@@craigfazekas3923 and Ruth also plays Frank's vibraphone, both cousins of the xylophone, but both have tubes mounted under keys for richer and longer tones. Marimba has wooden keys, vibraphone metal, FWIW! The video of Inca Roads from A Token of My Extreme shows how extensive her percussion set up was, and at the end of the song, the final flourish, has her go from Marimba all the way through all of it, quite a feat!
The reason Tina Turner and The Ikettes are not credited on the album is because Ike Turner, a true shithead if ever there was one, decided he didn't get what Frank was doing, and didn't want his name associated with the recording, so no credit and no money for the girls. Like I said, a true shithead. But the song is excellent, as are most of Frank's compositions.
The story in Cosmic Debris is basically Zappa making fun of the "Guru" trend that started happening among recently rich artists from music (mostly rock) or other arts in the mid 60's/early 70's after the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi got notoriety due to his involvement with the Beatles. Frank treats the whole guru enlightenment discovery as a shtick, a gimmick, devised to make some fast cash by fooling inexperience kids who find themselves now flushed with cash. I personally enjoy the humor in the lyrics that essentially boils it all down to cosmic garbage (debris). Which is not to say that I myself believe that any and all searches for personal betterment, be it via an actual guru or any other means, to be all a joke. But in this song it is.
Yes, George Harrison was especially influential in bringing eastern mysticism and musical influence (unreal how many bands used a sitar around this time) to the music scene but he wasn't the only one and it's hard for those not around at the time to realize how pervasive the guru influence was. Probably never had a Hare Krishna try to sell you flowers at an airport. After exploring other forms of eastern religious culture George wound up as a life long Hare Krishna convert, which you can hear in his hit, "My Sweet Lord" (many Christians had a rude awakening when they listened to the words more carefully). John McLaughlin also followed another guru (as did Carlos Santana), Sri Chinmoy, for a time and is why he named himself and his band "Mahavishnu".
I love all the "mickey mousing" touches throughout, from the violin squiggles under "fidget around a bit," to the mini how blast for "ram it up your snout." All the key verbs in the story are portrayed by some non-traditional instrumental noise. It's the details. And Zappa voiced his arrangements so cleanly. Every little thing has it's perfect sonic space, so nothing gets lost in audio mud. He's like the anti-Phil Spector in that way
Today I found your analysis to be particularly nice again - thank you. Maybe you can add "Fifty Fifty" from the album Over-Nite Sensation to your todo list? The whole album is awesome, by the way.
Yeah, 50/50 is a great song. Distressed vocals and burning solos all wrapped up in a headlong musical rush. What are the chances Justin will review it? I think you know the odds.
Oooo Justin....we used to listen to a lot of Zappa (thanks to my brother) and joyously laugh and laugh. He had such a great sense of humor. The added pleasure was whoa the musical talents Zappa had alongside him were off the chart. Note: Zappa is not for everyone. But boy did we have a blast with Frank. Looking forward to side II.
Ahh...Frank Zappa...a musical rabbit hole of his own making! Love It. Try "Montana" if you get the urge...another Classic Zappa musing. I believe the word you are hunting for is "ZAPPAFIED"! hahaha
Nice! My favorite album and song is "Joe's Garage" Also, now I'm going to have "But I said look here brother, Who you jivin' with that Cosmik Debris?" stuck in my head 😁
Justin - I always thought these lyrics were poking fun at the New Age / Eastern Mysticism that was popular among hippies in the late 60s. This guy is trying to sell Frank on his potions and meditations and he's got a crystal ball and some kind of wizard's robe, etc. - and Frank just says "Who you jivin with that Cosmic BS" (basically). He spent a lot of time in his early career mocking hippies, so this seems to be in line with that. I may be wrong though.
@@JustJP you’ll hear the same kind of lyrical theme in “Camarillo Brillo” from the previous album, but it’s a woman trying to seduce him “she had a snake for a pet / and an amulet / she was breeding a dwarf / but she wasn’t done yet”. 😂
Usual superb music from Rank. He mirrors the actions in the lyrics. For example "the top popped open" and "foaming goo". Frank does this throughout the album. Sheer brilliance. Remember this was the hallucinogenic era... what might have been in the box then?
You really should try out his album The Grand Wazoo sometime. It's just pure jazz fusion without the comedy. I think you'd dig that side of Zappa a lot more.
Waka/Jawaka and The Grand Wazoo are the two major studio albums in which Frank Zappa is working with a big band style of arrangements. He did a short tour with this huge band that he dubbed The Grand Wazoo Band. However it was too expensive to maintain which forced him to cut the group down considerably for a second mini tour, dubbing the ensemble The Petite Wazoo Band. Over a decade after his passing, there have been some excellent official releases of certain live recordings of these ensembles, well worth looking into as well.
_The Grand Wazoo_ is great, but I wouldn't say it was without comedy. _Cletus Awreetus-Awrightus_ is possibly the funniest instrumental track I've ever heard.
Didnt realize you were doing the whole album...the next 2 songs will knock you out haha Blues and R&B were huge influences on Zappa and they remained a big part of his music throughout his career, side by side with the crazier stuff
Finally.. someone has the cahones to react to Cosmik Debris, and JP, I must say, you are the man to do it.. Great reaction!. Your approach is remotely analytical, but creatively lighthearted.. Excellent.. Now for some bizarre humor, try "Camarillo Brillo".. or "Dirty Love"..
Thanks for this one. Next Zappa, do the first few tunes from Joe's Garage album....what a hilarious story unfolding. Cracks me up every time I dust off the turntable and put it on.
