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Understanding America
''Understanding America'' is a compilation album by Frank Zappa Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American guitarist, composer, and bandleader. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa composed Rock music, rock, Pop music, pop, jazz, jazz fusion, orchestra .... It was compiled and mastered by Zappa before his death in 1993 and released posthumously in 2012. Despite being released after UMe/Zappa Records had issued most of the albums in remastered form, all of the tracks included are sourced from the original 1986-1992 digital masterings. Track listing Notes and references External links Official page for the album on the Zappa website {{Frank Zappa albums Compilation albums published posthumously Frank Zappa compilation albums 2012 compilation albums Zappa Records albums ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frank Zappa
Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American guitarist, composer, and bandleader. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa composed Rock music, rock, Pop music, pop, jazz, jazz fusion, orchestral and ''musique concrète'' works; he additionally produced nearly all the 60-plus albums he released with his band the Mothers of Invention and as a solo artist. His work is characterized by wikt:nonconformity, nonconformity, Musical improvisation, improvisation sound experimentation, Virtuoso, musical virtuosity and satire of American culture. Zappa also directed feature-length films and music videos, and designed album covers. He is considered one of the most innovative and stylistically diverse musicians of his generation. As a mostly self-taught composer and performer, Zappa had diverse musical influences that led him to create music that was sometimes difficult to categorize. While in his teens, he acquired a taste for 20th-century ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frank Zappa Meets The Mothers Of Prevention
''Frank Zappa Meets the Mothers of Prevention'' is a 1985 album by American musician Frank Zappa. The album was originally released in two slightly different versions in the US and Europe. The album's title is a reference to the lobby group, the PMRC, who were campaigning to require record companies to put warning stickers on albums they considered offensive, and to Zappa's former band, the Mothers of Invention. Release Following distribution problems with Zappa's previous album ''Thing-Fish'' (1984), which former Barking Pumpkin distributor MCA Records refused to distribute, Zappa made a deal with EMI Records, which would allow ''Them or Us'' and ''Thing-Fish'' (both 1984) to be distributed by Capitol Records in the United States. Zappa wrote a " warning/guarantee" which appeared on the inner sleeves of these albums, as well as ''Frank Zappa Meets the Mothers of Prevention'', it read:WARNING/GUARANTEE:This album contains material which a truly free society would neither fea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
One Size Fits All (Frank Zappa Album)
''One Size Fits All'' is the fourteenth album by the Mothers of Invention, and the twentieth overall album by Frank Zappa, released in June 1975. The album reached #26 on the Billboard Top LPs & Tape chart in the United States in August 1975. Band The album features the summer/fall 1974 lineup of the Mothers of Invention, with keyboardist/vocalist George Duke, drummer Chester Thompson, percussionist Ruth Underwood, bass guitarist Tom Fowler and saxophonist/vocalist Napoleon Murphy Brock. “Can’t Afford No Shoes” features bassist James Youman, who temporarily joined when Fowler broke his hand while on tour (an incident referenced by Zappa in the credits). Album content The album features one of Zappa's most complex tracks, "Inca Roads". The basic tracks of this piece originated from a TV recording at the KCET studios in Los Angeles on August 27, 1974, while the guitar solo came from a concert in Helsinki on September 22 or 23, 1974. "Florentine Pogen"'s basic tracks were ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Johnny "Guitar" Watson
John Watson Jr. (February 3, 1935 – May 17, 1996), often known professionally as Johnny "Guitar" Watson, was an American musician. A flamboyant showman and electric guitarist in the style of T-Bone Walker, his recording career spanned 40 years, and encompassed rhythm and blues, funk and soul music. Watson recorded throughout the 1950s and 1960s with some success. His 1954 instrumental single "Space Guitar" was the first of his recordings to showcase his electric guitar playing. His creative self-reinvention in the 1970s, with funk overtones, saw Watson have hits with "Ain't That a Bitch" and "Superman Lover". His highest charting single was 1977's "A Real Mother for Ya". Early life Watson was born in Houston, Texas. His father John Sr. was a pianist, and taught his son the instrument. But young Watson was immediately attracted to the sound of the guitar, in particular the electric guitar as played by T-Bone Walker and Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown. His grandfather, a preacher, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Them Or Us
''Them or Us'' is the 40th album by American musician Frank Zappa, released in October 1984 by Barking Pumpkin Records. Album content Its opening and closing songs were not written by Zappa: "The Closer You Are", was written by Earl Lewis and Morgan Robinson and originally released by the Channels; and " Whipping Post", originally performed by the Allman Brothers Band. "Ya Hozna" includes backward vocals taken from " Sofa No. 2" (from '' One Size Fits All'', 1975), "Lonely Little Girl" (from ''We're Only in It for the Money'', 1968) and unreleased outtakes of "Valley Girl" (vocals by Moon Zappa). "Planet of My Dreams" (featuring Bob Harris on vocals) is a 1981 studio recording taken from the score of Zappa's unrealized 1972 stage musical ''Hunchentoot'' (other titles from this show appear on the first-CD edition of the '' Sleep Dirt'' reissue from 1991). "Be in My Video", described as the best song on the album, pokes fun at the cliches in music videos, particularly David Bowi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
I'm The Slime
"I'm the Slime" is a 1973 single by Frank Zappa and The Mothers from the studio album '' Over-Nite Sensation''. The single version is a different mix and edit from the version on the album. Live recordings of the song can be found on '' Zappa in New York'' and '' You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 1'', the latter version having been performed and recorded on the same night as the majority of tracks appearing on 1974's '' Roxy and Elsewhere''. "I'm the Slime" and its b-side version of "Montana" were put on Zappa's best of ''Strictly Commercial''. It was performed in concert from 1973 to 1977 and 1984. Lyrics and meaning The song contains two parts; the first part is a riddle of insults in the form of "what am I?" "I am gross and perverted. I'm obsessed 'n deranged. I have existed for years, but very little has changed. I'm the tool of the government and industry too, for I am destined to rule and regulate you. I may be vile and pernicious, but you can't look away. I make ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bongo Fury
