Excellent analysis. Here's an interesting bit of trivia. The backing female vocals were done by Tina Turner and the Ikettes! From Wikipedia: Of the Ikettes' harmonies, Zappa later said: ”It was so difficult, that one part in the middle of the song "Montana", that the three girls rehearsed it for a couple of days. Just that one section. You know the part that goes "I'm pluckin' the ol' dennil floss..."? Right in the middle there. And one of the harmony singers got it first. She came out and sang her part and the other girls had to follow her track. Tina was so pleased that she was able to sing this that she went into the next studio where Ike was working and dragged him into the studio to hear the result of her labor. He listened to the tape and he goes, ‘What is this shit?’ and walked out".
The ultimate Zappa song (to many Zappa fans) is an epic 1972 rock/Jazz operette named " The Adventures Of Greggery Peccary". The story is very funny and the music consists of Jazz, Rock, Avant garde, free-jazz, contemporary classic, doo-wop all in one song. The score even has 4 typewriters as a percussive element, but also fits the storyline. I'm sure you'll enjoy this 20 minute tune and I wonder how you will analyse it. It's been posthumously performed by a few symphony orchestras in the UK (BBC), Belgium, (that I know of) and one version released on an album by Ensemble Modern. Typical of Zappa is that he wrote it as instrumental parts first, and later glued it all together with lyrics. Frank himself is the narrator of the story.
I’ve seen Zappa’s name around quite a bit but never sat down to listen...guess I gotta now! - immediately knew from the first note it was gonna be interesting...and hopefully a fun song! - drums add some nice flourishments during the first vocal section - love the trumpets holding a smooth repetitive foundation...something definitely different than metal. - what a jamming solo...that bass! - vocals were both quirky but not just for the sake of being quirky. - the xylophone (??) throughout was great to add some punch to the melody Overall, a really cool song- quirky, fun, some nice layering with different instruments! Thanks for checking them out Bryan!
Zappa fan ever since I was a child: Thank you for choosing to listen to this gem. If you want to see a break from this standard zappaesque stuff, I recommend to listen to his orchestral works and also the albums or songs where the synclavier is heavily featured. They’re tough to listen to, at least for me, but they’re worth listening to in order to see the different side you mentioned
Ok, you need to listen to one song from his first album to hear how freaking serious he could be lyrically. The album is Freak Out! and the song is Trouble Every Day, written during the LA Watts riots in the 60's. Thing is, it is also about the summer of 2020, the lyrics are not only prophetic they are a warning. It may also be the first 'rap' song ever recorded, the cadence and tone of his delivery is what rappers today do all the time. Check it out!
And absolutely free which was around the time of everyone gathering at Hyatt Street. Remember getting home from school putting on the headphones and either listening to absolutely free or we're only in it for the money.
the system that Frank used for speeding up or slowing down voices was called a V.S.O (VARIABLE SPEED OSSCILATOR) . he strarted using it on WE'RE ONLY IN IT FOR THE MONEY ... but before that he manipulated the tapes manually on Freak Out. But vthe VSO was used on most of ther Mothers albums the followed up until Zoot Allures.. Now... MONTANA, What was his goal?... my opinion... Frank thought; "How can I create another world with only fifteen or twenty words... and mathematical AND emotional mechanisms. A world that will live on forever... a world with Pygmy ponies and Dental floss bushes."
I don't have the musical education to be able to "follow" what Zappa is doing so it is nice to listen to someone react who can. Zappa is a well of aural treasures with no bottom. Look forward to more. Cheers.
