{"id":1087,"date":"2016-11-04T05:30:19","date_gmt":"2016-11-04T09:30:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nickzaino.com\/departmentoftangents\/?p=1087"},"modified":"2016-11-08T22:36:59","modified_gmt":"2016-11-09T03:36:59","slug":"new-release-roundup-three-new-ones-from-the-frank-zappa-vault","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nickzaino.com\/departmentoftangents\/2016\/11\/04\/new-release-roundup-three-new-ones-from-the-frank-zappa-vault\/","title":{"rendered":"New Release Roundup: Three New Ones from the Frank Zappa Vault"},"content":{"rendered":"

Frank Zappa<\/a> \u2013 Meat Light<\/em>, Chicago \u201978<\/em>, Little Dots<\/em><\/strong>
\nFrank Zappa has been more prolific in death than most musicians could ever hope to be if they lived for 100 years. The Zappa vaults are stuffed with unreleased material, and it doesn\u2019t look like the Zappa Family Trust is going to stop combing through them anytime soon (there is at least one more stated upcoming release, a 7\u201d to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Zappa\u2019s first single, \u201cHow Could I Be Such A Fool,\u201d with the b-side \u201cHelp I’m A Rock (3rd Movement: It Can’t Happen Here)\u201d coming on Record Store Day November 25). There are three new releases available today \u2013 the three-disc Meat Light<\/em>, the double live Chicago \u201978<\/em>, and the live Little Dots<\/em>. It\u2019s a lot of one day, and should keep the Zappa-obsessed busy for a while. <\/p>\n

Meat Light<\/em> is part of the Project\/Object series, which takes the approach of a kind of audio documentary to specific albums, in this case, Uncle Meat<\/em>. Light<\/em> includes the original 1969 vinyl mix of the album, plus Zappa\u2019s original sequence for the album, and some outtakes and unreleased tracks. Uncle Meat<\/em> is a great keystone for understanding what Zappa was capable of as a musician, songwriter, and satirist. Which is to say, it\u2019s tough to pin down. There is Zappa\u2019s interpolation of R&B on \u201cElectric Aunt Jemima,\u201d the frenetic, cacophonous jazz of \u201cPrelude to King Kong,\u201d the trippy \u201cMr. Green Jeans,\u201d the regal instrumental \u201cDog Breath Variations,\u201d a live goof with the band playing \u201cLouie Louie\u201d utilizing the organ at the Royal Albert Hall, skittering interstitials like \u201cZolar Czackl,\u201d and a few improvised bits of dialogue. It\u2019s still amazing that all of these things sprang from one person\u2019s imagination. Zappa\u2019s original sequencing, which swaps in a few different tracks, makes a more whimsical first impression, kicking off with \u201cDog Breath, In the Year of the Plague\u201d and \u201cThe Legend of the Golden Arches\u201d instead of \u201cUncle Meat Main Title Theme\u201d and \u201cThe Voice of Cheese.\u201d It also adds a couple of heavy guitar blues tunes in \u201cWhiskey Wah\u201d and \u201cThe Whip.\u201d The 1969 vinyl version feels more formal and theatrical. <\/p>\n

The third disc has all the outtakes and oddities. There are different takes on \u201cDog Breath\u201d \u2013 including a three-minute \u201csingle version,\u201d an idea that tickles me \u2013 and a version of \u201cNine Types of Industrial Pollution\u201d that isolates the guitar, barely recognizable as the same song, slowed down to normal speed. Some tracks, like Zappa coaching along a sax part on \u201cGreen Genes Snoop\u201d or people yelling \u201cMore Beer!\u201d are more amusing than revelatory. You wonder if some of it was ever intended to make the final cut, and where it would have fit. There is one striking bit in \u201cEcho Pie,\u201d which is just Zappa arguing with the rest of the band about touring and finances (one funny bit there when someone says, \u201cNobody\u2019s listening to it in there, the monitor\u2019s off.\u201d) <\/p>\n

