The Big Note: A Guide To The Recordings of Frank Zappa

On my wish list !!

 

I am interested in reading it, but I'll see if it is at the library or wait until I can score one for $10-$15.

 

Purchased! This looks excellent!

 

Not that we're not interested - some of us are still trying to get through Chapter 32 of Ben Watson's Negative Dialectics of Poodle Play. It appears to be written in Esparanto.

Hell, I had to order an electrosonic color doppler monitoring system and an infusion pump, just to check my math after Chapter 17...

 

I had posted a link to it in another thread and ordered that day it was available. It just arrived today from Amazon, whose fulfillment turnaround has suffered over the past 6 months. The book is big, beautiful and smells great. I love physical books. Looks like years of enjoyment, well worth the asking price, and not for a casual fan. Can’t wait to dig in. Music is the best.

 

My copy arrived today, and I'm very impressed. The way the book is organized struck me as odd at first, but once I got into it I realized that the author's approach works quite well.
If you like Scott Parker's series of Zappa books, you'll probably want this one.

 

Hefty book covers A to Z of Frank Zappa’s music – San Gabriel Valley Tribune

 

Purchased and have dipped into a few chapters. Wonderful book, highly recommended.

 

This book is fantastic. I've been a Zappa listener/scholar for 30+ years, and I'm learning new things. Thanks, Charles and everybody who helped!

FF,M!

(@Sternodox knows what I'm talkin' about)

 

I will get this. Thanks for the heads up!

 

I wish there was a Kindle version or a way to somehow get it to my iPad, then I would get it in a heartbeat. I said goodbye to physical books a little while ago.

 

Yes, I want a Kindle version. I would buy it if it were available.

 

You will learn more about Zappa and his music from this book than from anything else ever written.

 

It sure does have a lot of detail. Fantastic
I've decided to read each chapter as I listen to that particular album,
It's going to take awhile.

 

...can anyone that has this let me know how far into the posthumous releases this goes? Maybe the last release it talks about? Thanks! I appreciate it.

 

Last release covered is "Dance Me This".

 

Ulrich;Charles

The Big Note: A Guide to the Recordings of Frank Zappa

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Gonna get this. A must buy indeed.

 

I got this book and I've been skimming through it these past few days.

A book on the level of Revolution in the Head without the bias.

My only beef is arranging the albums alphabetically as opposed to what we laughingly refer to as linear time.

 

Alright.... It's on my list!

 

I'm picking it when the birthday gift cards start rolling in next month.

 

To me, Zappa has material that is all over the map, but there's a central current of weird/counter everything that runs thru it all.

Meaning - those who have heard some and didnt really like what they heard - probably are not going to change their minds even with a healthy dose of listening/

That being said, my father hated Zappa with a passion and one day I was playing some orchestral stuff from the Yellow Shark and he liked it... because he didnt know what it was.

 

FZ was too much of a maverick to be classic rock. You have to enjoy eccentric personalities to get into this kind of music. It's not mass appeal stuff. But I've always found it much more fun than most rock. It's free spirited, and the music and melodies are fabulous. I would say this music probably appeals the most to prog and avant garde music fans, not mainstream listeners.

I'd say try One Size Fits All first if your tastes are more mainstream.

 

I agree that his music and melodies are fabulous.

My eldest daughter agrees to a point, but she counters with... "but his lyrics are so dumb and usually awful".

so theres that... there are many people who could get into, or get past, the unusual quality of his music.... and cant get past his lyrics.

 

A younger person that didn't grow up in the 60s or 70s is not going to understand the satire or references in the lyrics. People have to understand that the lyrics don't exist in a vacuum. They're a creative and sometimes silly way of commenting on equally silly trends and stupid behavior. Or the church or whatever.

 

I think a lot of people suffer from Zappa bias in that they have convinced themselves they hate his music because, 'he's the yellow snow, valley girl, dancing fool guy.'