Tag: streaming audio

Immaculate Voodoo Butter Mix – Part I

You name it, this KUR mix has it all: keyboard solos, synth solos, drum solos, sax solos, bass solos, trumpet and trombone solos, and, of course, lots of guitar solos – those hypnotically esoteric air sculptures of Frank Zappa‘s which so often levitated his listener into altered states of audio consciousness (albeit all too briefly so) that only a handful of his contemporaries could accomplish to any degree.

Don’t dare skip a single track in Part One of what I call the ‘Immaculate Voodoo Butter Mix‘, 121 various soundboard recordings between the years of 1975 and 1984. Part One will remain posted until April 15, 2010.

Now, let’s put on our headphones-to-oblivion boys and girls and prepare to sniff…

Click here to listen to the mix.

The Mothers on WESU-FM’s Psychedelicatessen

Once a year, on and around Father’s Day, Wesleyan University radio station WESU 88.1 FM in Middletown, Connecticut puts on an Annual Father’s Day Zappa Marathon – Father’s Day with the Mothers – hosted by Psychedelicatessen’s Psychedelic Rick. Usually broadcast on each Sunday evening between 9pm-1030pm, Psychedelicatessen is described as “A mind trip through the musical vaults of NYC, San Francisco, London, Tokyo, Rio and beyond. FM Radio the way it used to be.”
Continue reading “The Mothers on WESU-FM’s Psychedelicatessen”

Tweezer Glint: Finale – The Roxy Years 73/74 (Part III)

Welcome fellow KUR-meisters to the final installment of the Tweezer Glint series, “Tweezer Glint: Finale – The Roxy Years 73/74 (Part III)”. 120 tracks of raw, unbridled buffoonery amid some of the finest musicianship you’ll hear from this period of Frank Zappa’s career. For those among you who missed earlier installments of the Tweezer Glint series, do not fret, the entire series will be streamed again, in order, later in 2010. For now, enjoy this unique ensemble which played for that all too brief a period known as the Roxy Years – 1973 through 1974.

Click here to listen to the mixtape.

Tweezer Glint: Finale – The Roxy Years 73/74 (Part II)

Welcome to the second installment of Tweezer Glint: Finale – The Roxy Years (Part II). Slip on your headphones to oblivion, kick up your feet, and enjoy this unique group of talented musicians which many consider to be the absolute best ensemble FZ ever assembled and took on the road.

Click here to listen to the mixtape.

Tweezer Glint: Finale — The Roxy Years 73/74 (Part I) (aka Ruth Is A Sugar Bear — Or, The Continuing Adventures of Marty Perellis)

Between February 1973 and December 1974 Frank Zappa and the Mothers – featuring George Duke, Napoleon Murphy Brock, Ruth Underwood, Ian Underwood, Bruce Fowler, Tom Fowler, Walt Fowler, Jean-Luc Ponty, Don Preston, Ralph Humphrey, Chester Thompson, Jeff Simmons, and Sal Marquez – were almost continuously on the road. During this time, they set the musical foundations for such classic Zappa albums as Overnite Sensation, Apostrophe, Roxy & Elsewhere, One Size Fits All, as well as many of the classic Zappa standards we’ve come to know.

In “Tweezer Glint: Finale — The Roxy Years 73/74 (Part I)“, we hear Zappa songs evolve as his band toured them, some growing from their early proto instrumentals into fully realized versions, while others became more refined with each successive performance; still others act as a showcase for the talents each and every band member. What should be obvious to anyone who listens to these tracks is that Frank and band are having a lot of fun. So are the many and varied audiences. So should you. I know I had a ball putting this one together. A fine way to end the series, methinks.

Click here to listen to the mixtape.

Note: Parts two and three will be posted in two and four weeks, respectively. I wish to thank Charles Ulrich’s analysis of the 1973-1974 bands at Planet of My Dreams for his useful research. This mixtape would be much, much less than it is if not for his efforts.