Frank Zappa - Camarillo Brillo Frank Zappa - Dirty Love Frank Zappa - Zomby Woof Frank Zappa - Drowning Witch Frank Zappa Dinah-Moe Humm Frank Zappa Cosmik Debris Frank Zappa Stink-Foot Frank Zappa I'm The Slime Frank Zappa - Torture Never Stops Frank Zappa - Occam's Razor instrumental Frank Zappa - Dupree's Paradise (1973) live ruclips.net/video/qr6mTloYJJs/видео.html Orchestration: 2 flutes, 2 oboes (2nd = English horn), 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, bassoon, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, 2 trombones, tuba, percussion (bass drums, bells, castanets, chimes, cymbals, Chinese cymbals, gong, maracas, marimba, piccolo snare drum, pop gun, slapstick, snare drum, tam-tam, vibraphone, woodblock, xylophone), harp, 2 pianos (= celestas), and strings “Dupree’s Paradise is about a bar on Avalon Boulevard in Watts at 6:00 a.m. on a Sunday in 1964, during the early morning jam session. For about seven minutes, the customers (winos, musicians, degenerates and policemen) do the things that set them apart from the rest of society.” Zappa’s Varèse-inspired point of reference is apparent in his sheer exuberance with the ringing, clanging, abutting piles of sound he marshals. Zappa takes the opening optimistic tune down the rabbit hole, from which it emerges at times sounding like Gershwin, at others like a serialist’s lost weekend. As for his rhythms, Zappa notes they are in general derived from speech patterns and “should have the same sort of flow a conversation would have
Frank produced an Album called" Does Humor Belong in Music" 1984 I think... You want to hear his Serious Music... Check-out any song from "Sleep Dirt" or the "Grand Wazoo" You want to hear his comedy, there are many songs from that album you played Montana from.
I’d say you have a point but only to a degree. I think the humor and the seriousness are really inextricable in FZ’s music, arguably one of each more prevalent than the other depending on the piece, musicians playing, etc., as you suggested. I mean, one cannot say there’s not humor, even when there aren’t any lyrics, in Wazoo or Sleep Dirt, as well as one cannot deny there’s really serious music going on in DHBIM, or. Montana for that matter. I guess some of his instrumental pieces have arguably little or no humor component at all, I’m thinking right now on something like Outrage at Valdez or the piece Sleep Dirt itself.
Hahaha. We could not have planned this better. Zappa weekend! I'd say tomorrow's song is a different aspect of Zappa, I'm excited to see what you think
Interesting point about the instrumentation and voicing wrt not compromising his vision for a piece. On the live version of Peaches En Regalia (the Mothers, Fillmore Ease June 1971), he has band members singing some of the parts that were originally played by various instruments they didn't have on the tour. It was a pretty successful arrangement, IMO. Studio version is on Hot Rats.
Zappa was very ahead of his game in distorting audio. On Dirty Love, he sped up and slowed down vocal tracks to make them sound higher or lower pitched.
In a very early interview FZ stated his lyrics were a "commentary". A top English composer discussing "the Yellow Snow" of "Nanook of the North" commented that the lyrics were "inconsequential, it was the music and it's composition that mattered". Fair enough. One can giggle so much at the lyrics but the music IMHO is serious and has merit.
FZ: I was writing all kinds of positive and negative canons and weird inverted this and retrograde that and getting as spaced-out mathematically as I could and I was going "Wait a minute (laughs), who cares about that stuff?" I had always liked rhythm and blues so here I was stuck between the slide rule and the gut bucket somewhere and I decided that I would opt for a third road someplace in between. -- From an 1972 interview to Martin Perlich. On giving up writing serial music.
They had pitch shifters back then that he would use live, but in the studio he might have just slowed down the tape to adjust the pitch. He also pitches up the backing vocals near the end by adjusting tape speed. The background singers are Ike & Tina Turner's "Ikettes" but Ike Turner stopped by after the session and when he heard Frank play back the tracks, he asked to keep their names off the record.
It's just wonderful to follow your enjoyment with FZ! You also did an instrumental; Regyptian Strut (got big band vibes). About the downpitched vocals (if they are) I think it might have been done through slowed down tape (tales a lot of work - on the singers behalf not the least - but possible)
Some suggestions of, so called, serious pieces of Zappa, without lyrics at all. So you can really see the other side of the spectrum Zappa. Sinister Footwear, G-Spot Tornado, Little House I Used To Live, Strictly Genteel. These songs are more classically oriented. Try the albums Hot Rat, Grand Wazoo, Waka-Jawaka if you fancy a more jazzy feel. BTW, Zappa was right, Humor belongs in music!