My son just called from his store to tell me they had a vinyl copy of Apostrophe. We are fans of Zappa here and I have most of the collection on either vinyl or cd or both. Although I have this album on cd I have not seen my lp since the 80’s. Furthermore I really dug the lp in the 70’s, but have very rarely listened to it since. Now having said all that I was prepared to truck on down by foot to snatch it all away from them outta sight. My son then informed me that someone had just purchased it. : ( 0 )= Many like only hearing Frank speak his razor sharp wit and others only wished he shut up and play his guitar. Dirty Love (from Overnight Sensation) is a great one for Astounding Frank vocals. Anyway, as soon as I got off the phone with my sadistic son I find this video jumped up into my box. There ain’t nothing my box won’t do…
@@gregall2178, Damn you for that Greg : ). I have pretty mint copies of them or us and 200 motels OG vinyl and many more. Pick one and I will toss in my box cd set of suapyg. Doesn’t hurt to ask or Dream Large. On second thought, I am withdrawing 200 motels.
I've had mine since it came out. Even managed to get a large point of sale poster of Apostrophe (album cover). Looks like it was never used!?! On it, it sez, Would you buy an album from this man? You would if you heard it.
I also love how the Ikettes have been chipmunked in the last vamp section. I always admired his use of the fact that you can speed up and slow down tape.
Johnny was an A-list studio drummer of the time and his presence here as well as on the work of Joni Mitchell and many, many others is only awkwardly equated with the "featuring" so common today. New York, Nashville, and Los Angeles relied very heavily on a reliable set of go-to session players known to be able to "deliver" any time of day or night and John Guerin was one of them. The most famous of the L.A. contingent have come to be collectively known as "The Wrecking Crew" though I don't know that Guerin might not been a little after their classic period in which they were the actual musicians on nearly EVERY song to make the radio for a period of close to a decade. Johnny may possibly have come just after that. Meanwhile: "Zappa's been pretty good so far, I think I'm warming up to 'the Zapp"?! ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME?! After listening to endless Genesis and (yuk!) late Yes you still have yet to find out about one of the maybe half dozen authentic music geniuses of the 20th century but are still just "warming up" to him?! I'm sorry, but music's been lost on you if you're only just finding out and are still exploring 80's "prog", which isn't particularly "progressive" at all, much less worthwhile music. PLEASE go listen to Zappa's first decade of music before getting back to us. Thanks.
That's Tina Turner and the Ikettes singing backup (uncredited). This album (and his last album) were recorded at Ike Turner's studio, and the deal was for a little extra money, he'd throw in Tina and the Ikettes......as long as you didn't credit them. So that's Tina Turner singing on this, and "Montana" and "Dinah Moe Hum", "I'm The Slime", etc.... Fun reaction video!
Love the Zappa humor in this track, both vocally and with the musical instruments responding to the lyrics. Zappa made fun of people and here it's '60s and '70s gurus peddling various forms of enlightenment. Interesting that you mention Canterbury. Zappa once said any band could open for The Mothers of Invention except The Soft Machine. Zappa inspired music appears on the self-titled Hatfield & The North album. Uncle Meat type motifs.
The story seems pretty straightforward in this one. Frank is approached by a "guru" who offers to help him reach enlightenment for a fee, but Frank doesn't fall for the con and tells him off. The guru is taken aback but persists and tries to sell Frank on some "mystical" snake oil to cure all of his ills, which Frank similarly rejects. The guru finally pulls out a crystal ball and offers to tell his future, but Frank turns the tables on him, makes his own fake turban out of newspaper, "hypnotizes" and scams the guru out of his own money & possessions, and tells hims a future prediction that's actually just an insult ("the price of meat has just gone up and your old lady just went down", i.e. "your wife just gave some other guy a blowjob"). Frank concludes by making fun of his outfit and telling him to give up his con.
in context of the story in this time Frank was pretty outspoken against religion and gurus, the story is basically a skeptic debunking a new age guru type person,gurus were popular to a lot of his contemporaries in the music industry so he was probably poking a lil fun at them as well as the gurus.
I bought 'Apostrophe' when it first came out in the 70s...My take on Cosmik Debris is that is was an anti-drug anthem and ridiculed the dealer selling all kinds of drugs and associated paraphernalia. It was perhaps also the nascent forerunner to hip hop, given the rhyming couplets and clever play on words. One of my Favorite Zappa tunes nonetheless...."Shaaanti...!"
Apostrophe is another classic. Waka Jawaka & Hot Rats smoke on a jazz tip. Sick. As a teenager, I always wanted Zappa & George Clinton to collab. I've seen both of their live shows 🤯 They at least would've pulled a historic, super eclectic crossover crowd as a double bill tour. Imagine what the opening bands in all the cities would be like for a tour like that! Hats off to a true music legend, as well as an extremely proactive, freedom of speech activist. Mr ZFG personified! Btw, I'm a big fan of Todd Rundgren's more vituoso, instrumental heavy, prog project, called Utopia. Have you reacted to them yet?
Selling 'spiritual enlightenment' for a service charge would be something that Zappa simply would not tolerate. I love the call and response of statement and sound effect that he uses here. As you say, it would sound silly in other hands, but here he makes it work. Zappa is very hard to take out of context, but as you can see, he really is truly brilliant. For jazz fusion, title track of Grand Wazoo is recommended, but you sort of have to be in an energized mood for it.
Spot on! This song expresses Frank's feelings about "new age mysticism" charlatans. Also a tidbit here and there criticizing rank commercialism (Now is that real poncho or is that a Sears poncho?)
