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desdemona

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my favorite zappa album, I didn't have many at the time, I've since collected more albums of his that demonstrate his great guitar playing and and talented band, such as "the best band you never heard in your life" and "shut up n play your guitar" which was zappa's answer to critics that his albums were too much talk and not enough musicianship. I can still remember listening to "filmore east 1971" as a teenager, it was sort of a cult album, we played it when parents weren't around, closeted in our rooms, lol anyways, john lennon used the cover for one of his inside covers on "Sometime in New York City". Below a review and the tracks from "Filmore east 1971"

by William Ruhlmann

Frank Zappa was one of the most accomplished composers of the rock era; his music combines an understanding of and appreciation for such contemporary classical figures as Stravinsky, Stockhausen, and Varese with an affection for late-'50s doo wop rock & roll and a facility for the guitar-heavy rock that dominated pop in the '70s. But Zappa was also a satirist whose reserves of scorn seemed bottomless and whose wicked sense of humor and absurdity have delighted his numerous fans, even when his lyrics crossed over the broadest bounds of taste. Finally, Zappa was perhaps the most prolific record-maker of his time, turning out massive amounts of music on his own Barking Pumpkin label and through distribution deals with Rykodisc and Rhino after long, unhappy associations with industry giants like Warner Brothers and the now-defunct MGM.

Zappa became interested in music early and pursued his studies in school, up through a six-month stint at Chaffey College in Alta Loma, CA. He scored a couple of low-budget films and used the money to buy a low-budget recording studio. In 1964, he joined a local band called The Soul Giants, which, over the course of the next two years, evolved into The Mothers, who played songs written by Zappa. The band was signed to the Verve division of MGM by producer Tom Wilson in 1966 and recorded its first album, a two-LP set called Freak Out!, which introduced Zappa's interests in both serious music and pop as well as his scathing wit. (Verve insisted on adding "of Invention" to the band's name.)

Subsequent albums extended the musical and lyrical themes of the debut, and they came frequently. Three albums, for example, hit the charts in 1968: We're Only in It for the Money, a Mothers album that made fun of hippies and Sgt. Pepper; Lumpy Gravy, a Zappa solo album recorded with an orchestra; and Cruising with Ruben & the Jets, on which The Mothers played neo-doo wop. Toward the end of the '60s, Zappa expanded The Mothers lineup, turning more toward instrumental jazz-rock, much of which displayed his technically accomplished guitar playing. But by the end of the decade, he had broken up the band.

In 1970, however, Zappa reassembled a new edition of The Mothers, featuring former Turtles lead singers Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan as frontmen. The lineup moved the group more in the direction of X-rated comedy, notably on the album Fillmore East June 1971, but it was short-lived: during a performance at the Rainbow Theatre in London, Zappa was pushed from the stage by a demented fan and seriously injured.

While he recovered, Zappa released several albums, then he re-formed The Mothers with himself as lead singer and made pop/rock albums, such as Over-nite Sensation, which were among his best-selling records ever. By the end of the '70s, Zappa was recording on his own labels, distributed in some cases by the majors, and he had attracted a consistent cult following for both his humor and his complex music. (Zappa's band, in fact, became a training ground for high-quality rock musicians, much as Miles Davis's was for jazz players.)

In the '80s, Zappa gained the rights to his old albums and began to reissue them, at first on his own and then through the pioneering Rykodisc CD label. He wrote his autobiography and embarked on a world tour in 1988. That was the end of his live performing, except for such isolated appearances as one in Czechoslovakia at the invitation of its post-Communist president, Zappa fan Vaclav Havel. In late 1991, it was confirmed that Zappa was seriously ill with cancer. Nevertheless, his schedule of album releases continued to be rapid. Zappa died in December of 1993, with a number of posthumous releases to follow.

http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&u...l=Byx1uak4k5m3k

1. Little House I Used to Live In performed by Frank Zappa & the Mothers - 4:41

2. The Mud Shark performed by Frank Zappa & the Mothers - 5:22 3. 3. What 3. Kind of Girl Do You Think We Are? performed by Frank Zappa & the Mothers 4. Bwana Dik performed by Frank Zappa & the Mothers - 2:21 5. 5. Latex Solar 5. Beef performed by Frank Zappa & the Mothers - 2:38

