Page 4 of 5 FirstFirst 12345 LastLast
Results 76 to 100 of 106

Thread: Featured Album - Frank Zappa & The Mothers - The Grand Wazoo

  1. #76
    The eons are closing
    Join Date
    Nov 2012
    Location
    NY/NJ
    Posts
    3,641
    Though I will add that about a month ago "Help I'm a Rock" came up on my random shuffle @ work, I closed the office door and basked in its awesomeness.

    Sent from my ONEPLUS A6013 using Tapatalk
    Death inspires me like a dog inspires a rabbit

  2. #77
    Member since March 2004 mozo-pg's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2012
    Location
    Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
    Posts
    9,686
    Quote Originally Posted by Plasmatopia View Post
    Overnight Sensation, You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore Volume 2, Road Tapes - Venue #2.
    Thanks for the suggestions.
    What can this strange device be? When I touch it, it brings forth a sound (2112)

  3. #78
    Member
    Join Date
    Jan 2013
    Posts
    4,485
    My favourite Zappa can be found on albums by the 60s Mothers and the 1972-5 Mothers line-ups. I'm not crazy about the Flo And Eddie era although there are gems amongst the 'overgrown frat boy' buffoonery.

    Burnt Weeny Sandwich is one I heard fairly early on; that works as a good (oft-overlooked) intro, IMHO. Other than the two doo wop numbers it's instrumental.

  4. #79
    Quote Originally Posted by Zappathustra View Post
    there is no Zappa list without either Freak Out or We're only in it for the money...except than in Progressive Ears.
    My "list" would include WOIIFTM but except for a few tracks ("Hungry Freaks," "Brain Police," "Help I'm A Rock") I'm not a big fan of Freak Out.

  5. #80
    My list - in somewhat particular order:

    Uncle Meat
    Grand Wazoo
    Were only in it...
    Absolutely Free (Actually love the collection Mothermania which was one of my first Zappas)
    Hot Rats
    One size fits all
    Lumpy Gravy
    Apostrophe
    Overnite sensation
    And lately I've been warming up a little to Joes Garage, used to hate it but having bought it on vinyl recently it does have some magic in it.

  6. #81
    Highly Evolved Orangutan JKL2000's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    Westchester, NY
    Posts
    16,529
    I didn't want to start a new thread for this, but I read the following in Wikipedia about the 6CD Zappa in New York set:

    Disc 1 - (claims to be the 1977 version, but actually an edited 10 song version)

    What's the deal with this? What's the track that's missing? Did the Zappa estate (or anyone) give a reason for the omission?

    It also looks like the Zoot Allures LP was released with a couple of tracks omitted at one point, what was the reason for those omissions?

  7. #82
    Parrots Ripped My Flesh Dave (in MA)'s Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2012
    Location
    42°09′30″N 71°08′43″W
    Posts
    6,263
    Punky's Whips, but it's on CD 2.

  8. #83
    Highly Evolved Orangutan JKL2000's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    Westchester, NY
    Posts
    16,529
    Quote Originally Posted by Dave (in MA) View Post
    Punky's Whips, but it's on CD 2.
    Was it just because it wouldn't fit on the first disk?

  9. #84
    Jazzbo manqué Mister Triscuits's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2012
    Location
    Utopia
    Posts
    5,390
    Quote Originally Posted by JKL2000 View Post
    Was it just because it wouldn't fit on the first disk?
    No, it would have fit. Disc one of the box is the album in its original 1977 mix, but in the form that was widely released in 1978. What it is not is the uncensored 1977 version that was prematurely released in Europe and immediately withdrawn. That version is very rare. They could have used that for the box, but then it would not reflect the album as it was first properly released and as most older fans remember it. Besides removing "Punky's Whips," the familiar version deleted a Punky Meadows reference from "Titties and Beer" and resequenced the first two sides, so it's quite different from the withdrawn version. When the album was released on CD, it was drastically changed, with added tracks, different sequencing again, longer edits, and a remix with new guitar overdubs. That's what makes the inclusion of the 1977 mix on the box significant.
    Hurtleturtled Out of Heaven - an electronic music composition, on CD and vinyl
    https://michaelpdawson.bandcamp.com
    http://www.waysidemusic.com/Music-Pr...MCD-spc-7.aspx

  10. #85
    Quote Originally Posted by JKL2000 View Post
    It also looks like the Zoot Allures LP was released with a couple of tracks omitted at one point, what was the reason for those omissions?
    All releases of Zoot Allures have the same songs. Some early European pressings have an early tracklist with fewer songs (and if I recall right including "Filthy Habits" which didn't make the final album).

