Fascinated by Zappa

Myself ^ | 6/19/08 | Me

[wireman]

Hot Rats!

From 1969...The best! What a lineup.

[jmc813]

but an extremely unfocused and, sorry, overrated artist

You are out of your mind. "Unfocused" is the absolute LAST word I'd use to describe Zappa. Have you ever attempted to play some of his numbers on any instrument?

[Dixie Yooper]

Steely Dan, Countdown to Ecstasy was my fav. My Old School one of the best songs ever.

Reeling in the Years has one of my favorite gutar solos, but I think Jeff "Skunk" Baxter is the guitarist, not Walter Becker.

[LS]

Zappa used to get the very best musicians, write out the sets they would play in concert, then 10 minutes before they went on stage, he’d go out and rearrange their music so that each one started on a different song! He thought that was hilarious. Didn’t do drugs. Weird beyond belief, though.

[McGruff]

I was gonna bitch you out for another music vanity thread but decided to join in it.

One one my friends had some Frank Zappa music. At first I thought he was nuts but it kind of grew on me. What was the album with the line “..I might be moving to Montana soon..gonna be a dental floss tycoon..” in it? That tune just came to my head.

[jmc813]

OK, I'm about to kill the productivity of all of your days, but whatever. Here's the Zappa motherlode...

You're Welcome

[gate2wire]

“...Jeff “Skunk” Baxter is the guitarist...”

Now you’re talking. Doobie Bros’ song South City Midnight Lady, another of my favs.
Have half a mind to put all these songs in the CD player and make a day of it...but it’s an awfully pretty day...maybe tonight. :-)

[Gay State Conservative]

Call me old fashioned but I have no use for anyone who names their kids “Dweezel” and “Moon Unit”.That's child abuse of the worst sort.

[jaydubya2]

I always wondered about the story behind “Smoke on the Water”: “Frank Zappa and the Mothers, had the best place around, till some punk with a flair gun, burned the place to the ground”

[my4kidsdad]

Now you’ve gone and done it....LOL...I’ll have to read this later.
Just a little background - I own virtually the entire Zappa collection in one manner or another, meaning videos, CD’s, cassettes and LP’s. Saw him 12 times live. I was absolutely and pleasantly surprised by Dweezil’s tour of Zappa playing Zappa - WELL DONE!!!

[gate2wire]

Ha. Already have Apostrophe in the player. Will check out your link tonight though. Thanks.

[real saxophonist]

Have you ever attempted to play some of his numbers on any instrument?

Better yet, have you ever tried to arrange some of his numbers for any instrument?

Echidna's Arf as a marching band drum feature, for example. One of these years I will finally finish Moggio for symphonic band...

[KosmicKitty]

My favorite Zappa is Joe’s Garage - Part 1

[dmz]

I would say his taste was questionable considerably more than sometimes. Which is, of course, absolutely irrelevant to his artistic standing. He was a social commentator along the lines of film maker John Waters, who sometimes has us looking at ourselves in a very uncomfortable fashion.

You look at his work, see that it different from record to record, and call it unfocused. OK. I look at the same body of work and say, wow, one man could do all that? To that level of expertise? Truly remarkable from where I sit.

He is under-rated as a guitar player, and way under-rated as composer. Lyrically, the juvenile locker room stuff leaves me a bit cold (as it does with John Waters), but it doesn’t prevent me from recognizing his serious talents. But, of course, all of that (like your comments) is purely subjective, personal opinion, without a single shred of objectivity.

[Hebrews 11:6]

Brown shoes don't make it
Quit school--why fake it?

TV dinners by the pool
I'm so glad I finished school!

[andy58-in-nh]

Bootleg heaven - thanks!

[Dixie Yooper]

Jeff “Skunk” Baxter

He's now a missile defense consultant.

[wideawake]

Have you ever attempted to play some of his numbers on any instrument?

I didn't say he was an unfocused composer or instrumentalist.

He was an unfocused artist.

There is a reason why one of his most popular albums is a triple disc collection entitled Shut Up And Play Yer Guitar - an album that consists entirely of his guitar solos removed from the context of his songs. And that reason is that a lot of people love his incredible guitar wizardry, but do not want to have to endure the other parts of his songs to get to them.

As an artist his approach was apparently to record literally any idea he had - whether it was a good idea or not. As a lyricist his approach was apparently to just say anything that popped into his head, unedited.

As a musician, he was peerless. As an artist, he wasn't.

All I need to do is point to Thing-Fish and rest my case.

[jaydubya2]

Interesting "skunk" comments:

"We thought turntables were for playing records until rappers began to use them as instruments, and we thought airplanes were for carrying passengers until terrorists realized they could be used as missiles," he has said. "My big thing is to look at existing technologies and try to see other ways they can be used, which happens in music all the time and happens to be what terrorists are incredibly good at."

[Dixie Yooper]

We thought turntables were for playing records until rappers began to use them as instruments, and we thought airplanes were for carrying passengers until terrorists realized they could be used as missiles," he has said. "My big thing is to look at existing technologies and try to see other ways they can be used, which happens in music all the time and happens to be what terrorists are incredibly good at." I have Al Kooper's All Star Wrestling album that Jeff Baxter played on. On the back cover he's wearing a Beverly Hill Gun Club jacket with a caption by Al Kooper saying "I wish he wouldn't wear that during contract negotiations"