It takes a while to get used to Zappa's silliness factor, but if you manage to keep an open mind long enough, eventually you start to realize that it's not a bug, it's a feature. He's playing with sounds that most rock musicians were too afraid to touch, and that's part of what makes it his. The raunch factor is a different story altogether though, I'm still not 100% comfortable with it (though fortunately the music is amazing enough that I'm willing to tolerate the filth). For another great Zappa "demented blues" number, check out Penguin In Bondage, another of my all-time favorites
The soulful female singers were Linda Sims, Charlotte Lewis, and Tina Turner. A particular vintage of "the Ikettes". Zappa talked about how hard they worked and Ike Turner had it in a contract that he couldn't pay the ladies more than $25 per song, since that's all Ike would pay them. Didn't want them getting a taste of better treatment.
The studio version of the title track is a jam session with Jack Bruce on bass, which JB claimed to not remember. But knowing FZ, there ain't no way he gave JB credit on that song if it WASN"T JB playing. It is like his bass is at war with FZ's guitar, I dare you to find another song that the bass is so off the wall, it really is a filthy good jam!
Is that a real pancho or a Sears pancho? It's hard telling how many times I've asked that question. I'm guessing over a 1000. It's the little things in life.
You should use your "Frank" voice more often, it fits you well. You should strap on We're Only In It For The Money LP - but it needs to be done side to side as everything runs together. Listen to a piece of music (pretty much any piece) by composer Edgar Varese, he was an early and major influence on Frank. Frank and the original Mother's of Invention performed some of his music in the early years. It will help you get the "drift" of a lot of Frank's musical construction. Carry On!!
I sang the karaoke version to an age mixed crowd of my fellow workers, male and female and their spouses at a company Christmas party. None of them had ever heard it before. They'll never forget it.
You love you some good drums. Zappa always had the best. And even when he was being completely off the wall, as with "Inca Roads" where the lyrics question if certain places weren't built for UFO's to land. The song then breaks into an iconic Zappa guitar solo. This song is sublime. SUBLIME I tells ya! It should be a high priority. "Apostrophe" is kind of considered his one big commercial hit. It got radio play. Didn't happen a lot for Frank as you can imagine. "One Size Fits All" would be a very worthy and educational dive for you and Frank. Trust me. Saw the guy live four times, every show totally unique, with different bands, including seriously old Mother's members. Trust me. I've got the "good stuff" when it comes to this guy.
I Don't know if you know this Leo, but at the time of "one size fits all" there was a big interest in the possibility that the huge atacama desert "pictures" were signposts for aliens to land. Eric von daniken wrote "chariots of the gods" about this and related stuff e.g statuettes of what looked like astronauts found in mayan/aztec ruins. It was huge for a while and very 1970s. Actually, looking at your post again you probably do know this. Sorry, wasn't meaning to patronise.
@@gerardodoherty9178 I actually read "Chariots of the Gods" as an eight year old shortly after it came out. I'm still deeply interested in the truly ancient megalithic sites around the round. The Nazca plains are still a huge question mark.
@@leoscone4036 as you say, still huge questions about their purpose. One of my favourite books from that time was one which put forward the idea that there's a huge hole in the Arctic circle leading to a parking lot for alien space ships. Obviously the governments of the world are covering this up. Wish I could remember the name of it.
Zappa, for many, is an acquired taste. New listeners are usually a bit overwhelmed by his 'style' with things like shifting tempos and utilizing multiple genres into single songs. By the sound of your reactions so far, and especially with this one, you are starting to get what he is doing. As you experience a few more songs your appreciation should grow. If you are going to continue through this album, the song you couldn't pronounce (Frank will clear it up when you hear it) Excentrifugal Forz MUST be played in combination with the title tune, Apostrophe. Like the Yellow Snow suite, these two songs meld into each other, otherwise the former ends abruptly, and not in a good way. Just saying...as I expect most other Zappa fans would agree.
Zappa was anti-hippie drug scene, anti- mystics, anti Beatles (to an extent)....anti alot of the stuff that came out of the 60s. Zappa said once that the youth of the 60s were trying to change things for good but they will probably mess it up (and he was right). Drugs and self indulgence killed a lot of the hope, peace and love, changes that the 60s hoped to promise.
He's just telling you a story bro, in a really fun way. After learning the parts, he would ask the musicians to, "Now, put the eyebrows on it," i.e., Zappa-fy it, ha ha.
I enjoyed... maybe a little too much debris, a little too much flotsam and jetsam swirling around, but solid instrumentation. I recommend Camarillo Brillo (with a reprise of the "Sears Poncho".) ps, continue on with Joe Jackson? The next song is Is She Really Going Out with Him? JJ may win you over with this one...+ Happy Loving Couples is wonderful.
He did do Inca Roads, 7 months ago. And it went completely over his head. I thought he would get it, considering his great analytical skills, but alas...
@@Peter-K I believe he did "Montana" on his other channel. And his response was pretty much the same. Which is why I think he might enjoy Frank's more serious work more.
George Duke's ornaments are the best. Only exceeded by his Rhodes work. Check out "Big Swifty" live. No lyrics, just jamming out: th-cam.com/video/aYu33fmeyLc/w-d-xo.html
The key to "unlocking" Zappa is to forget about the idiosyncratic lyrics and realize that he didn't really want to write lyrics at all. He would've been perfectly happy composing nothing but instrumental music, but he realized the limited commercial appeal of that to mainstream audiences. So he made a few commercial albums like this one, toured like crazy and managed to raise enough money to make the music he REALLY wanted to make. That doesn't mean that his lyrics are bad. They're just a bit irreverent and rarely have a specific "message" to pass on. People who are of the opinion that humor doesn't belong in music, or who are very religious or politically correct, will probably struggle a great deal with Frank's songs. But there's still an enormous amount of highly sophisticated and complex instrumental work in his catalogue. Perhaps you'll find that more agreeable, Justin?