There is so much to choose between... A few suggestions: Orchestral music, from The Yellow Shark concerts: "Get Whitey": ruclips.net/video/-2DW4Kjfo-o/видео.html Synclavier music: "Dio Fa" from Civilization Phaze III: ruclips.net/video/NTVZbEG5bk8/видео.html Wild song & wild performance: "RDNZL", live 1982: ruclips.net/video/duUiebf1PqM/видео.html Insane guitar piece: "St. Etienne", live 1982: ruclips.net/video/uf4bjByMcvE/видео.html My favourite Frank Zappa comedy song is "The Adventures Of Greggery Peccary". Fantastic and/but 21 minutes long. ruclips.net/video/aymj5wcIhiY/видео.html Big band music: "The Grand Wazoo", 1972: ruclips.net/video/C6peaCMIFyI/видео.html "The Black Page (New Age Version), live 1988: ruclips.net/video/E6JKmwVZMc8/видео.html
If you want to hear something different from Zappa I suggest you listen to "The ocean is the ultimate solution" , or maybe "Pedro´s Dowry" or perhaps "Amnerika".
@Gizella Lombardi if I remember correctly they were still kids when they stole stuff from Beefheart's father's bakery. FZ said they would 'listen' to blues records while they ate, and since FZ said he did not even pick up a guitar until he was 18, I don't think they actually 'jammed' with each other back then. Their love of music, particularly the blues was developed at that point. Important catalyst for both of their careers.
Frank and Don went to the same high school at the same time. They went on tour together (check out the "Bongo Fury" album). Frank was also the producer of "Trout Mask Replica" one of Captain Beefheart's most critically acclaimed albums.
Frank had this thing about taking a really cool written melody (like the interlude after the Solo in Montana) and instead of letting it stand alone as a very nice and unique "written" melody.... he had to throw something odd on top like the high harmony vocals. ruclips.net/video/5-kXTFSswKw/видео.html For something different, try Night School
Glad you're doing the studio version! The comedic, ironic and a bit politically motivated lyrics get lost in the live versions. "Gonna be a Mental Toss Flycoon.". 😉🎶🎶🎵🎶💯
Gotta remember back then it was turntables and you tuned them in with a strobe light. And through tube amps n such just sounded so fricken much better energy wise and dynamic wise.
Cool reaction and analysis. FYI, Zappa’s “humorous” lyrics sometimes are absurdist or scatalogical, but oftentimes he buries some social criticism or other weightier subject matter in the mix. For example, try songs like “Po-Jama People,” or “I’m The Slime.”
He was making fun of the “back to the land” movement of the 70’s. A chunk of the California counterculture we’re picking up and moving out to the hinterlands of the West, and many naively thought “I can probably survive there somehow” without a clue about the actual demands of rural living.
FZ wasn't only about comedy ... there are some beautiful "Straight" pieces by him :) Enjoy the journey :) Yellow Shark version of "Dog Breath" variations and "Uncle Meat" .... check out "Yo Momma" from Sheik Yerbouti for the ultimate air sculpture :) PS. Alien Orifice ... studio version ;)
aaaaah Zappa, one of the constant things in my life, composer, guitarist, mentor, arrogant s** of a b****, genius. please react to something from uncle meat (1969), "Dog breath , in the year of the plague" or "the uncle meat variations", for me one of his best works, but by saying this there are sooo many genius songs from him.
We're only in it for the money. lol wrong album! Okay I just had to see if anybody had done a reaction to this song. Our local radio station here in the boonies of the Ozarks played it today. Of course that's not really surprising, they play deep cuts, stuff that rarely was ever played on the radio. First listen to Zappa in 68. The man could play any instrument as well as anyone. And did as there were some recordings where he was the only musician regardless how many instruments you hear playing. Frank did not do drugs perhaps that's why he could never get a record contract. He got disgusted and opened his own Studio. Ran his own sound equipment and mastered his own recordings. Of course he had nightclubs around the world as well even had one in the USSR. On my RUclips channel here I have a lost recording of him playing with Pink Floyd for a couple days while they were all tripping on acid. Only thing Frank was on was coffee and cigarettes. LOL You have not heard listen to his Dynamo humm.
The line, "I'd raise me some peas, but I'd leave the sweet stuff for somebody else' is an analogy of his entire approach to music. You want sweet and relaxing love songs, then go elsewhere, he is going to be in your face and push the boundaries musically and lyrically. On another note, the female background singers were the Ikettes with Tina Turner! It was recorded in Ike's studio, and after he heard it, he refused to allow Frank to give them album credits, he thought it was crap.
@@suzycreamcheese6784 that was my comment, but LOML is not a sweet love song, it just sounds like one. It is sarcasm, look at the lyrics, basic message, stay with me so I won't be lonely, is that a love song? All his doo wop style songs are less in your face, but I saw him play LOML live, he mocks love songs with it.