  11. #86
    Member chalkpie's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2015
    Location
    Hudson Valley, NY
    Posts
    8,193
    ^ are you talking specifically about Burgers and Punky's unused versions near the end of the set?

  12. #87
    Jazzbo manqué Mister Triscuits's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2012
    Location
    Utopia
    Posts
    5,390
    Quote Originally Posted by chalkpie View Post
    ^ are you talking specifically about Burgers and Punky's unused versions near the end of the set?
    I believe "Punky's Whips (unused version)" is the original LP edit, which also appears on Läther. "Cruising for Burgers" was never included on ZINY until the CD release.
    Hurtleturtled Out of Heaven - an electronic music composition, on CD and vinyl
    https://michaelpdawson.bandcamp.com
    http://www.waysidemusic.com/Music-Pr...MCD-spc-7.aspx

  13. #88
    Jazzbo manqué Mister Triscuits's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2012
    Location
    Utopia
    Posts
    5,390
    Quote Originally Posted by pb2015 View Post
    All releases of Zoot Allures have the same songs. Some early European pressings have an early tracklist with fewer songs (and if I recall right including "Filthy Habits" which didn't make the final album).
    To be clear, those pressings have the alternate track list on the cover, but the record contains the same music as the standard version. (By contrast, some UK copies of Zappa in NY have the standard cover but the records play the uncensored version with "Punky's Whips.") Zoot Allures was originally planned to be a double LP including several tracks that later turned up on Sleep Dirt; the alternate track list on those European LPs must represent an early attempt at cutting it down to a single LP.
    Hurtleturtled Out of Heaven - an electronic music composition, on CD and vinyl
    https://michaelpdawson.bandcamp.com
    http://www.waysidemusic.com/Music-Pr...MCD-spc-7.aspx

  14. #89
    Frank seemed to have a hard time making up his mind when it came to deciding on track lists for his albums. He had this huge mass of unreleased recordings to choose from, and he built many "test reels" to try out ideas.

  15. #90
    Quote Originally Posted by profusion View Post
    Frank seemed to have a hard time making up his mind when it came to deciding on track lists for his albums. He had this huge mass of unreleased recordings to choose from, and he built many "test reels" to try out ideas.
    Here's a list of some examples, with explanations for why some of them were never presented to the public.

    http://www.lukpac.org/~handmade/pati...nreleased.html

  16. #91

  17. #92
    Quote Originally Posted by chalkpie View Post
    Yeah, I've got that as a bootleg somewhere around here.

  18. #93
    Highly Evolved Orangutan JKL2000's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    Westchester, NY
    Posts
    16,529
    Is Zappa considered, in large part, to have cobbled together albums and turned them over to labels hurriedly, to satisfy contractual obligations or something? That’s often the impression I get, even though he has some albums that are carefully put together.

  19. #94
    Member Steve F.'s Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2012
    Location
    Fluffy Cloud
    Posts
    5,635
    Quote Originally Posted by Mister Triscuits View Post
    The first time I saw Zappa in concert was in 1973 at the San Diego Sports Arena, six months before Over-Nite Sensation was released. The band I saw was the same band that made that album: Ian & Ruth Underwood, Bruce & Tom Fowler, Jean-Luc Ponty, George Duke, Sal Marquez, Ralph Humphrey, and FZ, plus Don Preston sitting in during the second half of the show. Zappa welcomed us to the "Sports Aroma" and asked if we were the kind of audience who wanted to hear "the show" the way they had rehearsed it, or would we rather have "something weird." Upon receiving a big cheer for the latter, he said, "Good, that's the kind of audience I like." So the ensuing set was highly experimental, improvisational, and mostly instrumental. Zappa explained certain sounds that he wanted the audience to remember, that he would signal us to repeat during the jam sequences. Three songs that would turn up on the next two albums were performed: "Montana," "Cosmik Debris," and an instrumental version of "Fifty-Fifty" (as part of a medley with "Dog Breath Variations" and "Uncle Meat"). In another bit of conceptual continuity with those future releases Zappa delivered a monolog about the laboratories where they develop the "imaginary diseases."

