The FRANK ZAPPA Appreciation Thread. (Full Version)

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Squidward Hark Bugle -> The FRANK ZAPPA Appreciation Thread. (12/7/2012 3:41:09 AM)

The

FRANK ZAPPA

Appreciation Thread

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[image]http://musicalstewdaily.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/8271-1-photo.jpg[/image]

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Frank Zappa is, in my opinion, the greatest composer of the 20th century, and one of the greatest guitarists to boot. A true musical genius, whose work I have to listen to at least once a day to keep myself going, who has influenced me to an unmeasurable extent in my own art, music or otherwise, and who has helped me, through his views and attitudes, mature and leave certain bullshit aspects of my personality behind.

So yeah, I'm a fan. [:D]

This thread is for other such fans of the man to convene and discuss what makes the man so great, when and how you discovered him, favourite tracks or albums, similar artists (Beefheart!), or anything else Zappa-related.

My current favourite album is Weasels Ripped My Flesh, with the Mothers of Invention, from 1970. The paired songs Oh No and The Orange County Lumber Truck fit so perfectly together and form such a beautiful ending (before exploding into the title track) to a very tumultuous and unpredictable album.



superdan -> RE: The FRANK ZAPPA Appreciation Thread. (12/7/2012 6:42:51 PM)

I've only got (and heard) Over-Nite Sensation, but it's an amazing album. Camarillo Brillo is one of my all-time favourite tracks.



Olaf -> RE: The FRANK ZAPPA Appreciation Thread. (13/7/2012 4:01:53 PM)

this article covers most of my views of Zappa (though he dislikes him more than I do): http://www.thewire.co.uk/articles/214/

Beefheart is a genius though. Doc at the Radar Station is the album of his I'm mainly listening to at the moment.



great_badir -> RE: The FRANK ZAPPA Appreciation Thread. (17/7/2012 1:31:23 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Olaf
this article covers most of my views of Zappa (though he dislikes him more than I do): http://www.thewire.co.uk/articles/214/

Beefheart is a genius though. Doc at the Radar Station is the album of his I'm mainly listening to at the moment.


Wow, even for The Wire that's quite a harsh article. Leaving aside how much I disagree with 95% of it (and the fact that this is a FZ APPRECIATION thread), I have to say some of what the guy says is factually incorrect.


Anyway, there are very few artists who have done such amazing and downright awful work in the space of a single career - Prince and Zappa are two of a very small group.

I generally love Zappa - an amazing guitarist, band leader, song writer, composer and thinker - but the Phlo and Eddie, early 80s studio and later synclavier stuff is a musical nadir that cannot, in my opinion, be defended, most of it being boring at best, unlistenable at worst (Billy the Mountain makes me want to tear my ears off).

However, when he was on, he was ON - late 60s Mothers, the Wazoo orchestras, the 73/74 Mothers (Roxy and Elsewhere is my favourite album), the New York Halloween big band, all of it amazing. And let's not forget he's one of a select few "popular" artists with work in just about every single genre going - jazz, punk, pop, doo-wop, prog, musical theatre, classical, avant-garde, metal, reggae, country and western, rap, folk - the list goes on and on.

In early 1992 I was very lucky to have seen Frank in Birmingham. He was a guest at a one-off UK performance of some of his modern classical works as a sort-of precursor to when he short-toured The Yellow Shark in Europe later in the year. Whilst he was just a guest, he did introduce it and also conducted the opening fanfare (which amounted to a couple of minutes on stage). Sadly there is no more to that story as he didn't hang around at the end.

Anyway, a true genius and a massive loss to music - his absence is still painfully noticable to me.



st3veebee -> RE: The FRANK ZAPPA Appreciation Thread. (17/7/2012 3:01:16 PM)

I am a huge Zappa fan, but sadly haven't listened to a fair amount of his catalogue. I first got hooked when I sumbled across One Size Fits All in Tower Records years ago. Honestly one of my favourite albums ever with particular standouts being:

Po-Jama People: Brilliant solo on top of a great cachy song, the first Zappa song I really fell in love with.

Andy: That drum beat gets me every time, and when it breaks down in the end.

Inca Roads: One of the greatest solos of all time on top of a great bass riff and beatiful harmonies. Stunning.


Zappa is one of those legends that actually is legendary.



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