Pretty much anything you hear during a Zappa song was intentional. Zappa was objectively one of the most skilled composers of his time, and he was very particular about his music. How many other composers of the rock heyday could get the London Symphony Orchestra to record two full albums of music he composed and arranged?
This piece is, as most of Franks "comical" music, is actually social satire. In this case it's a bust on what was the dream of many 60's hippies, dropping out, moving to the wilderness and "raising up" their own crop of marijuana (dental floss).
Zappa's "musical jokes" might better be compared to Spike Jones, whose influence Zappa acknowledged. He also was transfixed by the musique concrete of Edgard Varese when he was young, and that plays into the equation. And well one of Zappa's live albums is literally titled "Does humor belong in music?", so there's that... but it would be a mistake to think Zappa was strictly a humorous music sort of novelty act, he put out 60 albums while he was alive and they contain a treasure trove of unique creativity of wide range.
I am not certain of this and I have not heard this as any fact but I wonder if he wasn't writing some of this lyrical content for his kids? Or his kids writing some of it for him?
If you are going to listen and react, you need to listen. You're running your mouth and missing key moments. Then you begin to think about his music, and ramble on about some comedy band, I don't even know who you're talkin about or why. I am a huge Zappa fan, and do appreciate your insights into this song, but listen and react, then talk about your reaction.
Of all of the songs for a composer to listen to, why are you guys sending him the super accessible/commercial stuff? Anything off of One Size Fits All is better than Montana and light years past Yellow Snow. Not even on the same planet. There are literally dozens of songs that showcase Frank’s work better than these.
Excellent analysis. Here's an interesting bit of trivia. The backing female vocals were done by Tina Turner and the Ikettes!
From Wikipedia: Of the Ikettes' harmonies, Zappa later said:
”It was so difficult, that one part in the middle of the song "Montana", that the three girls rehearsed it for a couple of days. Just that one section. You know the part that goes "I'm pluckin' the ol' dennil floss..."? Right in the middle there. And one of the harmony singers got it first. She came out and sang her part and the other girls had to follow her track. Tina was so pleased that she was able to sing this that she went into the next studio where Ike was working and dragged him into the studio to hear the result of her labor. He listened to the tape and he goes, ‘What is this shit?’ and walked out".
More Zappa, always more Zappa
You can't pick a bad Zappa song. The deeper you go the more you see of how talented he truly was as a composer
The ultimate Zappa song (to many Zappa fans) is an epic 1972 rock/Jazz operette named " The Adventures Of Greggery Peccary". The story is very funny and the music consists of Jazz, Rock, Avant garde, free-jazz, contemporary classic, doo-wop all in one song. The score even has 4 typewriters as a percussive element, but also fits the storyline. I'm sure you'll enjoy this 20 minute tune and I wonder how you will analyse it. It's been posthumously performed by a few symphony orchestras in the UK (BBC), Belgium, (that I know of) and one version released on an album by Ensemble Modern. Typical of Zappa is that he wrote it as instrumental parts first, and later glued it all together with lyrics. Frank himself is the narrator of the story.
I was just thinking about " The Adventures Of Greggery Peccary", before i read your comment. Totally agree.
I’ve seen Zappa’s name around quite a bit but never sat down to listen...guess I gotta now!
- immediately knew from the first note it was gonna be interesting...and hopefully a fun song!
- drums add some nice flourishments during the first vocal section
- love the trumpets holding a smooth repetitive foundation...something definitely different than metal.
- what a jamming solo...that bass!
- vocals were both quirky but not just for the sake of being quirky.
- the xylophone (??) throughout was great to add some punch to the melody
Overall, a really cool song- quirky, fun, some nice layering with different instruments! Thanks for checking them out Bryan!
Your reaction to his catalog could be the best thing ever
Tina Turner and the Iketes are the backing vocals.
Zappa fan ever since I was a child: Thank you for choosing to listen to this gem. If you want to see a break from this standard zappaesque stuff, I recommend to listen to his orchestral works and also the albums or songs where the synclavier is heavily featured. They’re tough to listen to, at least for me, but they’re worth listening to in order to see the different side you mentioned
You would like Zomby Woof from the same album. Quite complex, a lot of details to pick out.
