That was truly one of Frank Zappa's best tracks. Ruth Underwood on marimba,percussion, the late great George Duke on keyboards and vocals, Napoleon Murphy Brock on flute, vocals, sax etc. , Frank on guitar, Chester Thompson on drums, one of his best combos.
He made so much great music, and with so many wicked musicians it's really hard to pick favorites, but this lineup is way up there! Oh, and it's a vibraphone, not a Marimba! Ruth's brother Ian Underwood may have been off camera, or sick that night, but he was also part of that lineup on woodwinds and additional keyboards. I also second Runtt Wah: it's Tom Fowler on bass another hidden gem!
@@Bob-of-Zoid like you say, it's impossible to properly rate the lineups, but I've always been partial to the short lived Baby Snakes/Sheik Yerbouti lineup with Terry Bozzio and a pre-King Crimson Adrian Belew.
@@HisHowliness Yeah, that lineup too! Brain melting! I met both Terry Bozzio (Punky Meadows), and Belew, the latter along with Fripp, Levin, Brufford, Gunn, and mastelatto. I also met and got to know Zappa's publicist who offered me to meat him, but the stars never aligned just right before he got really sick. I was in the music business for a while and met a lot of good people, and even a few not so good ones.
The reason they skipped over the discography was because it so extensive it would fill four or five pages at least. Zappa wrote songs in the style of 50's Be Bop, R & B, Hard Rock, Jazz Fusion, Musicals (200 Motels, Joe's Garage) Experimental Electronic, as well as music for Classical Symphony Orchestra. He was what you would call a Geniuses. He played a pretty good guitar as well. He had a High School buddy named Don Van Vliet who was leader of Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band. You might want to experience him as well. Later in life Van Vliet quit the music business and became one of America's top Abstract Expressionist painters.
Captain Beefheart is wicked cool too! I love brain melting music! "The worse thing that ever happened to me in my life was meeting frank Zappa!" -Captain Beefheart
@@kosta380 Put a link to your 100+ album discography, or even a single song! I'd love to see you do better than one of the highest rated musicians of the past century FOOL!
Zappa's music is in a genre by itself. Zappa had the first double rock album released back in the mid '60s. Only the best musicians played for Zappa. Chester Thompson (drums) came out of Weather Report. Flo and Eddie came from the Turtles. Tom Fowler (bass) also played with his two brothers with Frank. I first saw them in '74. Tom, Bruce and Walt Fowler. Ruth (percussion) had to be one of the best in the business. NMB - In a class by himself. (Napoleon Murphy Brock) (not Neal Morse Band - Great Band) One time I saw Frank 5 times in one week. They played this song, Inca Roads. Each time the lead guitar was different, and the songs changed nightly. Where other lead guitar players take a lifetime to perfect a lead solo. Frank did a different one every night. The other drummer who teamed up with Frank and Chester was Paul Humphrey. He passed away last week. I think they're up to almost 100 albums released. Many are double, triple and quad albums. Frank had NO equal.
It might be a good album and it might be worth checking out, but it doesn't really sound like Frank Zappa music. (The guitar sounds like Frank because it is Frank, the _compositions_ don't sound like Frank.) Actually, I wonder if that's the reason that music-critic types weirdly hold it above the rest of his discography.
I was fortunate to see them on this tour. Though being an ardent Frank Zappa fan, this song blew my mind , and has become one of my favorite Zappa tunes. Kudos to all of the musicians , especially Ruth Underwood. I think she has added so much to so many of the Zappa recordings.
The wooden instrument Ruth Underwood was playing was a marimba. George Duke was the keyboardist. He and Ruth really put on a show! Man, that synth bit that George did was unreal! Other worldly! Frank's solo work was his usual out of body design.
Zappa was the one who got George (more of a classical/jazz pianist) into playing synth and singing, and George tried it reluctantly. This was not 2 years later, and obviously George can't get enough! So glad George could dig!!!
