A couple of weeks ago, I was contacted by a couple of old friends I knew in High School, and among our collective reminiscences, were those long afternoons we spent listening to my Frank Zappa and Mothers of Invention records on my parent’s ancient, mahogany console stereo. “Do you still listen to Zappa? they asked, wondering perhaps if I’d put aside my childish concerns for more adult oriented fare. Of course, it’s their children, now, who are listening to Zappa. Songs like “Catholic Girls“, just a reminder of younger days. What is it about Zappa’s music that turns the average, ordinary fan, musician, into a life-long freaks of his music, I wonder?
Take this two part, fan-made video of the extended version of “Trouble Every Day” performed live at The Spectrum Theater in Philadelphia, PA, on November 17th, 1974, for instance:
Is it the composition itself that is so appealing? Or the individual parts and players that make up this live performance – it’s Gestalt, so to speak? And is that what transforms initial entertainment into something much, much more?
Mothers of Invention, 1974
Frank Zappa – guitar, vocals
Tom Fowler – bass
Chester Thompson – drums
Ruth Underwood – percussion
Napoleon Murphy Brock – tenor sax, vocals
George Duke – keyboards, vocals
I think after this line-up came to an end he never fully recovered.
Th.
It’s the composition, the lyrics, the relevance, the biting wit, the intelligence, the involvement, the conceptual continuity, the humor, the precision, the playfulness, the presence, the sincerity, the dedicatedness, the foresight …
I enjoyed the videos! (It’s too bad that the source used of this soundboard recording for the vids is so harsh & shrill sounding–not even taking into account the signal loss when it’s compressed to Youtube–this source runs too fast pitch/speedwise, making the audio sound really hissy and crappy–something that seems to be common with old tapes after many generational tape dubs.)
[quote comment=”9657″]I enjoyed the videos! (It’s too bad that the source used of this soundboard recording for the vids is so harsh & shrill sounding–not even taking into account the signal loss when it’s compressed to Youtube–this source runs too fast pitch/speedwise, making the audio sound really hissy and crappy–something that seems to be common with old tapes after many generational tape dubs.)[/quote]
I have this concert in flac format and it sounds excellent. Perhaps the harsh and shrill sound (I agree, a lot of field recordings that are compressed to YouTube don’t sound as good as their source) has more to do with the current YouTube transfer technology?
Why do people who make these videos insist on using multiple layers of video on top of each other? That just makes the entire thing unwatchable. Great footage and music, but for all your budding Scorseses out there, how about leaving the fancy stuff for somebody else and sticking with the basics. And what’s up with the skydiving frog? Run out of material, did you?