Frank Zappa & The Mothers of Invention - Just Another Band From L.A.
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Free Music Notes for Just Another Band From L.A.
Free Music Review: frank zappa at his best
Hit: 5 Stars
from start to finish this cd is amazing. i love the short lived Flo and Eddie period. to me, thats some of his best music. great vocals, great music. worth it for the version of Call any Vegtable alone.Free Music Review: Well done, but still...
Hit: 4 Stars
One thing that seems to permeate most of the records made under the name "The Mothers" is a sloppiness mixed with real virtuosity. Every line-up FZ had, Mothers and otherwise, were made up of some of the best players you'll find anywhere, but all the Mothers' records had a certain something, lacking elsewhere.
Looking at this as a time-piece, it becomes a better record, because there are many references to the Los Angeles area in the early 1970's, and unless you know this, it is just a jumble of obscure, arcane references that make very little sense. A lot of younger listeners may not have seen the Tonight Show when Johnny Carson was host, but the main Tonight Show motif is played many times throughout the twenty something minute "Billy The Mountain," and so forth ("...let me write this down, sort of take a few notes here; 'Daa-da-da daa-daahh...'"). I get the way they do some things that can be annoying, like refering to a narcotics crack-down, and as Jim Pons names city after city, Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman make these screechy noises with their voices, it's just grating on the ears. It makes dogs in the room act funny, but as anti-drug as Zappa was, he has said it should be treated as a health problem, not a police battle. So, to see the police waste time, effort, and money chasing down drug users instead of going after real criminals, this is as annoying as the noise "Flo and Eddie" made in the reference. There are so many layers to Zappa and The Mothers' work, it would be pointless to get into all them here.
The second half of the program starts off with a revamped "Call Any Vegetable," in some ways better than the original, in some ways, not as good, but my own personal favorite cut on the disc. This is an ideal performance of this type. It's broken down into a bunch of mini-songs linked together, with a vamp toward the end, a vehicle for Volman and Kaylan, "Flo & Eddie" to some, to goof, and make the audience laugh. So off-the-wall, but so funny, as with most of what they do. This cuts into "Eddie, Are You Kidding?," another song geared to the southern California area, so many outsiders just won't get what's going on in this number, incidentally, the only radio-friendly track included; I actually heard it on the radio one night, it surprised me.
"Magdalena," oh, my. What can I say? A little concentrated listening will show it doesn't glorify the behavior depicted here, but unless you don't know this, you'll feel dirty upon listening. It is a depiction of seedy, abhorrent behavior, and if anything brings this performance down, it's the prolonged monologue at the end, but seeing it as a dramatic reading, knowing it's just portrayal, helps. If you want good taste, look elsewhere. This cuts into "Dog Breath(don't you just love his titles?)," a relic from "Uncle Meat." Don't even try to compare the two versions, it's apples and oranges. One is an Avant Garde experiment in sound, and the other is raw, outdoor rock, circa 1971. It bends your ear, unless you appreciate, or are in the mood for this stuff.
Many people don't like this record, but it is what was going on back then. But, Zappa had moved on to other things at the time of "L.A.'s" release (1972). The cartoon drawing on the front has Zappa's foot with a cast on it, an obvious reference to the injuries sustained in the attack he suffered at the Rainbow Theatre in London the previous December, causing the band to break up. This phase of the band was plagued with problems. Jeff Simmons quits the band right before "200 Motels" is to begin shooting, the replacement quits, the replacement's replacement moves on to other things, Jim Pons from The Turtles rejoins Flo and Eddie in the ranks of The Mothers, Don Preston returns, and all the band's equipment is destroyed in a fire which leveled the venue they were playing that particular night; they play the next gig, trying to sort out all the problems that go with new equipment, and some idiot throws Frank Zappa into the orchestra pit, nearly killing him. Maybe it's good this line-up broke up. It was seemingly cursed from the beginning.
Free Music Review: I'm going to hell for liking this, aren't I?
Hit: 4 Stars
Say what you will about Flo and Eddie, they're showmen, they know their stuff and I think they're freakin' hilarious.Here, they basically get set loose by Frank Zappa and while they do overdo it a bit, this is probably the best album of this band available.
My only quibble with "Billy the Mountain," even after all these years, is the same quibble I have with a lot of Frank's story songs: There's no end. It just stops. (He admitted frequently that he couldn't write endings to save his life.) Just like Joe's Garage, or "Baby Don't You Want A Man Like Me," or Greggary Peccary, the wrap-up is the worst part of the song. That said though, this is probably the best version of "Billy" you're going to hear (compare this to the New York version on "Playground Psychotics" for fun).
