Hope you guys had an awesome weekend! Starting this week off with some Frank Zappa!! A total journey, what’s the next track we gotta check out by him?! Let us know!! Cheers!! 🤟🏻🔥
Zappa not really my thing. Just heard it for the first time with you guys. B tier at best for me. Way, too abstract. Must be listenable. That's all I ask. . I will definitely check out more with you, but don't have a clue what to recommend, later Gents.
Zappa was a composer first, and a rock musician 2nd. But he was a thousand other things as well. His musical path went something like this: - Played drums and percussion as a kid - Grew up listening to R&B, doo wop, and avant garde 20th Century classical music - In his teens started writing modern classical music and playing guitar - In his early 20s he started running a small recording studio and turned the rock/blues band he was a member of into The Mothers Of Invention, which became an important part of the LA 'freak scene' of the late 1960s, made a bunch of records and toured the US and Europe, and basically became somewhat fringe rock stars - Simultaneously did a few albums' worth of his more 'compositional,' less rock-oriented stuff - After several iterations of the Mothers, a few unfortunate incidents forced him to stop touring temporarily, so he basically broke up his band (again) and put his energy into composing for different kinds of ensembles, with more of a Jazz influence (early 1970s). Made a lot more records. ***** THIS IS WHERE THE SONG YOU JUST HEARD OCCURED ***** - Went on to have multiple different iterations of his touring band, made a shitload of albums, pioneered all kinds of studio techniques, and continued to write his more 'serious' music and trying to get it played and recorded. Zappa was always composing. He didn't drink or do drugs. His obsessions were composing, cigarettes, and sex. - He had a tough time being accepted by the 'serious music' community because his rock-oriented stuff was seen by some as vulgar, offensive, and full of low-brow humor (swearing, songs that talk about banging groupies and getting STDs, making fun of absolutely every cross section of society, etc.) He gave no fucks. He would joyfully mix dense orchestral music with dick jokes. Constant snark and social commentary. - Was a staunch public advocate of free speech and fought against government efforts in the 1980s to censor albums - Died of prostate cancer at the age of 52. - Released 62 albums in his lifetime, 53 posthumous albums (so far), and left enormous vaults full of his music and other creative work that is still yet to be released - Left an enormous impact on the worlds of rock, classical music, Jazz, and more This really just scratches the surface of Frank's contributions to the world. He did so much in his life that it would take a listener several lifetimes to experience it all. He was a genius of the highest order.
bjc2 Excellent description! The other interesting angle to Frank Zappa was that he only needed to earn enough money, in order to finance his next self-produced / recorded project or tour.
"Jazz isn't dead, It just smells funny"- Frank Zappa... This is very advanced listening boys... Glad you survived!!😂 It'll get easier the more you listen to him. And yes, he wrote & composed for every instrument you hear in any of his songs...
He composed to his specific players who were in his band at the time of the composition to utilize each performers skill set to the maximum. The keyboard solo was done and created by George Duke. Similarly a percent of the vocal riffing is thanks to George & Napoleon Murphy Brock. He also used and worked the best out of his band and they were already great musicians.
For any Zappa newbs: A FANTASTIC place to start is the extremely entertaining "Classic Albums" documentary on the 'Apostrophe/ Overnite Sensation' albums. It's just loaded with great info, background history on FZ & the Mothers, and a ton of great commentary & musical analysis coming out of everyone from son Dweezil to Billy Bob Thornton to Alice Cooper, not to mention Steve Vai and a bunch of other Zappa musical alumni. It's on Prime, Tubi and probably a few other channels right now, and is easily found on DVD. CHECK IT OUT. vintagerock.com/frank-zappa-classic-albums-over-nite-sensation-apostrophe-dvd-review/
@@Tangento Yep, overnight sensation is what got me hooked. But also Dub Room Special, it has the best version of Inca Roads IMHO -- the best guitar solo that ever lived.
Zappa was always weird. I love Brown Shoes don't make it from the first Mothers of Invention album. He put out at least an album a year. Some totally famous musicians cycled through his band. Occasionally he would hit a pop nerve and have a hit. Valley girl was him making fun of his daughter and her friend's speech habits.
Frank Zappa, a musicians musician. He brought comedy and eclectic style to his listeners. Class by himself. Probably not the best song for his introduction. Don't Give Up on Him. Awesome.
Zappa was a workaholic who never did drugs. His music was so complex it demanded the absolute best musicians to perform it. Before touring they would rehearse for months to get every note down solid. Any musician who played with him had to be great or he wouldn't get hired. If you played with Zappa it was like saying you went to Harvard or Stanford. The school of Zappa was very respected.
I could say a lot. My initial thoughts are 1) you guys did a really admirable job listening to, and appreciating Inca Roads. Very thoughtful and intelligent comments. 2) I'm so happy you've discovered Frank Zappa because his music will affect you two deeply. There's no one like him or his music save for the Mahavishnu Orchestra and his 1972-74 line-up.
Ive been lurking in this channel waiting for this to happen and now you’ve got a new subscriber. Your reaction and breakdown is very well said and you both are exactly correct - Frank Zappa takes work to truly appreciate, but once you get there it’s well worth the effort. He’s my favorite of all time if you can’t tell, so I’m hoping this leads to more because FZ reactions are the best! Well done again, and thank you!
Also agree, except that i don't think it necessarily takes work to appreciate... it might sometimes take multiple listens, due to the many complexities Zappa delighted in... But mostly it just takes unplugging yourself from the expectation of conventional musical formulas, just letting yourself go with it and enjoying the ride
the first step in the Zappa's world ?... so, you must hear : "COSMIK DEBRIES", whit the most fabulous guitar solo of rock music...trust me, you'll can be my little soon...
First I saw Frank was in '74. They performed this song and a few from Roxy. Incredible concert. Keep in mind that when Frank plays a solo it will be different every time. Again saw 5 shows in one week. LA, Santa Barbara, Berkeley, Sacramento and Reno. They played this song every show. Franks solos were ALL different. That's the genius with Frank. Frank is the ultimate Go To composer and musician.
Zappa was a rare music genius. That word gets thrown around a lot, but he was the real deal. Oh, yeah, and also a sick guitar player. That said, this song is definitely schizophrenia set to music! Nice job boys.🤘
Indeed! This was a lot for them to tackle. I give them prop for giving Zappa a shot, since there have been a lot of requests. Great evening to ya, Doug! :)
Nice to see some younger people listening to and appreciating Franks music. His catalog is vast & includes music of all types. Please continue your journey into his music, it is virtually endless and as diverse as you can imagine.
Zappa is not for everyone. His music challenges you, which is a good thing. And even within Zappa fandom, there are those who like some eras more than others. For me, his early stuff with The Mothers of Invention is almost always good, whereas his late 70s/early 80s "humorous" period is fairly spotty. That said, his 1979 epic Joes Garage (Parts I - III) is great. And the 80s Synclavier and orchestral stuff is music I have absolutely NO use for. And yes he was VERY prolific.
I too hate the synclavier, but it's the instrument that ruins it for me. When the Ensemble Modern tackled some of those pieces live on The Yellow Shark, they were amazing. Check out their version of G Spot Tornado.
True, I hate that humorous garbage. 70's stuff still rules: Overnite Sensation, Apostrophe. But Joe's Garage would be his best if he left out the central scrutinizer....sigh.
The more accessable Zappa albums are "Overnite Sensation' "Apostrophe" "Hot Rats" "Sheik Yet Bootie" Zoot Allures" they have more of a "Rock" feel and shorter, tighter compositions.
"Sheik Yerbuti". The cover is an image of his head in an Arab head wrap. (Pronounces like "Shake Your Booty" ...if you watched the TV show Preacher, that album cover was in the background as an easter egg in the final season's Holy Bar and Grail).
"San Ber'dino" is definitely a better song on that album to start off with... although my favorite from that album is "Evelyn, a Modified Dog", followed by "Pojama People".
This is one of my favourite Zappa albums, been listening to it for over 40 years, have most of Zappa's record catologue on vinyl and also cd and was fortunate enough to see him live in the 1980's. Still miss him greatly, RIP Frank.
The first time I heard this song, it was like listening to nothing at all. I didn't get it. The second time, nothing. So I quit. Then I saw it live and thought "Wait, this is interesting." I slowly began to understand it and it got better and better with every listen. Then I became obsessed with it. 15 years later, it's my favorite song of all time without any shadow of a doubt. It takes time to understand why this is the most beautiful song ever written.
Looks like no one else has recommended Peaches en Regalia so I will - one of the more accessible Zappa instrumental works. Also, as young musos, you will relate to Joe's Garage.
Agree on Peaches. Jumping straight into Inca Roads (while being outstanding) right off the bat doesn't give newbies a proper representation of what Zappa was about. Basically, after being a Zappa (and Beefheart) fan since the 60's, if it ain't got xylophone, it just doesn't cut it.
