Another appealing aspect of Frank Zappa’s music was his ability to self mythologize what occurred in his life into his music. This is seen quite a lot in literature, but rarely in music (which, I might add, is part of Zappa’s unique genius). Zappa’s composition, “Holiday In Berlin” is an excellent example.
Continue reading “Holiday In Berlin, 1970”
Month: August 2009
The Loudness War in Modern Audio Mastering
A note by Thinman:
And if you are interested where recent CDs from our beloved composer’s work suffer from [the Loudness War], just listen to Buffalo or Trance-Fusion. I suffer physically when listening to productions of that kind.
See the rest of his entry for details and illustrations – and what Joe Travers had answered:
Well critics, here’s the deal. In the case of “Trance-Fusion”- we sent the album master to Bob Ludwig to do final tweeks, but the level on that title was already maxed out by Spence Chrislu. FZ was alive & authorized a final CD ref (I listened to it with him during his last days). So, in other words, FZ knew about it.
In the case of “Buffalo”, Frank Filipetti sent us a finished mix already mastered that way. That is how he works & so there was no additional mastering after the fact. If you don’t like how that sounds, blame it on him.
Flo & Eddie – Live at The Bottom Line, 1977
Raunchy, raw and lewd – Flo & Eddie: Live at The Bottom Line, 1977 is Flo & Eddie “in-your-face”. If you’re a fan of Zappa’s Vaudeville Mothers, or simply a fan of Flo & Eddie’s manic musical parody and satire, you’ll love this 6 part concert.
Continue reading “Flo & Eddie – Live at The Bottom Line, 1977”
Little House I Used To Live In, Berlin ’78
One of the reasons Frank Zappa’s music has been so appealing to me throughout the years is because so many of his compositions like “Little House I Used To Live In” function as a canvas for his musical ideas (a microcosm of his musical universe you might say) in which a new song might very well emerge within them during each new performance.
Continue reading “Little House I Used To Live In, Berlin ’78”
Portnoy Plays Zappa
RIP Les Paul
Les Paul, whose pioneering electric guitars were used by a legion of rock stars, has died at the age of 94.
Say hi to Frank for us, Les.
Meet H.J.Freaks
And you thought Bootsy Collins looked kind of funny. Check the man’s YouTube channel.
Musicians Play FZ – Part I
Originally conceived as an interruption in the “Son of Tweezer Glint” series for we schmucks who couldn’t make it to Zappanale 20 in Bad Doberan — “Musicians Play FZ – Part I” is the first of a two part series which will run concurrently for the next 4 weeks (my own virtual Zappanale, of sorts, you might say, plucked from my own collection), at which time the “Son of Tweezer Glint” series will resume.
Click here to listen to the mixtape.
This mixtape is for Sharleena (get well, soon) and Barry (while not the real Zappanale, there is always next year amigos).
Note: if we are infringing on anyone’s copyright, contact KUR and we’ll remove the offending material.
Message From The Travel Agent
Well, it’s been an interesting week so far. Last Saturday, Sharl had an accident involving a broken thermos and hot boiling water splashing on her chest. The result: rather nasty first and second degree burns and blisters a-go-go.
While she’s been applying salves and compresses and taking medication as prescribed, it became more and more obvious that attending Zappanale was just not a sensible thing to do, given the circumstances. It literally took us until this morning to finally decide, with a heavy heart, to stay home.
To our friends that are in Bad Doberan and who we were looking forward to meeting: have fun! Shit happens — but there will be another time.
Napoleon M. Brock In Der Spiegel
Nice little interview with NMB in der Spiegel where he speaks about touring with Frank Zappa and, of course, Zappanale where he will be performing this weekend. Money quote:
Gail Zappa should recognize that these music enthusiasts, like the initiators of the Zappanale festival in Germany, are not doing this to become millionaires. These friends of Zappa are ensuring that Zappa and his superb work do not fall into oblivion. Anybody playing around with the Zappa logo for T-shirt advertising or toilet seats should be given a warning, I agree. But anybody seriously performing this music should receive backing from the widow. After all, she is earning the performance fees. And her husband collected inspiration from all styles of music and interpreters and was himself a great plagiarist, before making something entirely his own.