Ylvis is from Norway
LOVED the video! The more you enjoyed it the more fun I had.
Ok, you need to listen to one song from his first album to hear how freaking serious he could be lyrically. The album is Freak Out! and the song is Trouble Every Day, written during the LA Watts riots in the 60's. Thing is, it is also about the summer of 2020, the lyrics are not only prophetic they are a warning. It may also be the first 'rap' song ever recorded, the cadence and tone of his delivery is what rappers today do all the time. Check it out!
Also "Concentration Moon" and "Mom and Dad" from We're Only In It For The Money.
And absolutely free which was around the time of everyone gathering at Hyatt Street.
Remember getting home from school putting on the headphones and either listening to absolutely free or we're only in it for the money.
Yes it was the first Rap song of it's kind.
the system that Frank used for speeding up or slowing down voices was called a V.S.O (VARIABLE SPEED OSSCILATOR) . he strarted using it on WE'RE ONLY IN IT FOR THE MONEY ... but before that he manipulated the tapes manually on Freak Out. But vthe VSO was used on most of ther Mothers albums the followed up until Zoot Allures.. Now... MONTANA, What was his goal?... my opinion... Frank thought; "How can I create another world with only fifteen or twenty words... and mathematical AND emotional mechanisms. A world that will live on forever... a world with Pygmy ponies and Dental floss bushes."
just love the way zappa casually throws off one of the greatest guitar solos of all time
I don't have the musical education to be able to "follow" what Zappa is doing so it is nice to listen to someone react who can. Zappa is a well of aural treasures with no bottom. Look forward to more. Cheers.
Frank Zappa - Camarillo Brillo
Frank Zappa - Dirty Love
Frank Zappa - Zomby Woof
Frank Zappa - Drowning Witch
Frank Zappa Dinah-Moe Humm
Frank Zappa Cosmik Debris
Frank Zappa Stink-Foot
Frank Zappa I'm The Slime
Frank Zappa - Torture Never Stops
Frank Zappa - Occam's Razor instrumental
Frank Zappa - Dupree's Paradise (1973) live ruclips.net/video/qr6mTloYJJs/видео.html
Orchestration: 2 flutes, 2 oboes (2nd = English horn), 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, bassoon, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, 2 trombones, tuba, percussion (bass drums, bells, castanets, chimes, cymbals, Chinese cymbals, gong, maracas, marimba, piccolo snare drum, pop gun, slapstick, snare drum, tam-tam, vibraphone, woodblock, xylophone), harp, 2 pianos (= celestas), and strings
“Dupree’s Paradise is about a bar on Avalon Boulevard in Watts at 6:00 a.m. on a Sunday in 1964, during the early morning jam session. For about seven minutes, the customers (winos, musicians, degenerates and policemen) do the things that set them apart from the rest of society.”
Zappa’s Varèse-inspired point of reference is apparent in his sheer exuberance with the ringing, clanging, abutting piles of sound he marshals. Zappa takes the opening optimistic tune down the rabbit hole, from which it emerges at times sounding like Gershwin, at others like a serialist’s lost weekend. As for his rhythms, Zappa notes they are in general derived from speech patterns and “should have the same sort of flow a conversation would have
City Of Tiny Lights, Floretine Pogen, Inca Roads, Zomby Woof & The Ocean Is The Ultimate Solution.
THIS.. so tired of hearing overnight sensation and apostrophe done to death.
Frank produced an Album called" Does Humor Belong in Music" 1984 I think...
You want to hear his Serious Music... Check-out any song from "Sleep Dirt" or the "Grand Wazoo"
You want to hear his comedy, there are many songs from that album you played Montana from.
I’d say you have a point but only to a degree. I think the humor and the seriousness are really inextricable in FZ’s music, arguably one of each more prevalent than the other depending on the piece, musicians playing, etc., as you suggested. I mean, one cannot say there’s not humor, even when there aren’t any lyrics, in Wazoo or Sleep Dirt, as well as one cannot deny there’s really serious music going on in DHBIM, or. Montana for that matter. I guess some of his instrumental pieces have arguably little or no humor component at all, I’m thinking right now on something like Outrage at Valdez or the piece Sleep Dirt itself.
Don't forget the connection between zappa and the tune smoke on the water.. he had the best rig around
He used to put his wah-wah pedal all the way heel down and solo on that, and sometimes lift it
Hahaha. We could not have planned this better. Zappa weekend!
