Frank Zappa - Sinister Footwear II (live in NYC, 1981) 

horsefuckin' spot on

came to reply to your great observation, found out I'd already done it

Yes, how is it possible...🤔?

Masterpiece and no comment...

When Picasso started dabbling in Cubism, younger artists started trying to just jump onto that avant garde style and he would say, “Look, you need to learn composition, brush strokes, color theory etc before you start to deviate” Frank listened to and learned all manner of music before making his own style. He would throw out signals that would indicate variations for songs; like pretending he was twirling dreadlocks for reggae, had heavy balls for metal, signs for time signatures and you had to be ready to change at a glance. It’s why you never heard the same song the same way twice and why his live recordings were sometimes wildly different from the album

On that same note, Alice Cooper was once asked who the greatest guitarist he had ever seen was, and he said ' Frank Zappa'. He then described a concert he had seen as a teenager, wherein Hendrix, Clapton and Jeff Beck all performed live. Frank closed the show, and started his set by making fun of each of them.

And then he played his own shit..

These guys make Yes look like beginners.

@@Napthalicious Was Alice under contract to Frank when he made that quote? Just joking, but Frank as a business man was the first to sign Alice Cooper to a recording contract on his Straight Records. Even if Frank hadn't a music career, he would have had a music business career.

Vai actually sent a demo tape and a transcription of, I believe, The Black Page, to Frank. I believe Frank actually hired Vai, originally, to do transcriptions of things that Frank had on tape that he wanted written down, things like improvised events that Frank wanted to turn into things the band could reproduce, etc. Vai also did the transcriptions that appeared in The Frank Zappa Guitar Book. The thing was, Frank didn't have a lot of confidence in his own ability to play some of the written guitar parts he had conceived, and that's why he brought Vai into the band, and that's why Vai is often times credited with "stunt guitar". So it was less a matter of "focusing on writing and conducting" so much as just wanting to the guitar parts being played the way he wanted to hear them. ANd I think it was less a matter of Steve being "the only guitarist Frank could find who could play the stuff" so much as Frank already had Vai on staff, he knew the music and could play it, etc, so he gave Steve a shot, rather than looking for someone else.

Where is that quote from?

Zappa practiced for 4 months before his shows. And seven days was often used. When we did Waka Jawaka it was more like 6 months. But you're right, that's what is needed to be that tight!

I still am lol

The shoes were ugly, but not evil.

The true genius in my mind is Zappa creating a business model that allowed him full control of his art. Self-taught composer, self-taught musician, self-taught band leader, self-taught music mogul.

@@cazgerald9471 Well put. And, as Zappa said in many an interview, there aren't many bands who have one guy paying for all of the salaries, tour expenses, etc. The record companies before Zappa went indy with Barking Pumpkin Records didn't give all the financial support Zappa required to mount his tours with the precision the members were required to play.

​@@cazgerald9471 non ti conosco ma tra tante cose che ho sentito sul Maestro la tua è certamente una delle più veritiere

Not only conductor but featured soloist XD

ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-xthn6syCvf8.html - good enough?

@bakura227 Yeah i forgot the Names of the Album especially on his 1995 and 1999 Album.

Yes, but I wish more in terms of songwriting.

Patrick O'Hearn. I know it's not fair to pick one or another because anyone playing for Zappa deserves his due. But Patrick O'Hearn was amazing the way he propelled Zappa's thrust into fusion music into high gear. He was the closest to Jaco of any of the bass players.

Big Swifty Absolutely nothing like Patrick O' Hearn. Such a skilled bass player and that tone he achieved was out of this world!

Big Swifty His solo on The Purple Lagoon was legendary. It's impossible to pick a favorite between the Zappa Bassists. They were each so incredible in their own right.

My favorite too. Maybe cause I was introduced in Zappa by YCDTOSA 5. I like this precise and virtuous but yet punk sound

Dave Hope from Kansas.

badazzpresidents23 easily

shred5 A lot of his tunes really astound me, but this one jesus christ i just about shit my pants first time i heard it. I get these chills down my spine its so godamn fantastic.

