Why was Frank Zappa’s ''Strictly Commercial'' so wrong as a compilation album. Any alternatives?

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by ParloFax, Jul 3, 2015.

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  1. OneStepBeyond

    OneStepBeyond Senior Member

    Location:
    North Wales, UK
    I got it because I wanted to reignite my interest in Zappa and progress past the few I already had and loved for a couple of decades. My collection started to steadily build (not that it's extensive by any means, but I got to discover some great stuff through it...) and so it did its job admirably - got plenty of plays too. :)

    I also bought Cheap Thrills and Son Of, a little later - they're ones I enjoy as they are and I'm a lot more likely to play those now.
     
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  2. ParloFax

    ParloFax Senior Member Thread Starter

    I am surprised to see how the album worked in the end, given the testimonies here so far.

    Good thing then. So >I< was wrong!
     
  3. vince

    vince Stan Ricker's son-in-law

    Don't worry.... the company that made it has since demised!
     
  4. CrazyBrown

    CrazyBrown Forum Resident

    Location:
    Bridgewater, NJ
    According to Harold Bronson's book The Rhino Records Story, the purchase of the Zappa catalog by Ryko was the beginning of the end for the company since they paid more for the catalog than it had even sold up to that point. I believe he had additional reasons why the purchase was a poor decision, but I don't remember them offhand.
     
  5. vince

    vince Stan Ricker's son-in-law

    Not to go 'off-topic', but I gotta get that book!
    Is there talk of the "Beat The Boots" boxes, and that Zappa's last release, "The Yellow Shark", distributed by Rhino?
     
  6. pbuzby

    pbuzby Senior Member

    Location:
    Chicago, IL, US
    If I recall right, purchasing the United Artists soundtrack catalog (which Ryko did mainly to reissue 200 Motels) was also a financial disaster.
     
  7. vince

    vince Stan Ricker's son-in-law

    Weren't they already 'underwritten' by WEA when they put those out?
     
  8. CrazyBrown

    CrazyBrown Forum Resident

    Location:
    Bridgewater, NJ
    Strictly Commercial was the first Zappa album I purchased after hearing 'Dancin' Fool' on a Dr. Demento comp and it was the perfect introduction for a 12 year old kid who loved MAD and Mel Brooks movies.
    As I grew up, I dug deeper into his catalog and consistently found new musical ideas that expanded and helped define my tastes. 20 years later, I'm still a huge fan.
     
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  9. pbuzby

    pbuzby Senior Member

    Location:
    Chicago, IL, US
    If Wiki (and my sketchy memory of this story) is correct, no - the 200 Motels reissue happened around 1997 and the Warners deal was around ten years later.
     
  10. vince

    vince Stan Ricker's son-in-law

    Ah. I only thought this 'coz, if memory serves, I thought I saw a few 'score compilations' with the "Turner Movie Classics" logo on it.
     
  11. majorlance

    majorlance Forum Resident

    Location:
    PATCO Speedline
    AFAIK, that Prince B-sides comp was never officially available as a stand-alone release.
     
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  12. bRETT

    bRETT Senior Member

    Location:
    Boston MA
    As was Ryko's choice between the two jam-type bands they were considering at the time. One was Phish. The other was New Potato Caboose.
     
  13. Gems-A-Bems

    Gems-A-Bems Forum Resident

    Location:
    The Duke City
    Yes
     
  14. pool_of_tears

    pool_of_tears Searching For Simplicity

    Location:
    Midwest
    M
    Me too, in 95
     
  15. vince

    vince Stan Ricker's son-in-law

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  16. avalanche

    avalanche Forum Resident

    Location:
    USA
    I borrowed Strictly Commercial from the library in the mid-90s when it was released. At that point, I had only known Frank Zappa's name but was not familiar with any of the music. I credit that compilation (and the Zappa Ryko collection insert) to leading me to purchase 23 of his releases.
     
  17. JamieC

    JamieC Senior Member

    Location:
    Detroit Mi USA
    Look at it this way. A sampler for the timid. Contains the 45s you had in the 70s.
     
