Who IS Frank Zappa

HolyMoly wrote: Here's the info on Hammersmith Odeon http://globalia.net/donlope/fz/lyrics/Hammersmith_Odeon.html It's a 1978 concert, and I believe a lot of the basic tracks for what became Sheik Yerbouti were taken from this concert.  It's 3  CDs and features the same band as was featured in the Baby Snakes movie. I don't have it (yet), so I don't know how good it sounds.

I can't understand why 'Tinsel Town Rebellion' rates rather low here at P.A. This album is pure entertainment, well done, fun, complex, Prog, etc. etc...... I love how Zappa has morphed into a left-handed guitarist

I think Finn Forest said it best, Zappa is a major committment.

TODDLER wrote: Would someone be kind enough to comment on Carnegie Hall? If you own it...what do you think of the performance? ...The production? Is it a soundboard recording or an audience recording? For example...Does it compare to the sound quality of the posthumous release Wazoo?

Evolver wrote: TODDLER wrote: Would someone be kind enough to comment on Carnegie Hall? If you own it...what do you think of the performance? ...The production? Is it a soundboard recording or an audience recording? For example...Does it compare to the sound quality of the posthumous release Wazoo?   I own it. It's a soundboard recording, and sounds about as good as the Fillmore album and JABFLA.   The first disk has the entire Persuasions opening performance.  So if you don't like that style of a cappella doo-wop, be warned.   The Flo & Eddie era wasn't my favorite, but it is still amusing.

Thanks for the insight!

Frank is a Master.

Evolver wrote: Welcome to the party, Oreste. I cannot disagree with anything you wrote.

HolyMoly wrote: Here's a very nice concert I was just listening to for the first time http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8wpMvZaQvM May 15, 1970 with Zubin Mehta and the LA Philharmonic Orchestra  (at UCLA) A rare rock band-with-orchestra performance, including a wonderful specially prepared instrumental suite of freshly arranged old and new melodies, some from the early Mothers albums, some from the work-in-progress 200 Motels.  I'd heard of this special concert but had never had the chance to hear it before.

TODDLER wrote: Sometimes Zappa would get the perfect guitar tone for the style of soloing he was attempting to master for a.... improvisation ....and other times he did not and yet continued relentlessly with that sound until you accepted it or grew to like it. He wasn't that kind of guitar player. You had to grow with his sound and he wasn't about to deal you in with smooth sounding notes. Not all of the time like a Jeff Beck, Stevie Ray Vaughn, or a Alan Holdsworth would often do. Yet....Zappa had a technical side to his playing ..which brought to mind that if he was that advanced, he might have had reasons for making his guitar sound ugly or even neglected in the performance sense.   In "Black Napkins" from Zoot Allures ...the guitar has a tone which was his own personal desire to create and yet probably had a lot to do with the  sound of the instruments and the mix. My guitar wants to kill you're mama.

I so agree. Some musicians, like Steve Hackett, take you to other realms. They do this to some extent with note selection and some extent with inventive use of timbre. Others, like Zappa, might affect the mood certainly but the focus was seldom allowed to stray from the music as a playing event. It parallels the difference between Impressionism and Expressionism in art history, to my mind. The hand of Zappa the musician never gets lost. His compositions functioned similarly. This was all in line with how he spoke of his work with the press. He was never shy about advocating quality musicianship and calling crap 'crap'. He would've been a great member of this forum.

Edited by HackettFan - November 03 2013 at 20:03

TODDLER wrote: Sometimes Zappa would get the perfect guitar tone for the style of soloing he was attempting to master for a.... improvisation ....and other times he did not and yet continued relentlessly with that sound until you accepted it or grew to like it. He wasn't that kind of guitar player. You had to grow with his sound and he wasn't about to deal you in with smooth sounding notes. Not all of the time like a Jeff Beck, Stevie Ray Vaughn, or a Alan Holdsworth would often do. Yet....Zappa had a technical side to his playing ..which brought to mind that if he was that advanced, he might have had reasons for making his guitar sound ugly or even neglected in the performance sense.   In "Black Napkins" from Zoot Allures ...the guitar has a tone which was his own personal desire to create and yet probably had a lot to do with the  sound of the instruments and the mix. My guitar wants to kill you're mama.