Isn't it strange? The more you listen to FZ, the more you want to listen to FZ. Why is his approach just to satisfying? Been listening since the 60s and I still feel the same way.
I know exactly what you mean and I’m sure that’s how a lot of us feel too. I’m finding a return to him as a middle-aged man currently after a few years away is really enjoyable. Particularly the orchestral and instrumental.
It would absolutely have to be in the top ten best guitar solos he ever recorded, which is really saying something. Zappa doesn't get enough credit for the subtlety and expressiveness of his playing. What I love is how you can hear all the different influences that went into his playing, from blues/R&B to Varese, Webern, Stockhausen, etc. His gift for improvisation is such that, like many great soloists, you can actually hear his brain working. The way he absorbed and reflected the world around him, translating it with seemingly no effort into some of the most expressive and mind-blowing (and funny) music of any genre in the late 20th century, is what made him such a genius. This is why I say Filthy Habits is one of his greatest accomplishments as an instrumentalist.
I know he was angry that this album got released without his permission, and absent the vocal tracks, but it has always been about my favorite Zappa album. When it was later released with the vocal tracks included I couldn't stand to listen to it. This is one case where something wasn't done just the way he wanted, and came out much better. Yes, that was a rare occurrence. Thankfully, this song is instrumental on both editions.
+Best Music You Never Heard When the original master of this album was delivered by Zappa he had deliberately produced instrumental versions approved by Zappa. The cover art and texts were not Zappa approved. The vocals by Thana Harris were done about 5 years later. Some of the vocal versions required new drums to support the vocal arrangements. These productions still sound relatively perfunctory to me, although i enjoy Ms. Harris's performances, perhaps more attention to refiguring the production would have made more satisfying alternate versions. For example how the instrumental "Mammy Anthem" on You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore Volume 1 was transformed into the "Mammy Nuns' track on Thing Fish.
I don't like the vocal version at all. Creepy and operatic. If it were like earlier albums, broken up and with humor, that would be different, but I don't like it at all and was happy to find a completely instrumental version. :) Thanks
Frank said that he didn't expect even his fans to like all his music, or, what he called, alternate entertainment. He didn't write for anyone, he just wrote. Even though this is not one of my favorite albums, it's still better than the majority of crap passing for music, these days or any days, for that matter. Arf!
I feel like this was franks answer back to all the jazz fusion music coming out at the time in the late 70s like Brand X and Mahavishnu Orchestra. Except this doesn't sound really like a parody or anything. I think he respected a lot of that style of music. But whats crazy is that he only really did a more atmospheric jazz fusion album like this once and it sounds much better than anything Brand X did.
BenjamminClark i don't know if this wonderful piece is better than all BrandX's songs (i love 'product' and a lot of other fusion and jazz-rock bands and musicians) but i think you find the right way to understand this music
Agreed. Apples and Oranges. I grow tired of the superlatives tossed around on almost every music video. Music is not a contest/sport. John Goodsall, Percy Jones are quite accomplished in their own right. And Mike Clarke is no slouch either, on this one ;) ruclips.net/video/T50H1aL6hb8/видео.html
This is an outstanding composition. The theme “ Filthy Habits” is portrayed with a guitar vocabulary and articulation that only Zappa can inmagine. This is one of his songs that reveal a remarkable sense of timing. If you hear it how I do you will also hear comedy, another FZ habit. Yes comedy belongs in music.Fz
For some stupid reason, I never checked out this album until tonight. Holy hell! Better late than never I suppose. This is grade-A quality Zappa for sure.
When self indulgent melancholy evolves into depression. When self destruction loses its novelty and becomes habit. When my escape route caves and entraps me. I still play this song and hopelessly analyse my addicted condition.
That evil crusty sock fits the tone set by this track ,an ugly surreal tone of darkness ,this is some shit to be used where trolls line up in battle formation in a movie .
They go well together. You'd imagine that the music would sound really intense but eventually it takes on a transcendental tranquility. Like it's the sound of a river or leaves in the wind
Zach Johnson no he dumpted this and the following album in unfinished form (contracts)yet there are truly incredible tracks and let them be. I bought them both and still listen
Pete Clements That's not what I've read. He gave the tapes to the studio in the form of Lather (a 4LP set) and they refused to release it, so he went back and edited them into 4 separate albums. They then released those without his permission, including art work that he didn't sign off on.
