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At Last! A Zappa Documentary


SpondonBassed

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Yeah,I participated in the crowdfunding for this over 6 years ago 😂

Actually, the funding was to digitise the material in the vault and the documentary was a parallel project utilising the vault material. We got the doc a few weeks ago, I thought it was well worth the wait, there's a lot of stuff in there I had never seen before. If you're a Zappa fan, there's probably not a lot you didn't know already but it's a great overview of the man and his music.

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23 minutes ago, Doctor J said:

Yeah,I participated in the crowdfunding for this over 6 years ago 😂

Actually, the funding was to digitise the material in the vault and the documentary was a parallel project utilising the vault material. We got the doc a few weeks ago, I thought it was well worth the wait, there's a lot of stuff in there I had never seen before. If you're a Zappa fan, there's probably not a lot you didn't know already but it's a great overview of the man and his music.

Cool.

I would not call myself a Zappa fan.  I've heard relatively little of his back catalogue.  I do find the music especially interesting at times however.  There is a lot more than the drug culture influence in his work.  I understand from the 6music interview that he was quite politically active too.

What I'd like to see is the background that the documentary promises.

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He was very much not from drug culture but I can see why he'd be lumped in with it. He was operating at a very different level😁

If you're unfamiliar with him but vaguely familiar with his music I think you'll enjoy it a lot. He had a lot of strings to his bow, so to speak, a really fascinating character. My earliest memory is actually listening to my Mother's Mothers of Invention records, so Zappa was my musical starting point but, even for me, his music ranges from sublime to unlistenable. There is a bit of both in the movie 🙂

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I’ve seen this, and was somewhat disappointed, because it’s very much about Frank Zappa the person, with his music a distant second. I might watch it again later, but t.b.h. I didn’t feel I needed to know that much about him . 

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53 minutes ago, Doctor J said:

He was very much not from drug culture but I can see why he'd be lumped in with it. He was operating at a very different level😁

I thought that would be so.

Nevertheless, his music was influenced by the psychedelic movement.  It contains drug references, as do many other popular tunes that are not pro susbstance abuse.  I did not say it was druggie music.

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2 hours ago, SpondonBassed said:

I've heard relatively little of his back catalogue. 

For those not familiar,  i would suggest listening to Overnight Sensation.  Its a beauty,  and as  Doc J says,  he ranges from Sublime to Unlistenable.  I'd put  Overnight in the Sublime camp

I would avoid 200 Motels.

Hot Rats is a good one.  As is Sheik Yerbouti and  Shut Up an Play Yer Guitar

I had the privelege of seeing FZ live at Hammersmith Odeon in the 70's.  It was a real treat

Just a quick note -  Zappa never took drugs, and he never tolerated any drug users in his bands

Edited by fleabag
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3 hours ago, bnt said:

because it’s very much about Frank Zappa the person, with his music a distant second. 

Thanks for mentioning that.
Not sure whether what you noticed makes me more or less interested. I'd think the interesting bit would be what his thoughts and motivations re his music were about.
 

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The working title of the movie was "Who the F*@% is Frank Zappa?", it was always intended to be an exploration of the man, not the music. There's lots of talk about his music out there but not so much about what made him tick. To his eternal credit, Alex Winter was behind the whole idea from day one, he put it all together from scratch.

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5 hours ago, fleabag said:

For those not familiar,  i would suggest listening to Overnight Sensation.  Its a beauty,  and as  Doc J says,  he ranges from Sublime to Unlistenable.  I'd put  Overnight in the Sublime camp

I would avoid 200 Motels.

Hot Rats is a good one.  As is Sheik Yerbouti and  Shut Up an Play Yer Guitar

I had the privelege of seeing FZ live at Hammersmith Odeon in the 70's.  It was a real treat

Just a quick note -  Zappa never took drugs, and he never tolerated any drug users in his bands

I think Overnite Sensation was part of that sweet spot of Zappa's that I love from the mid 70s. One Size Fits All is my favourite (Inca Roads... what a tune to start an album with!).

For his live albums I love listening to Roxy & Elsewhere and The Best Band You Never Heard (inc Bolero). I think some of his albums blur the lines between live and studio output, Sheik Yerbouti is a good example.

Anyone here listen to Lumpy Gravy much though? 🤔

This film sounds right up my street 👍

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11 hours ago, Daz39 said:

I read, a long time ago, that he would sometimes audition touring guitarists live on stage by making them keep up with the setlist via sheet music of the songs. Is this apocryphal?

I think the only members of his bands that had to read music were drummers- that was a prerequisite. Then again, how any musician could memorise such complex music, which Zappa would “modify” during every performance, is a superhuman feat. 

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9 hours ago, super al said:

I think Overnite Sensation was part of that sweet spot of Zappa's that I love from the mid 70s. One Size Fits All is my favourite (Inca Roads... what a tune to start an album with!).

For his live albums I love listening to Roxy & Elsewhere and The Best Band You Never Heard (inc Bolero). I think some of his albums blur the lines between live and studio output, Sheik Yerbouti is a good example.

Anyone here listen to Lumpy Gravy much though? 🤔

This film sounds right up my street 👍

Overnite Sensation, Apostrophe (') and One Size Fits All, you just can't go wrong with them. Hot Rats is spectacular. I'm particularly fond of Absolutely Free and We're Only In It For The Money, from the Mothers stuff.
 

The Beeb put together a decent documentary shortly before he died, well worth watching. I particularly love that, in a one hour documentary, they gave 10 whole minutes to a performance of King Kong, that was a massive inspiration to a band I was in at the time 😂

 

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The album that really got me into Zappa, after hearing bits that my brother played was 'Broadway the hard way' - recorded on Zappa's final world tour - the most accessible Zappa I've found, if anyone fancies dipping their toes into a wonderful but vast canon of work.

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1 hour ago, rushbo said:

I think the only members of his bands that had to read music were drummers- that was a prerequisite. Then again, how any musician could memorise such complex music, which Zappa would “modify” during every performance, is a superhuman feat. 

An aside.. I support a guy who is blind. Specifically I take him to his band rehearsals, and gigs. Assist him setting up his drum kit. 

It's a Zappa tribute. 

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10 hours ago, super al said:

Anyone here listen to Lumpy Gravy much though? 🤔

Yes - love that record. To the point that, talking to anyone named Barry, I can’t help but say ‘the way I see it Barry’. And it has various versions of my favourite Zappa tune, ‘Oh No’.

Edited by Gareth Hughes
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9 minutes ago, stewblack said:

An aside.. I support a guy who is blind. Specifically I take him to his band rehearsals, and gigs. Assist him setting up his drum kit. 

It's a Zappa tribute. 

Wow. On so many levels.

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1 hour ago, rushbo said:

I think the only members of his bands that had to read music were drummers- that was a prerequisite. 

I don't know if that was the case but a lot of the really well known players who came through his bands, on all instruments, were good readers, although they never read on stage.

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