Hey Justin. Have you checked out NIN's cover of Dead Souls by Joy Division. It's from The Crow soundtrack. Heard you sneaking in Closer at the beginning
Hi, Justin! I think you mentioned sometimes that you don't see your own videos. I can inform you that through the different reactions to Zappa you have been ambivalent so far, this being the most positive. But, still you are concerned about the text and the "meaning". Through the first albums, from "Freak Out" to the "We're only in it for the money" you have lyrics with at least some sort of meaning. "Troubles every day" (sometimes claimed as the first rap song, which of course is not true - there is always something older) about the Watts riots is more in line with other music. In later songs, with a few exceptions, the lyrics is something else - a part of the art - but more related to John Lennon's "I am the walrus" where the intention was to have no meaning. Zappa frequently explained that his intention was to entertain. If you try to "understand" in the first place, you will get lost. As several people already suggested: try some of the instrumental pieces from "The grand Wazoo" or "Waka/Jawaka" albums. You have now showed that you have the preconditions to really appreciate Zappa's music!
I have seen this live and they jam their asses off there is one on you tube for free you should check it out it is much better than the studio version.
Ah! You're going thru Zappa's "Apostrophe (')" album! (Frank's 18th studio album.) Please, please, when you hit side 2, play the 1st 2 songs as a pair. Here they are together, in their original vinyl form, just as God (Frank, in this case!) himself intended them to be heard. th-cam.com/video/yFDflMeTxVM/w-d-xo.html Excentrifugal Forz is only 1:33 and leads perfectly into the title track, Apostrophe. (5:50) Apostrophe is a jam with bassist Jack Bruce from Cream and so many other supergroups. "Ex-centrifical" Force" may help with the pronunciation! PS That's the Ikettes on backing vocals. Here's a link to excerpts of all the songs they backed up: th-cam.com/video/j1qvaTTAxgk/w-d-xo.html Ike HATED the songs so much he wouldn't let the Ikettes be credited and he demanded Frank not pay them more than he paid them, $25/song. Frank ignored that one and paid them $25/hour.
Also major shout out to the ever outstanding Ruth Underwood on xylophone on this. She accentuates the comedic transitions on this song.
Babe Ruth
Hate to come across as nitpicking...but it's a marimba Ruth's playing....🚬😎
@@craigfazekas3923 and Ruth also plays Frank's vibraphone, both cousins of the xylophone, but both have tubes mounted under keys for richer and longer tones. Marimba has wooden keys, vibraphone metal, FWIW! The video of Inca Roads from A Token of My Extreme shows how extensive her percussion set up was, and at the end of the song, the final flourish, has her go from Marimba all the way through all of it, quite a feat!
"Apostrophe" my favorite Frank Zappa album with "Over-Nite Sensation" close behind.
There are so many tracks from Zappa that combine great musicianship with biting satire.
Case in point: The Illinois Enema Bandit :-D
The reason Tina Turner and The Ikettes are not credited on the album is because Ike Turner, a true shithead if ever there was one, decided he didn't get what Frank was doing, and didn't want his name associated with the recording, so no credit and no money for the girls. Like I said, a true shithead. But the song is excellent, as are most of Frank's compositions.
That is the most perfect description of Ike Turner.
@@HakanTunaMuzik just 180 or so bucks for 7 hours, I have seen the receipt!
That blender full of snarky genius,still lights my way! Take everything and nothing seriously! Peace.
Love Zappa, always unique combinations of notes and musical instruments, mixing styles and changes. Love to hear more Zappa reactions.
Absolutely some of the best musical arrangements you will hear!!
The story in Cosmic Debris is basically Zappa making fun of the "Guru" trend that started happening among recently rich artists from music (mostly rock) or other arts in the mid 60's/early 70's after the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi got notoriety due to his involvement with the Beatles. Frank treats the whole guru enlightenment discovery as a shtick, a gimmick, devised to make some fast cash by fooling inexperience kids who find themselves now flushed with cash. I personally enjoy the humor in the lyrics that essentially boils it all down to cosmic garbage (debris). Which is not to say that I myself believe that any and all searches for personal betterment, be it via an actual guru or any other means, to be all a joke. But in this song it is.
But, I got a crystal ball! :D
@@jonp4846 Lol!🤣🤣🤣
Yes, George Harrison was especially influential in bringing eastern mysticism and musical influence (unreal how many bands used a sitar around this time) to the music scene but he wasn't the only one and it's hard for those not around at the time to realize how pervasive the guru influence was. Probably never had a Hare Krishna try to sell you flowers at an airport. After exploring other forms of eastern religious culture George wound up as a life long Hare Krishna convert, which you can hear in his hit, "My Sweet Lord" (many Christians had a rude awakening when they listened to the words more carefully). John McLaughlin also followed another guru (as did Carlos Santana), Sri Chinmoy, for a time and is why he named himself and his band "Mahavishnu".
The lyrics of this song are very good and still relevant.
That first guitar solo through a stuck wah pedal was glorious.
Love the whole Apostrophe album. And Cosmik Debris is amazing.
“Now who you jivin’ with that Cosmik Debris?”
I love all the "mickey mousing" touches throughout, from the violin squiggles under "fidget around a bit," to the mini how blast for "ram it up your snout." All the key verbs in the story are portrayed by some non-traditional instrumental noise.
It's the details. And Zappa voiced his arrangements so cleanly. Every little thing has it's perfect sonic space, so nothing gets lost in audio mud. He's like the anti-Phil Spector in that way
Today I found your analysis to be particularly nice again - thank you. Maybe you can add "Fifty Fifty" from the album Over-Nite Sensation to your todo list? The whole album is awesome, by the way.
Yeah, 50/50 is a great song. Distressed vocals and burning solos all wrapped up in a headlong musical rush. What are the chances Justin will review it? I think you know the odds.
