''Tinsel Town Rebellion'' is a

double Double, The Double or Dubble may refer to: Mathematics and computing * Multiplication by 2 * Double precision, a floating-point representation of numbers that is typically 64 bits in length * A double number of the form x+yj, where j^2=+1 * A ...

live album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track or cassette), or digital. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th centur ...

released 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 ...

in May 1981. The album was conceived by Zappa after he scrapped the planned albums ''Warts and All'' and ''Crush All Boxes'', and contains tracks that were intended for those albums.

Overview

The lyrical themes varyingly focus on human sexuality, popular culture and other topics. The title track is a satire of the

punk rock Punk rock (also known as simply punk) is a rock music genre that emerged in the mid-1970s. Rooted in 1950s rock and roll and 1960s garage rock, punk bands rejected the corporate nature of mainstream 1970s rock music. They typically produced sh ...

scene, describing a band that adopts the punk style to get a record deal. The album also contains reworked recordings of older Zappa songs, including "Love of My Life", "I Ain't Got No Heart", "Tell Me You Love Me", "

Brown Shoes Don't Make It "Brown Shoes Don't Make It" is a song by The Mothers of Invention, written by band leader Frank Zappa. It is the penultimate song on the second album ''Absolutely Free''. The song is one of his most widely renowned works, described by AllMusic as ...

" and the third release of "

Peaches en Regalia "Peaches en Regalia" is an instrumental jazz fusion composition by Frank Zappa. It was initially released on Zappa's album ''Hot Rats'' in 1969 and has been recorded many times since. Other versions Years later, in 1987, the piece was released ...

" (appropriately titled "Peaches III").

Production

''Tinsel Town Rebellion'' was formed out of two albums - ''Warts and All'' and ''Crush All Boxes'' - that Zappa originally planned to release following the establishment of his home studio, the

Utility Muffin Research Kitchen The Utility Muffin Research Kitchen (UMRK) is a recording studio built in 1979 by musician, composer, songwriter, and bandleader Frank Zappa at his home in Los Angeles, California. The home and recording studio was sold to Lady Gaga in 2016, and ...

. ''Warts and All'' was intended to be a triple disc live album, while ''Crush All Boxes'' would have been a single disc part live/part studio album. As ''Warts and All'' reached completion, Zappa found the project to be "unwieldy" due to its length, and scrapped it. He then conceived and began to assemble ''Crush All Boxes''. During the final stages of ''Crush All Boxes'', Zappa decided to abandon that album as well. He then reconfigured the materiel from both scrapped albums into three album projects: ''Tinsel Town Rebellion'', ''

Shut Up 'n Play Yer Guitar ''Shut Up 'n Play Yer Guitar'' is a series of three albums - ''Shut Up 'n Play Yer Guitar'', ''Shut Up 'n Play Yer Guitar Some More'', and ''Return of the Son of Shut Up 'n Play Yer Guitar'' - released by American musician Frank Zappa in 1981. T ...

'' and ''

You Are What You Is ''You Are What You Is'' is a 1981 double album by American musician Frank Zappa. His 34th album, it consists of three musical suites which encompass pop, doo-wop, jazz, hard rock, reggae, soul, blues, new wave and country. The album's lyrics sa ...

''. All the tracks intended for ''Crush All Boxes'' were released across these albums, as were several of the ''Warts and All'' tracks, with others appearing later in the ''You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore'' series. The opening track, "Fine Girl", is a studio recording intended for ''Crush All Boxes'', as was an early mix of the live track "Easy Meat". The ''Tinsel Town Rebellion'' version of "Easy Meat" featured much heavier studio overdubs than the version prepared for ''Crush All Boxes''. Zappa wrote "Easy Meat" in 1970 and the song was a concert staple of the early 1970s

Mothers of Invention The Mothers of Invention (also known as the Mothers) were an American rock band from California. Formed in 1964, their work is marked by the use of sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows. Originally an R&B band ...

line-up featuring ex-members of

The Turtles The Turtles are an America, American Band (rock and pop), rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1965. The band achieved several Top 40 hits throughout the latter half of the 1960s, including "It Ain't Me Babe" (1965), "You Baby (song), ...

Mark Volman Mark Randall Volman (born April 19, 1947) is an American vocalist, guitarist, and songwriter, best known as a founding member of the 1960s rock band The Turtles, and, along with his bandmate and friend Howard Kaylan, a member of the 1970s rock ...

and

Howard Kaylan Howard Kaylan (born Howard Lawrence Kaplan; June 22, 1947) is an American retired musician and songwriter, who was a founding member and lead singer of the 1960s rock band The Turtles, and, with bandmate and friend Mark Volman, a member of the 1 ...

on lead vocals. The front cover art for ''Tinsel Town Rebellion'' retains the ''Crush All Boxes'' title, with the new album title

spray paint Spray paint (formally aerosol paint) is paint that comes in a sealed, pressurized can and is released in an aerosol spray when a valve button is depressed. The propellant is what the container of pressurized gas is called. When the pressure hol ...

ed over it. The sleeve and interior was designed by

Cal Schenkel Calvin "Cal" Schenkel (born January 27, 1947, Willow Grove, Pennsylvania) is an American illustrator, graphic designer, animator and comics artist, specializing in album cover design. He was the main graphic arts collaborator for rock musician F ...

, and contains a

collage Collage (, from the , "to glue" or "to stick together") is a technique of art creation, primarily used in the visual arts, but in music too, by which art results from an assembly of different forms, thus creating a new whole. (Compare with pasti ...

of still images from various 1920s, 1930s and 1940s Hollywood films, including '' Freaks'', directed by

Tod Browning Tod Browning (born Charles Albert Browning Jr.; July 12, 1880 – October 6, 1962) was an American film director, film actor, screenwriter, vaudeville performer, and carnival sideshow and circus entertainer. He directed a number of films of var ...

