Who IS Frank Zappa

Depends on what you disliked about act II and III. If the long guitar solos bugged you, there are fewer in act I. If it was the crude humor, act I isn't quite as nasty (no "Sy Borg" or "Stick It Out") but the song titles alone should tell you that it's not completely clean either. If you thought act II and III had too many "pop songs", act I isn't for you because it's pretty much exclusively that (although I personally think the songs in act I are much better).

I personally wasn't much into Act II and III when I first got into JG, aside from a couple of songs like Keep It Greasy, or Sy Borg, but the entire album grew on me over time, and now I love the entire album, and Watermelon In Easter Hay is signature FZ guitar song.

Listening to The Man From Utopia two-fer with SATLTSADW, the vinyl mix of TMFU is great, and different track order, it's like a different album.

Evolver wrote: darkshade wrote: I personally wasn't much into Act II and III when I first got into JG, aside from a couple of songs like Keep It Greasy, or Sy Borg, but the entire album grew on me over time, and now I love the entire album, and Watermelon In Easter Hay is signature FZ guitar song. Listening to The Man From Utopia two-fer with SATLTSADW, the vinyl mix of TMFU is great, and different track order, it's like a different album. Did you ever hear the vinyl "Broadway The Hard Way"?  Much more patter.  FZ explains the "confinement loaf" lyrics.

I did not know that.  But on the handy IINK site I found this:

"FZ: Alright. CNN ran a story last week about this new product that has been developed for our prison system. It is called "Confinement Loaf." Now what it is it's, uh, bean by-products compressed into a loaf, which is administered to problem prisoners. Their diet will be a slice of "Confinement Loaf" and a cup of water, and it seems to mellow them out right away. So my question is: How long before "Confinement Loaf" appears in United States High Schools?"

darkshade wrote: Evolver wrote: darkshade wrote: I personally wasn't much into Act II and III when I first got into JG, aside from a couple of songs like Keep It Greasy, or Sy Borg, but the entire album grew on me over time, and now I love the entire album, and Watermelon In Easter Hay is signature FZ guitar song. Listening to The Man From Utopia two-fer with SATLTSADW, the vinyl mix of TMFU is great, and different track order, it's like a different album. Did you ever hear the vinyl "Broadway The Hard Way"?  Much more patter.  FZ explains the "confinement loaf" lyrics. No, I haven't. Is there additional music or anything?

Doesn't look like it.  check it out.

http://www.lukpac.org/~handmade/patio/vinylvscds/broadway.html

It is weird. I have self-made album filled with unreleased tracks played by the 88 band, and one of them is FZ's speech on Confinement Loaf, might be the same one on the BTHW vinyl.


Edited by darkshade - June 12 2013 at 22:35

Yes. In fact, that's pretty much the only version you can trust save for the original vinyl.

hellogoodbye wrote: Finally, I think I'm gonna keep Joe and sheik for later. You are what you is seems closer to my tastes. Some say there are problems with the sound. Can I trust the last 2012 edition ?

The 2012 YAWYI is fine, it sounds great and all the problems were fixed.

Honestly, I find YAWYI to be a continuation of Shiek and Joe's Garage, but with less of the crazy instrumental sections, and a lot less guitar solos. However, it's one of his funniest albums, and there are some glorious moments; so if you like YAWYI, I'd say give Shiek and Joe's a try, which are also two of his funniest albums.

^ Have you heard Frank Zappa Meets The Mothers of Prevention? It came out before Jazz From Hell, It mixes JFH-style Synclavier music with the 80s rock band, to great effect IMO. One of the best 80s FZ alburms. The last track if you have the CD version, "H.R. 2911", is like a precursor to what FZ would do with Synclavier later on. The collage track "Porn Wars" is like an 80s maniac-version of Lumpy Gravy, (the piano people show up too), with U.S. senators becoming the thing they were trying to suppress, and lots of Synclavier. Just watch out, Thing-Fish also makes an appearance.

I listened to Feeding The Monkies At Ma Maison (another Synclavier album) the other night, and it is a whole 'nother beast. The album was slated to come out around 1987. After Jazz From Hell, Frank must have realized how to use the instrument to his liking, plus there were probably advancements made for the technology, because the music became deeper, darker, more complex, and scarier. Of course, there are moments that still make you laugh out loud, and that's one reason I love Zappa's Synclavier work.

All this Synclavier talk is making me want to listen to Civilization Phaze III soon. I only have a few more albums to get through before I feel like it's time.


Edited by darkshade - June 13 2013 at 10:23

Roxy & Elsewhere was one of those albums I listened to so much when I first got into it, that I burnt myself out on it, and it took years for the magic to come back with that album for me.

Even now, since my Zappa craze started back in October, I've only listened to R&E 3 times, which isn't a lot compared to the other albums I've listened to.

The "Classic Albums" was on Netflix recently, and I watched it twice. Yea, it's easy to forget how complex the music from that era is, the band(s) from that time, and other eras too, make it sound so easy. A lot of the stuff goes by real quick, so it can be difficult to take it all in on one sitting.