The drummer, Chester Thompson, later played live concerts with Genesis after Peter Gabriel left and Phil Collins took over led vocals. They picked Chester for a reason.
The list of Zappa drummers is the who's who of drumming. A few of the drummers got together and have a RUclips reminiscing session. Bozzio, Wackerman, Coliauta, Ruth underwood (percussion) and Ralph Humphries are a few. Please check out Mike Keneally. Mike was the last lead guitarist and has unimaginable talent. You will be blown away. He not only plays guitar at the Zappa/Vai level but transcribed and played Vai's music to Piano for an entire album of tunes.
"Watermelon in Easter Hay" "Packard Goose" "Cosmic Debris" "Uncle Remus" And about 200 other songs. Zappa was a master. If you like his stuff, give Tipographica a spin.
Everyone's recommending all the jazz skronk! Listen to some of his funny songs! His first LP with The Mothers Of Invention, Freak Out, has some hilarious stuff as well as some trenchant social commentary about the Watts race uprising of 1965. He does a fake bubblegum AM radio song, "Wowie Zowie," it's hilarious!
Cosmic Debris, great accessible FZ tune. For these 2, I think they’d love Valley Girl. Dinah Moe Hum is awesome, both lyrically and musically. Peachez en Regalia for instrumental.
Genius. I love "Black Napkins" off the Zoot Allures album. Think of it this way. When they played that song again, it was exactly the same. Intentional cacophony.
Brilliant lyrics for yellow snow. "Dreamed I was an eskimo Frozen wind began to blow Under my boots and around my toes The frost that bit the ground below It was a hundred degrees below zero... And my mama cried And my mama cried Nanook, a-no-no Nanook, a-no-no Don't be a naughty eskimo Save your money, don't go to the show Well I turned around and I said oh, oh oh Well I turned around and I said oh, oh oh Well I turned around and I said ho, ho And the northern lights commenced to glow And she said, with a tear in her eye Watch out where the huskies go, And don't you eat that yellow snow Watch out where the huskies go, And don't you eat that yellow snow".
His composition "The Black Page" intimidated the Hell out of his Band, with it's multiple time signature changes, simultaneous different time signatures and Dense notes that almost Blacked Out the Sheet Music!
Not for the drummers or bass. This is Chester Thompson on drums, and he came up with his own drumming, which was phenomenal. That's why Zappa liked him so much.
Oh, man. This is gonna be priceless... That being said, maybe you guys should try some of his more audience-friendly material, like "Joe's Garage", "My Guitar Wants to Kill Your Mama," or "Trouble Everyday."
Zappa is Yoko Ono combined with Weird Al Yankovic. Flinging notes on a page randomly and adding goofy lyrics is genius. If Zappa is art, so is the gum on my shoe.
remember he spoke in 1985 for the pmrc against record labeling🚩Zappa is movie maker as Well--- 200 motels🚩🚩 aynsley Dunbar is the drummer... Lots of session musicians very Theatrical
Those PMRC hearings sure were intense. My hero was John Denver. When he testified, everyone was on eggshells. Wholesome guy, music suitable for children, etc. When he testified that he wasn't down for the censorship of any music I almost cheered
This is one of my top Zappa records... along with Apostrophe, Weazels Ripped My Flesh, Joes Garage and so on ;-) George Duke - keys and vocals R.I.P Ruth Underwood - vibraphone and... I love Snarky Puppy
My favorite college memory of Frank Zappa. Every night at 10pm on our floor of the dorm we played Titties and Beer, LOUD, it became a tradition. To this day I remember every word, the Live From New York version.
I went to a couple of his clinics in LA many years ago. Really nice guy who liked to teach high school students. His band mates were great as well and spent time teaching us how to break down sophisticated compositions. The Black Page! Miss him!
I'm fifty… something, and I love watching you guys discover the music I grew up on. Believe it or not, you both remind me of my brothers, one has short neat hair and the other has lovely flowing locks :) still to this day lol.
Frank Zappa had a procedure for attaining his bands. Every June, Frank held open auditions. After auditions, Frank would choose the members he wanted. Then Frank would rehearse his band for the road. Rehearsals would usually be 3-4 months, 6-7 days a week, 8+ hours a day. At the end of rehearsals, his band would have 6-8 hours of music memorized to play in whatever order Frank wanted (the order of music would change every performance). In additions to this, Frank would continually compose on the road, adding new music to the performances continually. In addition to this, Frank would some 2-3 dozen hand signals that would tell the band to play preset sequence (like Louie, Louie) when ever Frank wanted. After his tour, Frank would then get to work producing albums. He would listen to the concert tapes, and edit together what Frank thought was the best parts of the concerts. Frank called this his "master reel". He would then bring in his musicians to overdub new parts over the concert performances. He would then put on finishing production touches, and the album was ready for release. What you listened to with Inca Roads, was the end of that process. Needless to say, few composers ever worked harder on their music than Frank did. Oh yeah, Frank did the lead guitar work on this.
Hi Guys, I’ve been a Patreon for a couple of months now and am commenting for the first time. Jumping into Zappa with “Inca Roads”, well that is going into the deeper end of the pool, but not the deepest end, Anyway, there’s really no better place to start. I saw Zappa live in 1980, in Champaign Illinois for the “Joe’s Garage” tour. Best concert I have ever seen. I was a music major at the time in college. Frank Zappa chose the best musicians on the planet to be in his band over the years. Everything you heard on Inca Roads could be played by any of his touring bands, with every note recreated nearly the same. He composed his music, each instrument notated part by part and his band tryouts were notoriously difficult, asking potential members to play standard tunes in 7/8 timing, or in a reggae or country beat on the fly. When I saw Zappa live, his drummer was a guy just out of college named Vinnie Colaiuta (whom you may have heard of) and a guitar player on his first pro tour named Steve Vai (whom you may have heard of). It was the most amazing musical experience I have had and likely will ever have .
Alex From Andy And Alex - When you get a chance, check out this live version of Inca Roads from the mid 70's and I'm sure you will agree that they could pull this off live with aplomb. The drummer is Chester Thompson and vocals/keyboard/synthesizer George Duke, both musical legends on their own. Ruth Underwood is a master of percussuion, primarily on marimba here. And Napoleon Murphy Brock on vocals, sax and general entertainment. Tell me what group could pull this off live today!
FZ is the rabbit hole to end all rabbit holes. Prolific? Huge understatement. Zappa was a composer more than a "rock star" - he approached everything with an infinite amount of possibilities. Look for a recording of "The Black Page" - so called because of the sheer number of notes on the sheet music! A favorite of mine is "G-Spot Tornado" from his Yellow Shark album (more so than the version on Jazz From Hell). His son, Dweezil, has been touring the last several years keeping Frank's music alive, and if you get the chance, definitely go see them!
Props for jumping into the deep end of the pool. I listen to all kinds of stuff, but even I don't "get" Frank Zappa. I'll stipulate to the genius, but he's not an easy listen. The Thomas Pynchon of musicians.
In the same way nobody has ever finished a Pynchon book (or if they say they did, they're lying) , nobody has ever sat down and listened to a Zappa album all the way through.
George Duke on that hot electric piano solo. Frank opened George's eyes up to playing different styles of music, and George contributed greatly to Frank's music with his amazing proficiency that came out of formal training.
The song right after this (you need to read the lyrics) is " cant afford no shoes". Searing. Did he play guitar? YES!. And his voice is on his songs. This whole album is good among others. Overnight sensation. Zoot allures.
This wouldn’t be for me personally. I struggle with modern jazz too. But what I do like is that I got to hear something new, if it wasn’t something I liked.
Zappa played so many different styles of music, rock, blues, jazz, Avant Garde, doo-wop, disco, soul. If you found this difficult try "Doreen", it's the best doo -wop song you'll ever hear. Listen to things like "Camarillo Brillio", "Dirty Love". I promise you'll like his less jazzier songs. Once you get used to those you'll gradually be drawn into his more difficult stuff.
That's what I was thinking. I'm not into this in the least, as I, too, am not a fan of modern jazz, but I would have never have given it a listen if it weren't for A&A.
I had not heard this one before. I had not heard anything of Zappa's that wasn't radio playable. But I did like the jazz in this a lot. I am also inspired by the new jazz Alex talked about. Maybe you can do a video sometime sharing who you listen to with us. Since we are all in the living room sharing our love of music!
Zappas "Hot Rats" superlative. "We're Only In It For The Money" the era exposed and my favorite. "Watermelon On Easter Hay" if it doesn't rip your heart out, stuff it back down your throat and make you digest it, you ain't got one.
Inca Roads is a lot to digest if you are just getting introduced to Zappa. Try some of his early stuff with the Mothers of Invention to gain his early, anti-establishment, rebel attitude. The musicianship bar was just as high back then, too.
