polydigm
King Kong Status
Posts: 2166
Registered: 1-4-2006
Location: Horse Tray Ya
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Mood: Inspired
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Fillmore East - June 1971
This album was my introduction to Frank Zappa. I'd heard it many times before I eventually bought my own copy. Tell me if I'm wrong, but I'm sure it
was Zappa's first totally live album, there are no studio cuts. Thus it marks the time when Zappa was finally getting the control he sought over his
music performed live and gaining the ability to record that music to a more than satisfactory standard. Sorry to use a cliché but it's a tour de
force.
If the album has a central concept then it's about the rock and roll life style and groupies, it's very much a rock opera. The perfect opening in the
rôle of traditional overture is a version of Little House I Used To Live In which is very dear to my heart. I didn't hear the Burnt Weeny version till
much later. This segues into Mud Shark, a song about the sexual perversions of rock stars. Then we have What Kind Of Girl Do You Think We Are? about
groupies and what entices them.
This is followed by Bwana Dik a song about the myth of the importance of a large penis and then Latex Solar Beef, a very similar but more awe
inspiring tale of sexual prowess which segues nicely into Willie The Pimp in the rôle of a traditional interlude. The fate of this last piece is
controversial, because on the original vinyl Willie The Pimp Part One ends side one and Willie The Pimp Part Two begins side two. When Frank came to
put this album on CD, Part One does not segue very well into Part Two, so he ditched Part Two altogether. Personally, I was disappointed but I still
understand why he did it and I certainly couldn't have offered the master a better solution and I've never heard one either coming from all the people
who whinge and moan about it.
Next we have Do You Like My New Car? which continues and consolidates the groupie theme, overlapping with What Kind Of Girl Do You Think We Are? So,
is it their mythical sexual prowess or just the potency of their hit songs? And finally we have Happy Together, the hit song with the bullet.
Then we have an instrumental epilogue of Lonesome Electric Turkey (a King Kong (I think) solo by Don Preston) and Peaches En Regalia (still my
favourite version). And finally, Tears Began To Fall, a great little jazz vocal number.
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polydigm
King Kong Status
Posts: 2166
Registered: 1-4-2006
Location: Horse Tray Ya
Member Is Offline
Mood: Inspired
|
|
So, the UME remaster has reinstated the missing Willie The Pimp Part 2. Pretty damn exciting for me, anyway.
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