I'd say tomorrow's song is a different aspect of Zappa, I'm excited to see what you think
Very profound and constructive comments, just right on.
Tomorrow's pick will show off the pure fusion side of him. Would have gotten your approval for being the "right stuff" for fusion week for sure! 😊
he said 16 minute song, Big Swifty, Waka Jawaka version?
@@Peter-K It's The Gumbo Variations 😊
@@progperljungman8218 even better! Hell, he should do the entire Hot Rats album!
Interesting point about the instrumentation and voicing wrt not compromising his vision for a piece. On the live version of Peaches En Regalia (the Mothers, Fillmore Ease June 1971), he has band members singing some of the parts that were originally played by various instruments they didn't have on the tour. It was a pretty successful arrangement, IMO.
Studio version is on Hot Rats.
Zappa was very ahead of his game in distorting audio. On Dirty Love, he sped up and slowed down vocal tracks to make them sound higher or lower pitched.
"Music for Guitar and Low Budget Orchestra" is one of his instrumental pieces that is definitely worth checking out. From the Studio Tan album.
"Zappa has beautiful, beautiful ideas..." - Nicholas Slominsky Do a vid on Dia Fa from side 2 of Frank Zappa's Civilisation Phase III
In a very early interview FZ stated his lyrics were a "commentary". A top English composer discussing "the Yellow Snow" of "Nanook of the North" commented that the lyrics were "inconsequential, it was the music and it's composition that mattered".
Fair enough. One can giggle so much at the lyrics but the music IMHO is serious and has merit.
FZ: I was writing all kinds of positive and negative canons and weird inverted this and retrograde that and getting as spaced-out mathematically as I could and I was going "Wait a minute (laughs), who cares about that stuff?" I had always liked rhythm and blues so here I was stuck between the slide rule and the gut bucket somewhere and I decided that I would opt for a third road someplace in between. --
From an 1972 interview to Martin Perlich. On giving up writing serial music.
I'm sure Frank would never make fun of the puppets, just the puppeteers.
They had pitch shifters back then that he would use live, but in the studio he might have just slowed down the tape to adjust the pitch. He also pitches up the backing vocals near the end by adjusting tape speed. The background singers are Ike & Tina Turner's "Ikettes" but Ike Turner stopped by after the session and when he heard Frank play back the tracks, he asked to keep their names off the record.
The Turner and ikettes gets were the backup singers
It's just wonderful to follow your enjoyment with FZ!
You also did an instrumental; Regyptian Strut (got big band vibes).
About the downpitched vocals (if they are) I think it might have been done through slowed down tape (tales a lot of work - on the singers behalf not the least - but possible)
Btw, Ylvis are Norwegian. Two brothers.
You should listen to The Adventures of Gregory Peccary by Zappa. It‘s long but incredible
Some suggestions of, so called, serious pieces of Zappa, without lyrics at all. So you can really see the other side of the spectrum Zappa. Sinister Footwear, G-Spot Tornado, Little House I Used To Live, Strictly Genteel. These songs are more classically oriented. Try the albums Hot Rat, Grand Wazoo, Waka-Jawaka if you fancy a more jazzy feel. BTW, Zappa was right, Humor belongs in music!
Wow that's a baritone. I haven't heard much from Frank Zappa, but my favorite is Valley Girl
Crunchy. One of his best solos ...Studio. Rippin
There is so much to choose between... A few suggestions:
Orchestral music, from The Yellow Shark concerts: "Get Whitey": ruclips.net/video/-2DW4Kjfo-o/видео.html
Synclavier music: "Dio Fa" from Civilization Phaze III: ruclips.net/video/NTVZbEG5bk8/видео.html
Wild song & wild performance: "RDNZL", live 1982: ruclips.net/video/duUiebf1PqM/видео.html
Insane guitar piece: "St. Etienne", live 1982: ruclips.net/video/uf4bjByMcvE/видео.html
My favourite Frank Zappa comedy song is "The Adventures Of Greggery Peccary". Fantastic and/but 21 minutes long. ruclips.net/video/aymj5wcIhiY/видео.html
Big band music:
"The Grand Wazoo", 1972: ruclips.net/video/C6peaCMIFyI/видео.html
"The Black Page (New Age Version), live 1988: ruclips.net/video/E6JKmwVZMc8/видео.html
He had some guitar riffs mainstream players would have loved to have thought of first. Some killer lines.