@@ab7rs Sub-Par?? Frank composed some of the most intricate, complicated music ever put on wax with various forms of phrasing and odd time signatures. He was inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995. Earned a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1997. His song "We're Only in it For the Money" was chosen for preservation in the National Recording Registry in 2005. He is ranked #22 by Rolling Stone Magazine as the 100 greatest guitarists of All Time. He is quoted as having a direct influence musically on: Paul McCartney Jimi Hendrix Jeff Buckley Trey Anastasio Alice Cooper Steve Vai Warren DeMartini And about 100 more.... You don't get these accolades and recognitions by being sub-par. Frank's music isn't for everyone... You either get it or you don't, there is no in-between however, the only thing sub-par is your comment.
Inca Roads is a great track from a fantastic album, he can play like Stravinsky or Black Sabbath, he introduced to the world George Duke (keyboards) and later on Stevie Vai (guitar) . I love Zappa, I have almost everything he's done, I also understand the diversity of enjoyment of Zappa's work, you like it, you don't, you get confused, you're in awe. Zappa has a massive catalogue of music, but I got to say you started a monster with this track.
Very impressive that you guys have chosen to take this on. Along with Peaches... one of my favorite compositions. I love, love, love Frank's composing for Ruth Underwood on Xylophone. The music is designed to be other-worldly, transcendental, and this one does not disappoint. Music demanding all of one's attention, high quality head phones, music appreciation. I spent many hours during college afternoons, entranced. A&A, another righteous post.
I don't know if you've heard Thing-Fish yet, it is an album that was written as a Broadway play and the singer Ike Willis vocally imitates a character called Kingfisher from the old show Amos and Andy. It's masterful work by the singer but some of the songs are not listenable while other songs are incredible. One of my favorite albums along with Broadway the Hard Way.
Hi guys. It was hillarious to see your reaction😂 Zappa is an aquired taste for sure. He has such a vast catalogue (about 50 albums) and most of them are totally different, but you can recognize his style and recurring elements. Frank Zappa plays guitar (also in this song) and was famous for his long imaginative and technical challenging guitar solos. He also sang a lot of his tunes. Here George Duke sang and played the keyboards. On drumsyou have Chester Thompson who later joined Genesis for all of their live shows from 1977 to 1992 and 2007. Zappa is in my opinion one of the greatest guitarist who ever walked the earth and he also wrote a huge amount of awesome music, that is still relevant today and still keeps influencing new generations of musicians.
It's a fine line between insanity and genius. Imagine being in this band and having to read these charts!! If you dig his jazz influences you NEED to hear The Grand Wazoo. BTW, Andy, sometimes cheesy is exactly the right word. Zappa is famous for injecting deliberate cheesiness to keep from taking himself too seriously.
there's this song where Zappa's band is doing really great and suddenly Zappa says, "Ketchup as a vegetable!" and one of the singers groans "aarrrrrrrggh" cuz Zappa seemingly killed the vibe on purpose, but the song continued well, I forget the name of the song.
Piranther The song is called” when the lie is so big” And the reference to catchup being the vegetable is when members of the Reagan administration declared that the catchup on the school lunch was the vegetable. Frank was a social satirist in the vein of Jonathan Swift and if you don’t know what was happening topically at the time each song was written you miss out on a lot of the jokes. If you don’t know who Pat Robertson, Tammy Faye and Jim Bakker and Jerry Falwell Are Then the song “Jesus thinks you’re a jerk” is not going to be nearly as funny
@@philcross8561 haha that's sad and funny at the same time, I do know the background on pretty much all the jokes on that album, but I didn't know that school lunch one. I had to look up confinement loaf years ago though.
One of you said that you have to work at listening to “it”. I have listened to not that cut, but that album a hundred or two times. Listening to his music changes how you listen to music. It is not easy listening or background music. That never made it on any radio station & it was Frank on the guitar. There are a few of his songs that people gravitate to & think they are funny like “Valley Girls”, Don’t eat that yellow snow, etc. That just tells you that they haven’t listened to Frank & know nothing of his work.
Frank Zappa wasn't just "Outside the Box" I don't think Zappa even knew where the Box was located. He was FAR ahead of his time , but a remarkable musician and guitarist. If you want to hear some great funny stuff by him try the Album called "Joes Garage" and the track of the same name..and also a song called " Billy was a mountain and Ethel was a tree sitting on his shoulder" NOT KIDDING that's the name of the song. I think WIKKI can describe him better than I can , QUOTE" Frank Vincent Zappa was an American multi-instrumentalist musician, composer, and bandleader. His work is characterized by nonconformity, free-form improvisation, sound experiments, musical virtuosity, and satire of American culture. I just remember that his music and performances used to freak us out , scare us musically , and entertain us all at the same time .By the way He sang and played virtuoso guitar with his band. His style is still to this day used in The School of Rock , as teaching material , and a measure to strive for .Something additional I just remembered . Just to let you know where is mind was, he had a daughter named "Moon Unit Zappa" and his son named Dweezil Zappa. His son is a fantastic guitarist , and working musician too.
Zappa? Oh boy. You guys have just opened Pandora's Box. There is SOO MUCH good stuff to hear and SO MUCH fluff. You have to pick carefully with Zappa, but always, his guitar work is outstanding. EASILY one of the best guitar players EVER in rock and jazz. I would suggest "I am the Slime" as the next song but you will probably get a MILLION different people requesting a MILLION different songs of his. Stick with his 70's stuff for now though. It's mostly FIRE!
Oh my god, when you guys toast, when the guitar solo hits.....all of us know that moment....so to see you guys react to it naturally......that's really special. Gotta check out more of your channel. I love your guys "post-show" discussion. Watching this just now, I can You guys would have fit right in and had yourselves a blast during ANY era of rock and roll. Just to let you know! You're definitely in the lineage. Thanks for the video!
It's a well-known fact, in the musical community that, pretty much, EVERY great musician of the past 50 or 60 years, either: spent time in Zappa's band, played with him or recorded with him, at some point. He inspired more musicians and inspired more insane projects and bands and collaborations than anyone else I can think of, off-the-top-of-my-head!!!!! Frank Zappa started breaking new ground in the '60s with a band called The Mothers Of Invention ...this, later, led to Frank Zappa's "solo" career (although any number of the original"Mothers" continued to, either, play with him or return to the fold, over the decades). Another commonly-known (but obviously NOT by you guys -yet!) thing re: Zappa was that one of his main inspirations were the compositions of Edgar Varèse. Zappa did "everything" and anything. His musicianship and the level of musicianship he surrounded himself with was unparalleled. He was serious composer and wanted to be heard and understood that way from, essentially, the very beginning ...but he realized that: at the point in time that he appeared, without the "ears" that popular-genre/"rock"/etc. music would place "upon" his compositions, he would never achieve the level of notoriety or, even, notice which was necessary for him to accomplish what he wanted. In a way, Zappa always hated "rock" music and, even "jazz fusion" ...however: he is considered an innovator and master in both genres (and multiple sub-genres, thereof), simply due to his masterful ear and abilities. Zappa, also, had a very ...puerile/"childish" sense of humour (which, ofttimes, actually, worked very well, in his stuff - because, while it was ...immature ...juvenile ...it was, never, unintelligent. He often used it, in fact, to mock those with lesser intelligence or wherewithal than he and his compatriots - painting their daftness and ineptitude in the manner in which it operated and appeared ...but allowing his characters to "take themselves seriously" (which demonstrated their idiocy and ineptitude). Zappa, however, was well-known for -while never partaking in such things, himself, encouraging even DEMANDING!) that his band members take part in ridiculous, puerile and overbearingly lascivious and/or "stupid" sexual activities and games, and, then, come relate the stories to him, directly. It was an odd mixture of: intelligence and immaturity (almost intentional - one has to assume it was!). ...so: there are multiple layers to the weirdness and some of them are ...NOT, really, that "intelligent" ...However: they led to some great songs and to things which would attract a less informed or nuanced audience, as well 9who, often, would not understand that THEY, themselves, were the ones being discussed, mocked, etc. in Zappa's lyrics!). Zappa's music spans all genres and attitudes. It, MAINLY, DID attract: other musicians, prog.-heads jazz-fusion aficionados and "outsider"/"underground" sorts. ...but he had cult hits, as well. I, definitely blame Zappa for the entire country becoming familiar with what an '80s "valley girl" (from CA.'s San Fernando valley environs) was or what the stereotypical version was! [See his song: "Valley Girl" (with vocals by his own daughter: Moon Unit
Additionally: I think I should have noted that Frank Zappa was one of the people defending: music, musicians and people's intelligence in front of the P.M.R.C., in Wash. D.C., in the mid-late '80s. (Along with Dee Snider [Twisted Sister] & John Denver - if I'm not mistaken (There were others, but I'm relatively certain that only those 3 spoke before Congress! -The rest were written statements - But I would have to check to be 100% sure 👍).) He was incontrovertible and absolutely intelligent in his speaking. [Those P.M.R.C. hearings were what led to the "warning" stickers, re: lyrics, on albums, though. (In case you weren't aware of that.)]