@@zachjohnson637 Nope. Just the other way around. Frank presented WB with 4 albums, all at once to fulfill his contract with them. Those four albums were: Zappa In New York Hot Rats III (Retitled Sleep Dirt by WB, which was a breach of contract) Studio Tan Orchestral Favorites WB was to pay him $60K per album, so he was expecting them to cut him a check for $240K and be on his way to get a new record deal. WB didn't pay him for the tapes, released Zappa In New York, removing Punky's Whips and editing Titties 'N Beer (another breach of contract) and released the other three without any input from Frank on the cover art. From there, Frank took his own tapes, resequenced the tracks, removed some, added others and put in that "grout" (the funny stuff between tracks) and made a 4-disc set titled Lather to be released by Mercury/Phonogram. Mercury/Phonogram was enough into the deal that they made test pressings. WB threatened to sue M/P because, according to them, Frank was still under contract with them. Frank took those test pressings to KROQ Radio and, through a network of sister stations, played the entire Lather, telling his listeners to tape it off the air and to not buy the records that WB would be releasing. Sleep Dirt was presented to WB, all instrumental, and they released it as such. It really was supposed to be Hot Rats III Waka/Jawaka (with "Hot" and "Rats" on the faucets) was considered Hot Rats II.
hauntingly beautiful i can hear it in every corner of my mind as if it was streaming through my veins awakens rage but in a positive way fucking love this shit
Read up on it. Totally created by Zappa from old tapes. None of the musicians ever saw each other, let alone jam like this. He pulled tracks from here and there, then mixed them, and did the guitar lead.
Hi Phineas~ Where did you read this? Although Frank sometimes used a technique he called xenochrony (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenochrony), where parts not originally performed together are combined, this track is not an example of that. An example would be On The Bus, from Joe's Garage, where a previously recorded solo was put on top of a rhythm track completely different from what the solo was originally played over. Filthy Habits has Frank playing guitar and keyboard parts over Terry Bozzio and Dave Parlato, who were most likely recorded simultaneously. If you know something different, please advise. Cheers!
@@_The_Iconoclast_ I suppose Filthy Habits was recorded with just a few musicians present at a time? Instead of jamming as a full band, frank played with whoever was around. Perhaps. As for Joe's Garage, it's not just On the Bus that splices in a previously recorded guitar solo. In fact, EVERY guitar solo on that album comes from somewhere else, with the exception of Watermelon in Easter Hay.
@@SpaceCattttt Hi teppolundgren~ Regarding the Joe's Garage solos: my understanding is the same as yours. The reason I use On The Bus as my example is 'cuz the source solo was eventually released in its raw performance, being named Occam's Razor ruclips.net/video/dp93bcp4HCM/видео.html. This example helps greatly when trying to explain xenochrony. I'm unaware of the other source solos being available.
That proposition is simply absurd. The odds against a bass player and a drummer independently of one another playing such perfectly complementary figures, in 5/4 no less , are astronomical. You must have read this in an unreputable publication to say the least.
Zappa totally CRUSHED thr guitar on this!!. W Patrick O'hearn and Terry Bozzio. Presume George Duke on piano? Or Andre Lewis. Probably the Maestro himself! Love to know....
If anyone is interested in 'Seeing' what FZ is doing on this track I suggest you google 'Kev Bailey Filthy Habits. A bedroom guitar player who has obviously transcribed the solo, and learnt it note for note (including the feedback/whammy/harmonic content). An extraordinary performance from a very very good guitarist! He is obviously a Zappanut, because he's done several other FZ pieces, including an exceptional 'Live' Zomby Woof performance! Well worth further investigation!
I wish somebody could answer this question: why did Frank eliminate the guitar solo on Willie the Pimp Pt. II on the CD release of the Mothers Live at the Fillmore 1971? It's almost like he was saying, "Fuck you, Zappa guitar fans." The most incomprehensible musical decision I can think of.
Isn't it strange? The more you listen to FZ, the more you want to listen to FZ. Why is his approach just to satisfying? Been listening since the 60s and I still feel the same way.
His music is the healthiest drug you could ever be addicted to.
I know exactly what you mean and I’m sure that’s how a lot of us feel too. I’m finding a return to him as a middle-aged man currently after a few years away is really enjoyable. Particularly the orchestral and instrumental.
I agree. Been listening since 75.
Just described coke ;)
I’ve been brushing up on FZ going to see DZ play Hot Rats soon!
filthy sound, depraved ugly notes, dark vibrations, Fucking brilliant.
Yeah \,,/!!!
my fingers got stuck !
