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…
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…
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, "…
SIDEBAR 1: The Whole Zappa Catalog on Rykodisc CDs (...and one LP) Freak Out!
RCD 10501. AAD. TT: 60:29 *
Absolutely Free
RCD 10502. AAD. TT: 43:42 *
We're Only In It for the Money
RALP 10503 (LP), RCD 10503 (CD). AAA/AAD. TT: 39:17**
Lumpy Gravy
RCD 10504. AAD. TT: 31:42 **
Cruising with Ruben and the Jets
RCD 10505. ADD. TT: 41:23 *
Uncle Meat
RCD 10506/07 (2 CDs). ADD. TT: 2:00:42 *
Hot Rats
RCD 10508. ADD. TT: 47:12 *
Burnt Weeny Sandwich
RCD 10509. ADD. TT: 41:11 *
Weasels Ripped My Flesh…
SIDEBAR: FRANK ZAPPA: 1940-1993 From Stereophile Vol.17 No.2, Februry 1994
Frank Zappa was a unique figure in the worlds of American popular music, international contemporary music, pop culture, politics, civil libertarianism, and, toward the end of his life, international politics and business as well. When he died of prostate cancer on December 4, 1993, at the age of 52, he was mourned not only by musicians and fans, but by such luminaries as NPR's Daniel Schorr and the President of the Czech Republic, Vaclav Havel, who remembered him as "one of the gods of the Czech underground…
AVALON BLUES: A Tribute to the Music of Mississippi John Hurt
Dave Alvin, Beck, Peter Case, Bruce Cockburn, Justin Earle, Steve Earle, Richard Greene, Ben Harper, Alvin Youngblood Hart, John Hiatt, Taj Mahal, Bill Morrissey, Clare Muldaur, Geoff Muldaur, Jenni Muldaur, David Rawlings, Mark Selby, Chris Smither, Gillian Welch, Lucinda Williams, Victoria Williams
Vanguard 79582-2 (CD). 2001. Peter Case, prod.; Francisco Lugo, Dawn Hopkins, Ray Kennedy, Mark Raines, Mark Wilkins, Jeff Landrock, Matt Andrews, David Rawlings, engs. AAD.? TT: 51:29
Performance ****
Sonics ***?…
I've spent six-odd years in a sort of hi-fi counterculture, playing with things like mono cartridges, one-box CD players, and cheap, homemade cables—and, of course, owning and listening to single-ended triode (SET) amplifiers and horn loudspeakers. But before all that, I owned components that, while more mainstream, did the job just as well in certain ways. That category included solid-state electronics (Naim, BEL, Spectral), dynamic loudspeakers of middling efficiency (ProAc, Epos, Magneplanar), electrostatic loudspeakers of very low efficiency (Stax), and even "high-end" accessories like…
A word or two about the Kontrol's user interface: As digital volume controls go, this is certainly the nicest and most "human" I've used by far, being smooth, quick, and adjustable—via more programming—in terms of both increment size and the units by which those increments are expressed on the readout. And the balance control is nothing short of superb: Because my ears are not identical in sensitivity, I consider a balance control a necessity—or at least I would, but for the fact that most balance schemes place an additional potentiometer in the signal path. Not so the Klimax Kontrol, which…
Listening
In addition to the Quad ESL-989s, I tried the Linn Klimax Kontrol and Klimax Twin with Spendor's brand-new S3/5se loudspeakers (review to come in July) and my own Lowther/Medallion horns—the latter fitted with PM6A silver drivers, which are the least sensitive of the Lowthers I own. In every case, the sound of the Linn combination had one important thing in common with the sound of the Quads: They were incredibly detailed without being the least bit bright or aggressive. Textures, inflections, nuances, and even nonmusical sounds were offered up clearly and organically—but…
The Klimaxes departed from the ideal in small ways only. First, while the combination didn't sound like a solid-state amp in the pejorative sense—by which I mean, it didn't sound gritty or glassy or overly bright or musically constipated—neither did it sound like a tube preamp and amp, per se. And, in particular, the Linn Klimaxes did not sound like a SET. My idea of a good SET is something that does the notes'n'beats thing, at least through the midrange if not the bottom octaves, but that also sounds richly colorful (perhaps, I admit, even more colorful than the original); that floats…
