The Resurrection of Frank Zappa's Soul
Zut boF
Two of the iconic Southern California artist's classic compositions,
Lumpy Gravy and We're Only In It for the Money, will get the grand
reissue treatment
By CASEY DOLAN
Published on December 09, 2008 at 10:28pm
Fifteen years ago last Thursday, American iconoclast Frank Zappa died
at age 52; on December 21, he would have been 68. He left an
impressive body of musical work, both on his commercial recordings and
on various unreleased media, enough material to keep several people
employed for years to come in preserving his legacy. His son Dweezil
is currently in the middle of a three-night stand at the Roxy, which
runs through Saturday, December 13. The younger Zappa and his band
perform as Zappa Plays Zappa, and the stint commemorates the 35th
anniversary of Dweezil’s father’s own recorded performances at the
venue. And Frank’s widow, Gail, administers the Zappa Family Trust.
Despite the family’s heroic efforts to preserve his memory, Frank
Zappa remains an enigma. That’s partly due to his having assumed so
many roles: of composer working in the neoclassical and post-Webern
traditions and seeking acceptance in that anoxic world; of rock
songwriter-guitarist rising within the catalytic stew of the mid- to
late-’60s; of record producer wielding a razorblade on two-track
edits; of Swiftian chronicler of Southern California life.
There are simply so many Frank Zappas that his true identity remains
elusive. But if there is a musical locus to the soul of Frank Zappa,
an upcoming release (date to be determined) might be Ground Zero. Fans
will soon rejoice in the special 40th-anniversary three-CD reissue of
two of his most important works: Lumpy Gravy and We’re Only In It for
the Money. The reissue’s title? Lumpy Money.
The history of the first two of those albums is convoluted, and
concerns much of 1967 and 1968 in Los Angeles and New York City. Gravy
and Money are inextricably linked in their conception, which is one
reason the merged reissue makes sense as a package.
Unlike the majority of Frank Zappa recordings that currently appear on
the Rykodisc label, Lumpy Money will receive the Zappa Records
imprimatur. Joe Travers, the “vaultmeister,” who oversees the massive
Zappa tape collection, explains: “Since Ryko distributes the approved
masterworks of those two records, we are left with lots of yummy
things.” Ryko, he explains, can only release the official, Zappa-
approved versions of his LPs. But that leaves a vast archive of
previously unreleased material from which the estate can dig.
Gail stresses that her first obligation in releasing archival material
is to Frank’s vision. “If we’re going to reintroduce something, it has
to be the iteration that Frank produced.” Once those recordings are
available, however, the estate looks for complimentary unreleased
recordings. Explains Gail: “What do we have that’s in the vault that
people would like to hear that’s related to that project?”
Lumpy Gravy was originally to have been released on Capitol Records as
a solo Frank Zappa project, freeing him from the strictures of the
Mothers of Invention (who recorded for the Verve Records division of
MGM). Nik Venet produced. Venet, says Gail, “was farsighted in those
days as a producer to create an opportunity.” The result was roughly
22 orchestral minutes.
Travers continues, “The Capitol version of Gravy got as far as an
acetate — a finished, cut four-track sequenced master — and then MGM/
Verve stepped in. They said, ‘What the fuck are you doing? You’re
signed to us. You can’t do this.’” What followed, explains Travers,
was a protracted 11-month battle between Verve and Capitol, which
Verve eventually won. As a result, Gravy came out after Money. “By the
time that happened,” adds Travers, “Frank completely changed the
initial project [from] where it was in the Capitol days 11 months
later, to the masterwork that it is now.”
This might explain why the released version of Lumpy Gravy sounds like
the wizard let loose in his workshop. The central orchestral tracks —
“Oh No,” “King Kong” and “I Don’t Know if I Can Go Through This Again”
— are bridged with surreal monologues and goofy dialogues set inside a
giant piano (reused many years later in Civilization Phaze III, and a
good example of how Zappa never regards something as finished but as
always usable material).
Zappa knew he had a good thing going with “Oh No” and had it reprised
on the album (“Oh No” was later reworked as a song with lyrics on
1970’s Weasels Ripped My Flesh). It contained fundamental Zappa
motifs: rapid musical triplet figures, Zappa’s enduring love of vibes
and marimbas, and a lilting melody. To counterbalance that melodicism,
the percussive, aleatoric influence of composer Edgard Varèse is heard
elsewhere on the album.
