Greatest rock opera ever! "Information is not knowledge. Knowledge is not wisdom. Wisdom is not truth. Truth is not beauty. Beauty is not love. Love is not music. Music is THE BEST" - F.Z.
This album is so full of details, funny things, absolutely a masterpice. This is the one Zappa album i have listened to most, and it takes many many times to Get it all…. I enjoy these videos of yours!
Thanks Rory! I can tell the message I sent you about reacting to this album resonated with you. If you think side 1 act 1 pushes boundaries, you ain't heard nothing yet. This album came out after he escaped WB and the whole corporate censorship machine, so he was finally able to drop the euphemisms and just say what he wanted, no matter how crude. Catholic Girls is mild compared to what is coming, it is quite a ride you just started, strap in tight, the rest of this magnum opus is amazing. Oh, and the few songs you have heard will hit harder when you hear them in the context of the story. Thanks again for taking on this album!
COOL, COOL, COOL, COOL One of the best Rock Operas ever made. The adventures of Mary and Joe and a bunch of nasty twists and turns in the story. Side 2 has "On the Bus" which is a great instrumental. Lucile finishes that side and it is a great great tune. "Keep it Greasy" is a shocking tune.! MUST WATCH Joe's garage the Musicale done in 1998 by a college group. Find it on You Tube, crappy video, but worth the view.
Rory keep in mind that this entire production is Frank’s take on the consequences of censorship. Frank somehow always manages to turn a political statement into an epic album or opera such as this. Another thing that I think is noteworthy and criminally underrated is Frank’s genius ability as a producer. He sat at the mixer for almost everything, carefully crafting every sound. Lastly, the next song, Fembot in a Wet T-Shirt is one of my favorites from Joes Garage. Looking forward to the rest of this! Thank you!
I just stumbled onto your Act III, side II reaction and realized you had finally given in and decided to do an album reaction. What a great one to do! It was a natural, since you had already reacted to several of the excellent tunes, but one has to go start to finish with this one in order to get the context of each song. It's a Rock opera! Took me a minute to back track to the beginning, but I'll watch them all. Nice work.
Its about the right to free speech and music is the best! My Mom always wanted me to turn it down and then I would have to quickly take the album and hide it so she could not break it! Got to love it ! So many changes were coming in the 60s and Zappa was way out in front of them! Thanks for playing it!
By the way, the harmonica on Crew Slut is played by Craig Steward.... Craig "Twister" Steward, who has played with some of the greatest musicians of our time and has been described as the "Hendrix of the Harp," was amazingly discovered by Frank Zappa whilst performing in Wichita, Kansas. Frank was quoted as saying, "He (Craig Steward) sounds like Coltrane on the harmonica. And I mean fast like you won't believe. This guy is like the Al DiMeola of the harmonica." 😎
As for Catholic Girls. This is FZ interviewed in '79: "A lot of shit going on. During the fadeout you hear the resolution of all the choral stuff from the front part of the song, plus a bass singer who's not only performing the function of the rhythm and blues bass vocalist but is giving you an assortment of Italian melodies as part of the bass line. And on top of all that is the melody from "Jewish Princess" played on an electric sitar. Now, that's Charles Ives. Charlie would've been proud of that little number!"
@@mgordon1100 At that time there was only the album Toto released in 78. Most people knew the main hit number from the album Hold the Line. I owned the album. But Ike’s vocals and Zappa’s arrangement reminded me of some of Toto’s more symphonic arrangements from that album. Add to that the fact that the central scrutinizer mentioned Toto.
@barrywilson1294 Barry, the band's name is Toad-O. No doubt that's it's a play on Toto, which is interesting in itself for Frank to give reference to such a new band on the scene. I do understand how popular Hold The Line was. I have the Toto album here in the car. I'll give it a closer listen with Frank's "...Pee" in mind.
i have some funny memories of sitting friends down and making them listen to this album. In a way, it was a knitting circle version of your channel, ha. Thanks for the reaction, it's a crazy album for sure.
Great to hear you getting to what was one of my high school favorites. To your ponderance of Frank jabbing Catholics stems from his disgust over the religious right ceaselessly trying to take over the country. They're still at it sad to say