My tickets for the Zappa Plays Zappa tour arrived. Looking forward to this gig in November - Dweezil Zappa honouring his dad, the late lamented Frank, by touring with a crack unit of musicians playing Frank's best loved pieces. Marvellous.
As a result I played Frank's 1974 live album Roxy and Elsewhere today. Most of the tracks were recorded live at the Roxy Theater, December 1973 and a couple were taped, er, elsewhere, on the Spring '74 tour. As with most live Zappa there are very few overdubs, except on one track - the amazing “Cheepnis”. A song all about 50s monster movies - so it's full of theremin type sounds and some super cheesoid narration -
'Bullets can't stop it! We might have to use Nuclear Force!' –
“Cheepnis” has loads of wonderful backing vocals sploodged all over it, as the basic live track is all but submerged beneath a riot of effects and vocals. And it's fantastic.
Other highlights of this double album - the wonderful “Be-Bop Tango” dance contest, the amazing percussion all the way through the album, and the genuinely lovely ballad “Village Of The Sun”. A real rarity in Zappa's oeuvre in that it's a straightforward song, with sensible lyrics recalling a real place called Sun Village where Zappa used to gig in his youth. There's a surprising fondness in the words and the vocal delivery.
Of course, just so you don't think Frank's gone all Barry Manilow on you, it's sandwiched between the supremely complex instrumental madness of “Echidna's Arf (Of You)” and the hilariously subversive Nixon baiting of “Dummy Up”.
So that's all right then.
No comments:
Post a Comment