The World needs more Zappa! What more to say? Thanks!
There is this guy named Dweezil and he is said to have quite the hot little band.
Oooo Justin....we used to listen to a lot of Zappa (thanks to my brother) and joyously laugh and laugh. He had such a great sense of humor. The added pleasure was whoa the musical talents Zappa had alongside him were off the chart.
Note: Zappa is not for everyone.
But boy did we have a blast with Frank. Looking forward to side II.
Ahh...Frank Zappa...a musical rabbit hole of his own making! Love It. Try "Montana" if you get the urge...another Classic Zappa musing. I believe the word you are hunting for is "ZAPPAFIED"! hahaha
Ty Rick! That was actually the first song I head from him :D
Nice! My favorite album and song is "Joe's Garage"
Also, now I'm going to have "But I said
look here brother,
Who you jivin' with that Cosmik Debris?" stuck in my head 😁
Justin - I always thought these lyrics were poking fun at the New Age / Eastern Mysticism that was popular among hippies in the late 60s. This guy is trying to sell Frank on his potions and meditations and he's got a crystal ball and some kind of wizard's robe, etc. - and Frank just says "Who you jivin with that Cosmic BS" (basically). He spent a lot of time in his early career mocking hippies, so this seems to be in line with that. I may be wrong though.
That is exactly my take on the song, as well!
Makes sense! Ty Mike :)
@@JustJP you’ll hear the same kind of lyrical theme in “Camarillo Brillo” from the previous album, but it’s a woman trying to seduce him “she had a snake for a pet / and an amulet / she was breeding a dwarf / but she wasn’t done yet”. 😂
Usual superb music from Rank. He mirrors the actions in the lyrics. For example "the top popped open" and "foaming goo". Frank does this throughout the album. Sheer brilliance.
Remember this was the hallucinogenic era... what might have been in the box then?
Maybe zappa was commenting on how so called gurus used what were quite ordinary objects and said they were essential spiritual devices
Zappa music is timeless; it never goes out of style and it never dates itself. That's the mark of true originality.
Tip: when you start side two, Excentrifugal Forz bleeds right into the title track, so you should play them as Excentrifugal Forz/Apostrophe (').
Will do!
You really should try out his album The Grand Wazoo sometime. It's just pure jazz fusion without the comedy. I think you'd dig that side of Zappa a lot more.
One of his best - "Blessed Relief" is pure mellow jazz.
My fav Zappa album
Waka/Jawaka and The Grand Wazoo are the two major studio albums in which Frank Zappa is working with a big band style of arrangements. He did a short tour with this huge band that he dubbed The Grand Wazoo Band. However it was too expensive to maintain which forced him to cut the group down considerably for a second mini tour, dubbing the ensemble The Petite Wazoo Band. Over a decade after his passing, there have been some excellent official releases of certain live recordings of these ensembles, well worth looking into as well.
Hot Rats does it for me.
_The Grand Wazoo_ is great, but I wouldn't say it was without comedy. _Cletus Awreetus-Awrightus_ is possibly the funniest instrumental track I've ever heard.
man, you need to watch the live version of this music
Looking forward to "Uncle Remus" if you carry on with this album .. one of my favourites 🙂
Another Classic. Zappa at his peak. Been twenty years or so since I listened to it, and it is still special. Thanks Bro!!
One of my favorites. This one got more air play than most. :)
Didnt realize you were doing the whole album...the next 2 songs will knock you out haha
Blues and R&B were huge influences on Zappa and they remained a big part of his music throughout his career, side by side with the crazier stuff
In fact they should be heard together because EF is very short. There is a vid on youtube that is both songs together
Ah Fridays. Fun and freaky. Constantly surprising and entertaining. My time wasn't wasted.
Always a surprise :D
Finally.. someone has the cahones to react to Cosmik Debris, and JP, I must say, you are the man to do it.. Great reaction!. Your approach is remotely analytical, but creatively lighthearted.. Excellent.. Now for some bizarre humor, try "Camarillo Brillo".. or "Dirty Love"..
Appreciate that a lot 4tune!
@@JustJP Your welcome.. keep up the cool selections and great reactions.. have you done Tommy Bolin, "Wild Dogs" yet?..
Thanks for this one. Next Zappa, do the first few tunes from Joe's Garage album....what a hilarious story unfolding. Cracks me up every time I dust off the turntable and put it on.
I would suggest he go in the other direction: grand wazoo, RDZNL, Black Page, Sleep Dirt, etc
@@timcardona9962 so would i
My son just called from his store to tell me they had a vinyl copy of Apostrophe. We are fans of Zappa here and I have most of the collection on either vinyl or cd or both. Although I have this album on cd I have not seen my lp since the 80’s. Furthermore I really dug the lp in the 70’s, but have very rarely listened to it since. Now having said all that I was prepared to truck on down by foot to snatch it all away from them outta sight. My son then informed me that someone had just purchased it. : ( 0 )=
Many like only hearing Frank speak his razor sharp wit and others only wished he shut up and play his guitar. Dirty Love (from Overnight Sensation) is a great one for Astounding Frank vocals. Anyway, as soon as I got off the phone with my sadistic son I find this video jumped up into my box. There ain’t nothing my box won’t do…
I've got the Shut Up And Play Your Guitar box set on vinyl :-)
@@gregall2178, Damn you for that Greg : ). I have pretty mint copies of them or us and 200 motels OG vinyl and many more. Pick one and I will toss in my box cd set of suapyg. Doesn’t hurt to ask or Dream Large. On second thought, I am withdrawing 200 motels.
I've had mine since it came out. Even managed to get a large point of sale poster of Apostrophe (album cover). Looks like it was never used!?! On it, it sez, Would you buy an album from this man? You would if you heard it.
