Friday, May 21, 2004
You don't have to know me much longer than about five minutes before you figure out that I'm a pretty big Frank Zappa fan.
Frank Zappa composed music of virtually every type in his 53 years on this planet. By the time he achieved room temperature on 12/4/93 from prostate cancer, he'd officially released more than 60 albums. The content on these albums ranges (sometimes from song-to-song) from straight-out-rock to protest songs to sophomoric sex ditties, to songs about being on the road, to full symphonic works that even now get recorded by more adventurous ensembles.
Zappa literally started the careers of Lowell George (Little Feat), Adrian Belew and Steve Vai by hiring them, and advanced the world's knowledge of then-little-known but established jazz players like George Duke, Shuggie Otis and most prominently, Jean-Luc Ponty.
I'm sitting here typing and listening to my all-time-favorite Zappa album of all time (it's not necessarily the best, it's just my favorite): Burnt Weeny Sandwich.
Released around late '69 or early '70, BWS is truly and audio sandwich: several instrumental pieces "sandwiched" by remakes of two old doo-wop songs. Zappa loved Doo Wop, and the original Mothers all certainly grew up listening and playing that stuff.
I find it hard to explain Burnt Weenie Sandwich. It's JUST SO FUCKING GOOD. The musicianship on the extended pieces, "Holiday in Berlin" and the thrill-a-minute (for more than 18 minutes) "Little House I Used To Live In" are those kinds of moments that musicians live for. The whole band is in sync with each other and you find yourself just rocking back and forth in your chair.
What's even more interesting is that Zappa created a lot of this album by piecing together things recorded at different times that just felt right.
"Little House" is a perfect example: Ian Underwood's delightful-yet-complex piano solo introduces a studio recording of the song's main theme; after the Mothers play around with it for awhile, a violin solo by guest Don "Sugar Cane" Harris, recorded at another time during a jam with the mothers, combines with a killer keyboard solo from Don Preston. This monster jam finally segues into the "second" melody line of the song, and then BOOM! we're suddenly in concert with the Mothers as Zappa(!) plays an organ solo. The band receives thunderous applause, Zappa tries to soothe a pissed-off anarchist in the audience, and the cut ends.
What more could you want?
If you're not familiar with Frank Zappa at all, and you think you might want to give him a try, try one of these first:
Hot Rats
(Includes "Peaches en Regalia," a song you've probably heard a bunch of times but had no idea what it was called)
Burnt Weenie Sandwich
Apostrophe
(includes his near-hit "Don't Eat the Yellow Snow")
One Size Fits All
(this is in my opinion his best, most-solid effort with the best band he ever put together; after BWS it's my favorite Zappa album)
The Grand Wazoo
(if you really like jazz, this one'll just kill ya)
We're Only In It for the Money
(Zappa's anti-establishment, anti-hippie, anti-everybody masterpiece from 1967)
If you're more symphonically inclined:
Lumpy Gravy
The Yellow Shark
Civilization Phase 3
If you like dirty words and sophomoric sex talk and goofy, mindless comedy:
Fillmore East, 1971
Just Another Band From LA
200 Motels (lots of orchestral stuff here, too)
Or for a little bit of everything Frank had to offer, pick up the three-disc "Lather," which compiles all kinds of stuff recorded between '72 and '77.
There. I've spooed my Frank spoo. I shan't bore you with it again.
Frank Zappa composed music of virtually every type in his 53 years on this planet. By the time he achieved room temperature on 12/4/93 from prostate cancer, he'd officially released more than 60 albums. The content on these albums ranges (sometimes from song-to-song) from straight-out-rock to protest songs to sophomoric sex ditties, to songs about being on the road, to full symphonic works that even now get recorded by more adventurous ensembles.
Zappa literally started the careers of Lowell George (Little Feat), Adrian Belew and Steve Vai by hiring them, and advanced the world's knowledge of then-little-known but established jazz players like George Duke, Shuggie Otis and most prominently, Jean-Luc Ponty.
I'm sitting here typing and listening to my all-time-favorite Zappa album of all time (it's not necessarily the best, it's just my favorite): Burnt Weeny Sandwich.
Released around late '69 or early '70, BWS is truly and audio sandwich: several instrumental pieces "sandwiched" by remakes of two old doo-wop songs. Zappa loved Doo Wop, and the original Mothers all certainly grew up listening and playing that stuff.
I find it hard to explain Burnt Weenie Sandwich. It's JUST SO FUCKING GOOD. The musicianship on the extended pieces, "Holiday in Berlin" and the thrill-a-minute (for more than 18 minutes) "Little House I Used To Live In" are those kinds of moments that musicians live for. The whole band is in sync with each other and you find yourself just rocking back and forth in your chair.
What's even more interesting is that Zappa created a lot of this album by piecing together things recorded at different times that just felt right.
"Little House" is a perfect example: Ian Underwood's delightful-yet-complex piano solo introduces a studio recording of the song's main theme; after the Mothers play around with it for awhile, a violin solo by guest Don "Sugar Cane" Harris, recorded at another time during a jam with the mothers, combines with a killer keyboard solo from Don Preston. This monster jam finally segues into the "second" melody line of the song, and then BOOM! we're suddenly in concert with the Mothers as Zappa(!) plays an organ solo. The band receives thunderous applause, Zappa tries to soothe a pissed-off anarchist in the audience, and the cut ends.
What more could you want?
If you're not familiar with Frank Zappa at all, and you think you might want to give him a try, try one of these first:
Hot Rats
(Includes "Peaches en Regalia," a song you've probably heard a bunch of times but had no idea what it was called)
Burnt Weenie Sandwich
Apostrophe
(includes his near-hit "Don't Eat the Yellow Snow")
One Size Fits All
(this is in my opinion his best, most-solid effort with the best band he ever put together; after BWS it's my favorite Zappa album)
The Grand Wazoo
(if you really like jazz, this one'll just kill ya)
We're Only In It for the Money
(Zappa's anti-establishment, anti-hippie, anti-everybody masterpiece from 1967)
If you're more symphonically inclined:
Lumpy Gravy
The Yellow Shark
Civilization Phase 3
If you like dirty words and sophomoric sex talk and goofy, mindless comedy:
Fillmore East, 1971
Just Another Band From LA
200 Motels (lots of orchestral stuff here, too)
Or for a little bit of everything Frank had to offer, pick up the three-disc "Lather," which compiles all kinds of stuff recorded between '72 and '77.
There. I've spooed my Frank spoo. I shan't bore you with it again.
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