Frank called his music "alternate entertainment."
or "Worlds Finest Optional Entertainment " =)
Thank's !
Zappa's voice right before the solo was slowed down and the Ikettes right after the solo were sped up.
If you want to hear something different from Zappa I suggest you listen to "The ocean is the ultimate solution" , or maybe "Pedro´s Dowry" or perhaps "Amnerika".
Zappa Suggestion: five-five-FIVE (Good luck counting time on that one.)
I never got into Frank Zappa. I was more of a Captain Beefheart kind of person.
@Gizella Lombardi I wasn't aware that they'd been friends. Thanks for the info.
@Gizella Lombardi if I remember correctly they were still kids when they stole stuff from Beefheart's father's bakery. FZ said they would 'listen' to blues records while they ate, and since FZ said he did not even pick up a guitar until he was 18, I don't think they actually 'jammed' with each other back then. Their love of music, particularly the blues was developed at that point. Important catalyst for both of their careers.
Frank and Don went to the same high school at the same time. They went on tour together (check out the "Bongo Fury" album). Frank was also the producer of "Trout Mask Replica" one of Captain Beefheart's most critically acclaimed albums.
i've heard people compare him to weird al. what an insult.
Frank had this thing about taking a really cool written melody (like the interlude after the Solo in Montana) and instead of letting it stand alone as a very nice and unique "written" melody.... he had to throw something odd on top like the high harmony vocals.
ruclips.net/video/5-kXTFSswKw/видео.html
For something different, try Night School
Glad you're doing the studio version! The comedic, ironic and a bit politically motivated lyrics get lost in the live versions. "Gonna be a Mental Toss Flycoon.". 😉🎶🎶🎵🎶💯
Gotta remember back then it was turntables and you tuned them in with a strobe light. And through tube amps n such just sounded so fricken much better energy wise and dynamic wise.
Because it was recorded thru tubes which made albums so much more exciting.
Thru tru 4 way
Love this song. I think bongo fury is my favourite album. Difficult choice with this guy's catalogue.
Cool reaction and analysis. FYI, Zappa’s “humorous” lyrics sometimes are absurdist or scatalogical, but oftentimes he buries some social criticism or other weightier subject matter in the mix. For example, try songs like “Po-Jama People,” or “I’m The Slime.”
Comedy invented by the Ancient Greeks as a way to criticise society. That was what Frank did.
Zappas shit music without sense, is suitable for flushing the toilet 🤣 🤣 🤣
You are correct that you have reacted to music from the same "era."
He was making fun of the “back to the land” movement of the 70’s. A chunk of the California counterculture we’re picking up and moving out to the hinterlands of the West, and many naively thought “I can probably survive there somehow” without a clue about the actual demands of rural living.
FZ wasn't only about comedy ... there are some beautiful "Straight" pieces by him :) Enjoy the journey :) Yellow Shark version of "Dog Breath" variations and "Uncle Meat" .... check out "Yo Momma" from Sheik Yerbouti for the ultimate air sculpture :) PS. Alien Orifice ... studio version ;)
Yellow shark album is great love a pound for a brown and dog breath. Blessed releaf or Jones crusher all great.
aaaaah Zappa, one of the constant things in my life, composer, guitarist, mentor, arrogant s** of a b****, genius. please react to something from uncle meat (1969), "Dog breath , in the year of the plague" or "the uncle meat variations", for me one of his best works, but by saying this there are sooo many genius songs from him.
Check out Spike Jones from the '50-ties; Zappa was very fond of this musicianship and was also an influence
he has a pignose amp across the room allowing for a time displacement on the guitar solo.
We're only in it for the money. lol wrong album! Okay I just had to see if anybody had done a reaction to this song. Our local radio station here in the boonies of the Ozarks played it today. Of course that's not really surprising, they play deep cuts, stuff that rarely was ever played on the radio.
First listen to Zappa in 68. The man could play any instrument as well as anyone. And did as there were some recordings where he was the only musician regardless how many instruments you hear playing.
