It’s 1980 and two new bands, one American and one Canadian, emerge with a raw new sound. One, Missing Persons, with a four song 7″ EP recorded at Frank Zappa’s Utility Muffin Research Kitchen on a shoestring budget. A second, Rough Trade, releases their debut album Avoid Freud, full of themes of catastrophic power and dimestore smut, satire and parody. One band appeals to the American male’s libido and traditional boy/girl themes, while the other pokes fun at both North American sexual orientation and the myths which go along with them. Still, it is interesting to compare the styles of these two bands, and the diva/anti-diva dichotomy at play between Dale Bozzio and Carole Pope.
In 2007, Carole Pope released the solo CD, Transcend.
May 10th, 2008 • Barry's Imaginary Publisher Tags: live zappa, ZPZ
Just had a look at ZPZ’s 2008 tourdates. While there’s loads of US gigs, the European chapter of the tour has been limited to this:
Jul 13, ’08 - Rotterdam, NETHERLANDS — North Sea Jazz Festival
Jul 15, ’08 - Milan, ITALY — Villa Arconati
Jul 16, ’08 - Madrid, SPAIN — Veranos de la Villa
Jul 18, ’08 - Barcelona, SPAIN — Palua de la Musica
Jul 19, ’08 - Berne, SWITZERLAND — Gurtenfestival
Not only is it obvious that ZPZ are blissfully steering clear of Frank’s traditional European fanbase (Germany, France, the UK, Scandinavia, Belgium, the Baltics - Holland being the exception to the rule), on top of that ZPZ have chosen the safe route by playing festivals.
What’s the matter Dweez? Us Euro’s scaring you now? I wonder why.
Post Scriptum: you gotta love the way us Euro fans were basically used as guinea pigs when the first ZPZ tour was put on the rails.
- PR Guy: “Let’s see if it sticks with them Ol’ Country folk first. Like it or not: yer dad always had more of a following there, so it’s the sensible thing to do. If it sticks, we take this tour back to the US”
- Dweez: “Ya think?”
- PR Guy: “Trust me. Been there, done that. With a bit of luck, them Euro’s are gonna rave about you guys all over the internet. Then we hit the US. Money in the pocket.” (cue appreciative GS nodding)
- Dweez: “Mom, whadda you think?”
What is it about the music and lyrics of Tom Waits that popular culture has clung to so heartily? Has he touched upon something deep within our common unconscious, like some dimestore novel from which we are all characters?
With all the legal wrangling going on between The Trust and The Arf Society (and legal bullying with just about every other cover/tribute band and various weblogs), it’s important to review exactly, and objectively, what’s at stake in these proceedings. Primarily, the freedom to play and experience Frank Zappa’s music live (as it should be experienced). Really, imagine a world in which only one performer is allowed to perform, say, the works of Igor Stravinsky? Or Eric Dolphy? Or Frank Zappa (or only one website being the sole source of FZ information)?
The two CDs I ordered from the German label, Promising Music, on April 20th, arrived this afternoon. Talk about speedy delivery. I was expecting 4 to 6 weeks. I was pleasantly surprised to say the least.
To start, everything they say about their reissues is correct: the CD packaging does resemble the gatefold albums of the era, right down to the grooves in the CD, and the vinyl record sleeve itself. Even the liner notes have been recreated and translated from the original German into English for us uni-lingual folks. In the final analysis, though, it’s not what they look like that matters, but how they sound.
Promising Music explains their re-mastering philosophy as such:
Restauration of the basic material as close to the original as possible. We give the integrity of the original sound top priority. By that we rather turn down an extreme reduction of tape noises (e.g. we feel, in case of doubt, leftovers of tape hiss less disturbing than a limitation of the sound transparency), and we edit the acoustic patterns carefully on the basis of original aesthetics (i.e. no “pseudo stereo” sound, no artificial reverbs, no additional compression, no superimposed “modern” sound scapes).
We remastered the original MPS master tapes digitally on a 24bit/88,2kHz level. By this we feel to reach, in comparison to a sampling rate of 96kHz, a more transparent and smooth sound, as the down sampling to the regular 44,1kHz Compact Disc standard runs much more plain and straight.
By this we produce pristine, true-to-original listening pleasure of these precious recordings at highest possible quality — not high tech sterility.
While neither are vinyl records, I use the same test with these CDs as I do with all the vinyl records I purchase: do they possess a deep, warm enveloping sound as opposed to a sound which is harder and more artificial?
Both CDs are excellent remasterings of these early MPS titles. While, admittedly, this was my first listen to Don ‘Sugarcane’ Harris‘ Sugar Cane’s Got the Blues, the electrifying performances recorded at Berlin’s Philharmonic Hall from November, 1971, were rendered richly and vibrantly. I have heard digital copies of vinyl rips of George Duke’sFaces In Reflection, though, and this CD blows those mp3s out of the water. It’s like listening to a brand new album (which it is, in many respects). A joy in any language.
The last time I entered an independent music store and asked if they had anything by George Duke in stock, the response I received was a very long, dull, blank stare followed by: “George who?” The same goes for the many of the Zappa alumni from the early to mid-70s. It’s as though they’ve been completely forgotten by the present music store owners and their databases. One cannot completely fault them, though, as much of the music from that period is out-of-print, or has never been issued on CD.
Luckily, a small German label, Promising Music, has gained access to a range of more than 400 titles of the MPS catalogue (which is owned by Universal Classics & Jazz, a division of Universal Music GmbH, Berlin/Germany). They have reissued Don ‘Sugarcane’ Harris’s classic Sugar Cane’s Got The Blues and George Duke’s Faces In Reflection, (both of which I have already gleefully ordered) with intentions of reissuing other Duke classics such as ‘I Love the Blues, She Heard My Cry’, ‘Feel’, and ‘Liberated Fantasies’.
All promising music releases are as close to the vinyl original as a CD format can be.
All discs have black vinyl design (with a groove!)
All CDs are packaged in downsize replicas of original LP, incl inner sleeves
All CDs feature an extra booklet with legible reprints of liner notes and all original informations, as well as additional retrospective comments
The subtle re-mastering is trying to get as close as possible to the warmth of the vinyl originals
Until the CDs arrive, in particular the Sugarcane reissue, I can satisfy myself listening to the five RealAudio excerpts of Don ‘Sugarcane’ Harris available for free download here.
Where are the likes of a Jim Mangrum and a Ruby Starr today? Or the likes of such groups as Lynyrd Skynyrd and The Allman Brothers Band? Do these kind of groups even exist anymore? Groups such as Black Oak Arkansas and Molly Hatchet can still be found touring from time to time, albeit with slightly altered line-ups. Will southern rock rise again? If the following video of the Kings of Leon performing “Pistol of Fire” live on Later… with Jools Holland is any indication, southern rock is appealing to an entirely new generation:
Later… with Jools Holland is a contemporary British music television show hosted by Jools Holland. It has been running without a break since 1992 as part of BBC2’s late-night line-up, usually around 11PM, and features a mix of both established and new musical artists, from solo performers to bands and larger ensembles.
It’s been a bit of a busy week for me, fellow fen! However, here’s some stuff that didn’t pass by my radar unnoticed:
In Japan, this and that hits the streets. Says Thomas Marrot: “the plot happens in Frank Zappa Street where human and animal characters live together in a “funky & pop” city.”
Soundpainting: “the live composing sign language created by New York composer Walter Thompson for musicians, dancers, actors, poets, and visual artists working in the medium of structured improvisation.”
A bunch of clips, again via Thomas:
