This is one of Zappa's best compositions. I hope this song will live on for many generations to come. For a large group of musicians to perform this piece is no mean feat. Zappa has set the bar very high.
I was there that night, it was plain terrific. I was able to meet Frank after the show (not really, but i was invited to witness the ceremony as a journalist), when he received a prestigious award - but instead of holding a speech he just enlightend a cigarette. He was so damn cool (and he shook my hand. i didn't wash it for months).
thanks so much for this. FZ was very sick at this time, and died about six months later from the cancer he had been battling for about 2 to 3 years. I like the shot of Moon and Dweezil watching their father. Frank loved this group of German musicians, and they loved him.
The funny thing is that when you have read that Zappa was in total control of his performances, you have the weird feeling that this dance had been under his microscope before allowing it to go on stage...
You have the point and I take it! Thanks for sharing your list of fav's, there are a few new names that I'll go through in the next days. However, FZ still remains the greatest musician of his and mine generation (35 y. old now). A lot of it is due to the shifting attitude of the public ear, the mass media nasty games with the teenagers etc.
@crabula weird sidenote to this comment: I wasn't sure if the comma was supposed to be in there so I did a search on yahoo for: "grammar we miss you frank" . The 4th search result on the list was lyrics for a Zappa song.
There were petty musicians back then as well. Today there is a wider variety available, you just have to be open enough to listen to something completely even though it's at the moment something you know you don't listen to...if you can do that, you will see there are more great bands now than back in the day (if you go back far enough it's all sound in its purest form, and so they developed a sense of sounds within sounds, giving the feeling of your spirit travelling when you tune into it.)
@dannyinternetz you mean the 2 minutes of applause? this was the last 6 minutes of an hour long performance thats why theres so much applause. as for the song itself, it is incredibly difficult. its difficult to the extent that when he originally composed it he thought it was impossible for humans to play it.
I agree with Rodriquez. You can also add Sheik Yerbouti. The songs on this album are a bit more accessible. The albums Rodriquez posted however, are a must for any Zappa fan :).
@MistahhB Roxy & Elsewhere, Overnite Sensation, Apostrophe. Those are probably the 3 most essential. and like andruvan suggested Joe's Garage is excellent :)
zappa was not a fan of drugs, in his opinoin pot just made him sleepy and could count the number of times he tried it on 1 hand. he just had an amazing mind.
I've seen the Ensemble since Frank's death and they don't have the same attack or enthusiasm as this vid or even the Yellow Shark recordings - shame... This is an amazing vid - thanks for posting it tho...
It bothers me that in one of his last interviews he said he didn't care if he was remembered at all or what he was remembered for. I think that if the world didn't remember Frank Zappa, it would be much worse than it is now.
I'm going to request that Watermelon in Easter Hay open my funeral. This would be a good ending though as people boogie off for a pint and a dance (I hope).
he tought it would be impossible for any ensemble to play it, but he probably didn't count on some exotique instruments to fill the impossible parts. btw, one person can play this song, you would just have to use the "synclavier", an highly complex instrument mainly used in orchestral composition
@OpheliaRising each successive generation grows accustomed to what the parents expose them to.Unfortunately,the past generation doesn't get exposed to classical thru avent garde 20th century music and the new generation is stuck only hearing rumors of zappa's songs titled "don't eat the yellow snow" and they're not interested in persuing it because they think he was some type of boring comedian.
Just gonna lay out some modern artists cause sharing is caring :) Huun Huur Tu, Deva Premal, The HAARP Machine, Art By Numbers, Zelliack, I The Mighty, Shigeto, Bibio, Ever Forthright, Deuter, Foxy Shazam, The Reign of Kindo, Shpongle, John Butler Trio, So Percussion, Shaman(fairy tale), Icarus The Owl, Hail The Sun, Periphery, Sikth(not really modern cause they broke up) Hosoo & Transmongolia...Music is not meant to be a competition, or a popularity contest, and no 2 artists should be compared.
Well, this is indeed one of Zappa's simplest tunes, and even so it's not exactly a "walk in the park" to perform these rhythms and wide leaps with absolute cohesion and without letting the tempo drop - if you do some research you'll find out that even the EM had a hard time performing it and almost had to withdraw it from the program. His music can be far more complex than that, though, and in the case of the really complex pieces, I can assure you the rating is accurate.
@NitramZiarreh I was thinking more in the lines of Bela Bartok and Gustav Holst, though the ones you mentioned can be extremely technically demanding also. Though I'm not a fan of Mozart.
@MarxEngelsHoChiMinh Funny that someone with a triple commie name would be so bullish on a man that was a die-hard capitalist. Yet, you are correct. Zappa was an artist who will live on ... long after even the most popular and marketable of twentieth century musicians will cease to be remembered.