I'm just one guy but... listen to the Joe's Garage suite straight through, Tinseltown Rebellion, Apostrophe, Studio Tan, Thing Fish (rock opera thing), Them or Us, and/or Billie The Mountain, Freak Out (mothers of invention era) . Then check out Zappa guitar oriented stuff. There's SOOOOOO much to discover
Steve Vai got one of his first breaks working with Zappa, there's a great interview with Vai about his audition you gotta see. Watermelon in Easter Hay should be next to showcase Frank's guitar mastery or maybe Muffin Man live, it's kickass.
He has some amazing guitar solos; "Black Napkins" and "Watermelon in Easter Hay". He was a crazy genius musician and a virtuoso on guitar. Songs like "My Guitar wants to kill your Mama" , "Don't Eat the Yellow Snow" and "Pengiun in Bondage" makes you wonder what the F he was smoking 😂.
Frank Composed all the Music, Wrote all the Lyrics. He conducted the band with his Pinky while he played Guitar. Only the Pinnacle Musicians played with Frank on Stage or in Studio. Frank's work is NOT Strictly Commercial (Which is a Title of one of his songs, Strictly Commercial) Frank can not be categorized by Music. Music was Categorized by Frank!
Zappa ran a tight ship with his musicians. At auditions he would ask, "What are you EXCELLENT at?" He wrote out everything... note for note... beat for beat. There is improvisation, but only at specific times when required. Otherwise, everyone was expected to be exactly on the same page, same measure, same beat. You can also explore a contemporary of his, arguably more "out there"... Captain Beefheart.
Try some of Zappa's more accessible work: Cosmik Debris, I'm the slime, Dirty Love, 50-50, Zombie Wolf.... basically anything from Apostrophe and/or Overnight Sensation.
I'd include 'One Size Fits All', ''Zoot Allures', Bongo Fury', and 'Roxy and Elsewhere' from that era of Zappa's career. He was at his best during that period of time. Extremely prolific and high quality of output.
Sheik Yerbouti is the album that introduced me to FZ (I was 13 when it was released). Though some of it went over my head at the time, songs like "Jewish Princess" "Dancing Fool" and "Broken Hearts are for Assholes" definitely caught my attention. Only later did I appreciate the rest. Seen him in 1984. This album might prove to be interesting to you two. Keep up the great work!!!
No one had ever made music like this before Frank, and nobody will ever make music like this in the future. Frank was influenced by various musical genres, but it always came out Frank Zappa music ..... He created his own musical genre, which is so creative and so complex, any other artist would be a fool to even try to touch it .... P.S. George Duke's incredible keyboard solo near the end of the song takes me to the outer regions of outer space every time I listen to it ....
@@jeffreynichols9684 All of the musicians you mention are extremely talented, and they do the Zappa legacy proud, but for me Frank was a true original, one of a kind, and, yes, a genius .....
Hope you guys had an awesome weekend! Starting this week off with some Frank Zappa!! A total journey, what’s the next track we gotta check out by him?! Let us know!! Cheers!! 🤟🏻🔥
I will not cease until you react to No One Together by Kansas.
Cosmic Debris. Don't Eat The Yellow Snow. Montana.
@@marksimpson1991 Cosmic Debris first! Yes!
For schitt's and giggles you should do valley girl. Like Oh my gawdd Totally😋😋😋🎶💓😁🍌🎸🎸You'll see
Zappa not really my thing. Just heard it for the first time with you guys. B tier at best for me. Way, too abstract. Must be listenable. That's all I ask. . I will definitely check out more with you, but don't have a clue what to recommend, later Gents.
Zappa was a composer first, and a rock musician 2nd. But he was a thousand other things as well.
His musical path went something like this:
- Played drums and percussion as a kid
- Grew up listening to R&B, doo wop, and avant garde 20th Century classical music
- In his teens started writing modern classical music and playing guitar
- In his early 20s he started running a small recording studio and turned the rock/blues band he was a member of into The Mothers Of Invention, which became an important part of the LA 'freak scene' of the late 1960s, made a bunch of records and toured the US and Europe, and basically became somewhat fringe rock stars
- Simultaneously did a few albums' worth of his more 'compositional,' less rock-oriented stuff
- After several iterations of the Mothers, a few unfortunate incidents forced him to stop touring temporarily, so he basically broke up his band (again) and put his energy into composing for different kinds of ensembles, with more of a Jazz influence (early 1970s). Made a lot more records.
***** THIS IS WHERE THE SONG YOU JUST HEARD OCCURED *****
- Went on to have multiple different iterations of his touring band, made a shitload of albums, pioneered all kinds of studio techniques, and continued to write his more 'serious' music and trying to get it played and recorded. Zappa was always composing. He didn't drink or do drugs. His obsessions were composing, cigarettes, and sex.
- He had a tough time being accepted by the 'serious music' community because his rock-oriented stuff was seen by some as vulgar, offensive, and full of low-brow humor (swearing, songs that talk about banging groupies and getting STDs, making fun of absolutely every cross section of society, etc.) He gave no fucks. He would joyfully mix dense orchestral music with dick jokes. Constant snark and social commentary.
- Was a staunch public advocate of free speech and fought against government efforts in the 1980s to censor albums
- Died of prostate cancer at the age of 52.
- Released 62 albums in his lifetime, 53 posthumous albums (so far), and left enormous vaults full of his music and other creative work that is still yet to be released
- Left an enormous impact on the worlds of rock, classical music, Jazz, and more
This really just scratches the surface of Frank's contributions to the world. He did so much in his life that it would take a listener several lifetimes to experience it all. He was a genius of the highest order.
Thank you for this. There's more to the man than just Willie the Pimp!
bjc2 Excellent description! The other interesting angle to Frank Zappa was that he only needed to earn enough money, in order to finance his next self-produced / recorded project or tour.
What he said!!
My first concert ever as a boy.
Nobody is in the middle with FZ.
YOU LOVE HIM.
OR HATE HIM.
Just say..."Zappa rulez!"
And that's the SIMPLE version.
"Jazz isn't dead, It just smells funny"- Frank Zappa... This is very advanced listening boys... Glad you survived!!😂 It'll get easier the more you listen to him. And yes, he wrote & composed for every instrument you hear in any of his songs...
I ADORE that quote!
Including any burps, and other odd background noises. This was in his head and he wrote it down and found the perfect guys to play it.
Richard Peters in this song FZ sings very little. The vocals are shared by Napoleon Murphy Brock and George Duke.
I thought the quote was "...it just smells that way." I could be wrong.
He composed to his specific players who were in his band at the time of the composition to utilize each performers skill set to the maximum. The keyboard solo was done and created by George Duke. Similarly a percent of the vocal riffing is thanks to George & Napoleon Murphy Brock. He also used and worked the best out of his band and they were already great musicians.
Oh God... Zappa. He is a genre unto himself. You've gone down the rabbit hole now, guys. Enjoy Wonderland.
Evelyn the Modified Dog leading into San Berd'no...
For any Zappa newbs: A FANTASTIC place to start is the extremely entertaining "Classic Albums" documentary on the 'Apostrophe/ Overnite Sensation' albums. It's just loaded with great info, background history on FZ & the Mothers, and a ton of great commentary & musical analysis coming out of everyone from son Dweezil to Billy Bob Thornton to Alice Cooper, not to mention Steve Vai and a bunch of other Zappa musical alumni. It's on Prime, Tubi and probably a few other channels right now, and is easily found on DVD. CHECK IT OUT.
vintagerock.com/frank-zappa-classic-albums-over-nite-sensation-apostrophe-dvd-review/
@@Tangento Yep, overnight sensation is what got me hooked. But also Dub Room Special, it has the best version of Inca Roads IMHO -- the best guitar solo that ever lived.
Zappa was always weird. I love Brown Shoes don't make it from the first Mothers of Invention album. He put out at least an album a year. Some totally famous musicians cycled through his band. Occasionally he would hit a pop nerve and have a hit. Valley girl was him making fun of his daughter and her friend's speech habits.
@@AndyNyle . Please watch Zappa "Does Humor Belong in Music!" Among his last tours (early 80s).
Ruth is an insane player. To appreciate the band you guys need to watch the live performance
When you listen to Zappa remember he was a composer so even the lyrics are part of the music
Frank Zappa, a musicians musician. He brought comedy and eclectic style to his listeners. Class by himself. Probably not the best song for his introduction. Don't Give Up on Him. Awesome.
Zappa was a workaholic who never did drugs. His music was so complex it demanded the absolute best musicians to perform it. Before touring they would rehearse for months to get every note down solid. Any musician who played with him had to be great or he wouldn't get hired. If you played with Zappa it was like saying you went to Harvard or Stanford. The school of Zappa was very respected.
indeed
Discount the occasional cigarette
@@MarcusL1995 Actually, he called Marlboros "Food".
@@owlcu 'Tobacco is my favorite vegetable' - zappa
@@bzbzob Call any vegetable? lol
Frank Zappa is playing the guitar, he was a monster on the guitar
kidpoker007 there are also parts where he’s conducting and not playing too.
kidpoker007 one of my four influences.
