October Zappa releases: Little Dots, Chicago '78, Uncle Meat Project/Object!

It was bricked. Oh well, that wasn't a very subtle band anyway.

 

"Feeding the monkeys at ma maison" is also totally must have ! And so is "Dance me this". Especially since you included "CPIII".

 

"Dance Me This" is by far my favourite Synclavier Zappa album.

 

I'm not very fond of Feeding..., to be honest. Dance Me This is better.
In a way, every Zappa release is essential (yes, even Francesco Zappa!).

 

IIRC, Uncle Meat was originally planned to be a triple album called No Commercial Potential. Some of the unused material ended up on YCDTOSA vol 5, & maybe elsewhere. Maybe that's what we're going to get!

 

I don't care for much of Frank's Synclavier music so those releases are not close to essential for me. Also his Flo and Eddie band let "humor" intrude too far into some great music so much of that is disposable (love the Sofa suite though). I'm still working on Waka / Wazoo and Hot Rats and love much of it, but I think I need to just invest more time to listening to it.

 

My wallet is in the corner cowering in fear now that I've learned of these releases...

 

But a triple LP is not enough to fill 3-cd's (well, it depends on the running time of the cd's, of course). I hope we get some of the material that was left off, though. I would have loved an Uncle Meat Complete Sessions, that album is a studio miracle!

 

But these aren't the high priced sets from the old ZFT. How much was the 4cd Mofo when it came out? Surely these will end up being even cheaper.

 

That¡s absolutely true. These new Zappa releases are normally priced. I remember paying a lot for Mofo and Lumpy Money, but the exact number skips my mind now.

 

That treatment ruined Buffalo for me. When, then rarely and only in the car. Otherwise unlistenable. Most horrible thing soundwise in the whole Zappa canon. Gives me headache. Probably a mixing and/or mastering accident. This could have sounded more like the tunes from the 1980 tour on Tinseltown Rebellion if done right.

 

Yeah, it's a shame about Buffalo, that was a great performance marred by the mastering. Hammersmith Odeon is an absolute cracker of a release though - Black Page is a beast - and although it isn't perfectly mastered it sounds powerful and clean and the performances are monstrous.

 

I love Hammersmith but you can tell it was mixed by a drummer.
It almost sounds like Terry Bozzio featuring Frank Zappa and his band.

 

Tell me about it!

For some reason, they have been brickwalling the crap out of the "professional" live recordings and studio outtake releases, but the original albums and "Road Tapes" releases have been given the "audiophile" treatment.

So it goes from one extreme to the other...no consistancy at all.

And they gave "Bat Chain Puller" and "Trance Fusion" to Bob Ludwig, and he completely destroyed them...worse than his "Nevermind" remaster...and that makes me really angry. You can't even make a "mix" from the three guitar albums because the third volume is so LOUD, and BCP is the only Beefheart album that has ever been mastered like that.

Are you listening, Joe?

 

A new widely-available Bat Chain Puller would be well-received here!

 

FINALLY!!!

 

There is no such thing as a "pass" when Frank is involved...lol

 

I believe Lumpy Money was $50.

 

I didn't know Frank Filipetti was a drummer...

 

I've waited so long for UM I can't believe it's finally going to happen!

This is the "breaking news" of the year!

I hope the whole thing is "substantial"
in it's content

 

Yes, this!!

 

Flo & Eddie, I think, tried to steal the spotlights with their shtick. Most of their 'humor' isn't funny in any way, if you ask me. Chunga's Revenge is the only album from that period that really works for me all the way through because their contributions are right what they should be: Some nice harmonies, a little goofy and packaged within a couple of 3-minute-songs. It went overboard afterwards. It's a good thing Frank decided to change gears while recuperating from the stage accident.

 

Are there any other sources than those Amazon links confirming this? Any official statements?

 

They can be a bit much but I do love Billy the Mountain.

 

I love the Flo & Eddie albums! Frank hired them because of their "schtick". You can tell they're having a great time, playing with lots of enthusiasm, and the epic Billy The Mountain still makes me laugh and is highly entertaining. Howard has a fine, expressive voice. I know most of you hate the low-brow humor and over-the-top groupie worship/commentary. I get that. The humor was very "local American".
I feel the problem with the initial LPs from that lineup is that they weren't very illustrative of the fact that the band had a great groove, and the shows were well-paced, like most Zappa shows. With Playground Psychotics (I happen to like the spoken word documentary tracks a lot!), Road Tapes 3, Carnegie Hall, and easy-to-find November 1970 Fillmore East shows, you get a much more balanced idea of what his band could really do.

Zappa was never serious 100% of the time.

I'm for a full release of Live At The Fillmore East 1971 show! The songs from YCDTOSA are great!