Frank Zappa

[Scott Dolan]

Yes, the other two from that tour: Broadway The Hard Way, and The Best Band You've Never Heard In Your Life. 

Neither are as strong, IMO, but still have a lot of great music on them. Heavy Duty Judy from Best Band is some of his most aggressive playing ever. Hot Plate Heaven At The Green Hotel and Outside Now from Broadway are definitive versions. 

 

[mjzee]

Not sure which is the "official" Zappa thread in our Artists forum, so I'll post this in both (can they be combined?):

https://www.zappa.com/news/frank-zappas-beloved-live-double-album-zappa-new-york-celebrated-suite-40th-anniversary

[mjzee]

Release date December 20:

https://www.zappa.com/news/frank-zappas-legendary-1969-album-hot-rats-celebrated-massive-50th-anniversary-six-disc?fbclid=IwAR2FJgKQGbQ0LX8j9b9TDNxd6fkrWdCEQIdKTmOICD30XL9a8WZjGCthqr4

[mikeweil]

Looks like a deep look into the Utility Muffin Research Kitchen. 

If Miles deserves this kind of treatment, why not Zappa?

[7/4]

Family needs money, bad! 

[Д.Д.]

I will definitely be playing this one once it's on Spotify, even though Hot Rats is far from the best Zappa, IMO.      

Good they included the 1987 remix too (which, I hope, they had remastered), it's significantly different from the original 1969 mix.  

[JSngry]

6 CDs and no room for the original LP mix?

[Д.Д.]

12 minutes ago, JSngry said:

6 CDs and no room for the original LP mix?

Original LP mix was released on CD in 2012. 

[JSngry]

Ah, ok.

[felser]

I'd be interested in six disks worth, but not at anything near the $125 list price.  Will hope for a smaller set to come out.

[Д.Д.]

Edited December 24, 2019 by Д.Д.

[porcy62]

I was a Zappafanatic for ages, I think I bought all the different mix that was around of his recordings. BUT this relentless reissues mania knocked me down. I rised my white flag ten years ago and I will not look back.

[mjzee]

At least there's movement.  When Gail was alive, the rap was that archival material was being released at a glacier's pace.  They're now trying to make up for lost time, while there's still a market.  It appears that Dweezil's badmouthing of Ahmet was unfounded.

[Д.Д.]

Hot Rats sessions on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/5HtSs1Y0MsCTPHpXBvVS2t

A lot of Don 'Sugarcane' Harris here.  

[felser]

7 hours ago, BFrank said:

I'm sure Frank would be very unhappy that this set was released.

Backed up by the fact that he never did release anything like this during his own lifetime, and it was not released until 25 years after his passing.   This might be doable as a $50 release, but certainly not as a $100 release.   

[Daniel A]

I listened to roughly half of it on Spotify. I think it holds up for repeated listens. Several tracks with Ian Underwood on acoustic piano that are nice. He lays down some good voicings. Since I don't have a booklet I can't check who it is, but someone is playing very jazzy double bass on those tracks. 

[jazzbo]

That's likely Max Bennett.

[Д.Д.]

On 12/24/2019 at 2:27 PM, felser said:

On 12/24/2019 at 6:29 AM, BFrank said:

 I'm sure Frank would be very unhappy that this set was released.

Backed up by the fact that he never did release anything like this during his own lifetime, and it was not released until 25 years after his passing.  

Nobody releases albums with rough mixes and demo versions during their "active" years, no surprise here. When exactly it was released after FZ's passing is irrelevant as far as the "validity" of such a release is concerned - Zappa was not in charge anymore. There were only three posthumous albums that he slated for release before his death - "Civilization Part III", "Lost Episodes" and "Trance-Fusion". 50 more were released since then. Whether he would have wanted these released now is unknowable. I suspect McCartney and Ringo would have shuddered at the thought of releasing Abbey Road demos in 1970. In 2019 they seem to be just fine with this. 

I am glad these sessions were released. I am not interested in a physical release, but they are worth listening to a couple of times, and hearing how the tunes we know progressed in the studio is quite fascinating. There is a lot of jamming with some good solos that did not make it to the album. And it's a nice touch to start the set with "Piano Music", one of my favorite Zappa compositions.  

Edited May 10, 2020 by Д.Д.

[sambrasa]

I listened to snippets available at amazon and was very impressed. Now I need this. Badly.

[mjzee]

To commemorate the 50th anniversary of Frank Zappa’s short-lived 1970 Mothers of Invention lineup, a new four-CD boxed set, simply titled The Mothers 1970, will be released June 26 via Zappa Records/UMe.

https://bestclassicbands.com/frank-zappa-mothers-1970-box-set-5-8-200/

This is the band I saw at the Fillmore East in May 1970.

[Д.Д.]

Track listing on amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B086ZF6DJB/ 

[Bill Nelson]

The prospect of these '70 leftovers fills me with inertia.

[JSngry]

That was a very good band with a quite interesting mix of ingredients with which to make music. 200 Motels had a lot of really good moments, and the two live albums from them have long been favorites. Even with all of the now-creepy sexual fetishisms, that was a really good band.

Color me curious (whatever color that is?).

[felser]

1 hour ago, JSngry said:

 

Color me curious (whatever color that is?).

Me too, but nowhere near $60 curious.

[Ken Dryden]

In my phone interview with Frank Zappa in 1989, I remember that he described the group with Flo & Eddie as "not really a great band, but we had a lot of laughs." 

In any case, I'll have to pick up this set.