6. Willie the Pimp, Pt. 1 performed by Frank Zappa & the Mothers - 4:03

7. Do You Like My New Car? performed by Frank Zappa & the Mothers -

8. Happy Together performed by Frank Zappa & the Mothers - 2:57

9. Lonesome Electric Turkey performed by Frank Zappa & the Mothers - 2:32 10. Peaches en Regalia performed by Frank Zappa & the Mothers - 3:22

11. Tears Began to Fall performed by Frank Zappa & the Mothers - 2:45

http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&u...l=Axfivadskv8wn]

Edited by desdemona
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  • 2 weeks later...

Mine is The Grand Wazoo. This is probably the most jazz oriented of Zappa's albums. Here are some notes from the Rykodisc collection:

This 1972 album continues the mostly-instrumental, jazz-rock thread of Zappa's work, which began with HOT RATS and continued with WAKA/JAWAKA. It's a big-band setting this time, with lots of improvisation, with big brass, woodwind and percussion sections. Sal Marquez, in particular, shines on trumpet. Zappa-philes will also recognize names like Aynsley Dunbar, Don Preston and George Duke.

The five lengthy tracks include the witty "Cletus Awreetus-Awrightus," the intricate title track, the rock-edged "For Calvin (And His Next Two Hitch-Hikers)," and the more lyrical "Blessed Relief." Packaging includes a Zappa narrative that gives these tracks their conceptual continuity. Zappa was temporarily giving his satirical side a breather (it would return in due time on OVER-NITE SENSATION) and making some of his more ambitious, if often overlooked, instrumental work.

1.  The Grand Wazoo

13 : 19

2.  For Calvin (And His...)

6 : 06

3.  Cletus Awreetus-Awrightus

2 : 57

4.  Eat That Question

6 : 42

5.  Blessed Relief

7 : 59

http://www.rykodisc.com/Catalog/dump/rykoalbums_582.asp

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Zappa played with so many different musicians and embraced so many different styles that I coudn't possible pick "a favorite." So I have several.

My favorite from the Mother's era was actually his first sole effort, Hot Rats. And if I had to absolutely pick just one it woulf probably be this one.

With the older classic Mother's, I'd have to say #1 is the double album Uncle Meat, though tied in a close race for second is Weasels Ripped My Flesh and Freak Out!

Help I'm a cop! Help I'm a cop! (I think I'd rather be the mayor...) :rotfl:

Though the live stuff with Flo and Eddy, with the Turtles stuff thrown in, lol...Just Another Band From L.A. is pretty good too. Is that the one with Titties and Beer? I can't remember. And Billy The Mountain?

"Billy was a mountain...

Ethel was a tree growing off of his shoulder..."

Zappa's later stuff is so diverse--there's the jazzy instrumental phase with Sleep Dirt and Orchestral Favorites, the concept album phase withJoe's Garage I, II, III and Thingfish, the Dale and Terry Bozio era; my favorite from then being Zoot Allures, Shut and Play Yer Guitar, Son of Shut Up and Play Yer Guitar, and Return of The Son of Shut Up And Play Yer Guitar are all excellent showcases of Zappa's guitar virtuousity, though anything live that he did always had at least one gem of a solo on it.

Zappa just fucking rules. You really can't go wrong with any of his recordings. And everyone else's picks are cool too. :bigsmile: With an artist as prolific as Zappa, its not surprising that 10 different people might pick totally different favorites.