“Money and Gravy are really hand in hand,” explains Gail. “Because he
was continuing to work on Lumpy Gravy while they were having this
whole battle [between Verve and Capitol], I think that [battle] became
the inspiration for Money.
But the evolution of released versions of Money, Zappa’s first outing
as a producer, is controversial. In 1984, he did a remix of Money,
which included overdubbing new bass and drum parts. To many fans, this
was sacrilege.
http://www.laweekly.com/2008-12-11/music/the-resurrection-of-frank-zappa-8217-s-soul/2
Continued from page 1
Published on December 09, 2008 at 10:28pm
The artist felt he was dealing with a crisis situation. He had
survived two other, well-publicized lawsuits: one he filed in 1976
against his manager, Herb Cohen, for absconding with funds from
DiscReet Records, and the second against Warner Bros. for its refusal
to release the four-record set of Läther.
Gail explains: “At the time [the suit with Warner] happened, [Warner]
put a lockdown on all of Frank’s tapes. Warner sued the company that
was storing those tapes and said, ‘If you release those tapes, we’ll
sue your ass.’” She says that the tapes languished while the lawsuit
worked its way through the system. When Zappa finally got them back,
they’d been stored improperly. “Frank opened up the tape box,” recalls
Gail, “pulled up the tape, and you could see daylight through it.”
Only later did Zappa find backup copies (safeties) of the Money
master.
“In some of the albums,” adds Travers, “you could restore from
safeties. In the case of Money, the original two-track final master
was damaged, but the multitracks were not, and that’s why, when he
went to the multitracks and remixed it, he was embracing the new
technology.” Travers says that Zappa did make the original stereo mix
of Money available on CD, which is what Ryko offers. The ’84 remix has
been out of print, but, Travers says, it will also be included in the
forthcoming anniversary reissue. “You’ll have the mono — which is
actually a DiscReet [Records] mono mix (which is different) — the ’84
mix of Money, and the unreleased ’84 remix of Lumpy Gravy that no one
has ever heard.”
The outtakes and studio chatter included on Lumpy Money should be
interesting to all pop music historians; less so the ’84 remixes.
Instrumental versions reveal parts previously buried in the final mix
(shimmering 12-strings and intriguing harmonic movement). Discovering
the building blocks of Money will be a real treat. As well, Rolling
Stone scribe David Fricke will provide the liner notes.
The irony is that despite its criticism of 1968 counterculture, Money
remains one of the greatest sonic LSD trips a listener can take; it’s
a consummate countercultural document. Nearly everything works — from
Eric Clapton’s spoken opening (with an essential Zappa question, “Are
You Hung Up?”) to the menacing sustained chord at disc’s end. The
songs are memorable (“Mom & Dad,” “Let’s Make the Water Turn Black,”
“Take Your Clothes Off When You Dance”). Musique concrète interludes
(“Nasal Retentive Calliope Music” with Clapton “seeing God”) actually
provide a respite from the songs, not the other way around. And unlike
the solo Lumpy Gravy, Money offers Frank Zappa and the Mothers of
Invention at their peak.
Zappa Plays Zappa performs at the Roxy Wednesday, December 10 through
Saturday, December 13.
Charles Ulrich
<b16b3e78-0513-41f9...@g38g2000yqd.googlegroups.com>,
Zut boF <zut...@hotmail.com> quoted:
> The irony is that despite its criticism of 1968 counterculture, Money
> remains one of the greatest sonic LSD trips a listener can take; it¹s
> a consummate countercultural document. Nearly everything works ‹ from
> Eric Clapton¹s spoken opening (with an essential Zappa question, ³Are
> You Hung Up?²) to the menacing sustained chord at disc¹s end.
"The only difference is that it's only one note; it's not a chord.