I also love how the Ikettes have been chipmunked in the last vamp section. I always admired his use of the fact that you can speed up and slow down tape.
Jack Bruce on bass parts of that album, and the b.g. vocals by tina turner and the turnerettes. Awesome musiciums on this special vynil.
Totally forgot how much I dig this track.
Frank uses esoteric euphemisms that bring big smiles to his diehard fans.
"is that a real poncho or is that a Sears poncho?"
I poked and stroked until my wrist got numb, an applied rotation on her sugar plum....
"Here Fido!"
Johnny was an A-list studio drummer of the time and his presence here as well as on the work of Joni Mitchell and many, many others is only awkwardly equated with the "featuring" so common today. New York, Nashville, and Los Angeles relied very heavily on a reliable set of go-to session players known to be able to "deliver" any time of day or night and John Guerin was one of them. The most famous of the L.A. contingent have come to be collectively known as "The Wrecking Crew" though I don't know that Guerin might not been a little after their classic period in which they were the actual musicians on nearly EVERY song to make the radio for a period of close to a decade. Johnny may possibly have come just after that.
Meanwhile: "Zappa's been pretty good so far, I think I'm warming up to 'the Zapp"?! ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME?! After listening to endless Genesis and (yuk!) late Yes you still have yet to find out about one of the maybe half dozen authentic music geniuses of the 20th century but are still just "warming up" to him?! I'm sorry, but music's been lost on you if you're only just finding out and are still exploring 80's "prog", which isn't particularly "progressive" at all, much less worthwhile music. PLEASE go listen to Zappa's first decade of music before getting back to us. Thanks.
My favorite Zappa tune. Simply Groovy
At one point, I was chatting with James "Birdlegs" Youman here on TH-cam (former Zappa bassist). Very cool, low-key & approachable dude !!
🚬😎
Yay Zappa! Genius composer. You ought to react to Bolero by Maurice Ravel. :)
And now... listen to "Crazy Little Jewish Princess"... by Zappa.
"She had a garlic aroma, that could level Tacoma...." ;-)
Yup, we can see that you're "Warmin' up to the Zap." Love it.
At the time of release, there was a slew of guru cults. One Maharaj Ji, was 15yr old with Rolls Royce’s and a “secretary” who was in 20s he married.
Ralph Humphrey plays drums on this and the yellow snow suite. Johnny Guerrin only plays on Excentrifugal Forz.
In a long tradition of spoken storytelling over dirty blues, Zappa'd as you say. LOve it. Kevin Ayers, Little Feat, they all had a take.
The drummer is Ralph Humphrey in this one
Who you jivin’ with that Cosmic Debris? Love Frank.
That's Tina Turner and the Ikettes singing backup (uncredited). This album (and his last album) were recorded at Ike Turner's studio, and the deal was for a little extra money, he'd throw in Tina and the Ikettes......as long as you didn't credit them. So that's Tina Turner singing on this, and "Montana" and "Dinah Moe Hum", "I'm The Slime", etc.... Fun reaction video!
Love the Zappa humor in this track, both vocally and with the musical instruments responding to the lyrics. Zappa made fun of people and here it's '60s and '70s gurus peddling various forms of enlightenment.
Interesting that you mention Canterbury. Zappa once said any band could open for The Mothers of Invention except The Soft Machine.
Zappa inspired music appears on the self-titled Hatfield & The North album. Uncle Meat type motifs.
Mmm that hits the spot, it's gonna be a great Friday night!
The story seems pretty straightforward in this one. Frank is approached by a "guru" who offers to help him reach enlightenment for a fee, but Frank doesn't fall for the con and tells him off. The guru is taken aback but persists and tries to sell Frank on some "mystical" snake oil to cure all of his ills, which Frank similarly rejects. The guru finally pulls out a crystal ball and offers to tell his future, but Frank turns the tables on him, makes his own fake turban out of newspaper, "hypnotizes" and scams the guru out of his own money & possessions, and tells hims a future prediction that's actually just an insult ("the price of meat has just gone up and your old lady just went down", i.e. "your wife just gave some other guy a blowjob"). Frank concludes by making fun of his outfit and telling him to give up his con.
in context of the story
in this time Frank was pretty outspoken against religion and gurus, the story is basically a skeptic debunking a new age guru type person,gurus were popular to a lot of his contemporaries in the music industry so he was probably poking a lil fun at them as well as the gurus.
I bought 'Apostrophe' when it first came out in the 70s...My take on Cosmik Debris is that is was an anti-drug anthem and ridiculed the dealer selling all kinds of drugs and associated paraphernalia. It was perhaps also the nascent forerunner to hip hop, given the rhyming couplets and clever play on words. One of my Favorite Zappa tunes nonetheless...."Shaaanti...!"
Apostrophe is another classic. Waka Jawaka & Hot Rats smoke on a jazz tip. Sick. As a teenager, I always wanted Zappa & George Clinton to collab. I've seen both of their live shows 🤯 They at least would've pulled a historic, super eclectic crossover crowd as a double bill tour. Imagine what the opening bands in all the cities would be like for a tour like that! Hats off to a true music legend, as well as an extremely proactive, freedom of speech activist. Mr ZFG personified! Btw, I'm a big fan of Todd Rundgren's more vituoso, instrumental heavy, prog project, called Utopia. Have you reacted to them yet?
I have little Zappa knowledge. This was entertaining. I enjoyed your reaction. It was a hoot! Zappa making fun of con artist gurus.
Love Zappa! Saw him twice, he was amazing.
Don’t try to figure Zappa out. His music is fun to listen to. Just enjoy it.
**** FZ was a master as were all of his musicians. Check out Tina Turner and the Ikettes who are the featured female singers.