Edited by CTC Command
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HOT RATS

1. Peaches En Regalia

2. Willie The Pimp

3. Son Of Mr. Green Genes

4. Little Umbrellas

5. The Gumbo Variations

6. It Must Be A Camel

The only lyrics on this Hot Rats is "Willie The Pimp"

I'm a little pimp with my hair gassed back

Pair a khaki pants with my shoe shined black

Got a little lady ... walk the street

Tellin' all the boy that she cain't be beat

Twenny dollah bill ( I can set you straight )

Meet me onna corner boy'n don't be late

Man in a suit with a bow-tie neck

Wanna buy a grunt with a third party check

Standin' onna porch of the Lido Hotel

Floozies in the lobby love the way I sell:

HOT MEAT

HOT RATS

HOT CATS

HOT RITZ

HOT ROOTS

HOT SOOTS

HOT ZITZ

HOT MEAT

HOT RATS

HOT CATS

HOT ZITZ

HOT ROOTS

HOT SOOTS

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HOT RATS

1. Peaches En Regalia

2. Willie The Pimp

3. Son Of Mr. Green Genes

4. Little Umbrellas

5. The Gumbo Variations

6. It Must Be A Camel

The only lyrics on this Hot Rats is "Willie The Pimp"

I'm a little pimp with my hair gassed back

Pair a khaki pants with my shoe shined black

Got a little lady ... walk the street

Tellin' all the boy that she cain't be beat

Twenny dollah bill ( I can set you straight )

Meet me onna corner boy'n don't be late

Man in a suit with a bow-tie neck

Wanna buy a grunt with a third party check

Standin' onna porch of the Lido Hotel

Floozies in the lobby love the way I sell:

HOT MEAT

HOT RATS

HOT CATS

HOT RITZ

HOT ROOTS

HOT SOOTS

HOT ZITZ

HOT MEAT

HOT RATS

HOT CATS

HOT ZITZ

HOT ROOTS

HOT SOOTS

fave zappa track?...." willie the pimp "

fave zappa album? " hot rats "

frank zappa is my god...i worship at his altar.

he wipes the floor with most world - ranked guitar players of the last 30 years...his writing and lyricsm (although at times somewhat anal), arranging and production abilities can hardly be surpassed in the latter half of the 20th century in terms of rock music....his political commentary and observation was brilliant....and he had a good time while he did it...you can`t ask more than that.....have i said enough....and he worked with some of the best....

__________________________________________________

Steve Vai started working for Frank Zappa as a music transcriber in September 1979. Some of Steve's transcriptions were published in 'The Frank Zappa Guitar Book' (Munchkin Music, 1982). Shortly after Steve joined as a transcriber, '[Frank] asked me if I'd do some overdubs for 'You Are What You Is'. So I ended up redoing about 80% of the guitars on the album. He had me down to rehearsal, and I got the gig.'

'Going on the road with Frank Zappa at such a young age [20] was a bit traumatic...', remembers Steve. Tommy Mars recalled a particularly traumatic incident for Radio 1's 'Air Sculpture', the first part of a two part Frank Zappa documentary broadcast on 20 November 1994. Tommy: 'I remember one time that we were finishing up rehearsal; it was the second or last day of rehearsal when everything had to be memorized and it was a particularly difficult body of material that we were doing. And the show 'Entertainment Tonight' was filming us at the same time and Steve Vai was in the band and this was his first tour [the autumn 1980 US tour, from October to December]. I forget the tune we were doing but it was [an] incredibly difficult tune and we all had to have our music memorized. Well, they were up on Steve's hands and, you know, with the camera, and I don't think he had ever had the film crew next to him before. And it's - if you haven't had it - it's a little bit unnerving sometime and rather violating. Let alone the fact that this was his like first or second time he'd ever done it straight from memory and we're going out on the road in three days and we have this Halloween show that we're going to be doing live on MTV and so... Steve started to like forget some parts and he made a few clams.

'And Frank got really pissed at him and, like, devastated him and said, you know, "I don't even know if you're roadable" and, you know, "If you clam up on this little thing imagine what you're gonna do on 'Saturday Night Live'." And poor Steve revered Frank so intensely... And he didn't really screw up, he just made a couple of little clams. And I think maybe Frank was just feeling weird about something and he lashed out. And, I mean, it really was terrible on Steve. He, like, lost it and he said, "Frank, I'm sorry, I didn't want to disappoint you." And Frank, his retort to that was, "You know, I don't know if you're roadable." And this is like the kiss of death to Steve. To me, it was just like, "Well, paps [sic] isn't in a very good mood, Steve." So, you know, I talked to Frank after that. I says, "What were you doing? Do you want this kid to have a nervous breakdown tonight?" He says, "Why? Do you think he took it that hard?"'

