Who IS Frank Zappa

Evolver wrote: OK, I listened to the disk. It's much more subtle than Money, but there are a few parts where the bass especially sounds more modern. FWIW, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lumpy_Gravy says that the Lumpy Money (one of the few FZ albums I don't have) liner notes say that Art Barrow and Chad Wackerman did add overdubs to Lumpy Gravy.

They did add overdubs, but that version was never released until Lumpy Money. The 1986 LG/WOIIFTM had the overdubs on WOIIFTM, but not on LG.

If you don't believe me, look here: http://www.lukpac.org/~handmade/patio/vinylvscds/lumpy_gravy.html


Edited by HarbouringTheSoul - January 31 2013 at 03:32

Also, the ratings for Sleep Dirt all reflect the version with vocals, which is now an out of print version.

Yea, because I would imagine Sleep Dirt would have similar ratings as The Grand Wazoo, Hot Rats, etc.since the 2012 version represents the original vinyl with no vocals.

That's one thing that makes Zappa albums interesting, really.  The lines between studio/live/compilation are kind of blurred, much more so than with most other artists.

Zappa fans are quite detail oriented, I'm learning 

This has been an interesting thread to read through, morphing from a recommendations for beginners type thread into an appreciation type thread.

I was reminded of a time several years ago on a prog related Yahoo group, where someone asked where to start with Frank Zappa.  All the replies consisted of lists of albums........no single album recommendations.  The person replied saying that they really just wanted to try out one album........and the Zappa freaks told them that that just wasn't possible with Zappa and that if they were going to judge him by a single album they should just not bother.  The person asking then said forget it, they would just forget about trying Zappa.    Somehow, I think Frank would have approved.

For myself, I first heard Apostrophe / Overnite Sensation back in the late 80's.  I thought it was great and hilarious, but never really followed up.  Later, I heard  Filmore East and hated it (to this day I just can't deal with the Flo and Eddie era).  A few years after that I picked up Hot Rats after hearing it was mostly instrumental, and I was hooked.  I've been a fan ever since.  Some eras I like more than others (not really crazy about the first few Mother's albums, or the Flo and Eddie stuff, for instance), but all of it is worth hearing.

Ultimately, I have to agree with the Zappa freaks.........there is simply no one album of Frank's that will tell you if you will like his music or not.  You have to have a sampling.  I think Lather is great for that, but it's certainly not a cheap way to start on Zappa (though cheaper than buying 10 albums I suppose).

Anyway, I have yet to pick up any posthumous stuff (aside from Lather, of course) .  I'd really like to get the Wazoo album though, as I love the Grand Wazoo, Waka/Jawaka/Hot Rats "trilogy".  I'm also partial to the instrumental stuff, though I've come to really appreciate much of the lyrical and vocal side of Zappa's material.

I think though, that the instrumental side is probably the best "in" for prog fans wanting to hear Zappa's music for the first time.

Evolver wrote: darkshade wrote: ^ In that case we'd have to move all 6 YCDTOSA albums, One Shot Deal, Lather, etc. Finer Moments is a live album meant to be released in 1972, it focuses on the late 60s Mothers, and the early 70s Mothers, so it represents only 2 bands.   The Helsinki Concert is a single performance.  Lather, like many of Zappa's "studio" albums, has many tracks based on live recordings, but overdubs and editing turn it into something else.  We could create a whole new category based on Zappa's technique.  Needless to say, Frank deserves some uniformity on his page.  I'm content to let the collabs who control his page to make the ultimate decision.   However, as I was in the Finer Moments page editing my review, I changed it to live, as that seemed the general consensus.

FZ's page needs clean up or something. It's all those Beat The Boots that make it look unorganized. Those albums should all be moved to a different section.

It's true, that if Guitar and Trance-Fusion are under Live Albums, so should Shut Up and Play Yer Guitar album(s).

I moved Dub Room Special to Live Albums, and MOFO and FZ Plays The Music of FZ to compilations because those were obvious changes that needed to be made.

darkshade wrote: Also, the ratings for Sleep Dirt all reflect the version with vocals, which is now an out of print version.

Mine doesn't. In fact, one of the first things I did when the remaster came out was to change my rating from 4 to 5 stars. But yeah, it's quite unfortunate that the album is now stuck with all those reviews and ratings that punish it for the vocals and overdubs it no longer has. Not that we can do anything about it.

Evolver wrote: And is not a collection of various live performances also a compilation?

Well, by that standards very many Zappa albums are compilations. I view a compilation as something with primarily released stuff on it.

infandous wrote: Zappa fans are quite detail oriented, I'm learning

Oh you have no idea how obsessive we can be.

darkshade wrote: FZ's page needs clean up or something. It's all those Beat The Boots that make it look unorganized. Those albums should all be moved to a different section.

Were they even released individually? Because if not, we might consider deleting them all in favor of the two boxsets, although that would mean losing valuable reviews.

Since we're on the topic of fixing stuff, I just spotted a minor thing: Mystery Disc is listed as "The Mystery Disc", but there's no "the" in the album title.

Jonathan wrote: What is the story behind the song "Magdalena"?

I think it was based on a news story he read.

A Google group https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups#!topic/alt.fan.frank-zappa/ySVWftRaPiQ says:

I think THIS is Frank Zappa