"Echidna's arf" is one of the most accomplished and fantastically written songs in the history of pop music, God bless Frank's soul ,you will always be remembered Frankie.
No matter how many times I listen to this, it is always fresh and amazing. Please, for those who can, expose young people to Frank's music. It is important.
Frank never looked as happy as when he played this song. Pure poetry, this was his pinnacle, his most inspired time in my opinion. Great job Dweez, he loved you so much man...
I saw a show from the tour in Florida featuring Terry Bozzio, Steve Vai and Napoleon Murphy Brock. Many people, including my band buddy, knew nothing of Frank Zappa but came to see the guitar god Steve Vai. During Vai's showcase the audience stood up with their lighters in the air, an entirely different concert. It was like trying to admire a beautiful and majestic giant red star with a tiny white dwarf dazzling your eyes and blocking the view. Terry Bozzio had a similar following, many of which seemed to be entirely unaware of Zappa. When my band buddy said, who cares about some old dead guys music? I nearly slugged him.
Echidna's arf, a masterpiece of modern music , and frank would be so proud of these fantastic musicians playing it exactly the way he wrote it......awesome dweezil, your putting your dad's music back on the big stage where it belongs, kudos
rfreud - saw this exact band play Louisville, Ky. Sat front row middle. Travers is awesome. The whole band is awesome. Everything they did was awesome...
absolutely amazing musicianship! I recall that Mr. Zappa (ha!) co produced one of his orchestral pieces with Twyla Tharp providing choreography and dancers in Berkeley. Maybe 1983? Anyway, Mssr. Zappa was not pleased with the dancers and made it known. still, this sort of thing was where he seemed headed. I always find myself laughing out loud with joy when I hear this piece well played. take that, prog rock!
As father as son ,Dweezil Zappa gives an amazing performance of these 2 memorable songs from the incredible " Roxy and elsewhere "album ,despite the complexity of Zappa's music ZPZ bands gives an innovative rendition of the original tracks ,Zappa's music will always be remembered as a colourful mosaic of musical influences( Jazz,Blues,Classical,Modern classical.....etc).This music will be played, God willing ,into the long future ,because it's a solid creative build up that can't be easily washed away by new musical currents or trends ,Zappa is dead long live Zappa and ZPZ too in the person of the great Dweezil.
A lineup with this much talent doesn’t come around often. I was lucky enough to see Frank a couple of times but haven’t seen Dweezil yet. Hopefully soon !
That string of lines in Echidna’s is one of the most challenging for any musician to play, ever. Thanks Dweezil for keeping the music alive! One question...Don’t you ever wash that thing?
I have seen ZPZ a few times, and we are going to see them again in about 6 or 7 weeks. We initially saw this exact linup about 4-1/2 or 5 years ago, then saw most of the same musicians in late 2011 (Steve Vai was replaced by another guitarist, and Napoleon Murphy Brock was also replaced). This year, when we saw ZPZ in February, it was a slimmed-down lineup. Each time, they played "Echidna's Arf", and did a superb job! Can't wait to see ZPZ again next month!!!!
Dweezil even does the tucked finger picking style FZ used. I remember back in the day, Dweezil described FZs fingering as "the weirdest most twisted spider."
Tight as a tight thing that's very tight...... and boy that bass player is loving every moment !!! The Dweeze has really upped his game with this line up and I think FZ would be proud of where his son has taken his music !!
I ve got tears in my eyes. This Song ( roxy & elsewhere ) is one of the beauties i know. It keeps me thru bad times and give a Smile... thanx mr vai for the love for me. It's one of the beauties Song i ve heard. And i don't tell someone this fact: "For the love of god" is another Version of "sofa". Maybe you don't know it.... Hey, Folx: Help Planet Earth ! We MUST stop the global warming. If necessary, we should be louder !
ZPZ is such a bright spot in music. Saw Frank once on his last tour but the Roxy years are my absolute fav. This is an incredible cover that sounds as timeless as ever. I've seen ZPZ multiple times and will see them every time I get a chance. Long live Frank and thank you Dweezil.
Ab So Lutely two of my favorite pieces of music ever! Thanks, Frank. Thanks, Dweez. And thanks to any- and everyone who has ever played on it, then and now!
Long live FZ music. And it's really nice to finally see a youtube music video without some a-holes arguing who is the best guitar player, and bashing someone for having different taste in art.
that's cuz the new zappa wants it like that, even NMB himself said that he doesn't like zappas son because he doesn't understand the concepts of live performances differing from the record, which fz understood and made a point of. an example would be room service; that live performance was different literally every time
Fair enough, it can be all to easy to misunderstand someone when English isn't their first language. The guy singing in this clip is Napoleon Murphy Brock, who sang on this track on the Roxy & Elsewhere LP.
Met Dweezil at the strictly commercial after-party at the Roundhouse in London a few months ago. What a gent! I've no idea how he manages to maintain his composure when surrounded by people with textbook FZ facial hair etc. It's like that Twilight Zone episode where everyone's got a pig face.
Napoleon Murphy Brock, Tom Fowler and Don Preston and others played this spring in Basel, in a small club ("Volkshaus"). Brock still looks awesome and has not lost his charisma... Don Preston at almost 80 years is still there! And Tom plucks tricky bass lines...
We've been doing exactly the same down here in Australia,third time was just last night at the palace in Melbourne for our third. Each time different songs and some players but this last set was amazing.
OrzelBialy616 - Name of the town is 'Sun Village', near the town Palmdale in the California desert. Frank grew up and went to high school in the town of Lancaster near there.
Palmdale and Lancaster are actual cities... Sun Village is pretty much a town, actually an unincorporated area of Los Angeles County and parts of it are within the city proper of Palmdale, just North of Palmdale Blvd. in the Antelope Valley.