Steve toured with Zappa and played on several albums including 'Shut Up 'N' Play Yer Guitar' (1981), 'Tinsel Town Rebellion' (1981), 'You Are What You Is' (1981), Ship Arriving Too Late To Save A Drowning Witch' (1982) and 'The Man From Utopia' (1983). Shortly after leaving Zappa Steve released two eclectic solo albums, 'Flex-Able' (1984) and 'Flex-Able Leftovers' (1984). Steve then replaced Yngwie Malmsteen in Alcatrazz, recording an album entitled 'Disturbing The Peace' (1985), then made his infamous appearance in the film 'Crossroads' (1986). After leaving Alcatrazz Steve recorded two albums with ex-Van Halen frontman David Lee Roth, 'Eat 'Em And Smile' (1986) and 'Skyscraper' (1988) then joined Whitesnake for the 'Slip Of The Tongue' (1989) album. Steve then released his solo instrumental album 'Passion And Warfare' (1990) and formed his own band, Vai, who released one album, 'Sex And Religion' (1993), before disbanding. Steve's latest release is a solo instrumental EP called 'Alien Love Secrets' (1995).

Steve made a guest appearance on the first night of the 'Zappa's Universe' concerts on 7 November 1991 which led to another concert of Zappa compositions in April 1995. 'Conductor Joel Thome had originally put 'Zappa's Universe' together in New York, and those shows were the basis for the record. I played several pieces on that, and received a Grammy for playing on 'Sofa'. Anyway, Joel has been trying to put it together again, and we have been working on five or six pieces of my own. When he arranged to do the Zappa music with the Seattle Symphony, I was really excited to do it.'

DJN: Do you think your technique is at its peak now [shortly after the release of 'Alien Love Secrets'] or were your chops sharpest when you were playing with Zappa? SV: Well, my technique with Frank was not nearly as good as it is now. Although I may have had more chops, you know... I mean they were sloppy chops. Maybe back with David Lee Roth during 'Eat 'Em and Smile' (1986) my chops were maybe at their height but right now my taste factor is so much better. My maturity as a musician and a guitar player are at their peak. DJN: There's a rumour that you transcribed the solo in 'Inca Roads' from memory while you were on the tour bus. SV: Oh, huh, huh. Where did you hear that? DJN: It was in a guitar magazine - 'Guitar World' from last year [April 1994, page 54]. SV: Oh, that's funny! I thought I only mentioned [it] to somebody once. But yeah, I did. I love that solo so much. DJN: Would you say it was your favourite Frank Zappa guitar solo then? SV: I'd say that's probably my favourite. It's between that, 'Watermelon In Easter Hay', 'Zoot Allures' or 'Black Napkins'.

DJN: What are your favourite musical memories of playing with Zappa? SV: We were doing 'Zoot Allures'... We were playing in New York and it was the soundcheck and we were doing it in the soundcheck and Frank did one of the most incredible solos I've ever seen him do, ever. He was just... He was just on and he was connected and he went for it and it was the most incredible solo I ever saw him perform. And believe me, I've seen and heard more than probably anyone else, you know. DJN: Was it recorded? SV: No. No. And I remember I had a dream once that it was recorded and we listened back to it. But it was just a dream [laughs].

DJN: What was the most challenging guitar playing that you did with Zappa? SV: Oh boy - I could write a book about that... Just songs that were really hard to play on the guitar execution-wise. You know - they weren't made for the guitar. Songs like, um, 'Moggio', and 'Envelopes' and 'Drowning Witch', umm, 'Sinister Footwear', uh, 'The Black Page'... Stuff like that was just like - woah! Stuff I really loved too like 'RDNZL' - we have this incredible version of 'RDNZL' [steve plays on 'RDNZL' from 'You Can't Do That Onstage Anymore Vol 5' (1992)] and 'Sofa' - he used to let me really, really play. DJN: You've said that you've had some of your most profound musical experiences playing with Zappa. Could you explain what you meant by that? SV: Well, with Frank, I mean...[sighs] I didn't realize it until afterwards when I saw how difficult it is to create and come up with inspiring things. I would flashback on Frank and like soundchecks and stuff where he would just sit there or stand there in front of the band with a smile on his face or breaking into laughter... He would just compose the wildest stuff right there on the spot. Really beautiful stuff and then throw these weird twists and turns in it. And the way that he manipulated the forces of music to do his bidding was quite a spectacle. There's your quote [laughs]!

