Who IS Frank Zappa

Man With Hat wrote: darkshade wrote: Hopefully not, I imagine Uncle Meat box set would include the vinyl version, along with some alternate takes, jams, live stuff, who knows. That's what I want, and I imagine everyone else too. No word on it since the announcement, though... I'm listening to Joe's Domage for the first time, and it's one of the few Zappa albums I still don't own, and now I'm not sure I ever will. Why was this released??? At the most, it could have been a bonus disc with Wazoo or Imaginary Diseases, but as an official album, it's terrible. It's just a rehearsal with only tidbits of music (admittedly, some of the tidbits are unique to this album, but they're still just tidbits). Frank would never have let this see the light of day. Cool! I must have just missed the announcement. And also...do you find any of the Joe's ---age series to be essential (or near)? I've passed on all of them to this point. (With the obvious exception of Garage)

Joe's Corsage is worth getting if you like the early Mothers, as it's pre-Freak Out! and has some nice renditions of early tunes and some jams. It's only essential once you've heard most other Zappa releases, though.

Joe's XMASage has some good stuff for sure, takes place around the Studio Z days, some cool early jams, but also has some dialogue which one could do without, like 12 minutes of a guy reading a letter from some girl's purse.

Joe's Menage is like a bite-size version of FZ:OZ, very good if you like that album.

Joe's Domage is worthless, just a rehearsal tape from right before Waka/Jawaka was recorded. I just wrote a 1 star review about it.

Come to think of it, I think it could be Brixton Still Life.  Good catch!

darkshade wrote: .... things in the music I never noticed before, like how Sleep Dirt is on Playground Psychotics, ...

Wait, what? 

darkshade wrote: Tom Ozric wrote: I currently own 31 Zappa LP's - nothing that has been released posthumously. There's soooo much out there it's just too difficult for me. The best of the Flo & Eddie period albums is 'Chunga's Revenge' for me. 'Uncle Meat' is my fave (by a whisker over Wazoo). I think CR is the best Flo n Eddie album, but Playground Psychotics is a really cool listen.I recommend you get on some of the posthumous albums. Not 100% sure of your Zappa preferences, and I'm assuming you're mostly referring to post-90s albums, Wazoo, Imaginary Diseases, both Road Tapes albums, Finer Moments, and Buffalo, are top notch Zappa albums. Man With Hat wrote: darkshade wrote: There isn't a huge difference. The songs don't change. You just might notice the lack of slap bass on a couple of tracks, and rougher sounding drums. But it's nicer that way. And a couple of the bonus tracks are interesting. My favorite P/O box set is Lumpy Money, since there's so much new material that's never been released before. I anticipate the new Uncle Meat P/O will be even better than LM.For anyone who cares:I'm up to Playground Psychotics on my Zappadan, possibly the most interesting Flo n Eddie era album IMO, but I am glad to be done with the era, and move on to the Wazoo era! I was kinda surprised at the Hot Rats vinyl mix compared to the cd mix just because I've always heard it was so different and I didn't find it as different as I expected it to be. I'm expecting the same when I eventually listen to GLS and your statement kinda confirms it. Lumpy Money is great. Is the Uncle Meat box a definite thing or just speculation? I noticed the difference between both Hot Rats, especially the drums and horns and how they're mixed differently. On Peaches and Son of Green Genes, you can hear differences in how certain harmonies are more up front on the remix or vis versa depending on which part we're talking about. It Must Be A Camel and Little Umbrellas are the most noticeable differences to my ears as well.Uncle Meat P/O was announced by the ZFT months ago.....

Oh there are differences, just not the drastic differences I was expecting from reading the reviews of it. It Must Be A Camel is certainly the biggest difference for me. Not sure which I like more if I'm honest.

And nice. Hopefully that doesn't take as long to release as the Roxy stuff!

Tom Ozric wrote: I currently own 31 Zappa LP's - nothing that has been released posthumously. There's soooo much out there it's just too difficult for me. The best of the Flo & Eddie period albums is 'Chunga's Revenge' for me. 'Uncle Meat' is my fave (by a whisker over Wazoo).