Back in the day in the mid 1970's my buddies and I used to do acid and listen to Mr Zappa. I was a music lesson kid, started lessons in 1965. Well you can imagine 👀. Frank Zappa, RIP. He never did drugs, or drank. Just smoked cigarettes. He released over 90 Albums, and has done many things that no one else has done, even beyond music. There's an amazing rabbit hole there, if you check out his life. He has a Son, Dweezel Zappa who tours and plays complete Albums of Frank's music. Warning ⚠️ Mind blowing territory. 😅 Enjoy 😉 ✌
One Size Fits All (the album that contains the studio version of this) was played constantly by an ex that I have. It was my first experience with Zappa. When the relationship ended, I took the album with me so I could have at least something good that came out of it.
Excellent! A tricky but appropriate intro to Frank. Always appreciate when someone new to Zappa enjoys what he does. I'd recommend going back to Hot Rats or even We're Only in it For the Money (a wicked sendup of Sgt Peppers'). Enjoy and much appreciated. BTW, as far as I know, that animation was not made for this song/performance so its def distracting.
Frank Zappa and the Mothers had a lot of great musicians go through that band. Lots of great bands had members in that band, like Little Feat, The Turtles, Captain Beefheart's Magic Band, Steve Vai, Adrian Belew, Vinnie Colaiuta, etc.
"Most people wouldn't know good music if it bit them in the ass." -- Frank Zappa That's why I like the channel; you know good music when you hear it, and appreciate it.
I first heard Zappa back in the late 70s , when I was 8 or 9 years old , loved it ! Now 45 years later , I have hours and hours of Zappa ! It might sound strange to some people , but Frank is in my top 5 of guitar gods ! He definitely knows how to play !
Inca Roads is one of my favorite songs by Frank Zappa. Hey, Salvo, if you want to have even more fun with Frank, react to his famous "Don't Eat the Yellow Snow Suite." It's a medley of interconnected songs that are hilarious and a treat to listen to. Just remember this advice from Frank, "Don't go where the huskies go, and don't you eat that..." I'll leave the rest for the song. Haha!
Yes, but please check out the full suite for context. As I teen, I introduced a musician friend of mine to this song as his first Zappa, and it was life-changing.
One of my favorites of all time, as far as social commentary is "Dumb all over"! Dang does that one draw a complete picture of the most dangerous ills of society: Politics and Religion!
Also....Think about ALL the work done frame by frame photography. THE DETAIL! The percision for it to all look and sound real. Remember...NO CGI back then! 👏 Wow!...Incredible!👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👍🏻😁😉❤
Frank pushed his players to their limits and beyond. A perfectionist through and through. His music is some of, if not, THE MOST complicated ever written. He only hired the best.
Directly into deep water with him. Best introduction to Zappa, believe me. This was his best line-up IMHO. And yes, the animation maybe a good thing in itself, but ike to see them play.
I love seeing peoples first reactions to Frank Zappa's music. I've got 105 + of Frank Zappa/ Mothers albums. As Steve Vai said. If you're ever awarded the magic of Frank Zappa's music. You will he rewarded for the rest of your life. No truer words have ever been said..
Mind blowing musicianship..... welcome to the genius that was frank Zappa, loved your reaction Salvo, genuine amazement! BTW I think the claymation was in place of lost footage from this concert.
Ruth Underwood was playing marimba and either xylophone or vibraphone. And the rest of the percussion stuff. George Duke is the keyboardist and vocalist. He was primarily a jazz guy and it was Zappa who cornered him into to playing a synthesizer. Met George once. He was sitting in front of me at a performance of Zappa's compositions played by the 37 piece Abnuceals Emukkha symphony orchestra. Zappa was at the mixing board twelve seats away. George was coool. The claymation artist was Bruce Bickford who worked with Frank on multiple projects back in the '70's. A brilliant performance by all in this. Blessings.
Zappa had different people in the band almost every tour .. Steve vai… Jean Luc ponte .. saw the band 4 or 5 times .. amazing .. he has out more albums then you would think.. and made a movie .. 200 motels .. which featured ringo Starr playing Zappa ( same nose ) please do more Zappa !
Saw Frank in 1971 in Boston then later in the 70s with Floe and Eddy from The Turtles. Amazing! Thanks Frank...For the wonderful music and memories! A real virtuoso! A master composer!👍🏻😁😉👏
Saw him in '74. Frank, Ruth, George, Chester, Ralph Humphrey, Walt, Tom and Bruce Fowler, Napoleon. What a band and performance. That was one of his best bands.
Thanks for the usual great reaction I had the pleasure of seeing Zappa 5 times 3 of them on Halloween in NYC I was also there for the taping of Zappa Live in NY. Frank did many live albums and as others have pointed out always got the best musicians to join the Mothers. Hard to believe 2 of the first mothers were Flo and Eddie formerly of the Turtles This is a very deep rabbit hole as Zappa has well over 100 albums. Back in the day I worked for a record and CD distributor and bootleg records of live concerts were big. Zappa started releasing a series of beat the bootlegs his own recordings of concerts. My favortie album is Overnight Sensation so many great albums like Apostrophe and Joes Garage Hard to believe Frank never did drugs in fact he always made fun of people inn the audience that did Cant wait to see your reaction to Dina Mo Hum :)
Frank Zappa was a direct inspiration for Polyphia, whom are currently blowing up in popularity. They're an instrumental group that have a track featuring Steve Vai, who was a transcriber and future band member of Frank's group. The Polyphia track featuring a former member of Frank Zappa's band, Steve Vai, is called Ego Death. I highly recommend a reaction to Ego Death. It's an epic musical piece!
Zappa happened! We took many a "trip" to his music in the 70's, especially his Freak Out album 😉🤪 Zappa is underrated as a guitarist! The weird thing is, he didn't do drugs and didn't allow drug use in his band
One of the greatest composers of our time.He also has a band of beast musicians and with George Duke you can’t lose❤On Ruth!This song is a masterpiece of composition.Frank was truly a genius .Miss you Frank
it's easy to forget you're listening to a live performance when you're watching the amazing claymation. This always going to be one of the greatest of all time.
Oh Yess... One of My All Time Favorite FZ Compositions... The Writing and Musicianship is Just Unmatched 😀😀😎👊👊❤️ Thanx a Mil for The Critique and Upload 😀😀😎👊💯
I've known Zappa since 77 when I was a 14-year-old boy, and I can't even imagine what it would be like to hear him for the first time now in my 60s! Zappa is simply the BEST!!! ❤
I know this song and this video very well, but it was fun seeing your reaction. And Frank Zappa always had exceptional musicians in his bands. This particular band was from the mid 70s.
What makes Frank Zappa totally unique is that if he never existed, it's certain we wouldn't have known what lurked in the deepest recesses of Laurel canyon
Keyboardist George Duke made his name as a classical pianist. When he joined Zappa's band, he had never sung or played a synthesizer; Frank bought him the latter and enticed him to play it with the teaser that he would be able to bend notes like a guitar might. He also told Frank, when asked to play some comic rock'n'roll piece, "I can't play THAT!" Obviously, he COULD and DID! The lyrics to this particular song obviously morphed as they went along, but the first verses are a verbatim recitation of Rod Serling's narration for the American made-for-TV film, "In Search of Ancient Astronauts," itself an adaptation of Erich Von Daniken's book, "Chariots of the Gods." This is one of many examples of Frank's expansive curiosity and encyclopedic knowledge; what the casual listener might assume to be pure silliness is often rooted in obscure facts. 🙏
When I met my fellow Capricorn in Boston in the '80s, I was already long a fan, and so whipped out some German lyrics from a Joe's Garage II deep cut, to indicate my actual interest. He was most charming, and my date most impressed. This song blows my mind every time. I saw him in Charlotte with the Mothers, back in the '70s. Check out his TV appearances from as far back as the '50s, I believe it was. Australian TV. He plays an upside-down bicycle on Steve Allen too as I recall. He is the US's greatest composer.
Zappa is a recognized classical composer. It would be refreshing for society to open doors to today's creative minds in music. In the 1990s, Zappa devoted most of his energy to modern orchestral and Synclavier works. Shortly before his death in 1993 he completed Civilization, Phaze III, a major Synclavier work which he had begun in the 1980s. In 1991, Zappa was chosen to be one of four featured composers at the Frankfurt Festival in 1992 (the others were John Cage, Karlheinz Stockhausen and Alexander Knaifel). Zappa was approached by the German chamber ensemble, Ensemble Modern, which was interested in playing his music for the event. Although ill, Zappa invited them to Los Angeles for rehearsals of new compositions and new arrangements of older material. In addition to being satisfied with the ensemble's performances of his music, Zappa also got along with the musicians, and the concerts in Germany and Austria were set up for the fall. In September 1992, the concerts went ahead as scheduled, but Zappa could only appear at two in Frankfurt due to illness. At the first concert, he conducted the opening "Overture", and the final "G-Spot Tornado" as well as the theatrical "Food Gathering in Post-Industrial America, 1992" and "Welcome to the United States" www.pcmsconcerts.org/composer/frank-zappa/
And now , since 1987, I listen almost every day to Frank Zappa's outstanding, great songs.He is unique, so talented, so funny....and over all : true. I miss him so freakin' bad. like I miss my husband. Love to all FZ Fsns around the world. ❤
This group was one of many variations of Franks “Mothers of Invention” bands. All fantastic, if you loved the music I suggest exploring more. All the musicians that played with Frank were one of the best at what they did.
Thank you covering FZ, you will be going down a great road!! The man was genius. One of my fav live is "Dupree's Paradise" live 1973 Stockholm. Jean Luc on the fiddle and FZ solo as usual Awesome.
One of Frank's greatest tracks. The level of musicianship in the band in that era was absolutely top drawer and Frank specifically composed songs to take full advantage.
Ah, the memories of Zappa, whilst stoned in the 70's; time wS irrelevant, songs had loose beginnings and ends while you travelled through the imaginings of your brain. Wonderful 😊
That's a young George Duke on keys/vocals, Chester Thompson on Drums (Drummer for Genesis, Ruth Underwood (Vibraphone/marimbas), Tom Fowler on bass, Napoleon Brock on Tenor sax/flute/vocals ❤❤❤🎷🎸🎹🎶🎵
Talent and innovation. And pushing the limits. The things Zappa excelled at…like nobody else. That and naming his children…Moon Unit, Dweezil, Ahmet and Diva. Talent runs in the family. Check them *all* out!
George Duke, the keyboardist, Didn’t play synthesizers before Joining Zappa’s band, but after he joined, Frank bought a lot of synthesizers and also Got George to sing, which he Hadn’t done before… Frank Pushed his limits, and I think George stepped right on up!!😁🤘
I LOVE it when someone hears this the first time. You will spend the next few weeks falling in love with it…so many amazing insane things going on. There’s always something more, and you realize how soulful this record is.
I wish you could have seen and heard these guys live, as I did in '73 and '74 -- they were amazing. As it is, you have a wealth of studio recordings, live recordings, video recordings, and combinations of all of those (Zappa liked to pull his live solos out and drop them into "studio" records), which I did not have back in the day. Dig in!
Nice review, great to see your reaction. There is no pigeon-holing Frank Zappa, he is one of the great forgotten artists of the twentieth century, highly uncommercial and was a musical talent, workaholic and an outspoken iconoclast like no other. Thirty years after his death at 52 his estate is STILL releasing new recordings to this day. Admittedly he’s not everyone’s cup of broth and I agree with you on the animation (by the amazing Bruce Bickford) it was a little trippy. But be assured that Zappa was no ‘stoner’ or ‘acid head’ quite the opposite in fact. He had many incarnations of his band over the years which were all super talented. I urge you to dive in to the musical genius of Frank Zappa, your musical world will never be the same. Peace.
I grew up listening to this kind of music and a lot of other rock, prog. and other stuff. I actually kind of took it for granted assuming that there will always be new interesting bands coming on the scene...and them the 80's showed up.
Welcome to Zappa! Might I request Billy The Mountain from the Mothers Live In L.A. album? You need some Flo and Eddie. BTW, that was George Duke on keys/vox. Ruth Underwood is the amazing percussionist. More Frank, please!👍🏼
Mothers of Invention was the Pinnacle of a proper theatrical Orchestra pit... so many elements converging so artfully.. Roxy & elsewhere and one-size-fits-all are my two favorite albums... there's so much great Zappa
That's my favorite incarnation of Frank. I grabbed this album when it came out. (One Size Fits All). The keyboardist, George Duke, was handed a synth by Frank, who told him to learn how to play it (George was mostly into trio straight ahead jazz when he joined Zappa, about three years prior to this). George was at first intimidated, then progressed into one of the most fantastic pioneers (along with Joe Zawinul and Chick Corea) of various synthesizers. Modern synths have tons of patches that mimic George's efforts. Napoleon Murphy Brock on sax and vocals was the newest member of that group at that time, and accepted the gig because he knew that incredible musicians like George and Chester Thompson (drums, from Weather Report--who would go on to back tons of artists, most famously being the rock behind Phil Collins' solo efforts through the 80s). My favorite album from the same incarnation of The Mothers is Roxy & Elsewhere. Excellent work from Tom and Bruce Fowler, with some overdubs by Walt Fowler. The Fowler Brothers are legendary musicians, who have composed for many productions, including a lot of movie work. Ruth Underwood (classical orchestra background) set the bar so high for percussionists, that the field has not been the same since. Jean-Luc Ponty and George Duke had their careers launched into the stratosphere by Frank. You owe it to yourself to check out the 70s output of them all.
You went there! 😂 This is fantastic. A great performance of this compostion. The original recording on One Size Fits All is actually a composite, though it's edited so seamlessly that it doesn't sound like one. It's hard to say which band was Zappa's best. The group just before this one was way up there, as was the one which followed this lineup (with Terry Bozzio). And the '78 band with Ike Willis, Vinnie Colaiuta, Tommy Mars, et al. And the infamous '88 band big band which ultimately imploded. And on and on. Ruth and Chester made such a great team. Frank once told the story about how he had to teach Chester polyrhythms. He adapted pretty well, I'd say! As many have mentioned, that's the late genius George Duke on keys and vox. Don't know if you've seen any performances by the George Duke/Billy Cobham band from '76 (with John Scofield and Alphonso Johnson), but they are well worth checking out.
Being in Zappa's band was like attending Notre Dam or Stanford. If you have Zappa's band on your resume, people know you have your shite together. The number of musicians that went on to be considered elite artists and went on to other giant things. If you weren't cutting it, Frank had an interesting way of telling a musician they weren't cutting it. He would ask them, "Window or aisle"? Meaning, what is your preference on the airplane because if you don't get it together, you were on the next plane outta there. Zappa was a genius. So many greats in his band like George Duke, Ruth Underwood, Steve Vai, Chester Thompson, Terry Bozzio, Vinnie Colaiuta, Warren Cuccarullo, Bruce Fowler, Tom Fowler, Jim Gordon, Flo & Eddie, Tommy Mars, Patrick O'Hearn, Jean Luc Ponty, Jim Sherwood, Ian Underwood, and a litany of other first call session, people, stars in their own right, and future stars. It's a long list and Zappa only brought in the best who could manage to break the conventional bounds of what they had been taught previously.
Extremely hard working musicians having a lot of fun! I like what George Duke (keyboard) said in an interview. He said that he still don't understand how they did some of the things they did in that band. You should check out George Dukes' music as well!
Always excited to see people discover Frank. I own one of his tour road cases and a handwritten score used by his keyboardist in the early 70s. Feel free to fall into the rabbit hole of almost a hundred albums....
I loved watching your face! Zappa is just stupendous. Ruth Underwood on percussion is extraordinary.The band is the Mothers of Invention, the members of which changed constantly over the years. Some believe that this was the best line-up.
Good old Frank was one of the most extremely talented musicians of the past century... And his discography was ENORMOUS, I believe there are more than 65 official albums published at the time of his death. Now his legacy is kept alive by his son Dweezil Zappa and his project "Zappa plays Zappa". I saw him in concert three times, and they've been fun and enriching experiences. 🙂 Some of the musicians on stage in this video are people that were with him for long time, like the percussions, vibraphone, marimba and more stuff player Ruth Underwood, the vocalist, flute and saxophone player Napoleon Murphy Brock, keyboard player George Duke, drummer Chester Thompson... Ad yes, to play with Zappa you needed to be extremely good at playing your instrument. Ask Steve Vai how it was, auditioning for Zappa 😁. Now, he's not an "easy listening" kind of musician 😁, and of course not everybody likes his music (or even basically understands it), but IMHO he was a freaking genius. And even outside of music he was a very interesting free thinker, as you can see in so many interviews. 🙂 Happy you enjoyed it. 🙂 See you next time!
Another artist who is very proficient at free-form jazz improvisation is Chick Corea (1941-2021). His stuff is just as innovative, incorporates a variety of jazz-fusion instruments, and is fairly progressive in nature. He's not as flashy and psychedelic as Frank, but he's definitely worth checking out.
For those of you who don't know, Frank played a bicycle on TV once. Yep, a bicycle. Saw Zappa 5 times in Chicago(Uptown Theater) in the 70's, tripping on acid every time. The tickets were 5-6 bucks. Frank was a musician's musician. He only hired the best. Check out his Sheik Yerbuti album, for some real fun.,
Loved the reaction. Great song, but imo the animation is more distraction than addition, I think they should have just left it as a live recording of them performing.
The claymation is taken from the movie Baby Snakes, which is a concert movie from Halloween at the Palladium in NYC '77. The whole show is interspersed with this guy's claymation and a little mini interview with him. The show is great, and the visuals are WILD!
Frank Zappa was my brothers favorite musician. He's a tough listen for me but I appreciate his genius. And watch out where the huskys go and don't you eat that yellow snow! 😜😎
Introduced my (younger) wife to Frank’s music via a Dweezil Zappa tour date of his band playing his dad’s music. She was impressed at the musicianship that we went to see them the following year (not my birthday treat this time). Covid has spoiled our fun since. I was introduced to Frank zappa way back when (around 1965) when my 55 year old father found a European (Dutch I think) radio station playing something of his. Dad thought it interesting and challenging, liked it and we investigated the underground scene together thereafter.
That's Ruth indeed. My absolute favorite iteration of the Mothers. George Duke just kills this song and of course Ruth Underwood...Wonder Woman!! I've seen Frank a few times, but never got to see this band. Oh Well. I grew up on this music so it's nice to see someone discover it for the first time. Anything by this group is worth listening to. Hell it's all worth listening to. It's just after years of Zappa obsession, some eras sit better with my ears than others. Anything off Roxy and Elsewhere, Bongo Fury with Beefheart is always entertaining. Billy was a Mountain = epic. Hot Rats.........
Zappa concerts were always great, a raucous combination of hilarity, juxtaposed against stunning musicianship from all. And…no music stands on stage. They had that shit memorized. The Mothers Of Invention had many members over the years, but this lineup, early/mid ‘70’s, was when Frank could really let his musical imagination loose…these cats could play anything he threw at them. George Duke on keys, Ruth Underwood on percussion (vibes and marimba being her strengths), Tom Fowler on bass, Chester Thompson on drums, Napoleon Murphy Brock on sax/flute/vocals.
Zappa isn't just on lead guitar. If you look closely, Frank is also conducting. He had a whole system worked out where he could remix live performances on the fly. Everyone in that band is next level talent. They had to be or they couldn't keep up with that madman.
"At the Armadillo in Austin Texas, her aura Or did someone build a place Or leave a space for Chester's Thing to land (Chester's Thing... on Ruth)"... My sister Ruth and I would giggle when we were listening to Frank and these lyrics came along. We were quite young and our imaginations went wild because of his strange music, we thought it strange anyway having had little experience with music that wasn't main stream. We were used to Alvin and the Chipmunks. Lol
He has 60+ albums. It's a deep dive but worth the experience. His stage performances are what to watch. The musicians that play for him are all legends of their craft.
The Zappa Family Trust has continued to release Frank's music. There are at least over 100 albums in total now and more is coming all the time. Frank recorded everything and filmed (multi cameras). There is an infinite amount of FZ music left to find. Orchestras are still playing his classical stuff. I recommend Yo' Mama from the studio album for a little intro to FZ's guitar playing.
Zappa is truly one of the greatest American composers in the same breath as Gershwin and Bernstein. He's in the same school of music as some of the greatest in history.