DJN: The title of your 'Alien Love Secrets' album (1995) is almost the same as your widely misunderstood Guitar Player column from a few years ago ['Martian Love Secrets']. SV: Yeah [laughs]. Widely misunderstood, yeah. DJN: Is that where the title comes from? SV: Pretty much. I always liked 'Martian Love Secrets' and I wanted to use it some place else with more significance. But the word 'Martian' sounds so confining. You know, 'Alien' sort of gives it a bigger picture. But the actual phrase came from... It was written on the wall... 'Martian Love Secrets' - it was written on the wall of a toilet in the men's bathroom at the Record Plant in 1970 that Frank Zappa read. So there you have it!

______________________________________________________

Frank Zappa was an American composer, guitarist, and satirist of the 1960s, '70s, and '80s.

Zappa was, in no apparent order, a first-rate cultural gadfly dedicated to upsetting American suburban complacency and puncturing the hypocrisy and pretensions of both the U.S. political establishment and the counterculture that opposed it; a contemporary orchestral composer uncompromisingly rooted in 20th-century avant-garde tradition; a rock bandleader who put together a series of stellar ensembles both under the rubric of the Mothers of Invention and under his own name; an erudite lover of the most esoteric traditions of rock and roll and of rhythm and blues; an innovative record producer whose use of high-speed editing techniques predated the later innovations of hip-hop; and one of the premier electric guitar improvisers of a generation that included Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, and Jeff Beck. One of the great polymaths of the rock era who, arguably, possessed a broader range of skills and interests than any of his peers, he was an instinctive postmodernist who demolished the barriers and hierarchies separating "high" and "low" culture.

Zappa was a prolific workaholic who released more than 60 albums in his 30-year career. His first release with the original Mothers of Invention, the conceptual double album Freak Out! (1966), was a key influence on the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, released the following year. By way of wry acknowledgment, the cover of the Mothers' third album, We're Only in It for the Money (1967), parodied that of Sgt. Pepper's, just as the music challenged the Beatles' visions of love and beauty with the deliberate "ugliness" with which Zappa assailed what he saw as the totalitarian philistinism of the establishment and the vacuous fatuity of many aspects of hippie subculture. Zappa was not a hippie, he claimed. He was a "freak."

After retiring the name the Mothers of Invention in the late 1970s, Zappa withdrew from explicit political commentary and released, under his own name, the enormously influential jazz-rock fusion album Hot Rats (1969), which featured a memorable vocal from his old friend Don Van Vliet, better known as Captain Beefheart.

Throughout the 1970s Zappa released instrumental albums that featured orchestral music, jazz, his own guitar improvisations, and, later, synthesizers and sequencers. He also released rock-oriented vocal albums that, like most of his live concerts, specialized in jaw-dropping displays of technical virtuosity and crowd-pleasing exercises in misogynistic grossness such as "Titties & Beer" (1978) and "Jewish Princess" (1979).

In the 1980s, by contrast, Zappa was sufficiently angered by the policies of U.S. President Ronald Reagan's administration to rediscover politics. He set up voter-registration booths in the lobbies of his concerts and memorably testified against censorship at the Parents' Music Resource Center hearings in 1985 in Washington, D.C.

In 1982 he had an unlikely hit single with "Valley Girl," which featured a rap by his daughter Moon Unit; and, shortly before his death from prostate cancer in 1993, he was finally recognized as a composer of "serious" music when his Yellow Shark suite was performed and recorded by Berlin's Ensemble Modern.

Zappa was posthumously honored when a set of his pieces was performed during the Proms festival at London's Royal Albert Hall. Considering that he had been banned from the Albert Hall in 1970 when the theatre manager objected to some of the saltier lyrics from Zappa's motion picture 200 Motels (1971), this was no mean achievement. Zappa was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995.

