Exclusive FZ-Audio at Rolling Stone Dot Com

An exclusive Audio feature from the Rolling Stone:

…his estate is releasing a three CD concert set taped at London’s Hammersmith Odeon in 1978. The shows were the source of some tracks on 1979s Sheik Yerbouti, but the complete unedited show hasn’t been available until now. Click here to hear an exclusive version of “City of Tiny Lites” from the new collection.

Not exactly: the song is different from the one on Hammersmith Odeon, so it’s probably from the new Birthday Bundle, recording date: 26. january 1978 (one month before HO). Sounds better to me than Odeon (Thinman? What do you say?), with more organic sound and more cimbals – and a much better solo. (Source: Zappa in France)

The Frank Zappa AAAFNRAAAA Birthday Bundle

By now you may have read about this elsewhere: the ZFT yesterday released another Birthday Bundle. It’s a digital-download compilation album featuring various artists including Macy Gray, Holland Greco and of course FZ himself. Full tracklist here, a bit more info over at the wiki and zappa.com.

Strictly Genteel (All Versions Mix)

This is a mix of four different arrangements / recordings of “Strictly Genteel,” synchronized measure for measure and then re-synchronized to the video.

It’s worth watching it in it’s original Youtube page, reading the detailed description of the amazing mix. Great, great work!

Stravinsky’s First Childhood Memory Of Sound

… and I quote:

…an enormous bare legged peasant seated on the stump of a freshly cut tree singing a two-syllable nonsense song and accompanying himself with what we as kids used to call “arm farts.”

… and so:

The young composer-to-be rushed home to his family summer place in the Ukrainian countryside and practiced the technique assiduously until he was so successful at it that his parents forbade him to indulge in such an indecent accompaniment. (“Igor, stop that this instant, or go to your room!”)

Be sure to read John Adams full post.

Hat tip: Jonny Butter