I agree. This us even arguably the beat performance of It right here. I must have played it a hundred times, and it's never lost its luster for me.

shred5 Yeah i keep wondering if they used tracks from this performance on the Them or Us studio version. This is so well rehearsed and so well executed.

It feels the same way to me. Like you're hearing it for the first time, everytime. Just so timeless and masterfully crafted.

***** Frank would take excepts from live recordings into studio material often too, but I'm fairly sure this performance was unrelated.

I mean, they were all monster. Aynsley Dunbar, who when introduced by Zappa would say "This is Aynsley Dunbar. He sounds like two drummers." Ralph and Chester, Vinny... Probably the least celebrated drummer was David Logeman. Not to say he wasn't up to Zappa's task, but short-lived and no folklore such as Punky's Whips, about Bozzio, Stevie's Spanking, Chester's Gorilla, Ruthie Ruthie - albeit a one-off performance, but you know what I mean. Billy Mundi didn't really have a folklore presence either, for that matter. Still, anybody up to the task to play Zappa's music were all "pretty good musicians" as noted in A Little Green Rosetta.

@@zolarczakl3880 I saw Logeman live. He was incredible. I don't care about folklore.

@@jonp4846 I saw Logeman live as well. 1980. I always wondered, folklore aside, why he was so short-lived. March-July of '80. Vinnie came back from Oct.- Dec. '80. As I said in earlier post, any drummer hired to play Zappa's music had to be a monster. Just such a short-lived tenure.

@@zolarczakl3880 I'm glad I got to see him/them live.

@@zolarczakl3880 he was a last minute replacement for Vinnie who wanted more money. Vinnie came back for the next

FVZ❤

JonP1961 Greatest band line up in the world. They could go out there and do anything.

I believe the version on "Them or Us" was done live. DK

Many don't fathom his music. As Eddie says, "I was not impressed".

@@tixximmi1 I know Nothing about music i cant Write it and i have no Rythem. BUT when i heard Roxy and Elsewhere from Start to Finish in 2006 7 O Clock in the morning under Headphones I KNEW this Guy was a Once in 80 Years Genius I had to Play 13 Frank Zappa Albums to my Friend Who is a music Teacher until he said he s pretty good.

Drowning Witch

@@talastra Well, 'you are not wrong' ! 😄

@@jimpalmer792 Two of my favorite Zappa compositions :)

His best work is always the song you are currently listening too. :)

What DVD is it?

@@smorrow Its called The Torture Never Stops

@Zolar Czakl What i also meant with my comment is that Zappa allready had the Newest Keyboards and Synths back in October 1980. When all the other Bands had them in 1983 or late 1982. Ha Ha Peaches En Regalia New Wave a song from 1969.

10? He was that way back in the '60s. Still ahead of his time. His music is timeless.

And the other 119 songs that they performed on this tour. And often, Frank wouldn't give the set list until an hour before the show. Each night would be different.

Zappa would practice 100+ songs for a tour. Frank often would give the musicians the "set" for that evenings concert, 30 minutes before they went up on stage. One of the reasons Vai almost 86ed himself.

Not on the dvd bonus the torture never stop ?

​@@ludofuzz3012 - No...big mistake by the Zappa Family Trust. They should have just included the entire concert!

Steve Vai learned these kind of through-composed Zappa tunes by sleeping with the tape playing

dick chanclor its not that he requires grooming...

On stunt guitar.

Well, this piece is in 3/4, isn't it?

Anch io

Also bits of The Black Page

@God In The Glass He coulda been a model!

And Franks leads are all improvised at that time.

Sinister Footwear is a ballet in three movements. This is the second movement, and was released on Them or Us with the title "Sinister Footwear II." The movement itself doesn't seem to have a subtitle, but each movement has many subsections that have titles like "Sometimes They Make You Walk Funny" and "Then You Put Them Back On Because You Think They Look So Good On You."