The OFFICIAL Unofficial Achewood Message Board
Trivial Pursuits => Arts & Entertainment => Topic started by: AugustWest on August 08, 2003, 05:27:35 am
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Is there some sort of Zappa/Achewood axis? I've noticed at least three of us (myself, Slink and El Guapo himself) are fans of Frank. Anybody else?
Which period/types of Zappa's music is your favorite? Ever see him live? Will Mary ever make it back to the tool shed in Canoga Park?
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I like to listen to him when ...umm... when the sign is "that life is awesome".
Makes me giggle,"right up the poop shute" *snort*
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Well, I'm fairly fond of a lot of Zappa. He is in my opinion possibly the finest guitarrist to have ever lived, at least technically. I mean, Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan were great, but Zappa just had something they didn't - faster, cleaner, more imaginative I think.
The album that when I was a kid got me hooked was Joe's Garage. Hysterical album. And the Mothers were pretty damn fine.
I have to agree, when 'life is awesome' some Zappa goes down perfectly!
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Is there some sort of Zappa/Achewood axis?
It's the Axis of Dweezil
I only wish I had made that up.
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Hot Rats = #1
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There are so many great Zappa albums...
Here's a short list of my faves:
Fillmore East, 1971
Hot Rats
Apostrophe
Overnight Sensation
We're Only In It For The Money
Burnt Weenie Sandwich
Weezels Ripped My Flesh
Cruising with Ruben and the Jets
Joe's Garage
Live in New York
Uncle Meat
One Size Fits All
And that's the *short* list. There are over 100 Zappa albums now, if you include all of the officially released live and previously unreleased posthumous stuff.
The man was prolific, and he (rarely) repeated himself.
Just amazing...
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And I think the Zappa/Achewood affinity is simple: both are very funny, and both are diligent artists (zappa more than onstad, but hey, he's young yet) and both took their silliness very seriously.
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Favorite Zappa - You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore Volume 2: The Helsinki Concert.
The same band from Roxy and Elsewhere, but after having toured for a full year. The band is on fire, and Zappa's guitar playing is unbelievable.
Also features the version of "Montana" where someone mistakes Frank for Duane Allman and requests "Whipping Post." Hilarity ensues.
I'm also fond of:
We're Only In It For the Money
Apostrophe / Overnite Sensation
Sheik Yerbouti
Tinseltown Rebellion
Ship Arriving Too Late To Save a Drowning Witch
YCDTOSA Vol. 3
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I very much agree with the lists presented. Hot Rats and Burnt Weeny Sandwich are two of my all time favorite albums, bar none. Joe's Garage is also wonderful, in my book it's the best of the humorous material. Great instrumental work on there, too (especially Acts II and III, the guitar solos when Joe is in prison are astounding).
One album that I really like, but haven't seen mentioned is Sleep Dirt. All instrumental, but a mellower feel than Hot Rats. The Shut Up and Play Yer Guitar triology are great, too.
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Joe's Garage is also wonderful, in my book it's the best of the humorous material. Great instrumental work on there, too (especially Acts II and III, the guitar solos when Joe is in prison are astounding).
Yea, just to go with my finest guitarrist ever theory, the solo (song) Watermelon in Easter Hay, where he's just "worked himself into an imaginary frenzy during the fadeout of his imaginary song. He begins to feel depressed now, he knows the end is near..." is just sublime guitar work!
Ah, 9 years now and I'm still not that good. Goddamnit! One day...
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For my money, "Cruising for Burgers" is about the most insane guitar work ever.
Especially the live version on "Zappa In New York" (I don't even know if there's a studio version... dang, now I can't remember).
And said live album also starts off with the very funny "Titties and Beer" which goes from the ridiculous to the sublime in about six minutes.
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Oh yea, you're right. Watermelon... isn't in any way his best guitar, it's just... beautiful. A real kind of melancholy, lie back, have life be awesome and pretend just for a moment you can play like that!
I desperately need to update my Zappa collection - like getting it on CD now. Where was I read that - Vinyl's are like velvet, CD's are like Linen sheets, and tapes are like a crinolyn sweater your great-aunt gave you for christmas... "Put it on honey, it *really* suits you".
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I went through a period of about eight years when the vast majorityof stuff I listened to was Zappa. Uncle Meat is probably my favorite album, particularly "King Kong".
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Pulled out Fillmore East '71 to listen to as a result of this thread. Excellent, excellent, excellent. Nice mix of the bawdy and the divine. Terrific version of Peaches en Regalia ('bout my favorite song, with Sofa #2). Gotta go do the Mudshark now. Bye.
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Oh yeah, almost forgot.
Here's what the worthies at RealPlayer had to allow about FZ. Came up when I stuck the CD in the computer.
"Incredibly influential musician who has had a direct influence on jazz, rock, Jazz-Rock, Comedy, and Captain Beefheart. "
...and Captain Beefheart. Do I see a Captain Beefheart thread on the horizon. And that could only lead to a discussion of Firesign Theater.
