Posted on 11/20/2020 9:16:02 AM PST by Kaslin
'Zappa' is a thorough introduction to the life and musical career of the most idiosyncratic and talented artists of the 20th century.
Although he departed this Earth some 27 years ago, Frank Zappa continues to both fascinate and befuddle. He fascinates because of the sheer brilliance of his guitar playing, his compositional skills, his astute and often biting satire and parody, and his invaluable ability to put together some of the most stellar band lineups of the rock era.
He befuddles, because, let’s face it, some of his lyrical output is little more than puerile scatology, often misogynistic and, frankly, and worst of all, devoid of imagination. His music, however? More often than not, it’s challenging and sublime.
From the rearview mirror, it’s obvious Zappa the artist would have been well-served by a creative partner or professional editor who might’ve been able to dissuade the main Mother of Invention from some of his more crass career lowlights. It’s to the detriment of his legacy that no such influence materialized.
On the other hand, Zappa’s headstrong independence was also one of his greatest artistic accomplishments. His relative success as an independent artist blazed trails for many, yet, by the time he formed his own record company in the late 1970s, he had already established himself on such labels as Verve and Warner Bros/Reprise, United Artists, and had helmed his Straight and Bizarre imprints.
Unsurprisingly, no substantial subjective criticism of Zappa appears in the latest documentary covering his personal life and career. Set to come out Nov. 27 and simply titled “Zappa,” this Magnolia release is helmed by “Bill & Ted” actor and documentary filmmaker Alex Winter.
As these types of passion projects go, Winter’s documentary delivers and is a must-see for true Zappa fans if, for nothing else, the heretofore unseen home footage of Zappa with his family, working with the all-female GTOs (Girls Together Outrageously), as well as intimate scenes of Zappa with the group that put him on the map in the mid-1960s: the Mothers of Invention.
The film also serves as a decent, although far from perfect, intro for the uninitiated Zappa fanatic. Indeed, if you’re not already onboard the Zappa train, this documentary won’t provide you a first-class boarding ticket.
Included in the roster of talking heads gathered to deliver respective encomiums are Steve Vai, Ruth Underwood, and Alice Cooper. For the casual music fan who may not have been aware, Cooper’s recording career received a tremendous boost signing on to Zappa’s Straight label.
That said, late 1970s band members Adrian Belew, Terry Bozzio, and a host of other extremely talented musicians are some of the noteworthy collaborators missing in action. As a catalog of Zappa’s influences, “Zappa” does a fair job, but is not nearly as extensive as the 2010 documentary “The Freak Out List.”
What Winter’s does well, however, is postulate why Zappa seemed so intent on violating middle-class decorum throughout much of his recording career; namely, a bust, brief incarceration, and seizure of allegedly pornographic audio recordings by the San Bernardino vice squad and an adolescent fascination with genuinely blowing stuff up.
The word “genius” gets tossed around quite a bit, as is the custom in most celluloid tributes to fallen rock stars. Although tantalizing song fragments abound, there’s little critical context presented to convince the uninitiated Zappa freak of the frequent assertions of Zappa’s musical genius.
Early Mothers albums receive relatively short shrift as well. Focus on the third Mothers of Invention album, “We’re Only in It for the Money,” squanders much of its discussion on the sleeve design and whether its lampoon of the Beatles’s “Sgt. Pepper” cover might spark legal recourse. Left out are the many reasons no self-respecting music collection should be without a copy of perhaps the most brilliant skewering of the counterculture ever committed to vinyl.
That Zappa could so effectively stand outside the Summer of Love to lambaste it so hilariously and effectively should’ve come as no surprise as he and his band had devastatingly tackled the media, the White House, and America at large on their two preceding albums, “Freak Out” and “Absolutely Free.”
Not that you would glean such an impression from Winter’s film, but the first three Mothers albums constitute a trifecta of 1960s American parody never before or since equaled in popular music.
As the 1960s waned, Zappa, with and without the Mothers, moved more into an instrumental territory, releasing albums with complex instrumentation and kooky titles, including “Lumpy Gravy,” “Burnt Weeny Sandwich,” and what has rightly been deemed a classic, 1969’s “Hot Rats.”
The dawn of the 1970s, however, witnessed a new version of the Mothers, featuring former Turtles Flo and Eddie (Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan) on vocals. Not much consideration is granted this era in Winter’s film, but it should be noted this incarnation of the band displayed much of the freedoms somewhat curtailed in Zappa’s recorded output of the previous decade.
While some of the material has aged well, much of it today smacks of pushing the envelope of decency too far in the wake of Lenny Bruce (who, incidentally, was once signed to Zappa’s Straight label) and other comics who refused to work “clean.”
All the while, Zappa developed his guitar and compositional mastery and even managed a return to cultural parody in his late 1970s output. By the 1980s, he had even scored a massive hit, “Valley Girl,” with his daughter Moon Unit, which is given ample consideration in the documentary. It would have been beneficial, however, for the documentary to use clips that show exactly why so many hardcore music fanatics remain infatuated with Zappa’s music.