''Bongo Fury'' is a collaborative album by American artists Frank Zappa, Captain Beefheart, and Zappa's band the Mothers, released in October 1975. The live portions were recorded on May 20 and 21, 1975, at the Armadillo World Headquarters in Austin, Texas. Tracks 5, 6 and 9 (intro only) are studio tracks recorded in January 1975 during the sessions which produced '' One Size Fits All'' (1975) and much of '' Studio Tan'' (1978). History In April 1975 Zappa had a one-sided demo acetate disc cut at Kendun Recorders in Burbank, California. This unreleased disc contains "Revised Music for Guitar and Low-Budget Orchestra", "200 Years Old" and "Regyptian Strut". Zappa's liner notes in the June 1975 album '' One Size Fits All'' mention a planned studio follow up album which never appeared. Zappa released ''Bongo Fury'' instead. The album contains a four minute version of "200 Years Old" which was edited from the one on the April 1975 acetate. Overview The album is a notable entry in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Captain Beefheart
Don Van Vliet (; born 'Don Glen Vliet'; January 15, 1941 – December 17, 2010) was an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and visual artist known by the stage name Captain Beefheart. Conducting a rotating ensemble known as the Magic Band, he recorded 13 studio albums between 1967 and 1982. His music blended elements of blues, free jazz, rock music, rock, and avant-garde music, avant-garde composition with idiosyncratic rhythms, absurdism, absurdist wordplay, and Vliet’s gravelly singing voice with a wide vocal range. Known as an enigmatic persona, Beefheart frequently constructed myths about his life and was known to exercise extreme, dictatorial control over his supporting musicians. Although he achieved little commercial success, he sustained a cult following as an influence on an array of experimental rock and punk music, punk-era artists. He began performing in his Captain Beefheart persona in 1964, when he joined the original Magic Band line-up. The grou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Disco Boy (song)
"Disco Boy" is a single composed by musician Frank Zappa from his 1976 album ''Zoot Allures''. It was featured on Frank Zappa's best of album ''Strictly Commercial''. A sped-up version of the song appears in both the film ''Baby Snakes'' and its subsequent soundtrack, as well as best of album '' Son of Cheap Thrills''. Structure and meaning The song's structure is similar-sounding to previous work by Zappa. However, in this particular song, Zappa satirically added a more pop feel to it to go along with the theme of the song. The song addresses the stereotypes affiliated with the disco era. The vain tone of the song is set by the lyrics, "Leave his hair alone, but you can kiss his comb." The lyrics, "Disco boy, do the bump every night, 'til the disco girl who's really right, gonna fall for your line, and feed you a box full of Chicken Delight" indicate that the disco boy is not looking for love, but just a one-night stand. The lyric "but thank the lord that you still got hands, to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zoot Allures
''Zoot Allures'' is the 22nd album by the American rock musician Frank Zappa, released in October 1976. It was his only release on the Warner Bros. Records label. Due to financial and legal disputes with his former manager Herb Cohen, Zappa had his recording contract briefly reassigned from DiscReet to Warner Bros. Cohen quickly filed a lawsuit against Warner and Zappa based on the claim that this reassignment was in violation of previous contracts. Therefore, the final four albums of Zappa's recording contract were reassigned back to DiscReet. Title The title is a pun on the French expression " Zut alors!", which conveys "''dammit!''" Album information The album was originally conceptualized as a double LP, but Zappa rearranged, edited, and shortened the track listing to what was eventually released as a single album. Zappa played a test pressing of the original album for ''Circus'' magazine in 1976, which reported a radically different, though slightly erroneous track listin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Find Her Finer
"Find Her Finer" is a 1976 single by Frank Zappa from the album ''Zoot Allures''. The song was recorded with Zappa's lips extremely close to the microphone, creating an intimate sound. Roy Estrada provided falsetto vocals to create a comic effect to the song. It was intended to be the lead single for ''Zoot Allures'', but failed to chart, unlike its other single " Disco Boy". A live and sped up jazz version can also be found on the album '' The Best Band You Never Heard in Your Life''. It was played in concert in 1976 and 1988. Meaning The song's satirical lyrics suggest that the best way to win a girl over is to show that you are less intelligent than her. His reasoning for this is that women do not care for smart men, but instead a romantic. This parallels the stereotypical belief that men prefer unintelligent women. The songs also metaphorically refers to a clitoris being fingered, extra emphasized by the next track on the album: ''Friendly Little Finger''. Track list 7" A."F ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Over-Nite Sensation
''Over-Nite Sensation'' is the twelfth album by The Mothers of Invention (credited as The Mothers), and the seventeenth album overall by Frank Zappa, released in September 1973. It was Zappa's first album released on his DiscReet label. Recording Frank Zappa wanted to use backup singers on the songs "I'm the Slime", "Dirty Love", "Zomby Woof", "Dinah-Moe Humm" and "Montana". His road manager suggested The Ikettes, and Ike & Tina Turner were contacted. Ike Turner insisted that Zappa pay the singers, including Tina Turner, no more than $25 per song (). However, an invoice shows that they were actually paid $25 per hour, and in total $187.50 each for hours of work (). During the recording sessions at Bolic Sound, Tina brought Ike into the studio to hear the highly difficult middle section of "Montana" which had taken the Ikettes a few days to learn and master. Ike listened to the tape and responded "What is this shit?" before leaving the studio. Ike later insisted that Zappa not ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