Frank Zappa

(in full Frank Vincent Zappa)

born Dec. 21, 1940, Baltimore, Md., U.S.

died Dec. 4, 1993, Los Angeles, Calif.

_____________________________________________________

" FRANK ZAPPA is the most prolific composer and recording artist of the 20th Century. Besides his guitar mastery, Zappa’s ability of incorporating any style into his unique body of work is unprecedented! Even before his death in 1993, Frank Zappa attained artistic success and respect in the rock and classical worlds. In recent years, an increasing number of classical ensembles have included Zappa’s music on program including other great masters, such as Mozart and Rossini. "

______________________________________________________

THE YELLOW SHARK consists of Frank Zappa compositions commissioned by the German orchestra Modern Ensemble in September 1992. The tracks included here are Zappa's reconstructions of these pieces, as well as early tracks and more recent songs.

Personnel: Frank Zappa (spoken vocals, conductor).

Ensemble Modern includes: Peter Rundel (conductor, violin); Hilary Stuart (spoken vocals, viola); Herman Kretzschmar (spoken vocals, piano, harpsichord, celeste); Jurgen Ruck (guitar, banjo); Claudia Sack (violin); Friedemann Dahn (violincello); Ueli Wiget (harp, piano, harpsichord, celeste); Wolfgang Stryi (bass & contrabass clarinets, tenor saxophone); Catherine Milliken (oboe, English horn, didgeridoo); William Formann, Michael Gross (trumpet, flugelhorn, piccolo trumpet, cornet); Michael Svoboda (trombone, euphonium, didgeridoo, alphorn); Uwe Dierksen (trombone, soprano trombone); Stefan Dohr (horn); Thomas Fichter (acoustic & electric basses); Rumi Ogawa-Helferich (cymbalom, percussion); Andreas Bottger (percussion).

Includes liner notes by Rip Rense, Frank Zappa and Peter Rundel.

Frank Zappa was not only a great satirist, an incredible guitarist and eclectic bandleader, he was also one of the most prolific composers of the 20th century. His avant-garde instrumental compositions ranged from the ridiculously absurd to outright masterpieces. On a series of European concerts in 1992, the unique Ensemble Modern performed many of Zappa's works for contemporary orchestra as well as arrangements of some of his instrumental rock pieces and assorted sketches. The recorded result is the magnificent THE YELLOW SHARK.

This once-in-a-lifetime event is one of the few chances to hear Zappa's compositional genius performed by an ensemble that could execute such dramatic colors and textures the way FZ intended. The grandeur of the opening "Dog Breath Variations" sets the stage for the ensuing hurricane of sounds. The agitation of "Outrage At Valdez" and the dark string ensemble piece "Times Beach II" are balanced by lighter works like "Be-Bop Tango" and "Pound For A Brown." "Food Gathering In Post-Industrial America, 1992" and "Welcome To The United States" are ingenious combinations of narration and sound effects yielding hilarious results. Finally, the closing "G-Spot Tornado" is a powerful exclamation of Zappa's contemporary compositional design.....

nice thread guys....

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Edited by kiwibank
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  • 4 weeks later...

My intro into the world that is Zappa was the Joes Garage series. I know its not his best work but it was my gateway, since then I have listened to and collected quite a bit of his discography and even managed to see him perform live a couple of times.

Also Kiwibank, I too am a fan of the Tuna (got into them during my days of following the Grateful Dead) NRPS will always be a favorite band of mine as well :D .

I am still looking for a decent copy of their second album "First Pull tip, Then Pull Down (RCA LSP-4550) 1971" has it ever been released as a CD?

and for anyone who hasn't experienced the Tuna I reccomend the Live at Sweetwater releases, some great jammin' on those albums.

Peace

-Psychotronic420-

Edited by Psychotronic420
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New Riders and Hot Tuna fan here :)...

But back to topic. I remember being at the Mayor's House in my small town growing up in the sixties. They had some tv doc about the new music coming out. Frank Zappa was being interviewed on the Sunset Strip, and my bud turned to everyone and said, "Oh mny God, he's an anarchist!" From that moment, I liked Zappa immediately and rushed out to buy Freak Out

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The first Zappa albums I ever heard were, "Absolutely Free" & "We're only in it for the Money"

I had some hippie, beatnik uncles and as I kid I would sneak in there room when they were gone and trip out on the wild music they had. lol

I was definately hooked by Zappa's sense of humor and by the time "Hot Rat's" and "Weasels ripped my flesh" came out I was way avid over his music.