It would absolutely have to be in the top ten best guitar solos he ever recorded, which is really saying something. Zappa doesn't get enough credit for the subtlety and expressiveness of his playing. What I love is how you can hear all the different influences that went into his playing, from blues/R&B to Varese, Webern, Stockhausen, etc. His gift for improvisation is such that, like many great soloists, you can actually hear his brain working. The way he absorbed and reflected the world around him, translating it with seemingly no effort into some of the most expressive and mind-blowing (and funny) music of any genre in the late 20th century, is what made him such a genius. This is why I say Filthy Habits is one of his greatest accomplishments as an instrumentalist.
I feel the same, I just wish I could have expressed it that perfectly. Spot on.
godamn dude...that's just beautiful
My dog doesn't think so
@@chrisfisher6943 Sorry to hear that. Maybe your dog has lousy taste?
@@spaceclown7650 feel the same here. and, in the same album you got the TOITUS´s solo, for me top 10 also.
I love the first 35secs of layered feedback!
the most haunting guitar piece by any human
@@altrxfilm that's what made Frank so special like none other
Yes next to Jimi's Machine Gun!
Needs more feedback.
zappa no era humano!
nothing like It
I know he was angry that this album got released without his permission, and absent the vocal tracks, but it has always been about my favorite Zappa album. When it was later released with the vocal tracks included I couldn't stand to listen to it. This is one case where something wasn't done just the way he wanted, and came out much better. Yes, that was a rare occurrence. Thankfully, this song is instrumental on both editions.
+Best Music You Never Heard When the original master of this album was delivered by Zappa he had deliberately produced instrumental versions approved by Zappa. The cover art and texts were not Zappa approved. The vocals by Thana Harris were done about 5 years later. Some of the vocal versions required new drums to support the vocal arrangements. These productions still sound relatively perfunctory to me, although i enjoy Ms. Harris's performances, perhaps more attention to refiguring the production would have made more satisfying alternate versions. For example how the instrumental "Mammy Anthem" on You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore Volume 1 was transformed into the "Mammy Nuns' track on Thing Fish.
I totally agree.
I totally agree!
Thank you for sharing your knowledge. Some details I didn't know. Cheers.
I don't like the vocal version at all. Creepy and operatic. If it were like earlier albums, broken up and with humor, that would be different, but I don't like it at all and was happy to find a completely instrumental version. :) Thanks
Frank said that he didn't expect even his fans to like all his music, or, what he called, alternate entertainment. He didn't write for anyone, he just wrote. Even though this is not one of my favorite albums, it's still better than the majority of crap passing for music, these days or any days, for that matter. Arf!
Great album and song … love Bozzio and Ohearn here as well 👍
I love this whole album. I even did a music review on it. I'm gonna say it. This is doom metal. Change my mind.
Sinister, dark aaaannd BEAUTIFUL.
Nothing like a nice bit of easy listening from Frank....love it
I feel like this was franks answer back to all the jazz fusion music coming out at the time in the late 70s like Brand X and Mahavishnu Orchestra. Except this doesn't sound really like a parody or anything. I think he respected a lot of that style of music. But whats crazy is that he only really did a more atmospheric jazz fusion album like this once and it sounds much better than anything Brand X did.
BenjamminClark i don't know if this wonderful piece is better than all BrandX's songs (i love 'product' and a lot of other fusion and jazz-rock bands and musicians) but i think you find the right way to understand this music
+BenjamminClark
you can also hear that Adrian Belew clearly learnt Zappa's guitar technic to use it on his own works...
To me, One Size Fits All sounds a lot more like the jazz that was coming out at the time, a kind of fusion mix. It's a brilliant album too.
Agreed. Apples and Oranges.
I grow tired of the superlatives tossed around on almost every music video. Music is not a contest/sport.
John Goodsall, Percy Jones are quite accomplished in their own right. And Mike Clarke is no slouch either, on this one ;)
ruclips.net/video/T50H1aL6hb8/видео.html
Gong
Nasty, Tasty, Eerie, Gorgeous, Filthy, Trippy, Clear and (as is mandatory Zappa albums) well recorded
More psychedelic than most psychedelic bands
Absofruitly
I want this played at my funeral
You want a filthy funeral.
hearing this at someones funeral would be an insane experience
FZ has so much material out there, I'm constantly finding more stuff to like. I'm going to pick this one up for my collection.
Old Frank could handle feedback and control it like a motherfuc*@!
This music really took me places when I was a kid.
This is an outstanding composition. The theme “ Filthy Habits” is portrayed with a guitar vocabulary and articulation that only Zappa can inmagine. This is one of his songs that reveal a remarkable sense of timing. If you hear it how I do you will also hear comedy, another FZ habit. Yes comedy belongs in music.Fz
Such complex wonderful drumming!!! Zappa one of the best music writers ever!!
One of the greatest pieces of music ever performed!
Love this record. Cool Gary Panter cover too.
Think it's the foe from Godzilla vs The Smog Monster....
Jeez, how good is this?
+Gianfranco Spolverato 11/10 approx.
Одна из лучших его вещей!
That feedback is SUPERB!!!! Forwards and Backwards
I would call this dark magical perfection except I know Frank would laugh at that description XD
It is though.
I think music is as close to real magic as we can get.
@@findlesplurb I think you may be right.
"Music is the best!" FZ
Holy shit this is art, one of my favourite zappa's songs
Always on point, Frank.
For some stupid reason, I never checked out this album until tonight. Holy hell! Better late than never I suppose. This is grade-A quality Zappa for sure.
J'adore Franck Zappa merci
MASTER'S ABSOLUTE MASTERPIECE IN A "WASTED" (TO WASH HIM OFF) RECORD!
Just greatness. Never get sick of it.
superb...zappaいいね！
When self indulgent melancholy evolves into depression. When self destruction loses its novelty and becomes habit. When my escape route caves and entraps me. I still play this song and hopelessly analyse my addicted condition.
5 years later, how are you doing these days? Asking cause I feel like I am in a similar boat.
Genius
This is absolutely filthy, in the best possible way.
Beauty!
There's no better sound than a semi-open hi-hat, and this intro is just perfect
too good for words but if I had to choose one from the comment below it would be "I want this to play at my funeral!".
Sublime. So over the top. True to the Zappa tradition. 👍
genious
So good...
That evil crusty sock fits the tone set by this track ,an ugly surreal tone of darkness ,this is some shit to be used where trolls line up in battle formation in a movie .
Masterpiece … Zappa, alien guitar solo … AMAZING
Music is the best.
Edit: this music is the best
Never had drugs in my whole life. But i wonder how hard i'd be tripping if i listen to this while high on acids.
hard. hard on the acids.
They go well together. You'd imagine that the music would sound really intense but eventually it takes on a transcendental tranquility. Like it's the sound of a river or leaves in the wind
Imagine that your thoughts and sense of self are a small tributary flowing into the river that is the music.
u gotta smoke some fentanyl to really feel it
zappa, bozzio & patrick ohearn.
end of the comment.
these tracks are obviously unfinished...yet perfect in their rawness
They weren't unfinished. These were the tapes delivered by Frank to Warner Bros and meant to be released as Lather.
Zach Johnson no he dumpted this and the following album in unfinished form (contracts)yet there are truly incredible tracks and let them be. I bought them both and still listen
Pete Clements
That's not what I've read. He gave the tapes to the studio in the form of Lather (a 4LP set) and they refused to release it, so he went back and edited them into 4 separate albums. They then released those without his permission, including art work that he didn't sign off on.
Pete Clements They’re not “unfinished”. Where did you get that idea?
@@zachjohnson637
Nope. Just the other way around.
Frank presented WB with 4 albums, all at once to fulfill his contract with them.
Those four albums were:
Zappa In New York
Hot Rats III (Retitled Sleep Dirt by WB, which was a breach of contract)
Studio Tan
Orchestral Favorites
WB was to pay him $60K per album, so he was expecting them to cut him a check for $240K and be on his way to get a new record deal.
WB didn't pay him for the tapes, released Zappa In New York, removing Punky's Whips and editing Titties 'N Beer (another breach of contract) and released the other three without any input from Frank on the cover art.
From there, Frank took his own tapes, resequenced the tracks, removed some, added others and put in that "grout" (the funny stuff between tracks) and made a 4-disc set titled Lather to be released by Mercury/Phonogram.
Mercury/Phonogram was enough into the deal that they made test pressings.
WB threatened to sue M/P because, according to them, Frank was still under contract with them.
Frank took those test pressings to KROQ Radio and, through a network of sister stations, played the entire Lather, telling his listeners to tape it off the air and to not buy the records that WB would be releasing.