They should not have to be told that. It's like saying, "I didn't know that Bing Crosby SANG."
And this was probably overdubbed over a live track recorded somewhere (in the Andes, probably!)
@@timbeaton5045 It was indeed a live solo tracked onto the recording.
I could say a lot. My initial thoughts are 1) you guys did a really admirable job listening to, and appreciating Inca Roads. Very thoughtful and intelligent comments. 2) I'm so happy you've discovered Frank Zappa because his music will affect you two deeply. There's no one like him or his music save for the Mahavishnu Orchestra and his 1972-74 line-up.
I liked “Evelyn a modified dog”
The absurdity of it still makes me smile.
And philosophically very deep
Arf she said...
Muffin man too.
@@tomwoliver a curious breeze
A garlic breath.
@@NOXFPV Another great guitar outro.
I liked Evelyn too. Have never forgotten those lyrics.
Ive been lurking in this channel waiting for this to happen and now you’ve got a new subscriber. Your reaction and breakdown is very well said and you both are exactly correct - Frank Zappa takes work to truly appreciate, but once you get there it’s well worth the effort. He’s my favorite of all time if you can’t tell, so I’m hoping this leads to more because FZ reactions are the best! Well done again, and thank you!
FZ is the top
Also agree, except that i don't think it necessarily takes work to appreciate... it might sometimes take multiple listens, due to the many complexities Zappa delighted in... But mostly it just takes unplugging yourself from the expectation of conventional musical formulas, just letting yourself go with it and enjoying the ride
one of the most underrated guitar players ever, and probably the grandfather of Math Rock.
the first step in the Zappa's world ?... so, you must hear : "COSMIK DEBRIES", whit the most fabulous guitar solo of rock music...trust me, you'll can
be my little soon...
Hear hear!
@@yoseffeigenbaum9639 ok ! ok ! thank you
Wonderful choice!
Live of course!
Absolutely! Cosmik Debries is a treat musically and lyrically... give it a try!
First I saw Frank was in '74. They performed this song and a few from Roxy. Incredible concert. Keep in mind that when Frank plays a solo it will be different every time. Again saw 5 shows in one week. LA, Santa Barbara, Berkeley, Sacramento and Reno. They played this song every show. Franks solos were ALL different. That's the genius with Frank. Frank is the ultimate Go To composer and musician.
This is my first time listening to Zappa. Just wow. I can tell the guy is a genius. Thanks for turning me on to this!
Keep going. There is such a huge treasure of his music. So many other song of this quality.
Always a pleasure to know someone else is about to embark on a journey of delight and confusion 😂
Listen to Joe's Garage... whole album
My fav!!!
"A little green rosetta, makes a muffin betta, betta, betta"
@@asdfqwer1234zxcv
👍
YES, YES, YES! Be a great drunk reaction, but who would be crazy enough to tackle that phenom concept album!
Cadillac Goose.... nuff said.
Watermelon in Easter Hay
Zappa was a rare music genius. That word gets thrown around a lot, but he was the real deal. Oh, yeah, and also a sick guitar player. That said, this song is definitely schizophrenia set to music! Nice job boys.🤘
Indeed! This was a lot for them to tackle. I give them prop for giving Zappa a shot, since there have been a lot of requests. Great evening to ya, Doug! :)
..
I didn't like Frank when I first heard his music, but after a year or two of hearing more and more of his albums, I finally realized he was a genius.
Zappa needs to be heard in entire albums. Please do the entire "Apostrophe" album for a great opening primer!✌️
And Dynamo hum 😂
Nice to see some younger people listening to and appreciating Franks music. His catalog is vast & includes music of all types. Please continue your journey into his music, it is virtually endless and as diverse as you can imagine.
Zappa is not for everyone. His music challenges you, which is a good thing. And even within Zappa fandom, there are those who like some eras more than others. For me, his early stuff with The Mothers of Invention is almost always good, whereas his late 70s/early 80s "humorous" period is fairly spotty. That said, his 1979 epic Joes Garage (Parts I - III) is great. And the 80s Synclavier and orchestral stuff is music I have absolutely NO use for. And yes he was VERY prolific.
I too hate the synclavier, but it's the instrument that ruins it for me. When the Ensemble Modern tackled some of those pieces live on The Yellow Shark, they were amazing. Check out their version of G Spot Tornado.
True, I hate that humorous garbage. 70's stuff still rules: Overnite Sensation, Apostrophe. But Joe's Garage would be his best if he left out the central scrutinizer....sigh.
@@TimSchmidt_art Abso god damn lutely right....Joe's has it all!!! Like Apostrophe and One Size Fits All. Perfect Albums.
Music it's for all kind of people,even zappa.✌
The more accessable Zappa albums are "Overnite Sensation' "Apostrophe" "Hot Rats" "Sheik Yet Bootie" Zoot Allures" they have more of a "Rock" feel and shorter, tighter compositions.
These are his "mainstream rock" albums.
"Sheik Yerbuti". The cover is an image of his head in an Arab head wrap. (Pronounces like "Shake Your Booty" ...if you watched the TV show Preacher, that album cover was in the background as an easter egg in the final season's Holy Bar and Grail).
Robin Reiley
For the more advanced listener, “The man from Utopia”. “The dangers kitchen” is a religious experience.
You never know where Zappa will take a song. You should do “San Ber’dino” too.
Agreed!
"San Ber'dino" is definitely a better song on that album to start off with... although my favorite from that album is "Evelyn, a Modified Dog", followed by "Pojama People".
@@urbeatle Probably my faves!
I agree, one of my all time favorite Zappa tunes! Yes...San Ber'dino!
His name is Bobby, he looks like a potato
This is one of my favourite Zappa albums, been listening to it for over 40 years, have most of Zappa's record catologue on vinyl and also cd and was fortunate enough to see him live in the 1980's. Still miss him greatly, RIP Frank.
The first time I heard this song, it was like listening to nothing at all. I didn't get it. The second time, nothing. So I quit. Then I saw it live and thought "Wait, this is interesting." I slowly began to understand it and it got better and better with every listen. Then I became obsessed with it. 15 years later, it's my favorite song of all time without any shadow of a doubt. It takes time to understand why this is the most beautiful song ever written.
Looks like no one else has recommended Peaches en Regalia so I will - one of the more accessible Zappa instrumental works. Also, as young musos, you will relate to Joe's Garage.
That is a great song!
@@markthompson9946 Can't wait to see Dweezil and his band playing the Hot Rats album live in a couple of months :)
Agree on Peaches. Jumping straight into Inca Roads (while being outstanding) right off the bat doesn't give newbies a proper representation of what Zappa was about.
Basically, after being a Zappa (and Beefheart) fan since the 60's, if it ain't got xylophone, it just doesn't cut it.
50 more votes for: "Peaches en Regalia"!!!!!
A little bit of pure genius!!!!!!! 🤘🧡🤘 😁🤘🤘
@@ChickenatorJr It's way cool!
The reaction around 7:00 where you can no longer follow what's happening and just decide to drink is PRICELESS!
@Jim Bricker
LOL!! Good catch! That’s exactly what happened! 🤟🏻🔥😂
It was that, Whelp, I'm out, look. lol
Hahahaha
It's the lost look on your faces that killed me....Totally priceless
The drummer, Chester Thompson, later played live concerts with Genesis after Peter Gabriel left and Phil Collins took over led vocals. They picked Chester for a reason.
Aynsley Dunbar wasn't too shabby either - another of Zappa's picks
The list of Zappa drummers is the who's who of drumming. A few of the drummers got together and have a RUclips reminiscing session. Bozzio, Wackerman, Coliauta, Ruth underwood (percussion) and Ralph Humphries are a few.
Please check out Mike Keneally. Mike was the last lead guitarist and has unimaginable talent. You will be blown away. He not only plays guitar at the Zappa/Vai level but transcribed and played Vai's music to Piano for an entire album of tunes.
Chester also played with Weather Report.
"just sitting there, letting it have its way with me" - welcome to Zappa lads
One of the absolute best guitar solos ever. And George Duke’s solo is stupid good too.
"Watermelon in Easter Hay"
"Packard Goose"
"Cosmic Debris"
"Uncle Remus"
And about 200 other songs. Zappa was a master. If you like his stuff, give Tipographica a spin.
Everyone's recommending all the jazz skronk! Listen to some of his funny songs! His first LP with The Mothers Of Invention, Freak Out, has some hilarious stuff as well as some trenchant social commentary about the Watts race uprising of 1965. He does a fake bubblegum AM radio song, "Wowie Zowie," it's hilarious!
Cosmic Debris, great accessible FZ tune. For these 2, I think they’d love Valley Girl. Dinah Moe Hum is awesome, both lyrically and musically. Peachez en Regalia for instrumental.
Frank's "dumb" rock album "Zoot Allures" would be good for A&,A. Lots of fun rockers with two beautiful instrumentals.
