Frank Zappa

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

6 hours ago, Rooster_Ties said:

Ike Willis is -- or damn well sure ought to be -- considered a national treasure.  "Outside Now" is such a fantastic tune.  The version on Broadway The Hard Way was one of the very first post-70's Zappa albums I ever heard -- and that whole '88 live band was totally the shit.  Must have listened to Broadway, Best Band, and Jazz Noise on repeat for a whole year when I first got them in the early 90's.

Ike's voice is seriously one of the most beautiful and interesting voices in all of pop/rock/jazz/you-name-it.

 

Chewy's top ten concerts 2017:

10. Steve Hillage
9. Willie Nelson
8. Peter Frampton
7. Ziggy Marley
6. Dave Mason
5. Santana
4. Queen
3. Carl Palmer
2. Pharoah Sanders
1. Ike Willis

 

[felser]

I'm all in until Flo and Eddie killed it, all back in with the early 70' instrumental stuff, and sort of OK post-Flo/Eddie through the album with Beefheart.  LOVE the version of "Trouble Every Day" on "Roxy and Elsewhere", but don't ever listen to anything else on it, and mostly disinterested after that.  Agree that he became just mean (and overly vulgar) as he went on.  The early albums were brilliant, both with the original Mothers and the Don Preston et al permutations of it, and things like "Waka/Jawaka" and "The Grand Wazoo".

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

[Scott Dolan]

8 hours ago, felser said:

I'm all in until Flo and Eddie killed it, all back in with the early 70' instrumental stuff, and sort of OK post-Flo/Eddie through the album with Beefheart.  LOVE the version of "Trouble Every Day" on "Roxy and Elsewhere", but don't ever listen to anything else on it, and mostly disinterested after that.  Agree that he became just mean (and overly vulgar) as he went on.  The early albums were brilliant, both with the original Mothers and the Don Preston et al permutations of it, and things like "Waka/Jawaka" and "The Grand Wazoo".

Have you listened to the albums from the '88 tour? Our musical tastes seem to be very similar, so I'm wondering if you would like those. Make A Jazz Noise Here is possibly my favorite Zappa album. 

[felser]

6 hours ago, Scott Dolan said:

Have you listened to the albums from the '88 tour? Our musical tastes seem to be very similar, so I'm wondering if you would like those. Make A Jazz Noise Here is possibly my favorite Zappa album. 

I actually do have and like "Make a Jazz Noise Here", though I thought that was just sort of an oddball outlier in the narrative.  Any other suggestions based on that?

[Scott Dolan]

Yes, the other two from that tour: Broadway The Hard Way, and The Best Band You've Never Heard In Your Life. 

Neither are as strong, IMO, but still have a lot of great music on them. Heavy Duty Judy from Best Band is some of his most aggressive playing ever. Hot Plate Heaven At The Green Hotel and Outside Now from Broadway are definitive versions. 

 

[mjzee]

Not sure which is the "official" Zappa thread in our Artists forum, so I'll post this in both (can they be combined?):

https://www.zappa.com/news/frank-zappas-beloved-live-double-album-zappa-new-york-celebrated-suite-40th-anniversary

[mjzee]

Release date December 20:

https://www.zappa.com/news/frank-zappas-legendary-1969-album-hot-rats-celebrated-massive-50th-anniversary-six-disc?fbclid=IwAR2FJgKQGbQ0LX8j9b9TDNxd6fkrWdCEQIdKTmOICD30XL9a8WZjGCthqr4

[BFrank]

5 hours ago, mjzee said:

Release date December 20:

https://www.zappa.com/news/frank-zappas-legendary-1969-album-hot-rats-celebrated-massive-50th-anniversary-six-disc?fbclid=IwAR2FJgKQGbQ0LX8j9b9TDNxd6fkrWdCEQIdKTmOICD30XL9a8WZjGCthqr4

YIKES!

I was really excited until I looked at the track list of all SIX disks. WAY too many Alt Takes. It would make a nice 3-disk set, IMO.

[mikeweil]

Looks like a deep look into the Utility Muffin Research Kitchen. 

If Miles deserves this kind of treatment, why not Zappa?

[7/4]

Family needs money, bad! 

[Д.Д.]

I will definitely be playing this one once it's on Spotify, even though Hot Rats is far from the best Zappa, IMO.      

Good they included the 1987 remix too (which, I hope, they had remastered), it's significantly different from the original 1969 mix.  

[JSngry]

6 CDs and no room for the original LP mix?

[Д.Д.]

12 minutes ago, JSngry said:

6 CDs and no room for the original LP mix?

Original LP mix was released on CD in 2012. 

[JSngry]

Ah, ok.

[felser]

I'd be interested in six disks worth, but not at anything near the $125 list price.  Will hope for a smaller set to come out.

[Д.Д.]

Edited December 24, 2019 by Д.Д.

[porcy62]

I was a Zappafanatic for ages, I think I bought all the different mix that was around of his recordings. BUT this relentless reissues mania knocked me down. I rised my white flag ten years ago and I will not look back.

[mjzee]

At least there's movement.  When Gail was alive, the rap was that archival material was being released at a glacier's pace.  They're now trying to make up for lost time, while there's still a market.  It appears that Dweezil's badmouthing of Ahmet was unfounded.

[BFrank]

Cost-wise, I noticed that Amazon reduced the pre-order price about 25% soon after it was announced. Still a little pricey for a collection of alt-takes, though.

[Д.Д.]

Hot Rats sessions on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/5HtSs1Y0MsCTPHpXBvVS2t

A lot of Don 'Sugarcane' Harris here.  

[BFrank]

I listened to quite a bit of this on Amazon Music and it's hugely disappointing. The repetitive raw and alt-takes plus the spare studio chatter throughout is not something I would listen to more than once. Definitely not worth the price unless you happen to be a FZ completist. I'm sure Frank would be very unhappy that this set was released.

[felser]

7 hours ago, BFrank said:

I'm sure Frank would be very unhappy that this set was released.

Backed up by the fact that he never did release anything like this during his own lifetime, and it was not released until 25 years after his passing.   This might be doable as a $50 release, but certainly not as a $100 release.   

[Daniel A]

I listened to roughly half of it on Spotify. I think it holds up for repeated listens. Several tracks with Ian Underwood on acoustic piano that are nice. He lays down some good voicings. Since I don't have a booklet I can't check who it is, but someone is playing very jazzy double bass on those tracks. 

[jazzbo]

That's likely Max Bennett.