Frank Zappa: the 75th anniversary album by album thread

I don't get their appeal either. I'm glad some folks love them.

 

BUFFALO

Released: April 1 2007
Recorded: October 25 1980
Label: Vaulternative
Producer: Frank Zappa/Gail Zappa/Joe Travers



Frank Zappa: lead guitar & vocals
Steve Vai: stunt guitar & background vocals
Ray White: vocals & rhythm guitar
Ike Willis: vocals & rhythm guitar
Tommy Mars: keyboards & vocals
Bob Harris: keyboards, trumpet & high vocals
Arthur Barrow: bass & vocals
Vinnie Colaiuta: drums, vocals

All songs written by Frank Zappa

Disc 1
1.Chunga’s Revenge (8:34)
2.You Are What You Is (4:12)
3.Mudd Club (3:02)
4.The Meek Shall Inherit Nothing (3:21)
5.Cosmik Debris (3:50)
6.Keep It Greasy (2:58)
7.Tinsel Town Rebellion (4:19)
8.Buffalo Drowning Witch (2:44)
9.Honey, Don’t You Want a Man Like Me? (4:36)
10.Pick Me, I’m Clean (10:15)
11.Dead Girls of London (3:02)
12.Shall We Take Ourselves Seriously? (1:36)
13.City of Tiny Lites (9:58)

Disc 2
1.Easy Meat (9:26)
2.Ain’t Got No Heart (2:00)
3.The Torture Never Stops (23:36)
4.Broken Hearts Are for Assholes (3:39)
5.I’m So Cute (1:38)
6.Andy (8:14)
7.Joe’s Garage (2:12)
8.Dancin' Fool (3:36)
9.The “Real World” Thematic Extrapolations (8:53)
10.Stick It Out (5:36)
11.I Don't Wanna Get Drafted (2:48)
12.Bobby Brown (2:42)
13.Ms Pinky (3:48)

 

Let's see. On paper, this should be astounding, for the band features some outstanding musicians which stand among the best FZ ever had.

FZ: a really strong tour regarding Frank's solos (see above).
Colaiuta: not only a superhuman drummer, but also someone who reached a remarkable level of empathy with Frank during the guitar solos. He followed, but also inspired him, the way Elvin Jones did with Trane.
Ike Willis and Ray White: one of the best vocal teams Frank, or anyone, could have (Ray stumbling over the last line in "Easy Meat" is really funny). In addition, Bob Harris' high vocals are impressive (listen to "Love Of My Life" in Tinsel Town Rebellion).
Mars: one of the best keyboard players Frank ever had, period.
Barrow: one of the best bass players Frank ever had, period.
Steve Vai: I don't like his solo work, but he can play anything in a guitar, and Frank took advantage of that. Anyway, he was just starting by the time of this tour, and in 1981/1982 he would get more impossible stunt-guitar parts.

So, as we could expect, some performances are truly brilliant by all means ("Chunga's Revenge", "Pick Me, I'm Clean", "City of Tiny Lites", "Easy Meat", "The Torture Never Stops" and "Andy"). Some other are great ("Dead Girls of London", "Shall We Take...?", "Joe's Garage", "Mudd Club"). Some songs still not fully developed ("Tinsel Town Rebellion", and mainly "Drowning Witch", which is only a "sprachsung" version). Most of the rest, unfortunately, sounds to me like the musicians being underused. Some songs are not my cup of tea and the arrangements of some song I do like are just not of my taste ("Ain't Got No Heart", "Broken Hearts" without O' Hearn's ad-libbed lines, "You Are What You Is" without Ray's amazing lead vocalizations, which leaves the song sounding quite empty in the end).
So, if some things are not of my liking, it's Frank's fault (by the way, his "real world" rap is bad and boring).

Anyway, it's an excellent release because the best moments are truly amazing. As you all know by now, the mastering features a bit too much of compression, but it's far from being unlistenable (for me, at least).

 

I like the rearranged intro though (although, relistening to it now, it was better in 1981).

 

I think this is a perfect example of why Frank hated the idea of releasing complete concerts and preferred to edit together many different bands. This album also sounds dated to me.

 

Love the "Black Sabbath"-riff over the disco beat, during the monologue about the 'lonely guy'!

 

As I have posted other times, this is another posthumous release where they got it right (brickwalling aside). It may not be what FZ would have done, but with him gone I am okay with having them take a different approach. Some topnotch guitar solos and the monologue after "Dancin' Fool" is unique, although I am not blown away by it.