\"littledots\"Little Dots<\/em> highlights the short-lived, brass-heavy ensemble Zappa toured with in 1972 which is referred to as the \u201cPetite Wazoo\u201d (a reference to the Grand Wazoo album, released that year). It\u2019s being billed as a sequel to the Imaginary Diseases album, which draws from the same material. The line-up is Malcolm McNab and Gary Barone on trumpet, Bruce Fowler and Glen Ferris on trombone, Tom \u201cBones\u201d Malone on trumpet, piccolo trumpet, trombone, bass trombone, tuba, saxophone, and flute, Earle Dumler on woodwinds, Tony Duran and Zappa on guitar, Dave Parlato on bass and Jim Gordon on drums. And they were a fantastic unit. Parlato and Gordon stand out on the title track, which starts out with just the two of them in a kind of double solo that sounds so much fuller than just two people playing. Gordon adds a bit of steel drum to augment the melody at times. The rest of the band begins to fade in around minute six, and then the tune morphs into a blues boogie after eleven minutes and continues as a solo feature brass and guitar. \u201cColumbia, S.C.\u201d is similarly broken into two parts, but this is a band tuned into each other improvising a new piece from start to finish (though they do borrow heavily from the \u201cJames Bond Theme\u201d). Everyone follows the dynamic and melodic shifts well enough that it doesn\u2019t seem improvised. These guys could go off the rails or dig in and play nasty, like they do on \u201cKansas City Shuffle.\u201d The highlight for the historians will be a looser, bluesier incarnation of \u201cCosmik Debris,\u201d recorded before the one on the Apostrophe master. <\/p>\n

\"chicago78\"Chicago \u201978<\/em> is a previously unreleased, complete live performance from the Uptown Theater. There are metric tons of Zappa live performances out there, but not many that capture one line-up playing a complete show (Zappa mixed and matched line-ups, sometimes within a single song, on many of the live albums released during his lifetime). For the record, this was recorded September 29, 1978, and it\u2019s the second of two shows the band did that night. The band is as loose as it is precise \u2013 a combination that makes so many Zappa live albums appealing. And there are some admirable takes on standards like \u201cDancin\u2019 Fool\u201d and \u201cDon\u2019t Eat the Yellow Snow.\u201d For me, the centerpiece is a sprawling twelve-and-a-half-minute version of \u201cYo Mama,\u201d which is an earworm I wind up singing to myself in traffic sometimes, especially when people are driving dumb. The lines just pop out — “Maybe you should stay with your mama\/You’re really kinda stupid and ugly, too.” Plus it offers helpful advice — “You should never smoke in pajamas\/You might start a fire and burn your face.” This arrangement slows into a sparse, atmospheric guitar solo before building into something more aggressive, and returning for a brief verse at the end. Zappa\u2019s broadside against religious fundamentalism and ineffective government, \u201cThe Meek Shall Inherit Nothing,\u201d is still hitting its target decades later. Unfortunately, that target is extremely durable. And the undeserved swagger of \u201cHoney, Don\u2019t You Want A Man Like Me\u201d is still funny, and also unfortunately still relevant. That might actually be a good title for a future vault collection of Zappa\u2019s satire \u2013 \u201cUnfortunately Still Relevant Songs.\u201d <\/p>\n

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Frank Zappa \u2013 Meat Light, Chicago \u201978, Little Dots Frank Zappa has been more prolific in death than most musicians could ever hope…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1090,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[7],"tags":[773,33,771,775,774,88,772,770],"class_list":["post-1087","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music","tag-chicago-78","tag-frank-zappa","tag-grand-wazoo","tag-little-dots","tag-meat-light","tag-new-release-roundup","tag-petite-wazoo","tag-uncle-meat"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/nickzaino.com\/departmentoftangents\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/chicago78.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7lGwW-hx","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nickzaino.com\/departmentoftangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1087","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nickzaino.com\/departmentoftangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nickzaino.com\/departmentoftangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nickzaino.com\/departmentoftangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nickzaino.com\/departmentoftangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1087"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/nickzaino.com\/departmentoftangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1087\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1115,"href":"https:\/\/nickzaino.com\/departmentoftangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1087\/revisions\/1115"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nickzaino.com\/departmentoftangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1090"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nickzaino.com\/departmentoftangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1087"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nickzaino.com\/departmentoftangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1087"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nickzaino.com\/departmentoftangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1087"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}