Everybody thinks it's a chord." --FZ, 8/11/69
pbuzb...@yahoo.com
> “In some of the albums,” adds Travers, “you could restore from
> safeties. In the case of Money, the original two-track final master
> was damaged, but the multitracks were not, and that’s why, when he
> went to the multitracks and remixed it, he was embracing the new
> technology.” Travers says that Zappa did make the original stereo mix
> of Money available on CD, which is what Ryko offers. The ’84 remix has
> been out of print, but, Travers says, it will also be included in the
> forthcoming anniversary reissue. “You’ll have the mono — which is
> actually a DiscReet [Records] mono mix (which is different)
Hmm. I'm curious if he meant it would be a "dedicated" mix (i.e. not
a reduction from the stereo) since it seems unlikely that FZ would
have done a new mono mix of WOIIFTM in the mid-70's when he had the
DiscReet label.
Pat Buzby
Chicago, IL
Mike Espinoza
It's not exactly clear from the statement, is it?
Maybe he didn't mean to say DiscReet. Mono was really on the out in
the 70s. Frank was already working on quad recordings. I just don't
see him stopping in the middle of all these projects and saying "Let's
make a new mono mix of Money."
--
Mike E.
Strictly Commercial
> It's not exactly clear from the statement, is it?
I didn't understand any of this part of the article. It sounds like
Travers is saying that
(a) the master for the original stereo mix of WOIIFTM was irretrievably
damaged;
(b) but the original 4-track masters were not, so he
(c) added new bass & drum parts by Barrow & Wackerman;
(d) and this is what Ryko released in 1984, although the article also
refers to this as the "original stereo mix",
(e) and/but also the "1984 remix" is currently unavailable, but is being
released as part of this package.
Oh, I'm so confused. Does this mean Lumpy Money (aka We're Only In It
For the Gravy) will include a mono remix of Money, or does it mean it
will include the Barrow/Wackerman do-over in all its glory, or does it
mean it will include the original stereo mix as recreated from the
original 4-track masters?
I don't blame the poor reporter for not getting this entirely clear.
There's a lot of yellow snow being blown here.
R
pbuzb...@yahoo.com
> (d) and this is what Ryko released in 1984, although the article also
> refers to this as the "original stereo mix",
I think when the writer mentions the "original stereo mix" of WOIIFTM
being available he's referring to the 90's reissue.
Also, the mention of a mono mix refers to WOIIFTM, not Lumpy Gravy.
And yes, I believe the Barrow/Wackerman version of WOIIFTM will be
included. (Some of it is in the sampler.)
BTW, I don't know if it's known whether WOIIFTM was recorded on 4-
track.
Pat Buzby
Chicago, IL
pbuzb...@yahoo.com
> Also, the mention of a mono mix refers to WOIIFTM, not Lumpy Gravy.
I see I misread the question here, sorry.
The article leads me to think these items will be included:
a) WOIIFTM mono mix
b) WOIIFTM '84 remix
c) LG '84 remix (not clear whether this is complete or partial)
The sampler (and some hints from the article) leads me to think these
will also be included:
a) LG Capitol version
b) WOIIFTM and LG outtakes
c) some interviews and live stuff relating to the two albums
It is NOT clear whether it will include these items:
a) WOIIFTM stereo mix w/original bass and drums
b) LG Verve version
Pat Buzby
Chicago, IL
Charles Ulrich
<ffefab61-8cbb-43ab...@n33g2000pri.googlegroups.com>,
pbuzb...@yahoo.com wrote:
> It is NOT clear whether it will include these items:
>
> a) WOIIFTM stereo mix w/original bass and drums
> b) LG Verve version
Unless there are FZ-produced digital versions that are somehow
significantly different than what's available from Ryko, I think it's
unlikely that either of these items will be included.
Zut boF
I am starting to be tired to rebuy the same cd again why they dont
just put new music and let different mixes in the vault. I dont really
care about new mix, it is the same music. We want Roxy, and rage and
fury.
Ok i feel better now :)
Poldie
And `dance me this`. Especially 'dance me this'. I like varese but I'm
not sure if 'the rage and the fury' is going to bring anything to the table.
Zut boF
>
> - Afficher le texte des messages précédents -
Damn i forget dance me this, sure we want it more than rage and fury,
but i really wonder how sound Varèse under Frank baton even if we got
the lil samples.
Zut boF
>
> - Afficher le texte des messages précédents -
And dont forget that Rage and the Fury is also a video documentary
with the EM.