 

Yah, there were a couple things just couldn't let go. Disco. San Francisco hippies. Peter Frampton.

The monologue on this'un is overripe and tedious.

But I can overlook it for everything else. These late 70s - early 80s shows they've been releasing are just spectacular.

 

The first two Zappa shows I saw were the spring 80 tour with Logeman instead of Colaiuta and without Vai. One was great, one was OK. I'm not a fan of most of the songs on this album so I held of buying this for a while. Once I did, I was pleasantly surprised I liked it as much as I do. Even so, I've only listened to it a few times.

 

This is a curious release for me, Great songs, Great band, Great Guitar from FZ, but I seldom play it - not sure why

 

Good version of "Chunga's Revenge".

"Keep It Greasy" is just insane (Vinnie and Arthur, in particular).

I like this version of "Pick Me, I'm Clean" better than the one on Tinsel Town Rebellion.

Really like "Dead Girls Of London/Shall We Take Ourselves Seriously?", as well.

Overall, a solid Vaulternative live release.

 

Yes, I forgot to mention that one.

 

Live cuts from this era appeared on quite some albums, especially on Shut Up... and sonically I think those are just great. Nice warmth and depth. Great drums and bass recordings.

So I'm quite amazed that I don't notice any of those production values on this release. Excellent set, but I can't get my head around the sound.

 

A lot of Shut Up... is from gigs where FZ hired a mobile studio and engineer. I believe Buffalo was recorded on a portable setup.

 

I love Frank's guitar playing, totally unique and amazing. That said, his soloing style changed over the years. For me, it's tough to listen to the solos extracted from 84 and 88 straight through. For this reason, I can only play one or two tracks from Guitar and Trance Fusion at a time. But I can listen to Shut Up and Play... straight through, all day, every day. 1983 was the first year fz didn't tour in a long time (ever?). As others have pointed out, there was a marked changed in his guitar solos from 1982 to 1984. Not that the solos went to crap by any means, but was different playing.

 

THE DUB ROOM SPECIAL

Released: August 24 2007
Recorded: August 24 1974/October 31 1981
Label: Zappa
Producer: Frank Zappa



1974 band:
Frank Zappa – guitar, vocals and percussion
Napoleon Murphy Brock – flute, saxophone and vocals
George Duke – keyboards and vocals
Tom Fowler – bass
Chester Thompson – drums
Ruth Underwood – percussion

1981 band:
Frank Zappa – lead guitar and vocals
Ray White – guitar and vocals
Steve Vai – guitar and vocals
Tommy Mars – keyboards and vocals
Bobby Martin – keyboards, saxophone and vocals
Scott Thunes – bass and vocals
Chad Wackerman – drums
Ed Mann – percussion and vocals

All songs written by Frank Zappa

1.A Token of My Extreme (Vamp) (2:29)
2.Stevie's Spanking (5:54)
3.The Dog Breath Variations (1.42)
4.Uncle Meat (2:16)
5.Stink-Foot (3:58)
6.Easy Meat (6:51)
7.Montana (4:24)
8.Inca Roads (9:46)
9.Room Service (9:15)
10.Cosmik Debris (7:44)
11.Florentine Pogen (10:13)

 

I like the '74 material quite a bit, but i can live a long happy life without hearing Easy Meat again.

 

An album that has been made almost useless after the release of A Token of His Extreme soundtrack, which is the one to get. Of course, this one contains lots of marvelous music from the 1974 band, including the basic tracks that were used for the studio versions of "Inca Roads" and "Florentine Pogen". Personally, I couldn't care less for "Stevie's Spanking".

 

Same here....
another 'stop-gap' between, what looks like, scraping the barrel, AND, all the 'good stuff' that's to come!

 

Napoleon Murphy Brock.
'Nuff said.

 

And the release of the dvd The Torture Never Stops for the 1981 material.

 

Exactly. A great DVD, by the way!

 

I never bought "The Torture...", since, I assumed (wrongly, I guess) that the full-length concerts from Halloween '81 were gonna be released on CD.
Added value to me, since I tried to stay up to watch the show on MTV that year...
I recall 'nodding-off', and waking up to hear Frank say, "TAX THE CHURCHES!".

 

You should get that video, it's excellent. The "Alien Orifice" segment never fails to amaze me!