Montana, from the album, Over-Nite Sensation. Can you - if there is in fact a meaning - figure it out?
Gonna raise me up some dental floss.
Genius. I love "Black Napkins" off the Zoot Allures album. Think of it this way. When they played that song again, it was exactly the same. Intentional cacophony.
Zappa was a wacky genius. Not the most accessible music but worth it. Try "Don't Eat the Yellow Snow."
Brilliant lyrics for yellow snow.
"Dreamed I was an eskimo
Frozen wind began to blow
Under my boots and around my toes
The frost that bit the ground below
It was a hundred degrees below zero...
And my mama cried
And my mama cried
Nanook, a-no-no
Nanook, a-no-no
Don't be a naughty eskimo
Save your money, don't go to the show
Well I turned around and I said oh, oh oh
Well I turned around and I said oh, oh oh
Well I turned around and I said ho, ho
And the northern lights commenced to glow
And she said, with a tear in her eye
Watch out where the huskies go,
And don't you eat that yellow snow
Watch out where the huskies go,
And don't you eat that yellow snow".
@@e.jamesshepard7183 arguably his most famous and funniest lyric.
Peaches En Regalia
you started out with a complex track. just to dig how wide his field was, now try zappas´s BOBBY BROWN!
Yep Bobby Brown Goes Down, Dinah Mo Hum
Frank writes music for each instrument, including writing the score for the Drummer, which is unheard of.
His composition "The Black Page" intimidated the Hell out of his Band, with it's multiple time signature changes, simultaneous different time signatures and Dense notes that almost Blacked Out the Sheet Music!
Not for the drummers or bass. This is Chester Thompson on drums, and he came up with his own drumming, which was phenomenal. That's why Zappa liked him so much.
Oh, man. This is gonna be priceless...
That being said, maybe you guys should try some of his more audience-friendly material, like "Joe's Garage", "My Guitar Wants to Kill Your Mama," or "Trouble Everyday."
🤣🤣🤣
"Trouble Every Day" from the Mothers debut album, "Freak Out!" (1966). Great recommendation! A Lyrical Masterpiece.
Zappa is Yoko Ono combined with Weird Al Yankovic. Flinging notes on a page randomly and adding goofy lyrics is genius. If Zappa is art, so is the gum on my shoe.
@@zackattack635 That must be the dumbest take on Zappa that I've ever heard. Congratulations.
Zach Fisher oh how wrong you are kid... keep listening, then come back in like 3. If you haven’t changed your mind, then there’s no hope for you.
"Don't eat the yellow snow" and my favorite "uncle remus"
and Stinkfoot and Cosmic Debris. Apostrophe was the album that got me into Zappa.
Just my favorite at the moment: Evelyn, A Modified Dog.
Just Keeeeep yo noooooose to the griiind stone they saaaayyy....Will that redeem us...?
remember he spoke in 1985 for the pmrc against record labeling🚩Zappa is movie maker as Well--- 200 motels🚩🚩 aynsley Dunbar is the drummer...
Lots of session musicians very Theatrical
Those PMRC hearings sure were intense. My hero was John Denver. When he testified, everyone was on eggshells. Wholesome guy, music suitable for children, etc. When he testified that he wasn't down for the censorship of any music I almost cheered
This is one of my top Zappa records... along with Apostrophe, Weazels Ripped My Flesh, Joes Garage and so on ;-)
George Duke - keys and vocals R.I.P
Ruth Underwood - vibraphone
and... I love Snarky Puppy
My favorite college memory of Frank Zappa. Every night at 10pm on our floor of the dorm we played Titties and Beer, LOUD, it became a tradition. To this day I remember every word, the Live From New York version.
I went to a couple of his clinics in LA many years ago. Really nice guy who liked to teach high school students. His band mates were great as well and spent time teaching us how to break down sophisticated compositions. The Black Page! Miss him!
Chester Thompson is a brilliant drummer.
Frank had the best drummers.
I'm fifty… something, and I love watching you guys discover the music I grew up on. Believe it or not, you both remind me of my brothers, one has short neat hair and the other has lovely flowing locks :) still to this day lol.
Frank Zappa had a procedure for attaining his bands. Every June, Frank held open auditions. After auditions, Frank would choose the members he wanted. Then Frank would rehearse his band for the road. Rehearsals would usually be 3-4 months, 6-7 days a week, 8+ hours a day. At the end of rehearsals, his band would have 6-8 hours of music memorized to play in whatever order Frank wanted (the order of music would change every performance). In additions to this, Frank would continually compose on the road, adding new music to the performances continually. In addition to this, Frank would some 2-3 dozen hand signals that would tell the band to play preset sequence (like Louie, Louie) when ever Frank wanted. After his tour, Frank would then get to work producing albums. He would listen to the concert tapes, and edit together what Frank thought was the best parts of the concerts. Frank called this his "master reel". He would then bring in his musicians to overdub new parts over the concert performances. He would then put on finishing production touches, and the album was ready for release. What you listened to with Inca Roads, was the end of that process. Needless to say, few composers ever worked harder on their music than Frank did. Oh yeah, Frank did the lead guitar work on this.
Hi Guys,
I’ve been a Patreon for a couple of months now and am commenting for the first time. Jumping into Zappa with “Inca Roads”, well that is going into the deeper end of the pool, but not the deepest end, Anyway, there’s really no better place to start.
I saw Zappa live in 1980, in Champaign Illinois for the “Joe’s Garage” tour. Best concert I have ever seen. I was a music major at the time in college.
Frank Zappa chose the best musicians on the planet to be in his band over the years. Everything you heard on Inca Roads could be played by any of his touring bands, with every note recreated nearly the same. He composed his music, each instrument notated part by part and his band tryouts were notoriously difficult, asking potential members to play standard tunes in 7/8 timing, or in a reggae or country beat on the fly.
When I saw Zappa live, his drummer was a guy just out of college named Vinnie Colaiuta (whom you may have heard of) and a guitar player on his first pro tour named Steve Vai (whom you may have heard of). It was the most amazing musical experience I have had and likely will ever have .
Steve M I bet that concert was amazing
Alex From Andy And Alex - When you get a chance, check out this live version of Inca Roads from the mid 70's and I'm sure you will agree that they could pull this off live with aplomb. The drummer is Chester Thompson and vocals/keyboard/synthesizer George Duke, both musical legends on their own. Ruth Underwood is a master of percussuion, primarily on marimba here. And Napoleon Murphy Brock on vocals, sax and general entertainment. Tell me what group could pull this off live today!
FZ is the rabbit hole to end all rabbit holes. Prolific? Huge understatement. Zappa was a composer more than a "rock star" - he approached everything with an infinite amount of possibilities. Look for a recording of "The Black Page" - so called because of the sheer number of notes on the sheet music! A favorite of mine is "G-Spot Tornado" from his Yellow Shark album (more so than the version on Jazz From Hell). His son, Dweezil, has been touring the last several years keeping Frank's music alive, and if you get the chance, definitely go see them!
He had a fixed band, but he improvised in every concert. His musicians were the best and the most hard working in the rock scene at the time.
Ruth underwood hardest working female musician ever. Checked out her inerveiw yet. Just another band from LA...LONG LIVE FZ
Props for jumping into the deep end of the pool. I listen to all kinds of stuff, but even I don't "get" Frank Zappa. I'll stipulate to the genius, but he's not an easy listen. The Thomas Pynchon of musicians.
I don't know, being 'out there' doesn't necessarily mean genius.
Frank Zappa-the musical gateway drug to Mr.Bungle.
Love the Pynchon comparison!
In the same way nobody has ever finished a Pynchon book (or if they say they did, they're lying) , nobody has ever sat down and listened to a Zappa album all the way through.
Damn fine comparison!
George Duke on that hot electric piano solo. Frank opened George's eyes up to playing different styles of music, and George contributed greatly to Frank's music with his amazing proficiency that came out of formal training.
The song right after this (you need to read the lyrics) is " cant afford no shoes". Searing. Did he play guitar? YES!. And his voice is on his songs. This whole album is good among others. Overnight sensation. Zoot allures.
I’m partial to San Berdino myself
@@drkmriggs awwyeah!
Frank Zappa? I thought for sure you'd be doing "Titties & Beer" 8-P Hat's off for delving into the Zappaverse.
"Watch out where the husky go, don't you eat that yellow snow!"
I was about to say this lol.
...and right about that time, people...
@@bropous4265
.... the fur trapper ...
Strictly commercial.
Come here, Fido, bring the slippers.... Arf arf ...
Now for Frank Zappa's friend and sometimes collaborator Don Van Vliet AKA Captain Beefheart & his magic band.
"I'm the Slime" and the following song "Dirty Love" from Overnight Sensation is highly recommended. 👍
Guys, Zappa is one of the greatest self taught guitarists of all time!
This wouldn’t be for me personally. I struggle with modern jazz too. But what I do like is that I got to hear something new, if it wasn’t something I liked.
