Who IS Frank Zappa

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).

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

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!

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

Wait, what? 

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

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.

XMASage and Corsage both worth getting. I like listening to those early era albums for their 'quiet' ambiance, mixed with the rhythm&blues and doo-wop, which I find humorous. Mystery Disc is like that too, as well as some of MOFO and the first half of The Lost Episodes.

darkshade wrote: Anyone ever seen this? http://images.wikia.com/4chanmusic/images/4/4a/Frank_zappa_flowchart_2.png It's a flow chart of how to get into FZ. Personally, I'd connect Wazoo with the jazz, as a lot of his fusion stuff had classical bits too. It needs to be updated, but it serves its purpose. I almost wish I had one of these when I first got into Zappa.

Not bad.  Interesting that they picked Apostrophe as the catch-all to start with.  I wonder if that's where most people start out.

That's a cool idea for an artist that certainly needs it. All my favorite artists certainly wouldn't need it. 

Continuing on. Doing the chronological marathon really lets you see (hear) Zappa's music open up from the late 60s Mothers, to the jazz and funk of 73/74. It's interesting to note how much he was working on Farther Oblivion (which would eventually split off and become Greggary Peccary, Be-bop Tango, and other pieces) and how he mixed in sections for improv, or changed where they happened and who took a solo. The earliest themes appear in the 60s, and more themes start taking shape in The Grand Wazoo on "For Calvin", and by the time the big band toured (Wazoo), Frank had put together this epic monster of a piece, at the time was over a half hour long. Through the Petite Wazoo tour, and the 73 tour with Jeal-Luc Ponty, the piece further evolved, and I'm guessing FZ chopped up the music again before the Roxy tour, as Be-Bop Tango became its own piece, but the themes that would be on Greggary Peccary were still being developed, and it doesn't seem like the piece was is on any more albums chronologically until Lather/Studio Tan. I must have listened to Farther Oblivion 5 times in the past week. It's such a complex piece (whether as Farther Oblivion, GP, or Be-Bop Tango), that I'm still digesting it. I like what it eventually became (mostly Bebop Tango and Greggary Peccary), but I enjoy the early versions that have much more improv in them.


Edited by darkshade - December 17 2013 at 08:41