Now, while this version of "Call any Vegetable" was the second appearance for this song on a Zappa LP, to me, this is the quintessential version. I recently saw the Grandmothers in concert and while Don Preston was the only guy from the Flo and Eddie years in the group, THIS was the arrangement that Don and Bunk and Jimmy Carl and the rest performed.
"Eddie Are You Kidding?" Well, yeah. Sure, the song doesn't make much sense if you didn't know what they were talking about, but hey, it's only three minutes long.
Now we come to "Magdalena." I will admit that when I first bought this album back in 1974, as an unwitting, dorky Catholic teen who still believed in God and all that, that I REALLY had a problem with this song. The VERY idea that they could poke fun at incestual rape (even interruptus, as it is) just shocked my St. Christopher medal off my speakers. But I got over it. (As it turns out, Howie's "confession" in the role of the naughty dad is just a stretch from his "rock star" confession on "Magic Fingers" on 200 Motels.) Also, you have to admit that Magdalena doesn't take any crap from dad, does she?
Finally, the track that sells this LP. "Dog Breath." Certainly one of the top five Zappa solos ever released, and it's all of what, a minute? One of those moments when Zappa, Pons, Preston, Dunbar and Underwood all found the same musical "zone" and just sailed on it.
Say what you will about this album; I like it.
Free Music Review: Solid, if not essential, title from the "Flo & Eddie" era.
Hit: 4 Stars
This lineup of the Mothers centered around the incredible pop vocals of Mark Volman & Howard Kaylan (aka the Fluorescent Leech & Eddie), formerly of the Turtles ("Happy Together"). Kaylan & Volman had an outrageous and very smutty sense of humor which appealed to Zappa hugely. Therefore, Frank let them run wild with off-color improv and tailored his compositions to suit them and their fantastic voices. As a result, the music is a lot more straight ahead rock/pop oriented. So, despite the presence of such top-flight musicians as Ian Underwood (Frank's chief co-conspirator on "Hot Rats"), Aynsley Dunbar (next to Terry Bozzio, one of Frank's best drummers), and Don Preston on keyboards (another ex-Turtle, Jim Pons, rounds out the group on bass), musical adventurousness takes a back seat here. However, the band could play their butts off and rock with the best of 'em. It's just that zany R-rated comedy is the going concern on this album and on "Fillmore East." If that's your cup of tea, you'll love it. If it's not, you may still find much to enjoy, especially on the searing version of "Dog Breath" (originally from "Uncle Meat") and a souped-up "Call Any Vegetable" (from "Absolutely Free"). "Eddie, Are You Kidding?" is enjoyable but requires a knowledge of the cheesy TV ads of the now-defunct Los Angeles men's clothing store "Zachary All." "Magdalena" is a good rocker that upsets most people with its jokes about attempted incest but most folks are far too sensitive. The centerpiece of the disc is "Billy the Mountain" which, while entertaining, proves to be a bit difficult to sit through regularly (you'll like it the first time and then must be very much in the mood for it for future listenings). Again, it helps if you're familiar with L.A. to find it more than marginally humorous. The music is, as always, solid but much of the piece consists of comedic dialogue from Frank, Flo, & Eddie. But then again, if you're able to kinda sit back and chuckle absent-mindedly, it's good for an airing from time to time. So, all in all, it's a pretty solid Zappa title (with "Dog Breath," in particular, standing out), miles above "Man From Utopia," for instance, but not a stone-cold classic like "One Size Fits All."Free Music Review: underated
Hit: 4 Stars
This album always gets a bad rap. It was released after the flo and Eddie incarnation of the Mothers got sidelined when a fan almost killed Zappa by throwing him offstage.(He spent a year in a wheel chair, and fortunately, used this time to make Waka/Jawaka and Grand Wazoo) A lot of critics and fans who like Uncle Meat and Hot Rat's high minded jazz and avant gaurde sweep think this is lowbrow.
It is not. Comidy is just one aspect of this album. Listen to "Billy The Mountian," or the retooled "Call Any Vegitable." What Zappa does here is take the attention he has always applied to his composition and is focusing on Flo and Eddie's vocals. The harmonies, dialouge and call and response here are disciplined and tightly arranged.
This was the time of Hair and Oh Calcutta!, when hippie rock on broadway used the same type of tightly arranged staging to make is appear spontainious. Zappa is working in this medium here, and the results are elaborate and, yes, the material does work.
Magdalena: well, this is sure not an easy listen, but part of Zappa's art was to raise issues that happened that no one else talked about, and in 1971, NOBODY went near childhood sexual abuse. I don't think Zappa is promoting this, just bringing the issue to light..
Don't let the humour on this album obscure the stage onslaught Zappa is putting together on this album.