polydigm - 3-8-2012 at 20:04
Just thought I'd mention that the english phrase is "Frank Zappa, a shadow of his former self".
That guy seems to be missing the point. Whatever the overall tone or orchestration was, a lot of the technical depth was still there. I'll will admit
though, that I myself was a bit pissed off with Zappa pandering to the lowest common denominator in concerts during this period just for the sake of
money for his more serious projects. None the less, he always managed to inject something special at all stages of his concert career - sometimes you
just have to look a little harder.
BBP - 3-8-2012 at 21:15
Thanks for the lesson. I thought I'd close the thread so we don't get any discussions in that topic until I've finished all of it: I've just started
on page 3, of 7. But it's tough because I couldn't tell for the life of me what you're talking about.
polydigm - 7-8-2012 at 07:14
Closing that kind of thread is a good idea. You should keep it closed.
Which lesson do you mean? And when you say "I couldn't tell for the life of me what you're talking about", to what in particular are you referring?
BBP - 7-8-2012 at 10:45
I mean "shade of his former self". I was typing this all so quickly I gave myself only little time to look up words I'm not sure about. If any new
discussion fills that topic, it's fine, but I'd hate it if people would have to look through many pages and skip the "good work" or "what an asshole
author" comments.
You might notice I'm not translating the album reviews anymore. There's some 700 articles in the collection, translating all of them would be too
much.
polydigm - 9-8-2012 at 00:16
My point was that the guy was saying that Zappa was somehow cheapening himself, but if you look a little deeper into that late seventies era you can
see that he kept his own standards and whatever type of music he wrote and produced and took on the road it still contained a certain depth. I have to
admit that I myself think he overdid the song thing and there weren't enough extended instrumentals but he was still working hard and you have to
realise that a lot of the music he was working on at the time was impossible for a rock band, it needed an orchestra. So his live shows were a little
one sided. I'm pretty sure I've contradicted myself in there somewhere, but my point is that FZ was never not 100% on the ball. There were no fallow
periods, you just have to look in different places.
BBP - 9-8-2012 at 10:45
'Course, we weren't yet in the late 70s, that guy worte the article in the Flo & Eddie period.
polydigm - 10-8-2012 at 00:11
Aha. My point still applies though.
I just checked. This definitely is 1978:
De Waarheid 14-02-1978
Frank Zappa shadow of his former self
Since the fantastic Grand Wazoo-concert five years ago ...
BBP - 11-8-2012 at 13:06
Sorry, memory's left me down...
polydigm - 13-8-2012 at 13:07
Don't worry, I know what that's like.