Well stated. Sometimes it's good to explore the "different". Makes life more interesting! :)
Very weird but good to hear something different
Personally not my cup of tea...I only listened because A&A were reviewing and it was outside the norm ;)
Zappa played so many different styles of music, rock, blues, jazz, Avant Garde, doo-wop, disco, soul. If you found this difficult try "Doreen", it's the best doo -wop song you'll ever hear. Listen to things like "Camarillo Brillio", "Dirty Love". I promise you'll like his less jazzier songs. Once you get used to those you'll gradually be drawn into his more difficult stuff.
That's what I was thinking. I'm not into this in the least, as I, too, am not a fan of modern jazz, but I would have never have given it a listen if it weren't for A&A.
"Dinah-Moe Humm", "Don't Eat the Yellow Snow"
Dinah Moe Humm ! What a song!!
!
Dinah-Moe Humm features Tina Turner on backing vocals.
@@seed_drill7135 "Whadda ya mean, cooties? No cooties on me!"
"Illinois Enema Bandit"
I had not heard this one before. I had not heard anything of Zappa's that wasn't radio playable. But I did like the jazz in this a lot. I am also inspired by the new jazz Alex talked about. Maybe you can do a video sometime sharing who you listen to with us. Since we are all in the living room sharing our love of music!
Suzanne Cole-Rice ❤️ very possibly
Zappas "Hot Rats" superlative. "We're Only In It For The Money" the era exposed and my favorite. "Watermelon On Easter Hay" if it doesn't rip your heart out, stuff it back down your throat and make you digest it, you ain't got one.
Inca Roads is a lot to digest if you are just getting introduced to Zappa. Try some of his early stuff with the Mothers of Invention to gain his early, anti-establishment, rebel attitude. The musicianship bar was just as high back then, too.
Great advice, Chris!
Chris Miller Yeah, this was like jumping in the deep end of the pool. I hope they don’t give up on him.
Bad ass choice!
Zappa forever....
His daughter "Moon unit" Zappa she is the singer of
" Valley girl. That's where valley girl talk comes from😎😎😛😅🎶his sons named DWEEZIL.🎶
You forgot to mention his other kids Diva and Ahmet Zappa. And Dweezil is an amazing guitarist as well.
@@ab7rs Sub-Par?? Frank composed some of the most intricate, complicated music ever put on wax with various forms of phrasing and odd time signatures. He was inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995. Earned a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1997. His song "We're Only in it For the Money" was chosen for preservation in the National Recording Registry in 2005. He is ranked #22 by Rolling Stone Magazine as the 100 greatest guitarists of All Time. He is quoted as having a direct influence musically on:
Paul McCartney
Jimi Hendrix
Jeff Buckley
Trey Anastasio
Alice Cooper
Steve Vai
Warren DeMartini
And about 100 more....
You don't get these accolades and recognitions by being sub-par. Frank's music isn't for everyone... You either get it or you don't, there is no in-between however, the only thing sub-par is your comment.
Inca Roads is a great track from a fantastic album, he can play like Stravinsky or Black Sabbath, he introduced to the world George Duke (keyboards) and later on Stevie Vai (guitar) . I love Zappa, I have almost everything he's done, I also understand the diversity of enjoyment of Zappa's work, you like it, you don't, you get confused, you're in awe. Zappa has a massive catalogue of music, but I got to say you started a monster with this track.
I can’t start Inca without listening to the whole album. FZ’s best IMO.
Very impressive that you guys have chosen to take this on. Along with Peaches... one of my favorite compositions. I love, love, love Frank's composing for Ruth Underwood on Xylophone. The music is designed to be other-worldly, transcendental, and this one does not disappoint. Music demanding all of one's attention, high quality head phones, music appreciation. I spent many hours during college afternoons, entranced. A&A, another righteous post.
I’ve been getting into Zappa over the last year.
Willie the Pimp, Muffin Man, Uncle Remus, and Trouble Every Day are some solid tracks.
I don't know if you've heard Thing-Fish yet, it is an album that was written as a Broadway play and the singer Ike Willis vocally imitates a character called Kingfisher from the old show Amos and Andy. It's masterful work by the singer but some of the songs are not listenable while other songs are incredible. One of my favorite albums along with Broadway the Hard Way.
Hi guys. It was hillarious to see your reaction😂 Zappa is an aquired taste for sure. He has such a vast catalogue (about 50 albums) and most of them are totally different, but you can recognize his style and recurring elements.
Frank Zappa plays guitar (also in this song) and was famous for his long imaginative and technical challenging guitar solos. He also sang a lot of his tunes. Here George Duke sang and played the keyboards. On drumsyou have Chester Thompson who later joined Genesis for all of their live shows from 1977 to 1992 and 2007.
Zappa is in my opinion one of the greatest guitarist who ever walked the earth and he also wrote a huge amount of awesome music, that is still relevant today and still keeps influencing new generations of musicians.
Don't give up on Zappa. Try "Zombie Woof" or "My Guitar Wants to Kill your Momma"
I'd say Muffin Man or I am the Slime...Maybe the live version of Keep it Greasy off of Buffalo
City of tiny lights
Tom Fowler was a MONSTER on bass, wasn't he ?
Frank Zappa is a Genius
It's a fine line between insanity and genius. Imagine being in this band and having to read these charts!! If you dig his jazz influences you NEED to hear The Grand Wazoo. BTW, Andy, sometimes cheesy is exactly the right word. Zappa is famous for injecting deliberate cheesiness to keep from taking himself too seriously.
there's this song where Zappa's band is doing really great and suddenly Zappa says, "Ketchup as a vegetable!" and one of the singers groans "aarrrrrrrggh" cuz Zappa seemingly killed the vibe on purpose, but the song continued well, I forget the name of the song.
Piranther The song is called” when the lie is so big” And the reference to catchup being the vegetable is when members of the Reagan administration declared that the catchup on the school lunch was the vegetable. Frank was a social satirist in the vein of Jonathan Swift and if you don’t know what was happening topically at the time each song was written you miss out on a lot of the jokes. If you don’t know who Pat Robertson, Tammy Faye and Jim Bakker and Jerry Falwell Are Then the song “Jesus thinks you’re a jerk” is not going to be nearly as funny
@@philcross8561 haha that's sad and funny at the same time, I do know the background on pretty much all the jokes on that album, but I didn't know that school lunch one. I had to look up confinement loaf years ago though.
Yes, super prolific. Nobody like Zappa. One of a kind and an enormous pioneer and contributor to modern music. Great job guys!
San Berdino and Po Jama People. Probably the most underrated guitarist ever.
One of you said that you have to work at listening to “it”. I have listened to not that cut, but that album a hundred or two times. Listening to his music changes how you listen to music. It is not easy listening or background music. That never made it on any radio station & it was Frank on the guitar. There are a few of his songs that people gravitate to & think they are funny like “Valley Girls”, Don’t eat that yellow snow, etc. That just tells you that they haven’t listened to Frank & know nothing of his work.
Man, you guys jumped into the deep end of the pool with Zappa right away.....impressive.
Yes Zappa ! Do "Willie the Pimp" it's from the album Hot Rats (1969).
Seconded. Hot Rats is currently celebrating an anniversary..
Yeah, I think "Willie the Pimp" would be right up your alley, but really the entire Hot Rats album is PHENOMENAL!
Lyrics sung by Captain Beefheart.
Frank Zappa wasn't just "Outside the Box" I don't think Zappa even knew where the Box was located. He was FAR ahead of his time , but a remarkable musician and guitarist. If you want to hear some great funny stuff by him try the Album called "Joes Garage" and the track of the same name..and also a song called " Billy was a mountain and Ethel was a tree sitting on his shoulder" NOT KIDDING that's the name of the song. I think WIKKI can describe him better than I can , QUOTE" Frank Vincent Zappa was an American multi-instrumentalist musician, composer, and bandleader. His work is characterized by nonconformity, free-form improvisation, sound experiments, musical virtuosity, and satire of American culture.
I just remember that his music and performances used to freak us out , scare us musically , and entertain us all at the same time .By the way He sang and played virtuoso guitar with his band. His style is still to this day used in The School of Rock , as teaching material , and a measure to strive for .Something additional I just remembered . Just to let you know where is mind was, he had a daughter named "Moon Unit Zappa" and his son named Dweezil Zappa. His son is a fantastic guitarist , and working musician too.
You forgot Ahmet and Diva!! Dweezil tours doing his Dad's songs. He is married to Liz Fair.
Zappa? Oh boy. You guys have just opened Pandora's Box. There is SOO MUCH good stuff to hear and SO MUCH fluff. You have to pick carefully with Zappa, but always, his guitar work is outstanding. EASILY one of the best guitar players EVER in rock and jazz. I would suggest "I am the Slime" as the next song but you will probably get a MILLION different people requesting a MILLION different songs of his. Stick with his 70's stuff for now though. It's mostly FIRE!