Selling 'spiritual enlightenment' for a service charge would be something that Zappa simply would not tolerate. I love the call and response of statement and sound effect that he uses here. As you say, it would sound silly in other hands, but here he makes it work. Zappa is very hard to take out of context, but as you can see, he really is truly brilliant. For jazz fusion, title track of Grand Wazoo is recommended, but you sort of have to be in an energized mood for it.
“Zappafied” is the term you were looking for.
Thats it!
Good thing you're doing the one you can pronounce JP! And I think the Mystery Man is just a snake-oil salesman.
Spot on! This song expresses Frank's feelings about "new age mysticism" charlatans. Also a tidbit here and there criticizing rank commercialism (Now is that real poncho or is that a Sears poncho?)
It takes a while to get used to Zappa's silliness factor, but if you manage to keep an open mind long enough, eventually you start to realize that it's not a bug, it's a feature. He's playing with sounds that most rock musicians were too afraid to touch, and that's part of what makes it his. The raunch factor is a different story altogether though, I'm still not 100% comfortable with it (though fortunately the music is amazing enough that I'm willing to tolerate the filth).
For another great Zappa "demented blues" number, check out Penguin In Bondage, another of my all-time favorites
The soulful female singers were Linda Sims, Charlotte Lewis, and Tina Turner. A particular vintage of "the Ikettes". Zappa talked about how hard they worked and Ike Turner had it in a contract that he couldn't pay the ladies more than $25 per song, since that's all Ike would pay them. Didn't want them getting a taste of better treatment.
digging that disco version of closer at the beginning lol
If he were alive, Zappa could make a good song about the confusion between Cosmic Debris and Excentrifugal Forz.
Once you get past the weirdness, the jazz comes to life. Jazz life. It's where you want to be. Go to where the flavor is. Wawa coffee.
Good flavor!
this is my jam,,, yes can't get enough Zappa,,, my holy trinity is Frank Zappa, Kate Bush and Robert Fripp
Try a deep dive on the bassist Leland Sklar. He's probably played with as many artists as Carol Kaye. Carol is also in a league of her own.
And Carol played acoustic guitar on Freak Out. But of course she did.
ah,you're getting there JP....nice one bud :)
Ty Ken :)
Zappa is(was) a genius. This is a great song!
Can't wait for Apostrophe.
The studio version of the title track is a jam session with Jack Bruce on bass, which JB claimed to not remember. But knowing FZ, there ain't no way he gave JB credit on that song if it WASN"T JB playing. It is like his bass is at war with FZ's guitar, I dare you to find another song that the bass is so off the wall, it really is a filthy good jam!
Time for you to listen to Zappa’s “Dirty Love” & “Dinah Mo Hum” and try not to laugh 😂
Frank and Joanie were next door neighbors in Laurel Canyon
You must look into the Swampers. They helped shape the sound of the sixties and seventies.
Zappa just hadn't met my guru, Baba Rum Raisin or his associate Rama Llama Ding Dong.
Is that a real pancho or a Sears pancho? It's hard telling how many times I've asked that question. I'm guessing over a 1000.
It's the little things in life.
I’ve gotten some odd looks when I’ve asked that.
@@robynsmith3040 lol
Same
Arf, she said.
I'm sorry you gotta head like a potato.
You should use your "Frank" voice more often, it fits you well.
You should strap on We're Only In It For The Money LP - but it needs to be done side to side as everything runs together. Listen to a piece of music (pretty much any piece) by composer Edgar Varese, he was an early and major influence on Frank. Frank and the original Mother's of Invention performed some of his music in the early years. It will help you get the "drift" of a lot of Frank's musical construction.
Carry On!!
It's a slight on Guru's, which was a big thing in the 70's.
Justin you should check out the album Overnite Sensation. The song Dynamo Hum. Cool tune!
it is
I sang the karaoke version to an age mixed crowd of my fellow workers, male and female and their spouses at a company Christmas party. None of them had ever heard it before. They'll never forget it.
@@nj1639 Lol! That's awesome. 🤣
You love you some good drums. Zappa always had the best. And even when he was being completely off the wall, as with "Inca Roads" where the lyrics question if certain places weren't built for UFO's to land.
The song then breaks into an iconic Zappa guitar solo. This song is sublime. SUBLIME I tells ya! It should be a high priority. "Apostrophe" is kind of considered his one big commercial hit. It got radio play. Didn't happen a lot for Frank as you can imagine.
"One Size Fits All" would be a very worthy and educational dive for you and Frank.
Trust me. Saw the guy live four times, every show totally unique, with different bands, including seriously old Mother's members. Trust me. I've got the "good stuff" when it comes to this guy.
I Don't know if you know this Leo, but at the time of "one size fits all" there was a big interest in the possibility that the huge atacama desert "pictures" were signposts for aliens to land. Eric von daniken wrote "chariots of the gods" about this and related stuff e.g statuettes of what looked like astronauts found in mayan/aztec ruins. It was huge for a while and very 1970s.
Actually, looking at your post again you probably do know this. Sorry, wasn't meaning to patronise.
@@gerardodoherty9178 I actually read "Chariots of the Gods" as an eight year old shortly after it came out. I'm still deeply interested in the truly ancient megalithic sites around the round. The Nazca plains are still a huge question mark.
@@leoscone4036 as you say, still huge questions about their purpose. One of my favourite books from that time was one which put forward the idea that there's a huge hole in the Arctic circle leading to a parking lot for alien space ships. Obviously the governments of the world are covering this up. Wish I could remember the name of it.
