Applied Zappigraphy

Started by karlhenning, January 06, 2009, 05:22:42 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

jwinter

Quote from: karlhenning on January 09, 2009, 11:33:32 AM
Then you've mastered the first lesson: Know your audience  8)

HEY!   $:) ;D

Dangit, why is there no taking umbrage emoticon....
The man that hath no music in himself,
Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds,
Is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils.
The motions of his spirit are dull as night,
And his affections dark as Erebus.
Let no such man be trusted.

-- William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice

Dr. Dread


karlhenning

Quote from: Todd on January 09, 2009, 11:44:47 AM
Did my eyes deceive me, or are there no mentions of Joe's Garage?  Juvenile, yes, but fun nonetheless.  The guitar work in Watermelon in Easter Hay is superb, and Packard Goose could never have been written by anyone else. . .

"Watermelon in Easter Hay" is indeed table-pounding stuff.

And I've been thinking about revisiting Guitar.

Quote from: Todd. . . His classical stuff isn't as good as his rock stuff.

Inclined to agree.

karlhenning

Your Stinkfoot puts the hurt on my nose.

karlhenning

Just landed.  The 'vaultmeistered' live releases are from Buffalo and Boston, so it's nearly, like, personal  8)

The packaging of Frank Zappa Plays the Music of Frank Zappa: A Memorial Tribute actually sports a fuzzy Imperial.

snyprrr

#45
well, HERE'S a gigantic black hole of tremendous variety and talent.  where to begin? i don't know if people on this site would be interested in anything but the Boulez led "symphony", ...so I'm just throwin this out. Mostly I like the music but find his sense of humor tiresome. however, "fillmore live '71" is a hoot.
for me personally, I find that my personal lead guitar playing style sounds like him more than anyone else.

Dr. Dread

Quote from: snyprrr on March 12, 2009, 06:46:12 AM
well, HERE'S a gigantic black hole of tremendous variety and talent.  where to begin? i don't Mostly I like the music but find his sense of humor tiresome.

Yes.

karlhenning

When he was being either hectoring or locker-room-ish, yes, he got rapidly tiresome.

But (for instance) the sneaky introduction of the lick from Yes's "Owner of a Lonely Heart" into the accompaniment of the solo in "Bamboozled by Love" . . . that sort of humorous touch has staying power.

karlhenning

Quote from: James on March 12, 2009, 09:30:56 AM
I prefer his 'sicker' stuff myself.

Sorry, but we might understand you better if you restrict yourself to English  8)

karlhenning

Well, I do go to actual performances more often than I surf youtube . . . .


Josquin des Prez

Talented musician, annoying personality. He would have benefited from a few spanks as a child.

karlhenning

Quote from: Josquin des Prez on March 12, 2009, 10:46:17 AM
Talented musician, annoying personality.

As a talented musician, then, he's got the advantage of you.

karlhenning

Keenly though I do enjoy quite large stretches of his work, Zappa as a composer I think shy of greatness.  All of his components together (composer/guitarist/bandleader/performance artist), and I have no quarrel with applying the adjective great to him . . . would entertain the idea of applying the term genius to him.

My 2ยข.

jowcol

I'm mixed on Zappa.  I truly love "Weasels Ripped My Flesh", as it wanders into polyrhythms, avante-garde, free jazz, blues, rock, and most anything else you may consider with fearless abandon.  And I really love the violin stylings of Don "Sugarcane" Harris, who played on this album, Burnt Weenie Sandwhich, and Hot Rats.   I also have a weakness for Apostrophe as well, although  that was much more commercial.

The humor gets in the way sometimes.  Also, I get the feeling that his strength was pulling together innovations from different sources (I love the fact that he was an advocate for Varese!), but sometimes I feel that he was more of an integrator than a creator.

Still, coming out of the Rock swamp, he was a towering figure, and worthy of much respect.

(There is an interesting story about how Col Bruce Hampton met Zappa-- he was an out of town hick who was the only one who could Identify a piece of recording music that Zappa was playing at some place-- Penderecki's Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima).
"If it sounds good, it is good."
Duke Ellington

karlhenning

One more soup for the world!

karlhenning

There's a great "emotion in music" experiment to be made.  I wonder if anyone who comes to the hearing in ignorance (practical, not necessarily absolute) of Zappa, would find tears starting on listening to "Watermelon in Easter Hay."

(No youtube, thank you;  lowest-fi won't serve here.)

karlhenning

Quote from: jowcol on March 12, 2009, 01:40:21 PM
I'm mixed on Zappa.  I truly love "Weasels Ripped My Flesh", as it wanders into polyrhythms, avante-garde, free jazz, blues, rock, and most anything else you may consider with fearless abandon.  And I really love the violin stylings of Don "Sugarcane" Harris, who played on this album, Burnt Weenie Sandwhich, and Hot Rats.   I also have a weakness for Apostrophe as well, although  that was much more commercial.

His steady-state was a mix of scorn for and indifference to top-40 . . . and the AOR success of "Don't Eat the Yellow Snow" surprised him.  In some interview or other, he mentions that a jockey at some station made a radio-friendly shorter edition of the song (probably he thought of it moving directly into "Nanook Rubs It" . . . "Y.Sn." seems only to clock at 2:06), and it took off, and drove sales of Apostrophe(').

BTW, John, Weasels Ripped My Flesh, Hot Rats & Burnt Weenie Sandwich are all among my favorite albums. I'm humming "WPLJ" even now . . . .

karlhenning


karlhenning

Quote from: FZI don't care whether I'm remembered. As a matter of fact, there's a lot of people who would like to forget about me as soon as possible, and I'm on their side! You know? Just ... hurry up and get it over with. I do what I do because I like doing it, I do it for my amusement first, if it amuses you ... that's fine. I'm happy that you'll participate in it. But, uh, after I am dead and gone, there is no need to deal with any of this stuff, because it is not written for future generations, it is not performed for future generations. It is performed for now. Get it while it's hot, you know? That's it.