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"Incredibly influential musician who has had a direct influence on jazz, rock, Jazz-Rock, Comedy, and Captain Beefheart. "
...and Captain Beefheart. Do I see a Captain Beefheart thread on the horizon. And that could only lead to a discussion of Firesign Theater.
Aaaaaaaah, Captain Beefheart! Good stuff.
The list of Zappa's influenced is vast though. I mean, Beefheart and a good number of his band played for Zappa originally. Adrian Belew - King Crimson's guitarrist was a Zappa trainee. All the people that are considered finest guitarrists too, like Steve Vai learnt a lot from Zappa.
Now if he hadn't gone and died I could ship myself across there and be one of his kids!
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Ship Arriving Too Late To Save a Drowning Witch
I like this album, and it is rarely name-checked.
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Oh God, don't tell me Zappa's gonna be the favorite band on this board. I think we have a new saddest thing.
Don't get me wrong, I enjoy Zappa immensely, but his diehard fans ruin it for me. There is something about the fervency that really puts me off. Let me clue you in to a little secret, he's not as good as you think he is.
Same thing goes for The Doors and U2.
~Paul
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Oh God, don't tell me Zappa's gonna be the favorite band on this board. I think we have a new saddest thing.
Don't get me wrong, I enjoy Zappa immensely, but his diehard fans ruin it for me. There is something about the fervency that really puts me off. Let me clue you in to a little secret, he's not as good as you think he is.
Same thing goes for The Doors and U2.
~Paul
OK, so yea, Zappa would in no way make it onto my top ten probably, but he was technically a superb musician and writer, and shaped a lot of music since, even if in a very unmentioned way. I mean having basically haled to form bands like Captain Beefheart and Crimson, and taught Vai and a couple of the other considered greats, who then went on to affect music quite heavily, he has had a big effect.
Now, U2 I despise! Always hated them so much. They're just, too poppy and unimaginative for me. The Doors on the other hand, they might make it into a well thought out top ten of all time for me, while I tend to forget about them, they're a band who I can put anything on by them at any time and really enjoy. They were good!
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I own more Zappa CDs than I do any other artist, but that's probably because he just has so many.
I mean, would it even be possible to own 40 Morphine albums? Or the Velvet Underground? I thinkn't.
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Oh God, don't tell me Zappa's gonna be the favorite band on this board. I think we have a new saddest thing.
Don't get me wrong, I enjoy Zappa immensely, but his diehard fans ruin it for me. There is something about the fervency that really puts me off. Let me clue you in to a little secret, he's not as good as you think he is.
Same thing goes for The Doors and U2.
~Paul
Just because Zappa's the first individual artist to be discussed on the board doesn't mean he's the universal favorite, so don't worry about it. We probably should have talked about The Shaggs first!
I listened to Zappa heavily in the late 80s/early 90s, but only find myself returning to him in increasingly longer arcs of time.
Also forgot to list his amazing The Yellow Shark.
The Doors were a wedding band that had a drunk poet for a singer. "Come live with us in forests of azure, but first, a toast to the bride and the groom! Burp!" I've boiled their entire discography down to one CD that's pretty good, but nowhere near the level of contemporaries like Hendrix and The Byrds.
I like a lot of U2's albums, and it's always fun to watch when their reach completely exceeds their grasp ( e.g. Rattle and Hum, PopMart ) and they have to figure out something new to do.
Jough: if only we lived in a universe where the Velvet Underground made 40 albums!
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Yes, just to reiterate and make myself clear, I have no problem with Zappa (or the Doors or U2), I think they're all pretty good. Actually Zappa's f'n great, but some of the fans of these particular bands I find are pretty obnoxious.
"Come Live with us in Fields of Azure." That's a good one. My favorite is "If they say I never loved you, you know they are a liar." Huh?
~Paul
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if only we lived in a universe where the Velvet Underground made 40 albums!
VU is cool, but if we had 40 albums might they sound a lot like the 40 Lou Reed albums we do have? Maybe it's good they stopped when they did.
I'd rather wish for a world with 40 Big Star albums.
~Paul
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Actually Zappa's f'n great, but some of the fans of these particular bands I find are pretty obnoxious.
~Paul
To quote High FIdelity: "I advertise in the back of glossy rock magazine, and get letters from young men, always men, [...] who seem to spend a disproportionate amount of their time looking for deleted Smith's singles and 'ORIGINAL NOT RE-RELEASED' underlined Frank Zappa albums."
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As the OP'er, I feel obligated to defend myself. I am not one of those fans. I have known them. I'm not, nor have I ever been, that guy.
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I didn't mean to kill this discussion.
What's the Ugliest part of your body?
~Paul
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Well, that one found it's demise then!
Woooh this'll be fun...
(my right big toe...)