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Frank Zappa on CD (and LP), Part I-III Part 3, Page 1

ZAPPALANCHE! (Frank Zappa, Part III)
Stereophile Vol.12 No.1, January 1989

You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore, Vol.1 Ryko RCD 10081, 10082 (2 CDs only). ADD, DDD. TT: 137:39

You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore, Vol.2: The Helsinki Concert Ryko RCD 10083, 10084 (2 CDs). ADD. TT: 116:58 Barking Pumpkin D1 74217 (3 LPs). ADA. TT: 106:06

You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore, Sampler Barking Pumpkin D1 74213 (2 LPs only). ADA, DDA. TT: 81:40

Guitar Ryko RCD 10079, 10080 (2 CDs). ADD, DDD. TT: 132:20 Barking Pumpkin D1 74212 (2 LPs). ADA, DDA. TT: 80:58

Does…

Frank Zappa on CD (and LP), Part I-III Page 2

The next 21 minutes replicate side 2, and then some, of Roxy & Elsewhere, but at speeds almost double those of Roxy---and those were hardly slow. Schizoid tempo changes and Brock's frenzied sax breaks pervade "Village of the Sun," "Echidna's Arf (Of You)," "Pygmy Twylyte," and "Don't You Ever Wash That Thing?" FZ solos with riveting dramatics on the last, against nightmarishly difficult percussion and bass parts. "Twylyte," taken at half speed, has one of the most lyrical, unironically guitar-slinger FZ solos on record, owing much, alternately, to Hendrix and Clapton. "Room Service," a…

Frank Zappa on CD (and LP), Part I-III Page 3

Side 2 is devoted to a "Republican Medley" which takes on a Democrat or two as well. "Dickie's Such An Asshole," a 1973 tune resurrected from Watergate days, laments the missing Watergate Tapes (remember that 18-Minute Gap? Ah, the easy villains of yesteryear...) and the gummint's creeping invasions of privacy that continue to this day. "When the Lie's So Big" can even pass as poetry ("They got lies so big they don't make a noise") if you don't listen too hard, and equates, by implication, Republicans with Nazis---hardly a novel conceit. "Rhymin' Man" is a delicious lambasting, Johnny Cash…

Frank Zappa on CD (and LP), Part I-III The Old Masters, Page 1

The Old Masters
Stereophile Vol.12 No.6, June 1989

The Old Masters, Box One Includes Freak Out!,* Absolutely Free,* Lumpy Gravy, We're Only In It for the Money, Cruising With Ruben and the Jets, Mystery Disk I. Barking Pumpkin 77777 (7 LPs). ADA.

The Old Masters, Box Two Includes Uncle Meat, Hot Rats, Burnt Weeny Sandwich, Weasels Ripped My Flesh, Chunga's Revenge, Fillmore East---June 1971, Just Another Band from L.A., Mystery Disk II. Barking Pumpkin 88888 (9 LPs). ADA.

The Old Masters, Box Three Includes Waka/Jawaka, The Grand Wazoo, Overnite Sensation, Apostrophe…

Frank Zappa on CD (and LP), Part I-III Page 2

Considering the antediluvian source material, the sound is much better than it has any right to be, and FZ's notes to the 1963(?) "Charva" are interesting: "FZ, vocals, piano, bass & drums. Studio Z [Zappa's Cucamonga storefront studio] had the world's only staggered 5 track recorder (designed by Paul Buff). While the big guys were wondering whether stereo was going to catch on, we were doing massive overdubs."

The Old Masters, Box Two Uncle Meat (XI-5): The OM LP has greater ambience, artificial or not---you can hear the recording booth, or whatever, in "Voice of Cheese." On the same…

Frank Zappa on CD (and LP), Part I-III Page 3

Mystery Disk II: Side 1 is from the Festival Hall Show, London, 1968, with a rather well-recorded chamber orchestra. This is more 200 Motels music in yet another---and in some ways the cleanest---incarnation, three years before the film's release. In and around the sometimes sophisticated (often not) atonalities are thrown chunks of a loose skit about certain Mothers quitting the group to play "disciplined" music. Stirring, naturalistic lines like "We must overthrow the diatonic system!" abound; late-'60s cultural agitprop at its least subtle. But the whole side is fresh, fun, stimulating,…

Frank Zappa on CD (and LP), Part I-III Page 4

Bongo Fury: A roadhouse blues album infused with the spirits of William S. Burroughs and Howling Wolf, this (mostly) live-in-Austin 1975 album features Captain Beefheart on vocals, harp, and shopping bags. Probably the funkiest LP FZ ever made, Bongo Fury is the "road album" Chunga tried---and failed---to be.

Beefheart makes much of the difference. The unassailable authority of his voice and harp lend a dark, bitter sincerity generally lacking in Zappa's work. Also, the Beefheart pieces---"Sam With the Showing Scalp Flat Top" and "Man With the Woman Head"---are two of his better psychoto-…

Frank Zappa on CD (and LP), Part I-III The Present Day Composer . . .

Frank Zappa: The Present-Day Composer Refuses to Die!

Stereophile Vol.18 No.9, September 1995, reprinted in Schwann Spectrum Vol.6 No.4

Only in the few years immediately preceding and following his death did Frank Zappa even begin to receive general acknowledgement for his uniquely provocative and prolific life's work, and for how much the moral integrity of his acerbic voice had elevated the level of public discourse---whether in his many recordings, in his many interviews, or, a frequent victim of censorship himself, as an articulate arch-foe of censorship in Tipper Gore's…

Frank Zappa on CD (and LP), Part I-III Page 2

We're Only In It for the Money:
When FZ had originally attempted to remaster Money for its first CD issue, the bass and drum master tracks had deteriorated so badly as to be unusable. FZ replaced the mid-'60s rhythm section of Roy Estrada and Jimmy Carl Black with the mid-'80s, post-Jaco Pastorius stylings of Arthur Barrow and Chad Wackerman, and liked the result so much that he also replaced the perfectly usable rhythm tracks of Cruising with Ruben and the Jets. This tampering with an old master---even by The Old Master himself---was greeted by the faithful with imperfect zeal, not least…

Frank Zappa on CD (and LP), Part I-III The Yellow Shark

Recording of the Month:
Zappa: The Yellow Shark
Stereophile Vol.17 No.2, February 1994

Ensemble Modern; Peter Rundel, Frank Zappa, conductors
Barking Pumpkin R2 71600 (CD only). Frank Zappa, prod.; Spencer Chrislu, Harry Andronis, Dave Dondorf, engs.; Todd Yvega, Synclavier asst. DDD. TT: 72:00

This live recording was culled from seven September 1992 concerts given in Vienna, Berlin, and Frankfurt by the Ensemble Modern, a Frankfurt-based chamber orchestra that performs only contemporary music. Unlike most other performances of Zappa's music by conservatory (ie, "…