Frank Zappa - Shut Up 'N Play Yer Guitar (1981)

Definitely wound up with a fresh appreciation of Zappa's considerable guitar talents this year, so an hour and a half of guitar solos sounded like a worthwhile acquisition.  Originally a set of three individual mail-order records: Shut Up, Some More & Return Of The Son Of, then a 3-LP box set, then 2 CDs, this entirely instrumental patchwork was mostly recorded live between 1977 and 1980.  

 

Sometimes excerpted from known songs (eg the three title tracks come from Inca Roads performances), sometimes on-the-fly improvisations, Zappa deftly edited these solo highlights into an order that aimed to vary the textures and tempi.  He also "grouted" it all with little snippets of chatter which "just served as punctuation", "to hear another texture and then set you up for the next thing".

The results, which might have come across like the ultimate overindulgence in lesser hands, form a durable, enjoyable portrait of a guitarist who was really maturing as an individual stylist in this era.  Even when there's not much beyond a basic vamp going on behind him (Treacherous Cretins, Soup 'N Old Clothes), Zappa's playing is never less than scintillating.  The sequencing works really well too: rather than front-load all the best cuts, the three-volume album actually gets better as it goes on, so my personal highlights Pink Napkins and Stucco Homes sit on Disc 2 here.  Then, to finish with something completely different (or perhaps he didn't have quite enough material selected for six sides), Zappa lets the album play out on a violin/electric bouzouki duet with Jean-Luc Ponty from 1972.

Disc 1 link

Disc 2 link

pw: sgtg

For Zappa-CD-variation trainspotters: source is Japanese Ryko 2-CD from the 80s ("grouts" sit at the beginning of tracks rather than end of track prior).

Previously posted at SGTG:

Lumpy Gravy

Waka/Jawaka

The Grand Wazoo

Roxy & Elsewhere

One Size Fits All

You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore, Vol. 2: The Helsinki Concert

The Perfect Stranger (live 2018)

Frank Zappa - Sleep Dirt (1979)

Found this lovely little sleeper (sorry, couldn't resist) album lurking in the midst of Zappa's late 70s legal debacle with Warner Brothers.  Sleep Dirt is part of a group of contract-fulfilling albums which Zappa tried at one point to compile into a 4-LP set, eventually posthumously released as such on triple-CD.  Anyway, the seven instrumental tracks here were recorded in '74 and '76, meaning that my holy trinity of Zappa musicians (George, Chester & Ruth) make appearances.  Sounds promising already - as does the fact that Zappa had wanted to call this album Hot Rats III.

 

After an atmospheric, almost King Crimson-like guitar-based opener, a fantastic jazzy sequence of tracks spotlight my three faves named above; the Grand Wazoo-era composition Regyptian Strut is particularly enjoyable.  From the original side two, the title track is a very nice, almost proto-Windham Hill acoustic guitar duet, then the final track is simply magnificent.  After a fun catchy intro, The Ocean Is The Ultimate Solution builds into a multi-tangent guitar-bass-drums jam (edited down from over 40 minutes to 13), with Zappa on uniquely-tuned Fender 12-string.  More FZ-shredding next week!

Come the 80s, with Zappa having regained control of his catalogue, he set about tweaking Sleep Dirt into how he'd always wanted it to sound.  By the time the album debuted on CD, there were drum overdubs, editing and remixing in places, and most drastically three tracks had gained a female lead vocal (performed by Thana Harris).  With lyrics from an unfinished theatrical project about an evil queen and a giant spider, these songs now suggested the monster-flick equivalent of classic Bond themes gone insane, and are loads of fun.  So which version of the album wins overall?  Only way to decide is to try both...

Original instrumental album (restored by 2012 CD)

Vocal/remix album (from 1995 CD)

pw for both: sgtg

Previously posted at SGTG:

Lumpy Gravy

Waka/Jawaka

The Grand Wazoo

Roxy & Elsewhere

One Size Fits All

You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore, Vol. 2: The Helsinki Concert

The Perfect Stranger (live 2018)

Carla Bley - Escalator Over The Hill (1971)

A jazz-rock/Weill-esque opera/Indian-influenced avant-garde behemoth, complete on three LPs and later two CDs, four years in the making, from Carla Bley (composer), Paul Haines (librettist), and a cast of dozens of voices and musicians.  So much has been written about EOTH over the years that it's difficult to think what to add.  Perhaps the hundred-odd minutes of inspired insanity contained in this major labour of love are best just jumped straight in to, so here goes.

The thirteen-minute overture sits nicely alongside Bley's other work of the era in its dramatic, portentous sweep.  Then a swirl of "phantom" voices, tape effects and organ introduce the first characters, with Warhol star Viva acting as narrator throughout.  As an 'opera' (or rather, "chronotransduction"), Haines' text is so void of narrative logic it might as well be Einstein On The Beach - all that can be gleaned from the libretto is that it loosely concerns the inhabitants of a dilapidated hotel.  These include a couple named Ginger and David, who are voiced at certain points by a pre-solo fame Linda Ronstadt, and the singer from Manfred Mann who I grew up knowing as Uncle Jack.  Other voices include the musicians, such as Don Preston and Jack Bruce, as well as Bley/Mantler's daughter Karen Mantler making her debut on record, then about five years old.

The musical pieces then vary in length from under a minute to several, taking in more mind-blowing big band arrangements, small-group explosions with stinging lead guitar (check out John McLaughlin on Businessmen), gloomy piano with free-jazz skronk attacks, and more.  Eventually, the music reaches its absolute summit in the stretch corresponding to the third LP in the original box set.  A.I.R. (All India Radio) would soon be covered by Jan Garbarek among others; here it is in its original version.  The epic Rawalpindi Blues takes in more McLaughlin brilliance amid a coming together of the "Traveling Band" and the "Hotel Band", and if that wasn't enough, it gets a just-as-good nine minute coda.  One more short piece leads in to the stunning finale, which after eight and a half minutes (on record) ran into a lock-groove - on CD, this loop of humming drone plays out for nearly 19 minutes, then has a final snippet of calliope music as a 'hidden track'.  In a way, this is the ideal ending to a truly unique musical experience.

Disc 1 link

Disc 2 link

pw: sgtg

Carla Bley at SGTG:

A Genuine Tong Funeral

The Jazz Composer's Orchestra

Fleur Carnivore

Appearing Nightly

Trios

Traffic - The Low Spark Of High Heeled Boys (1971)

Jazzy, folky prog in its prime from the revived lineup of Steve Windwood & co, which always gets a fair bit of summer playing from me, so why not drop it in here.  Ghanian-born percussionist Reebop Kwaku Baah, one of two 70s Traffickers who'd wind up in Can, came on board at this point, and bassist Ric Grech made his only studio appearance with the group here.  Gordon, Capaldi & Wood fill out the lineup.

After a mellow beginning in Hidden Treasure, the 11-minute title track is next.  Slowly building into a memorable snappy groove in the choruses, the lyrics are one of the better-written 'music business' gripes, and it was my instant highlight when first hearing it on a best-of.  The funky Rock And Roll Stew closes out the original LP's first side.

Side two contains another three tracks, all of which are fantastic.  Plenty of electric piano and flute to luxuriate in on the mid-tempo Many A Mile To Freedom, and funked-up fuzz guitar in Light Up And Leave Me Alone.  The atmospheric Rainmaker, with its central Chris Wood flute line, is my other highlight of the album, and features future Only Ones member Mike Kellie behind the drumkit.

link

pw: sgtg