I recently found a few albums I had not heard of before of his.

One was titled "Piquantique"

and the other was a japanese import called

"Boulez conducts Zappa" and it is Zappa not just someone playing his music. I found a write up on it.

It's interesting to still find stuff I had not heard of his just pop up now and then. lol

btw I live in his hometown lol

peace

Little blurb of allmusic.com about Boulez conducts Zappa:

Having recorded some works with a large orchestra in January 1983, in January 1984, Frank Zappa arranged for some of his chamber works to be performed by Pierre Boulez's Ensemble InterContemporain, a 16-piece group. "The Perfect Stranger," "Naval Aviation In Art?," and "Dupree's Paradise" were given this treatment, and the four remaining tracks are the product of Zappa's music synthesizer, the Synclavier. As usual, Zappa's "serious" works are rhythmically interesting and make for challenging listening. Originally released on LP on the classical Angel/EMI label, this album was reissued on CD on Zappa's Barking Pumpkin label in 1992, at which time he resequenced it. — William Ruhlmann

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Edited by rickio
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My intro into the world that is Zappa was the Joes Garage series. I know its not his best work but it was my gateway, since then I have listened to and collected quite a bit of his discography and even managed to see him perform live a couple of times.

Also Kiwibank, I too am a fan of the Tuna (got into them during my days of following the Grateful Dead) NRPS will always be a favorite band of mine as well  :D .

I am still looking for a decent copy of their second album "First Pull tip, Then Pull Down (RCA LSP-4550) 1971" has it ever been released as a CD?

and for anyone who hasn't experienced the Tuna I reccomend the Live at Sweetwater releases, some great jammin' on those albums.

Peace

-Psychotronic420-

howdy Psychotronic420...i know that this isn`t on the subject of zappa, but to answer your question i had every track from " first pull up then down " in mp3 form on my hd and lost them by mistake during a partition botch-up....mate..what a fucking disaster...i never managed to get them on to cd. the russian mp3 website www.grammy.ru had every single hot tuna album for free download in 192 bitrate, track by track.....that`s where i got "fputd" and other hot tuna goodies like the long, live versions of " keep your lamps trimmed and burning " and " rock me baby ". the site has been down lately though.... also to be found on opennap servers on a good nite..i`ve also seen that album advertised on amazon and ebay.....

Artist: Hot Tuna

Title: First Pull Up, Then Pull Down

Date: 1971

Label: RCA Records LSP-4550

Album Cover Drawings By: Margareta Kaukonen

" It doesn't matter if it's acoustic or electric...it's always Tuna. Jorma is a master of the guitar and Jack the bass. Together, and with their friends, they chug along and take us with them. I had always felt that they were the core of the Airplane and that they escaped all that Starship stuff relatively unscathed. The roots of this music can be found in old gospel songs and down home blues. The voice comes across as one that has talked through the night, through a haze of smoke and across vocal cords lubricated with a mighty brew. The soaring fiddle lines produced by Papa John still raise those little hairs at the back of the neck. Very interesting line work graces the cover and it came with a matching sleeve as well. If you enjoy Hot Tuna you may be interested in looking up some of the original songs by the Rev. Gary Davis to see where Jorma found his muse. "

Line Up:

Jack Casady: bass guitar

Jorma Kaukonen: guitar and vocals

Papa John Creach: violin

Sammy Piazza: drummer extrordinaire

Will Scarlet: harmonica

Track Listing

Side 1

John's Other

Candy Man

Been So Long

Want You to Know

Side 2

Keep Your Lamps Trimmed and Burning

Never Happen No More

Come Back Baby

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Edited by kiwibank
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.... the russian mp3 website www.grammy.ru .... the site has been down lately though....

that was a great site, when it was up ... after the first time you first mentioned it, i made many visits there ... sooooo much music ... would be great if it could come back to life again ...

: )

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