u/clarkealistair

What are your thoughts on Zappa’s evolution throughout his career as a composer?

I’ve seen people argue that Uncle Meat was everything he set out to do and the height of his creativity.
Perhaps for the few years it took to create Uncle Meat, however, with the orchestral albums and synclaviar recordings under assessment, I would argue that Zappa continued to push himself.

As Zappa was continually writing his scores throughout his career, it would be interesting to hear what he wrote for non-rock ensembles during different periods.

From what I gather, there is much more orchestral material than originally thought. What was written during the time of Sheik Yerbouti?

Also, I was listening to Alien Orifice just before.
From the title, I imagined two old people trying anal for the first time. Stops and starts. Then it gets interesting for them. Don’t know why I added that but it saves a separate thread.

I once thought that once FZ invited someone to audition, they would be almost a shoe-in. Then I remembered that Don Van Vliet failed the audition twice.
I have questions. What standard was Don held to prior to audition?

Also, imagine showing up to audition, nailing it then having Vinnie show up?

I saw Ben Watson on Andy Edwards’ YouTube channel.
He looks in bad shape. I read his book and thought it was a piece of shit.

The credits are rolling.
The end hit harder than I expected.
Great to see the Zappa alum and footage I had not seen before. Has Stevie Vai had a facelift?

The most poignant moment for me was an elderly Bruce Bickford working in his Connecticut workshop.

The music sounds great!

It arrived yesterday. Put the blu-ray on and relaxed.

Un-fucking-believable.

I finally got my Sonos together and decided to order Waka/Wazoo. The prices collectors are asking are what you’d expect.

Anyone here from the old newsgroup? I was on from about 1995 when I was studying.

This is fantastic! Chunga’s Revenge is gorgeous- possibly my favourite recorded arrangement.

I can see why FZ put this on the back burner. He had too many project that took priority.

The Lost Episodes ends on Sharleena recorded by this ensemble. That speaks volumes.

Twinkle Tits is lovely.

I was in the shower thinking about the lude era, which was before my time.

Could Walter White have synthesised quaaludes? If so, he would have cornered a market.

Sorry, this if question is Saul adjacent

I started listening to Judee around 2018. It was right before my Son was born. I would listen to her two studio albums on the way to work.

If you have heard those albums, you can understand why I was reduced to a blubbering mess a number of occasions. I blamed Andy Partridge personally when we were both on Twitter. “Nuclear level emotions” said Andy in his reply and we both had a great conversation for a while about the significance of Judee. Then he quit Twitter due to hatred.

What has this to do with Frank?
Judee’s husband was Bob Harris of the Flo & Eddie band. That and they were Canyon people.

Hoping to form a discussion from people here.
Jim Gordon is on it for example.

Ryko had the catalogue for how many years?

In that time, they released a bunch of shitty compilations which nobody asked for nor needed.

Seriously- how did they fuck the pooch after spending so much to accommodate the catalog?

Edit: I bought the catalog via Ryko in the 90s. I’m glad that the catalog was made available but so many lost potential.

The last voice on Joe’s Garage.
Frank was working on a spoken word album with him.
His GF came home at drunk at 5 am and kicked him out.

Who the fuck was Al Malken?

Anyone here make that show?
I finally got to hear those lads on the podcast play with ‘88 band.

Fucking Hell!

I hope this makes a release.

Let us look at the competition?

Jesus Christ Superstar- not an opera.
Tommy- just a piece of shit.
S.F. Sorrow- whatever the fuck that album is…

I always listened to The Grand Wazoo and enjoyed Calvin as the first track. It is a perfect opener for me.

Why did FZ swap the first two tracks on later releases?

I’ve got this unofficial looking thing in front of me and god are there mistakes.

Alien Orifice- what happened?
One of the few times when I heard something and thought “Wish I hadn’t heard that.”

When I borrowed this of a mate years ago, the CD came with the libretto. This was (I thought) a great part of the experience. I bought the ‘93 two-fuh and to my disappointment, no fucking libretto. Just some art and another damn ryko catalogue.

Is it part of the Universal release?

The libretto sets some scenes which I found poignant when not frightening.

Was Ed Mann planned to tour in addition to the two keyboardists?

A lot of mallet percussion is covered by a DX7, however, was that the original plan?

I’m really looking forward to hearing more from the vault. I had a boot with the show with all the guests but it cuts out near the end of Chunga’s Revenge. Zappa only kept the guest section.
Some outstanding performances by that band.

I was just in the car and realised that Zoot Allures is probably the album I’ve listened to the least. I gave it a listen again and decided that every track has a better version on other albums. I have it LP and tried it on Apple Music. Compared to other Zappa albums, it sounds flat.

I love Gas Station though. Almost as much as the Bianca recording. Friendly Little Finger is gorgeous and massively lifts the side.

Travers mentioned that it was to be a double album. Hoping to hear what we missed.