I think CR is the best Flo n Eddie album, but Playground Psychotics is a really cool listen.

I recommend you get on some of the posthumous albums. Not 100% sure of your Zappa preferences, and I'm assuming you're mostly referring to post-90s albums, Wazoo, Imaginary Diseases, both Road Tapes albums, Finer Moments, and Buffalo, are top notch Zappa albums.

Man With Hat wrote: darkshade wrote: There isn't a huge difference. The songs don't change. You just might notice the lack of slap bass on a couple of tracks, and rougher sounding drums. But it's nicer that way. And a couple of the bonus tracks are interesting. My favorite P/O box set is Lumpy Money, since there's so much new material that's never been released before. I anticipate the new Uncle Meat P/O will be even better than LM.For anyone who cares:I'm up to Playground Psychotics on my Zappadan, possibly the most interesting Flo n Eddie era album IMO, but I am glad to be done with the era, and move on to the Wazoo era! I was kinda surprised at the Hot Rats vinyl mix compared to the cd mix just because I've always heard it was so different and I didn't find it as different as I expected it to be. I'm expecting the same when I eventually listen to GLS and your statement kinda confirms it. Lumpy Money is great. Is the Uncle Meat box a definite thing or just speculation?

I noticed the difference between both Hot Rats, especially the drums and horns and how they're mixed differently. On Peaches and Son of Green Genes, you can hear differences in how certain harmonies are more up front on the remix or vis versa depending on which part we're talking about. It Must Be A Camel and Little Umbrellas are the most noticeable differences to my ears as well.

Uncle Meat P/O was announced by the ZFT months ago.....


Edited by darkshade - December 11 2013 at 20:46

I currently own 31 Zappa LP's - nothing that has been released posthumously. There's soooo much out there it's just too difficult for me. The best of the Flo & Eddie period albums is 'Chunga's Revenge' for me. 'Uncle Meat' is my fave (by a whisker over Wazoo).

The 'Wazoo era' - YEAH !!

I have GLS but have yet to play it.

And for the record, I don't particular care for Crusin'....but have a slight cautious optimism that GLS will be more interesting from what I've read about it.

'Cruising With Ruben & The Jets' is such a charming album - I wouldn't want my Doo-Wop any other way. 'Deseri' is simply amazing.

darkshade wrote: Man With Hat wrote: darkshade wrote: Also sorry to hear that Tom.I'm "finally" finishing up all the early Mothers albums, including albums released after they broke up, I was kinda starting to lose my mind.This is what I've listened to so far since Tuesday:Beat The Boots III (disc 3) - World's Greatest Sinner (1961)CucamongaJoe's XMASageSteve Allen Show1963/05/19 Mount St. Mary's College - Los Angeles, CAJoe's CorsageMystery DiscFreak Out! (MOFO)MOFOAbsolutely FreeLumpy Money (Lumpy Gravy original mix)Lumpy GravyWe're Only In It For the MoneyLumpy MoneyCruising with Ruben and the Jets (Greasy Love Songs)MothermaniaFreak Out! (RYKO)Uncle MeatBurnt Weeny SandwichWeasels Ripped My FleshAhead Of Their TimeYou Can't Do That On Stage Anymore Vol. 5 (disc 1)Road Tapes Vol. 1Electric Aunt Jemima1969/07/08 The Ark, BostonWeasels Ripped My Flesh (RYKO) Damn. How's some of that early stuff...Like World's Greatest Sinner for example? It's good if you like his orchestral music. It's a little more symphonic than you would normally hear in this kind of piece, but it's cool. It has familiar themes that pop up, like the Burnt Weeny Sandwich theme. The '63 show is closer to his later classical works, with Frank talking a lot in between each performance, and there's a funny Q&A session after the show. An obvious omission is The Lost Episodes, but it belongs at the end because it has synclavier on it, and is mixed with later 70s stuff too, and put together in the 90s, so it's like an epilogue after CPIII.But I gotta say, doing all those early albums in a row is something else. It's like a whole universe of music in and of itself. I'm glad I made it all the way through, and now I'm up to the Hot Rats era.

Interesting! I'll look into it further.

And I don't think I could undertake the mass marathon that you are.