  18. KDubATX

    KDubATX A Darby Man Never Says When

    Location:
    Austin
    When I was younger the 3 volumes of Cheap Thrills were around. They were less than $10 each and were my initial sampling point for Zappa. Would up getting crazy and buying all the Ryko releases and for some reason letting these comps go. Wish I still had them...

    I also remember 2 Zappa complications put together by the Drummers from Phish and Primus coming out, but I never checked those out.
     
  19. Remurmur

    Remurmur Music is THE BEST! -FZ

    Location:
    Ohio
    I was unaware of this book , and just reserved a copy online from my public library after reading your post


    Thank you ! :)
     
  20. The Hud

    The Hud Breath of the Kingdom, Tears of the Wild

    I like Strictly Commercial, but I like Have I Offended Someone? a lot more.
     
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  21. kwadguy

    kwadguy Senior Member

    Location:
    Cambridge, MA
    Ryko was so far over the financial ledge in purchasing the Zappa catalog that they couldn't reissue it slowly, the way the reissue campaign should have been handled. Instead, they basically dumped reissues of the entire catalog onto the marketplace in one fell swoop. That meant that they didn't come close to maximizing return. They also licensed most of the catalog to the record clubs, again to generate some fast cash--but this also meant that a good fraction of sales went to super discounted club copies.

    But even if Ryko had a lot of cash, they overpaid for the catalog. Zappa had been, was, and always would be a cult item. To expect anything else, or to expect sales that differed from what was pretty predictable, was foolish.
     
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  22. dlokazip

    dlokazip Forum Transient

    Location:
    Austin, TX, USA
    For the neophyte, I doubt that a record company could do much better than Strictly Commercial. Sure, it does not provide a balanced picture of the man's music, but it does hit the warped perception of those who were casually acquainted with his "hits".

    As such, "Don't Eat The Yellow Snow", "Dancin' Fool", and "Valley Girl" needed to be included. Many of the other selections made sense from a popularity standpoint. I was very pleased that they included "Peaches En Regalia" and "Sexual Harassment In The Workplace", lest anyone thought that Frank was simply a "potty humor" guy.

    I understand Parlofax's hatred, though. The collection is worthy of contempt. Trying to distill Frank's work onto single disc is a fool's errand. It can't be done.

    The randomness of the Cheap Thrills CDs may have helped sparked some people's curiosity, but I don't know how effective they were.

    When it came out, I wasn't going to buy Strictly Commercial, but when I saw that the LP had the 12" disco mix of "Dancin' Fool", I went ahead at got it. If it weren't for that and the single edit of "Joe's Garage", I'd have no use for it, other than the package.

    It served its purpose for the time is was available. Nowadays, people can assemble their own playlists from the songs that are available. A compilation isn't necessary. You either go from song to song, from album to album, or some combination there of.

    One final note: The European cover photo is classic. The American one is goofy.
     
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  23. pbuzby

    pbuzby Senior Member

    Location:
    Chicago, IL, US
    I didn't buy them, but the picks were interesting. As you might expect from what their bands do, Jon Fishman (Phish) went for the more prog/fusion 70's material while Larry LerLonde (Primus) was more into the snide late 70's and early 80's comedy stuff. BTW LerLonde is their guitarist, not the drummer.
     
  24. B. Bu Po

    B. Bu Po Senior Member

    I'm so comfortable and efficient in record stores, I am often mistaken for an employee. One time a gent was looking through the Zappa CDs and asked for a recommendation. After discerning he had a general interest (not just poo-poo rock comedy), I recommended 200 Motels and Lather as these offer the broadest possible examples of FZ's music. These are also good for a beginner because they do not overlap (much) with his other albums. He was thankful, but of course I'll never know how it worked out for him. Was I wrong?
     
  25. Billy Infinity

    Billy Infinity Beloved aunt

    Location:
    US
    I loved those CT comps too (at $4 a pop with the Tower Records employee discount), playing them to death - but weren't there only two? (Cheap Thrills and Son of Cheep Thrills)
     
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