Happy Festivus, Xmas, Chanukkah, Kwanzaa, whatever, everybody!!!

Anatomy of a Field Recording

One of the most interesting things about acquiring Frank Zappa field recordings is that after a certain point of collecting and listening to them, one reaches a point of critical mass where particular questions keep popping into one’s mind again and again. How would an earlier version of a song sound with a particular drummer? Violinist? Percussionist? Or from an ensemble from a completely different era? I mean, after a point, the sheer number of individual versions of songs becomes quite incredible.
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Sleep Dirt Variations

We are all quite familiar with the acoustical duet version of “Sleep Dirt” between Frank Zappa (acoustic lead guitar) and James “Bird Legs” Youmans (acoustic rhythm guitar) on the album of the same name, recorded at the Caribou Studios in Nederland, Colorado, in December, 1974. It is one of the most beautiful compositions in Zappa’s body of work.

The other day, while organizing music tracks, I happened across several versions of “Sleep Dirt” by other artists as well as a live version by Frank Zappa from 1975 which has an eerie resonance when one listens to these later cover versions.

Listen for yourself, then decide:

Sleep Dirt – Henry Kaiser & Mike Keneally
– Live at the Freight and Salvage, 2000.
[audio:20091201 Sleep Dirt – Henry Kaiser – Mike Keneally.mp3]

Sleep Dirt – Ed Palermo Big Band
– Iridium Jazz Club, NYC, NY, 12 Dec 2007.
[audio:20091201 Sleep Dirt – Ed Palermo Big Band.mp3]

Sleep Dirt – Quintette Gaucher
– Quintette Gaucher Play the Music of Frank Zappa, 1996.
[audio:20091201 Sleep Dirt – Quintette Gaucher.mp3]

Sleep Dirt – Zappatistas
– Jazz Festival, Frankfurt, Germany, 3 October 2003.
[audio:20091201 Sleep Dirt – Zappatistas.mp3]

Sleep Dirt – Frank Zappa
– War Memorial Gym, Vancouver, B.C., Canada, 1 October 1975.
[audio:20091201 Sleep Dirt – Frank Zappa.mp3]

Son of Tweezer Glint – Part 3B Finale

Before I send my own personal, private pair of Zircon Encrusted Tweezers into the shop for some serious re-encrusting — I have one last installment of the Son of Tweezer Glint series, the finale, to present. Among the alternative edits, proto versions, and various live versions are particular titles of note (in my opinion):

“Easy Meat” performed at the Fillmore West in 1970.

“Wonderful Wino” performed at Picnic Piknik, in Uddel, Netherlands in 1970 includes a rare vocal performance by Jeff Simmons.

A rare performance of “Magdalena” in Montreux, Switzerland in 1971 at the Montreux Casino. The Montreux performance (and this mixtape) also includes the complete “Sofa Suite” which includes proto versions of “Sofa #2” and “Stick It Out” in German.

A pre-200 Motels version of “Penis Dimension” performed at the University of Maine at Gorham in 1970. “King Kong Medley” at the same concert, complete with extended solos.

Click here to listen to the mixtape.

Zappanale 20 – Highlight: Sheik Yerbouti

Take one Zappa tribute band, Sheik Yerbouti, add three alumni from Zappa’s touring and recording bands – Napoleon Murphy Brock, Denny Walley, and Robert Martin – put them all together on the Zappanale 20 Main Stage, and the result is absolutely, positively, exceptionally gestalt.
Continue reading “Zappanale 20 – Highlight: Sheik Yerbouti”

Son of Tweezer Glint – Part 3A

More alternate versions. More proto versions. More live versions. I bring you, “Son of Tweezer Glint – Part 3A”, the second to last installment of the series (which will be up for the next two weeks for your listening enjoyment).

Click here to listen to the 45 tracks which make up this mixtape.

Note: The last installment of the “Son of Tweezer Glint” series will be posted on November 2nd, 2009.