Sleep Dirt was presented to WB, all instrumental, and they released it as such. It really was supposed to be Hot Rats III
Waka/Jawaka (with "Hot" and "Rats" on the faucets) was considered Hot Rats II.
hauntingly beautiful
i can hear it in every corner of my mind
as if it was streaming through my veins
awakens rage but in a positive way
fucking love this shit
Much better as the original instrumental album.
That bass
Dave Parlato
Read up on it. Totally created by Zappa from old tapes. None of the musicians ever saw each other, let alone jam like this. He pulled tracks from here and there, then mixed them, and did the guitar lead.
It doesn't diminish the end-result though. The magic of this piece is that a group of musicians would probably never play like this together.
Hi Phineas~ Where did you read this? Although Frank sometimes used a technique he called xenochrony (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenochrony), where parts not originally performed together are combined, this track is not an example of that. An example would be On The Bus, from Joe's Garage, where a previously recorded solo was put on top of a rhythm track completely different from what the solo was originally played over. Filthy Habits has Frank playing guitar and keyboard parts over Terry Bozzio and Dave Parlato, who were most likely recorded simultaneously. If you know something different, please advise. Cheers!
@@_The_Iconoclast_ I suppose Filthy Habits was recorded with just a few musicians present at a time? Instead of jamming as a full band, frank played with whoever was around. Perhaps.
As for Joe's Garage, it's not just On the Bus that splices in a previously recorded guitar solo. In fact, EVERY guitar solo on that album comes from somewhere else, with the exception of Watermelon in Easter Hay.
@@SpaceCattttt Hi teppolundgren~ Regarding the Joe's Garage solos: my understanding is the same as yours. The reason I use On The Bus as my example is 'cuz the source solo was eventually released in its raw performance, being named Occam's Razor ruclips.net/video/dp93bcp4HCM/видео.html. This example helps greatly when trying to explain xenochrony. I'm unaware of the other source solos being available.
That proposition is simply absurd. The odds against a bass player and a drummer independently of one another playing such perfectly complementary figures, in 5/4 no less , are astronomical. You must have read this in an unreputable publication to say the least.
A close personal friend.
lovely~
arf!!
still my favorite along with 'sinister footwear'
Zappa totally CRUSHED thr guitar on this!!. W Patrick O'hearn and Terry Bozzio. Presume George Duke on piano? Or Andre Lewis. Probably the Maestro himself!
Love to know....
Yep, I'm on the same broken record as Steve Wynter-Murdoch, one of Frank's finest in so many ways... and truly 'filthy' :)
merci franky
Great song. Now its time for a shower;-)
Evil Jazz?
ooh th original LP : thank you !
The world's greatest Power Dirge.
chapeau, mr zappa!
Notitice this filthy habits is in 5 quarter time.
It's King Crimson's "Lark's Tongues In Aspic".
EXACTLY!!! that's just what i was thinking
If anyone is interested in 'Seeing' what FZ is doing on this track I suggest you google 'Kev Bailey Filthy Habits. A bedroom guitar player who has obviously transcribed the solo, and learnt it note for note (including the feedback/whammy/harmonic content). An extraordinary performance from a very very good guitarist! He is obviously a Zappanut, because he's done several other FZ pieces, including an exceptional 'Live' Zomby Woof performance! Well worth further investigation!
Just checked Kev's video. It has nothing to do with Frank's solo...
TEAMOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
patrick de meyer writes : frank zappa is a genius
I like to think this is what inspired the Rudi Zygadlo dubstep track "Filthy Logic." The openings sound very similar...
a brain massage i think 4hrs min
A total catharsis. and here comes the ice pick in the forehead!
so i went back to the mothers
Un hábito pernicioso puede ser no escuchar a Zappa!!!!!
As said about the Grateful Dead is true with FZ. He’s not the best at what he does, he’s the only one who does what he does.
Wanna buy some pencils?
l'inventeur génial mais trop en avance du E-Bow
Far out
It's God, I see God! (Eric Clapton)
Lol
I wish somebody could answer this question: why did Frank eliminate the guitar solo on Willie the Pimp Pt. II on the CD release of the Mothers Live at the Fillmore 1971? It's almost like he was saying, "Fuck you, Zappa guitar fans." The most incomprehensible musical decision I can think of.
It seems like he really had issues with liking his own solos
Is he playing right in front of his amp with the volume cranked ? I mean, how can you get that haunting larsen ?
ebow
gitarcaca
Kinda like a Telefunken U-47
you'll love it!
With leather
No coment
13 "canis familaris" gave this a thumbs down. Arf.
Maximus fantasticus 👍