Valuable screen time is given to Zappa’s battle against the Parents Music Resource Center and the organization’s attempts to impose a rating system on the music industry. Ultimately, Zappa lost. But, instead of the brief mention this episode truly deserves, the documentary presents Zappa as a hero for the First Amendment and all things celebrating freedom. Then, as now, this father of two daughters wonders how alerting parents to the increasingly offensive lyrical content of rock and rap music in the early 1990s crosses over into “censorship.”
Where “Zappa” shines is in the scenes bookending the film. The film’s opening sequence captures his sentiments before his final live performances in Prague to celebrate the Czech Republic’s newly established freedom from Soviet rule. His remarks to an adoring crowd serve to welcome their country’s re-entry into the free world and are worthy of inclusion in any textbook covering the end of the Cold War. Unfortunately, viewers don’t see or hear any of the music performed from those evenings.
At more than two hours, “Zappa” is a lengthy introduction to his life and musical career. If it inspires viewers unaware of his music to delve into his extensive catalog (which has more than doubled since he passed away in 1993), it serves a valuable purpose that may well be noble. For the rest of us, “Zappa” is time well spent with one of the most idiosyncratic and talented musical artists of the 20th century.
“Wait until these ‘fresh converts’ see the album cover for Joe’s Garage.”
Have you seen the cover of “Overnight Sensation?” Yikes!!
“Evelyn, a modified dog viewed the quivering fringe of a special doily draped across the piano, with some surprise”
Surprised that I can still recite it after all thee years.
I’m off to Saint Alfonso’s!
Don’t you boys know any nice songs?
Jewish Princess
“With a garlic aroma that could level Tacoma...”
He used to cut my grass. He was a very nice boy.
And Catholic Girls!
Serious classical musicians celebrate him. Musically, he was brilliant. Unfortunately, brilliant music doesn't sell. Just ask those serious classical musicians. So to make a living making art, you need to have an angle, a hustle, something to bring people in. He can't just be talented, you have to know how to put on a show. So he developed a character.
Here's Wikipedia on his politics:
In a 1991 interview, Zappa reported that he was a registered Democrat but added "that might not last long—I'm going to shred that" Describing his political views, Zappa categorized himself as a "practical conservative". He favored limited government and low taxes; he also stated that he approved of national defense, social security, and other federal programs, but only if recipients of such programs are willing and able to pay for them. He favored capitalism, entrepreneurship, and independent business, stating that musicians could make more from owning their own businesses than from collecting royalties. He opposed communism, stating, "A system that doesn't allow ownership ... has—to put it mildly—a fatal design flaw." He had always encouraged his fans to register to vote on album covers, and throughout 1988 he had registration booths at his concerts.
Evelyn....a modified dog...
L
“It’s obvious you never listened to his music.”
I have - at least since the late 1970s. I always thought he was a very good guitarist, but his music seemed rather self-indulgent.
Yes.
“Serious classical musicians celebrate him.”
Not all. I knew a musician who worked in a symphony orchestra and she thought he was an idiot who knew little about classical music, how symphonies worked, etc. She came to those conclusions after he “conducted” the symphony orchestra she worked it. This was sometime in the late mid to late 1980s.
Who Needs the Peace Corps?
What’s there to live for?
Who needs the peace corps?
Think I’ll just DROP OUT
I’ll go to Frisco
Buy a wig & sleep
On Owsley’s floor
Walked past the wig store
Danced at the Fillmore
I’m completely stoned
I’m hippy & I’m trippy
I’m a gypsy on my own
I’ll stay a week & get the crabs &
Take a bus back home
I’m really just a phony
But forgive me
‘Cause I’m stoned
Every town must have a place
Where phony hippies meet
Psychedelic dungeons
Popping up every street
GO TO SAN FRANCISCO
How I love ya, How I love ya
How I love ya, How I love ya Frisco!
How I love ya, How I love ya
How I love ya, How I love ya
Oh, my hair is getting good in the back!
Every town must have a place
Where phony hippies meet
Psychedelic dungeons
Popping up on every street
GO TO SAN FRANCISCO...Hotcha!
First I’ll buy some beads
And then perhaps a leather band
To go around my head
Some feathers and bells
And a book of Indian lure
I will ask the Chamber Of Commerce
How to get to Height Street
And smoke an awful lot of dope
I will wander around barefoot
I will have a psychedelic gleam in my eye at all times
I will love everyone
I will love the police as they kick the shit out of me on the street
I will sleep...
I will, I will go to a house
That’s, that’s what I will do
I will go to a house
Where there’s a rock roll band
‘Cause the groups all live together
And I will join a rock & roll band
I will be their road manager
And I will stay there with them
And I will get the crabs
But I won’t care
I agree with Frank Zappa’s apparent desire for a national sales tax over an income tax.
I had never heard this until the past two months.
First of all it was draped across the piano with some surprise.
Saint Alfonso was Strictly Gentile.
Sleep Dirt wondered What’s New in Baltimore before being tied to the whipping post.
You are what you is.
Read this later / break time.
In college, we made up a song based on ‘Catholic Girls’. It was called ‘Sorority Girls’.
I had the privilege of attending 5 Zappa shows. Each one was unique and he never failed to surround himself with the finest musicians available. He demanded, and got, the best they had to offer.
L
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.