Zappa, for many, is an acquired taste. New listeners are usually a bit overwhelmed by his 'style' with things like shifting tempos and utilizing multiple genres into single songs. By the sound of your reactions so far, and especially with this one, you are starting to get what he is doing. As you experience a few more songs your appreciation should grow. If you are going to continue through this album, the song you couldn't pronounce (Frank will clear it up when you hear it) Excentrifugal Forz MUST be played in combination with the title tune, Apostrophe. Like the Yellow Snow suite, these two songs meld into each other, otherwise the former ends abruptly, and not in a good way. Just saying...as I expect most other Zappa fans would agree.
Arf, she said.
Ty Peter! Will definitely do those two together
Tina Turner and the Ikettes on backing vocals!
Zappa was anti-hippie drug scene, anti- mystics, anti Beatles (to an extent)....anti alot of the stuff that came out of the 60s. Zappa said once that the youth of the 60s were trying to change things for good but they will probably mess it up (and he was right). Drugs and self indulgence killed a lot of the hope, peace and love, changes that the 60s hoped to promise.
He's just telling you a story bro, in a really fun way. After learning the parts, he would ask the musicians to, "Now, put the eyebrows on it," i.e., Zappa-fy it, ha ha.
I enjoyed... maybe a little too much debris, a little too much flotsam and jetsam swirling
around, but solid instrumentation. I recommend Camarillo Brillo (with a reprise of the "Sears Poncho".)
ps, continue on with Joe Jackson? The next song is Is She Really Going Out with Him? JJ may win you over with this one...+ Happy Loving Couples is wonderful.
Live live live! Do Cosmic Debris live!
Now, is that a real poncho or a Sears poncho?
"Now what kind o gu-ruu are you anyway??"
100% authentic traditional hand woven Peruvian alpaca wool poncho (made in China).
Ralph Humphrey is the summer on this track
This whole period of his is great. Love that nasty, dirty guitar tone of his. Have you done Inca Roads yet?
He did do Inca Roads, 7 months ago. And it went completely over his head. I thought he would get it, considering his great analytical skills, but alas...
@@SpaceCattttt, He is still pretty young. But some of us were younger…then.
@@SpaceCattttt I think it was his first, a lot for a newbie to digest for the first time.
@@Peter-K I believe he did "Montana" on his other channel. And his response was pretty much the same. Which is why I think he might enjoy Frank's more serious work more.
George Duke's ornaments are the best. Only exceeded by his Rhodes work.
Check out "Big Swifty" live. No lyrics, just jamming out: th-cam.com/video/aYu33fmeyLc/w-d-xo.html
The key to "unlocking" Zappa is to forget about the idiosyncratic lyrics and realize that he didn't really want to write lyrics at all.
He would've been perfectly happy composing nothing but instrumental music, but he realized the limited commercial appeal of that to mainstream audiences.
So he made a few commercial albums like this one, toured like crazy and managed to raise enough money to make the music he REALLY wanted to make.
That doesn't mean that his lyrics are bad. They're just a bit irreverent and rarely have a specific "message" to pass on.
People who are of the opinion that humor doesn't belong in music, or who are very religious or politically correct, will probably struggle a great deal with Frank's songs.
But there's still an enormous amount of highly sophisticated and complex instrumental work in his catalogue. Perhaps you'll find that more agreeable, Justin?
Idk, I kinda find some of the lyrics wonderfully fitting and hilarious (Nanook comes to mind) :)
Frank really was NOT an admirer of esoteric movements... so, that was his take on that topic^^
Like Close to the Edge, Apostrophe` should really be taken whole as the concept album that it is. Think about it.
Hey Justin. Have you checked out NIN's cover of Dead Souls by Joy Division. It's from The Crow soundtrack. Heard you sneaking in Closer at the beginning
This is a 1975 version of a SPAM alert!!
How did I miss this upload??? Wth
🤭
Kinda silly, kinda stupid, kinda genius… now we got yas.
Hi, Justin! I think you mentioned sometimes that you don't see your own videos. I can inform you that through the different reactions to Zappa you have been ambivalent so far, this being the most positive. But, still you are concerned about the text and the "meaning". Through the first albums, from "Freak Out" to the "We're only in it for the money" you have lyrics with at least some sort of meaning. "Troubles every day" (sometimes claimed as the first rap song, which of course is not true - there is always something older) about the Watts riots is more in line with other music. In later songs, with a few exceptions, the lyrics is something else - a part of the art - but more related to John Lennon's "I am the walrus" where the intention was to have no meaning. Zappa frequently explained that his intention was to entertain. If you try to "understand" in the first place, you will get lost. As several people already suggested: try some of the instrumental pieces from "The grand Wazoo" or "Waka/Jawaka" albums. You have now showed that you have the preconditions to really appreciate Zappa's music!
I have seen this live and they jam their asses off there is one on you tube for free you should check it out it is much better than the studio version.
JP - do yourself and your ears a favour, sit back with headphones and listen to the "Waka Jawaka" album.
Ah! You're going thru Zappa's "Apostrophe (')" album! (Frank's 18th studio album.)
Please, please, when you hit side 2, play the 1st 2 songs as a pair.
Here they are together, in their original vinyl form, just as God (Frank, in this case!) himself intended them to be heard.
th-cam.com/video/yFDflMeTxVM/w-d-xo.html
Excentrifugal Forz is only 1:33 and leads perfectly into the title track, Apostrophe. (5:50) Apostrophe is a jam with bassist Jack Bruce from Cream and so many other supergroups.
"Ex-centrifical" Force" may help with the pronunciation! PS That's the Ikettes on backing vocals.
Here's a link to excerpts of all the songs they backed up: th-cam.com/video/j1qvaTTAxgk/w-d-xo.html
Ike HATED the songs so much he wouldn't let the Ikettes be credited and he demanded Frank not pay them more than he paid them, $25/song. Frank ignored that one and paid them $25/hour.
the laughing of the new age