Whatever the reason, The Ubin Twinz should be applauded for
their persistence. Long may this continue, but it looks like we’ll have to wait
for a future special edition to hear Fischer’s initial reaction to the film
(seems he’s still to pluck up the courage to watch it), as the audio commentary
with Larry on this DVD is just some spliced together phone conversations with
the Man. But there’s 49 minutes of bonus footage, including ‘Weird’ Al Yankovic
singing Merry-Go-Round, and a nice extract from Dennis P. Eichhorn’s comic
book. Now check out the Derailroaded MySpace page (http://www.myspace.com/derailroaded)...
BRUCE
BICKFORD:
Firstly, I’m glad to report to fellow European
denizens that this disc being encoded in the NTSC video format does not prevent
me from playing it on my way old Region 2-only DVD player. So, yeah - it’s
really region free, really free, really really free, really me...er. Anyone who
saw Keane’s Bedshaped video will know that the influence of the amazing Mr
Bickford lives on. Like me, Bruce has a thing about miniature things- Julie
Sexburger says, ‘Just as well. K-yuk! K-yuk!’ But one of my favourite places on
earth is the model village at Babbacombe. Fact - and so I can empathise with
his love for the little guys he creates. And the smaller the better, so it
would seem. He sincerely believes that animation is the single most important
thing in the world. Here he states that Bill Gates should be ploughing his
millions into animation studios, and that we should be making films about wars
rather than actually fighting them. Sound. Computer generated animation appears
to be beyond Bruce’s means, so it’s all really painstaking stuff. But he’s truly
passionate about what he does, and what he does he does brilliantly. This film
obviously features much of his work (with a great soundtrack by Shark Quest),
but the subject of it is he and his father, George - a retired aerospace
engineer suffering from the onset of Alzheimer’s Disease - who took his son to
see Bergman’s Wild Strawberries when he was a kid and interviewed him about it
the next day. (Bruce thinks you should just watch films - not discuss them.)
Filmed at the turn of the century, in a way this reminds me of Crumb - though
not so shocking or perverted, It is actually a delightful, at times quite
profound, little film. Now pray with me that Bruce outlives the 255-year-old
Chinaman; George passed away at the end of 2005 (so sadly me and Bruce have
something else in common). This DVD has been released by Bright Eye Pictures in
his memory. It features a bunch of extras, including deleted scenes and some
previously unreleased BB animation clips. To get your juices flowing, here’s a
photo from the Andre Cholmondeley Collection (circa. 2004), showing Bruce’s
handiwork - ladies and gentlemen, it’s the 1973-74 band. [This is NOT featured
in the DVD, but...]
