Zappadan?

[phil]

New to me.
btw...did Frank ever do a live album?

[Gary]

Zappadan is an internet blog-swarm "holiday" that starts on the 4th (his death) and ends on the 21st (his birthday). WFZR will be playing A LOT of Zappa music and stuff during those 18 days.


He did many many live albums. Or albums that are partially live and partially in the studio. Almost all Zappa albums have something on them that was recorded live during a concert. Frank liked to record everything his bands did live and he often would use good performances in other contexts. He often would take a live guitar solo that he liked and use it in a song recorded in the studio (Inca Roads is a great example of this).

There's a 6 part, 12 disc series entitled "You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore" which is nothing but live recordings from the 60's to the late 80's

Then there's "Zappa In New York" - "The Best Band You Never Heard In Your Life" - "Broadway The Hardway" -  "Roxy And Elsewhere" - "Live At The Filmore East" - "Ahead of Their Time" - "Does Humor Belong In Music" and "Make A Jazz Noise Here."

Since his death there have been a number of releases of live recordings - "Buffalo" "Imaginary Diseases" "Wazoo" "FZ:OZ" "Halloween" "Tance Fusion" (another all live guitar solos album)

Big chunks of other albums are live - like "Weasels Ripped My Flesh" and "Burnt Weenie Sandwich" - "Bongo Fury" is almost all live. "Tinsel Town Rebellion"

The "Shut Up and Play Yer Guitar" albums are all live recordings of him doing guitar solos - as is the "Guitar" album.

"The Yellow Shark" is a live recording of his chamber music.

I know I'm missing some. There are lots of bootlegs and a series of Bootlegs that Frank himself released call "Beat The Boots"

a better question would almost be "which albums are entirely studio creations?"

[Gary]

Forgot to mention that during Zappadan, WFZR plays Zappa most of the time.... regular programing will return on the 22nd.

[phil]

  A ton of live stuff to check out. Thanks, Gary.

[Gary]

No problem.

The thing I've found with Zappa's music, is to somehow figure out what era or band of his that you like (or in my case dislike) and then go from there. For me I pretty much like everything except the Flo and Eddie period, which is a brief period from 1970 to 1972. To me it's the only real low point in his career, though others would disagree. So I'm lucky in that I generally like everything else that he did.

I would check out this site for info about all of his releases:

http://globalia.net/donlope/fz/lyrics/

everything from Freak Out! to The Yellow Shark was released while Frank was still alive (59 unique albums in 27 years).


oh and look at this page I found:
http://en.wikipedia.org/w...y:Frank_Zappa_live_albums


If you have any questions about any of his albums just ask here. His catalog can be daunting to dive into. It took me a long time to digest it hehehe

[Gary]

I just whipped this up for the hell of it...  it could be helpful - - or not.

http://www.wfzr.net/fzalbums/

it breaks the albums down into "periods" and I give my fanboy ratings on the ones I have.

[Gary]

[eagle-rare]

^^^

Great concert. Appropriate for today.


<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/Ip8-vEGug7o" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/Ip8-vEGug7o</a>

[Gary]

I pledge allegiance to Frank Zappa,
of the United Mutations of America,
And to the Duke of Prunes,
and Grand Wazoo for which he stands
One size fits all,
excentrifugal,
with yellow sharks and hot rats for all

[Lunis]

July 4, 1982 Bologna, I was there 



<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/C2A3q7e1y_g" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/C2A3q7e1y_g</a>

[phil]

   

   I slapped together the official unofficial poster.

[Gary]

one day left to overdose... Frank would have been 70 tomorrow.

[phil]

 Interesting article by Frank in Stereo Review about his idol:

 Edgard Varese: The Idol of My Youth

[Gary]

That story is pretty much word for word in The Real Frank Zappa Book - which I highly recommend. I've listened to some Varese. It's definitely an acquired taste. I think because I listened to so much Zappa, it was easier for me to hear as music. I think that a lot people might not even classify it as music.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/TStutMsLX2s" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/TStutMsLX2s</a>

[phil]

   Happy Birthday, Frank.