. The majority of ''Tinsel Town Rebellion'' consists of overdub-free live recordings from the 1979 and late-1980 concert tours. This album marks the first appearance of three new band members from the 1980 tours: drummer David Logeman, who appeared on the spring and summer tours, and guitarist

Steve Vai Steven Siro Vai ( ; born June 6, 1960) is an American guitarist, songwriter, and producer. A three-time Grammy Award winner and fifteen-time nominee, Vai started his music career in 1978 at the age of eighteen as a Transcription (music), transc ...

and vocalist/keyboardist/trumpet player Bob Harris (not to be confused with the musician of the same name who appeared on ''

Fillmore East – June 1971 ''Fillmore East – June 1971'' is a live album by The Mothers, released in 1971. It is the twelfth album in Frank Zappa's discography, and was produced by Zappa and mixed by Toby Foster. History ''Fillmore East – June 1971'' is a live conce ...

''), who joined for the fall tour.

Release history

The album was reissued on a single CD by

Rykodisc Rykodisc is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group, operating as a unit of WMG's Independent Label Group and distributed through Alternative Distribution Alliance. History Claiming to be the first CD-only independent record label ...

in 1990. (An unauthorized CD had been previously issued by EMI in the UK in 1987). Complaints regarding the significantly inferior sound quality (the album was mastered by Bob Stone) led to a remaster by Spencer Chrislu in 1998.

Universal Music Group Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as Universal Music Group or Universal Music) is a Netherlands, Dutch–United States, American multinational Music industry, music corporation under Law of the Netherlands, ...

released a new remaster in 2012. The 1990 release omitted the applause that Zappa had edited onto the endings of "For The Young Sophisticate" and "Pick Me I'm Clean" to end the album sides. The 1998 release restored the applause and included crossfades from the concluding songs of each side to the songs beginning the following side. The 2012 CD release includes the full applause endings with fadeouts as they had occurred on the original vinyl LP.

Reception

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

writer Steve Huey praised the album's instrumental work and the reworked versions of older songs, but described the sexually-themed lyrics as "problematic".

Track listing

All songs written, composed and arranged by Frank Zappa.

Personnel

Musicians

* Frank Zappa – lead guitar, vocals *

Arthur Barrow Arthur Barrow (born February 28, 1952) is a multi-instrumental musician, best known for his stint as a bass guitar player for Frank Zappa in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Early life Barrow was born in San Antonio, Texas in 1952 and grew up in ...

– bass & vocals *

Vinnie Colaiuta Vincent Peter Colaiuta (born February 5, 1956) is an American drummer known for his technical mastery who has worked as a session musician in many genres. He was inducted into the ''Modern Drummer'' Hall of Fame in 1996 and the ''Classic Drumme ...

– drums *

Warren Cuccurullo Warren Bruce Cuccurullo (born December 8, 1956) is an American musician, songwriter, restaurant owner, and former bodybuilder who first worked with Frank Zappa during the 1970s. He was also a founding member of Missing Persons in the 1980s. In 1 ...

– rhythm guitar & vocals * Bob Harris – keyboards, trumpet & high vocals
Roy Poper
– trumpet * David Logeman – drums on "Fine Girl" and first half of "Easy Meat" * Ed Mann – percussion *

Tommy Mars Tommy Mars (born Thomas Mariano on October 26, 1951) is an American keyboard player known for his work with Frank Zappa. Mars began piano lessons at age eight, and later his instrument range expanded to various keyboards and synthesizers. Mars ...

– keyboards & vocals *

Patrick O'Hearn Patrick John O'Hearn (born September 6, 1954) is an American multi-instrumentalist, composer, and recording artist. Known primarily as a bass guitarist and keyboardist, O'Hearn came to prominence with Frank Zappa and co-founded the early 1980s ...

– bass on "Dance Contest" *

– rhythm guitar & vocals *

Denny Walley Denny Walley (born February 4, 1943) is an American guitarist. He was born in Pennsylvania. He is known for working with Frank Zappa in the 1970s and '80s. Career Denny Walley spent much of his childhood in New York City before his family moved ...

– slide guitar & vocals *

Ray White Ray Shirley White Sr. is an African Americans, African American soul music, soul vocalist and rock and blues guitarist, best known as a member of Frank Zappa's touring ensembles. He was drafted into Zappa's band in late 1976, being feature ...

– rhythm guitar & vocals *

Ike Willis Isaac Willis (born November 12, 1955) is an American vocalist and guitarist who was a regular member of Frank Zappa's studio and touring bands from 1978 until the last tour in 1988. He did not tour with Zappa in 1981 and 1982 because he wanted ...

– rhythm guitar & vocals *

Peter Wolf Peter Wolf (born March 7, 1946) is an American musician best known as the lead vocalist of The J. Geils Band from 1967 to 1983 and as a solo artist. Early life and education Wolf was born Peter Walter Blankfield on March 7, 1946, in the Bronx ...

– keyboards *

Production staff

* Frank Zappa – arranger, producer * Joe Chiccarelli – engineer * George Douglas – engineer * Tommy Fly – engineer * Jo Hansch – mastering * Thomas Nordegg – everything remote * Mark Pinske – chief engineer *

– cover art * Allen Sides – engineer * Bob Stone – remixing, remastering, digital remastering (1990 edition) * Spencer Chrislu – digital remastering (1996 edition) * John Williams – graphics

Charts

Album - ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' (United States)

References

{{Authority control 1981 live albums Albums produced by Frank Zappa Barking Pumpkin Records albums Frank Zappa live albums