Frank did not do drugs perhaps that's why he could never get a record contract. He got disgusted and opened his own Studio. Ran his own sound equipment and mastered his own recordings. Of course he had nightclubs around the world as well even had one in the USSR. On my RUclips channel here I have a lost recording of him playing with Pink Floyd for a couple days while they were all tripping on acid. Only thing Frank was on was coffee and cigarettes. LOL
You have not heard listen to his Dynamo humm.
gotta love a mic'd up PIGNOSE amp!
Primus might be an interesting choice if you like musical craftsmenship and fun/foolish lyrics
Ruth Underwood is an american treasure, FYI, Mr composer.
Uncle meat. Listen to that
Joes Garage in case you missed it.
The line, "I'd raise me some peas, but I'd leave the sweet stuff for somebody else' is an analogy of his entire approach to music. You want sweet and relaxing love songs, then go elsewhere, he is going to be in your face and push the boundaries musically and lyrically. On another note, the female background singers were the Ikettes with Tina Turner! It was recorded in Ike's studio, and after he heard it, he refused to allow Frank to give them album credits, he thought it was crap.
It's "bees" he's raising 😊
@@progperljungman8218 bad typo, thanks for the correction. Note to self, do not quote when extremely buzzed
@@suzycreamcheese6784 Yeah, great example for a totally different style musically. (Think you wanted your comment to be out in the main tier through?)
@@suzycreamcheese6784 Would call that one a parody of a love song though...
@@suzycreamcheese6784 that was my comment, but LOML is not a sweet love song, it just sounds like one. It is sarcasm, look at the lyrics, basic message, stay with me so I won't be lonely, is that a love song? All his doo wop style songs are less in your face, but I saw him play LOML live, he mocks love songs with it.
Pretty much anything you hear during a Zappa song was intentional. Zappa was objectively one of the most skilled composers of his time, and he was very particular about his music. How many other composers of the rock heyday could get the London Symphony Orchestra to record two full albums of music he composed and arranged?
This piece is, as most of Franks "comical" music, is actually social satire. In this case it's a bust on what was the dream of many 60's hippies, dropping out, moving to the wilderness and "raising up" their own crop of marijuana (dental floss).
It sounds like Black Midi got a bit from FZ
go early... check out lumpy gravy... or uncle meat.
check out enter shikari - arguing with thermometers, you'll definetely love it! :D
All the voices you mentioned: Tina Turner and the Ikettes.
somehow all my life i hear john lennon in this song
Zappa's "musical jokes" might better be compared to Spike Jones, whose influence Zappa acknowledged. He also was transfixed by the musique concrete of Edgard Varese when he was young, and that plays into the equation.
And well one of Zappa's live albums is literally titled "Does humor belong in music?", so there's that... but it would be a mistake to think Zappa was strictly a humorous music sort of novelty act, he put out 60 albums while he was alive and they contain a treasure trove of unique creativity of wide range.
Joes Garage
Well it's random so is life
Ylvis is Norwegians, very talented.
I am not certain of this and I have not heard this as any fact but I wonder if he wasn't writing some of this lyrical content for his kids? Or his kids writing some of it for him?
Do check out Motor Totemist Guild, by all means!
The ironi of USA....❤😂😅😮
Captain Beefhart ...backround
Listen to Frank's No No No No No
Stop talking over it and listen, as a musician yourself, it's bad manners to interrupt, listen then comment AFTER !
Try his song Billy The Mountain.
I wouldn’t call this comedy music. No other “comedy music” sounds like this
Oh, so YOU are critiquing Frank Zappa HA HA byw didn’t you know that that’s Tina rurner and the Ikettes on background Vox?
You just slow the tape down to get the deep voice
If you are going to listen and react, you need to listen. You're running your mouth and missing key moments. Then you begin to think about his music, and ramble on about some comedy band, I don't even know who you're talkin about or why. I am a huge Zappa fan, and do appreciate your insights into this song, but listen and react, then talk about your reaction.
Inka roads...
zappa is always show the ridicule side of the human society the américan society he play every kind of music country rock jazz classic doo hop rap ect
dummy up
There's nothing funny about "five-five-FIVE" ;)
Of all of the songs for a composer to listen to, why are you guys sending him the super accessible/commercial stuff? Anything off of One Size Fits All is better than Montana and light years past Yellow Snow. Not even on the same planet.
There are literally dozens of songs that showcase Frank’s work better than these.
Reuben and the Jets