Frank Zappa Meets the Mothers of Prevention

The Man from Utopia	Ship Arriving Too Late to Save a Drowning Witch	Broadway the Hard Way	Jazz From Hell	Thing-Fish Broadway the hard way, indeed. Frank Zappa's mock musical is also one of his most scathing satires, and sure to offend the sensibilities of many who hear it. Those who get past its prickly skin will be pleased to discover an ambitious, hilarious, and catchy look at life and love ...
Waka/Jawaka One of two sets recorded with a mini-big band in the early seventies, Waka/Jawaka is one of the most eclectic releases of Frank Zappa's hyper-eclectic career. The album's dual showpieces, the opening "Big Swifty" and the title track, combine dynamic horn arrangements and free-for...	Sleep Dirt Japanese exclusive reissue of 1979 album. Limited to 2,000 pieces, it's packaged in a miniature LP sleeve.	Burnt Weeny Sandwich Japanese limited edition reissue of 1969 album, packaged in a miniature gatefold LP sleeve.	The Perfect Stranger Japanese reissue of 1984 album, packaged in a miniature LP sleeve. Conducted by Pierre Boulez and produced by Frank Zappa. Videoarts. 2002.	Cruising with Ruben & the Jets Japanese limited edition reissue of 1968 album, packaged in a miniature gatefold LP sleeve.

It iz what it iz
Good later Zappa. It ain't Joe's GarageJoe's Garage: Acts I, II & III, but there's some classic Zappa here.

Mixed Bag
The impetus behind this album was, of course, the PMRC hearings on labelling/censoring offensive rock lyrics. The album is a mixed bag of material -- 5 studio tracks with a band, 3 synclavier compositions, and 2 collage tracks. They're somewhat hapharzadly thrown together, making the album extremely disjointed -- but there is a lot of great material on this album, nevertheless. The opener, "I Don't Even Care," is a waste of 5 minutes. Its essentually a groove set down in studio by Zappa's band, with "I don't even care" sung in the background while Johnny "Guitar" Watson (not credited?) ad libs some lines. No solo, though you keep waiting for one. The song goes nowhere and is extremely repetitive. Then follows 3 synclavier compositions, "One Man One Vote," "Little Beige Sambo," and "Aerobics in Bondage." These are pretty good. "One Man One Vote" is the least interesting, but the other two are extremely worthy compositions that measure up to the best material on Jazz From Hell. The next 4 tracks are all Zappa classics that rank among his best work. "We're Turning Again" is a hilarious swipe at hippie culture, brilliantly arranged with a great hook. There's a great re-mix of this, and "Yo Cats" on the Have I Offended Somebody? compilation. "Alien Orifice" is a jaw-dropper. Get the Make A Jazz Noise Here album to hear the '88 band perform this sucker live! Zappa at his best. "Yo Cats" is a great Ike Willis crooner, taking a shot at professional musicians. "What's New In Baltimore" is the best track on the album -- rarely can Zappa's work be desribed as "beautiful," but the opening guitar/percussion run on this song deserves the charge. The solo is one of Zappa's greatest. "Porn Wars" and "H.R. 2911" (a bonus track) are both sound collages, mixing sound effects, synclavier, guitar, and looping the taped hearings of the PMRC in congress. Its amusing -- especially the extra clips from the people in the piano from the Lumpy Gravy album (one of my favorites!). Also, you'll get to hear Al Gore profess to be a Mothers fan, which is PRICELESS. But it drags on far too long. Doesn't work as an album, since it has no cohesive direction, but some of the material on this album is great.

Great!
This cd is amazing, the only downside is "Porn Wars" which can get a little old after repeated listens. The other tracks hold up well though!

My FIRST FZ purchase.
Simply the greatest. Little Beige Sambo, Aerobics in Bondage, what's new in baltimore, We're turning again, alien orifice, and PORN WARS make this a verifyable GREATEST HITS package for the latter part of FZ releases. And it all on one release. I was totally blown away in 1986 when someone gave this to me to listen to. I just had to get more from this artist, then started my big chase to get them all. This recording is just simply FZ full of passion, blasting ideas like a torch into steel. He was full of fire and ideas and it was most likely his last release of all new music until his death. Great stuff. GET THIS CD.

The Machine vs. Zappa's band?
Whereas one of the very latest albums, "The Perfect Stranger", had seen Zappa's Synclavier music computer used "against" a chamber orchestra (Pierre Boulez's), here it meets Zappa's own electric band. Oddly - Zappa's highly brilliant musical companions-in-arms of the day certainly had little to fear of such competition - the gap seems wider here, for some reason. I have no problem with the alleged "coldness" of the Synclavier material, which might just be an irrelevant issue. I find just as much coldness in some of the humanly performed pieces from that era, whether by Boulez's group or FZ's, than in most of the Synclavier tracks from the Perfect Stranger album. However, in this here "FZ meets the M.O.P", most electronic pieces have a lot of passion, mystery and humor to them (esp. "Aerobics in Bondage" [one of Zappa's most beautiful and moving pieces ever recorded IMO], "H.R. 2911" and "Little Beige Sambo"), and this tendency was to continue with the next Synclavier album ("Jazz From Hell", 1986). Maybe I lack concentration power for the very abstract pieces from the previous one ("Love Story", "Jonestown", "Girl in Magnesium Dress"), but I find the newer electronic compositions somehow more focused, with better "hummable" themes. Some of the rock band tracks are from the studio, others are apparently live stuff from the much acclaimed '81/'82 group, cleaned up of all audience noises. AFAIAC, same thing as always with the 80s Zappa's electric combo music: dangerously brilliant compositions (listen to the FZ solo spot in "Alien Orifice"!) share the space with very dated ("We're Turning Again") or barely relevant ("Yo Cats") satires. Pretty witty all right, but absolutely lacking any "meat" of any sort in the melody. Compare with "America Drinks and Goes Home", from "Absolutely Free", or better still, with the Zappa-produced Jean-Luc Ponty version!