The mothers of Invention was the BAND
Oh my god, when you guys toast, when the guitar solo hits.....all of us know that moment....so to see you guys react to it naturally......that's really special. Gotta check out more of your channel. I love your guys "post-show" discussion. Watching this just now, I can You guys would have fit right in and had yourselves a blast during ANY era of rock and roll. Just to let you know! You're definitely in the lineage. Thanks for the video!
It's a well-known fact, in the musical community that, pretty much, EVERY great musician of the past 50 or 60 years, either: spent time in Zappa's band, played with him or recorded with him, at some point. He inspired more musicians and inspired more insane projects and bands and collaborations than anyone else I can think of, off-the-top-of-my-head!!!!!
Frank Zappa started breaking new ground in the '60s with a band called The Mothers Of Invention ...this, later, led to Frank Zappa's "solo" career (although any number of the original"Mothers" continued to, either, play with him or return to the fold, over the decades).
Another commonly-known (but obviously NOT by you guys -yet!) thing re: Zappa was that one of his main inspirations were the compositions of Edgar Varèse.
Zappa did "everything" and anything. His musicianship and the level of musicianship he surrounded himself with was unparalleled.
He was serious composer and wanted to be heard and understood that way from, essentially, the very beginning ...but he realized that: at the point in time that he appeared, without the "ears" that popular-genre/"rock"/etc. music would place "upon" his compositions, he would never achieve the level of notoriety or, even, notice which was necessary for him to accomplish what he wanted. In a way, Zappa always hated "rock" music and, even "jazz fusion" ...however: he is considered an innovator and master in both genres (and multiple sub-genres, thereof), simply due to his masterful ear and abilities.
Zappa, also, had a very ...puerile/"childish" sense of humour (which, ofttimes, actually, worked very well, in his stuff - because, while it was ...immature ...juvenile ...it was, never, unintelligent. He often used it, in fact, to mock those with lesser intelligence or wherewithal than he and his compatriots - painting their daftness and ineptitude in the manner in which it operated and appeared ...but allowing his characters to "take themselves seriously" (which demonstrated their idiocy and ineptitude).
Zappa, however, was well-known for -while never partaking in such things, himself, encouraging even DEMANDING!) that his band members take part in ridiculous, puerile and overbearingly lascivious and/or "stupid" sexual activities and games, and, then, come relate the stories to him, directly. It was an odd mixture of: intelligence and immaturity (almost intentional - one has to assume it was!). ...so: there are multiple layers to the weirdness and some of them are ...NOT, really, that "intelligent" ...However: they led to some great songs and to things which would attract a less informed or nuanced audience, as well 9who, often, would not understand that THEY, themselves, were the ones being discussed, mocked, etc. in Zappa's lyrics!).
Zappa's music spans all genres and attitudes. It, MAINLY, DID attract: other musicians, prog.-heads jazz-fusion aficionados and "outsider"/"underground" sorts. ...but he had cult hits, as well. I, definitely blame Zappa for the entire country becoming familiar with what an '80s "valley girl" (from CA.'s San Fernando valley environs) was or what the stereotypical version was! [See his song: "Valley Girl" (with vocals by his own daughter: Moon Unit
Additionally: I think I should have noted that Frank Zappa was one of the people defending: music, musicians and people's intelligence in front of the P.M.R.C., in Wash. D.C., in the mid-late '80s.
(Along with Dee Snider [Twisted Sister] & John Denver - if I'm not mistaken (There were others, but I'm relatively certain that only those 3 spoke before Congress! -The rest were written statements - But I would have to check to be 100% sure 👍).)
He was incontrovertible and absolutely intelligent in his speaking.
[Those P.M.R.C. hearings were what led to the "warning" stickers, re: lyrics, on albums, though. (In case you weren't aware of that.)]
All I know about Zappa is that he was at the place where Deep Purple played when they were inspired to make Smoke On The Water. lol
The fire was actually at a Zappa concert and Deep Purple were the ones watching :-)
Every word of that song is true. Deep Purple was very clever to immortalize a catastrophe in song form. :)
Everyone who ever played guitar has played that riff. Including me.
And, despite what people may expect, he was very anti drugs ! Undisputed genius
Along with Yes, Return To Forever and Renaissance, they were among the tightest bands live, that I saw in the 1970's
Gentle Giant had them all beat by a long way as far as tightness goes.
I'm just one guy but... listen to the Joe's Garage suite straight through, Tinseltown Rebellion, Apostrophe, Studio Tan, Thing Fish (rock opera thing), Them or Us, and/or Billie The Mountain, Freak Out (mothers of invention era) . Then check out Zappa guitar oriented stuff. There's SOOOOOO much to discover
And a coupla quarts of beer / would fix it so the intonation would not offend your ear /
My favorite Zappa Is "We are only in it for the Money" (entire album). Blew my mind back in the day!!
Zappa was a genius! Next, Joe's Garage!
Bobby Brown. from FZ's Sheik Yerbouti!!
YES,YES,YES,YES,YES ....and "the brokens hearts ares assholes"...
The Torture Never Stops
You should check out “Peaches En Regalia” or “Willie the Pimp” by Zappa from the Hot Rats album.
2 superb choices! Beefheart throws down a mean vocal here
Glad you appreciate the master. I've been a lifelong fan of franks music your faces at 8.56 made me smile Frank just took you on a journey
Steve Vai got one of his first breaks working with Zappa, there's a great interview with Vai about his audition you gotta see. Watermelon in Easter Hay should be next to showcase Frank's guitar mastery or maybe Muffin Man live, it's kickass.
And if you like that, Maggot Brain (Funkadelic/Eddie Hazel)
He has some amazing guitar solos; "Black Napkins" and "Watermelon in Easter Hay".
He was a crazy genius musician and a virtuoso on guitar. Songs like "My Guitar wants to kill your Mama" , "Don't Eat the Yellow Snow" and "Pengiun in Bondage" makes you wonder what the F he was smoking 😂.
The point was, Frank wasn't smoking or ingesting anything, and he would summarily fire any band member who did.
Tobacco. Like a chimney.
@@estoy1001 Well, yeah. There was that.
You guys might want to try “Bitches Brew“ by Miles Davis. But first I would like to see you do more progressive rock bands like YES.
Sir Ajax yes Bitches Brew
But not just any Yes album some are mind-bogglingly awesome, some suck ;)
If you guys are going to react to Yes, react to Heart of the Sunrise! And a million times yes for Bitches Brew!!!
That's a masterpiece in it's self.
MajasDad
True that. I’ve already told A&A to stay in the 70’s when it comes to Yes.
Frank Composed all the Music, Wrote all the Lyrics. He conducted the band with his Pinky while he played Guitar.
Only the Pinnacle Musicians played with Frank on Stage or in Studio.
Frank's work is NOT Strictly Commercial (Which is a Title of one of his songs, Strictly Commercial)
Frank can not be categorized by Music.
Music was Categorized by Frank!
Zappa ran a tight ship with his musicians. At auditions he would ask, "What are you EXCELLENT at?"
He wrote out everything... note for note... beat for beat. There is improvisation, but only at specific times when required. Otherwise, everyone was expected to be exactly on the same page, same measure, same beat.
You can also explore a contemporary of his, arguably more "out there"... Captain Beefheart.
We have some party girls over here buck nekkid except for their Andy & Alex t shirts. After the Zappa they're hangin off the chandelier!
Some more accessible Zappa... "City of Tiny Lights", "Camarillo Brillo", "Dirty Love", "Willie the Pimp", and "Baby Snakes".
Cosmik debris too
Try some of Zappa's more accessible work: Cosmik Debris, I'm the slime, Dirty Love, 50-50, Zombie Wolf.... basically anything from Apostrophe and/or Overnight Sensation.
I'd include 'One Size Fits All', ''Zoot Allures', Bongo Fury', and 'Roxy and Elsewhere' from that era of Zappa's career. He was at his best during that period of time. Extremely prolific and high quality of output.
Dirty Love!
Sheik Yerbouti is the album that introduced me to FZ (I was 13 when it was released). Though some of it went over my head at the time, songs like "Jewish Princess" "Dancing Fool" and "Broken Hearts are for Assholes" definitely caught my attention. Only later did I appreciate the rest. Seen him in 1984. This album might prove to be interesting to you two. Keep up the great work!!!
No one had ever made music like this before Frank, and nobody will ever make music like this in the future. Frank was influenced by various musical genres, but it always came out Frank Zappa music ..... He created his own musical genre, which is so creative and so complex, any other artist would be a fool to even try to touch it .... P.S. George Duke's incredible keyboard solo near the end of the song takes me to the outer regions of outer space every time I listen to it ....
The Only to attempt it, Dweezil Zappa, Steve Vai, G-3, now there is the Zappa Band, Project Object, the Wazoo Band,
The Band From Utopia.
@@jeffreynichols9684 All of the musicians you mention are extremely talented, and they do the Zappa legacy proud, but for me Frank was a true original, one of a kind, and, yes, a genius .....