    So when Over-Nite did come out featuring comic, lyrics-driven numbers like "Camarillo Brillo" and "Dinah-Moe Humm" and zero instrumentals, I had to wonder what happened to the direction this band had taken. There was plenty to tickle the ears still, but considering the talent involved it could have been so much more.
    Saw this same tour.
    I too remember being hugely non-plussed when the album of ‘my show’s band’ (Overnite) was released a while later....
    Steve F.

    www.waysidemusic.com
    www.cuneiformrecords.com

    - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

    “Remember, if it doesn't say "Cuneiform," it's not prog!” - THE Jed Levin

    Any time any one speaks to me about any musical project, the one absolute given is "it will not make big money". [tip of the hat to HK]

    "Death to false 'support the scene' prog!"

    please add 'imo' wherever you like, to avoid offending those easily offended.

  20. #95
    Jazzbo manqué Mister Triscuits's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2012
    Location
    Utopia
    Posts
    5,390
    Quote Originally Posted by JKL2000 View Post
    Is Zappa considered, in large part, to have cobbled together albums and turned them over to labels hurriedly, to satisfy contractual obligations or something? That’s often the impression I get, even though he has some albums that are carefully put together.
    You're probably thinking of the one situation where Zappa, enraged at the censorship of Zappa in New York, tried to get out of his contract with Warner Brothers by delivering three further albums at once. When those albums were not released by WB within the contractually stipulated time, he "cobbled together" Läther as a box set using most of the same music plus some new recordings, and unsuccessfully tried to get it released that way on another label. But in general Zappa was at least nominally in charge of his own labels for most of his career, ("nominally" because those earlier labels were still tied to MGM or Warner Bros.) so he had firm control of his own material. He was always prolific, and always had a backlog of material waiting for release, so there was never a question of hurriedly putting something together because he had to. He did have a fair number of "patchwork" albums that combined recordings from different sessions with different lineups. (For example, Chunga's Revenge, where half the tracks are instrumentals looking back to Hot Rats, and half are the new Flo & Eddie band.) He often claimed that his entire output was one big ongoing "Project/Object," so it was a signature of his art that anything from any year could be edited together with anything else from another year.
    Hurtleturtled Out of Heaven - an electronic music composition, on CD and vinyl
    https://michaelpdawson.bandcamp.com
    http://www.waysidemusic.com/Music-Pr...MCD-spc-7.aspx

  21. #96
    Member chalkpie's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2015
    Location
    Hudson Valley, NY
    Posts
    8,193
    Quote Originally Posted by JKL2000 View Post
    Is Zappa considered, in large part, to have cobbled together albums and turned them over to labels hurriedly, to satisfy contractual obligations or something? That’s often the impression I get, even though he has some albums that are carefully put together.
    He eventually owned his own label and spent a ton of time and effort editing shows together, as well as using the synclavier to realize his intricate and uber-complex compositions, so his albums definitely weren't just thrown together. He worked fast and hard, so maybe that's the impression he gave. Workaholic on the level of Bach, etc.

  22. #97
    Member chalkpie's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2015
    Location
    Hudson Valley, NY
    Posts
    8,193
    PS....although the Zappa film by Alex Winter misses a ton of stuff, one point he does get across pretty well is the prolific nature and intense work ethic of FZ. The guy lived and breathed his art until the end ( which was tragically cut short).

  23. #98
    Quote Originally Posted by JKL2000 View Post
    Is Zappa considered, in large part, to have cobbled together albums and turned them over to labels hurriedly, to satisfy contractual obligations or something? That’s often the impression I get, even though he has some albums that are carefully put together.
    I don't think so, I think he just worked fast. That might be because he had too many ideas going on so he wanted to move on to the next idea or it might be because he was trying to limit expenses.

  24. #99
    Quote Originally Posted by flowerking View Post
    I don't think so, I think he just worked fast. That might be because he had too many ideas going on so he wanted to move on to the next idea or it might be because he was trying to limit expenses.
    All of those, and I also think he just had a hard time making a final decision on what to release at any given time. The technology of the time required him to go to some effort to put together potential releases for evaluation, and sometimes he let those slip to the press even though they never actually materialized.

    He also balanced grandiose ideas like the "Collected Works of the Mothers" box that never came out or Laether with a sharp understanding of commercial necessity.

  25. #100
    Quote Originally Posted by profusion View Post
    He also balanced grandiose ideas like the "Collected Works of the Mothers" box that never came out
    Didn't he release most of what he wanted to in the Stage series (particularly Stage 5 disc 1) + Ahead of Their Time combined?

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •