I got 'em at the Pep Boys, at Pep Boyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyys!
What a hoot - Frank Zappa's "Uncle Meat". I remember reading the liner notes as a kid in the late '60s, thinking how cool all the electronics stuff they were talking about was. FZ took a lot of care about sound quality and it really shows in this recording, even though it's mostly self-indulgent stuff. Great fun to listen to.
A few months ago, I replaced my rather old Sony x777ES CD player with a Denon DVD-2900. I expected the usual audiophile "had to listen to my whole CD collection over again" cliche to come true. Not so for the most part. But there are a few gems lurking in there, and "Uncle Meat" is one of them.
To those of you who might consider buying this disk, I make no claims whatsoever as to its usefulness for any purpose whatsoever.
What a hoot - Frank Zappa's "Uncle Meat". I remember reading the liner notes as a kid in the late '60s, thinking how cool all the electronics stuff they were talking about was. FZ took a lot of care about sound quality and it really shows in this recording, even though it's mostly self-indulgent stuff. Great fun to listen to.
A few months ago, I replaced my rather old Sony x777ES CD player with a Denon DVD-2900. I expected the usual audiophile "had to listen to my whole CD collection over again" cliche to come true. Not so for the most part. But there are a few gems lurking in there, and "Uncle Meat" is one of them.
To those of you who might consider buying this disk, I make no claims whatsoever as to its usefulness for any purpose whatsoever.
SY said:
Hmmm, I'm not familiar with that one. But I'm not nearly as knolegdeable about FZ as you. I listened to a lot of his albums, mostly in the early '70s but didn't get anywhere near all his stuff on CD. I'm more of a jazz guy. I really like his jazzier stuff, like Blessed Relief and Twenty Small Cigars. But the "fuzzy dice and bongos" thing really cracked me up.
Andy,
As a FZ nut, I just can't help chiming in. I stumbled across the Mothers in about 1969 (Ninth Grade -- yikes!) when I bought We're Only In It For The Money on impulse because the cover was so bizarre and was transfixed. Got the earlier albums and waited eagerly for each succeeding release -- I still have (and play) all the original records. Went to at least one set just about every time FZ played in NYC until his death, including the June 1971 Fillmore East performances recorded on the White Album.
I'm firmly convinced that early, excessive exposure to FZ made me more receptive in later years to all sorts of strange music. I will always be grateful.
BTW -- Does anyone know when, if ever, 200 Motels will be released on DVD?
As a FZ nut, I just can't help chiming in. I stumbled across the Mothers in about 1969 (Ninth Grade -- yikes!) when I bought We're Only In It For The Money on impulse because the cover was so bizarre and was transfixed. Got the earlier albums and waited eagerly for each succeeding release -- I still have (and play) all the original records. Went to at least one set just about every time FZ played in NYC until his death, including the June 1971 Fillmore East performances recorded on the White Album.
I'm firmly convinced that early, excessive exposure to FZ made me more receptive in later years to all sorts of strange music. I will always be grateful.
BTW -- Does anyone know when, if ever, 200 Motels will be released on DVD?
Hi elektratig,
Sounds like we're almost exactly the same age. I was the youngest in my family, so back in the late '60s and early '70s I was exposed to all sorts of crazy music by my older siblings. I became a jazz nut in about '73, mainly due to a great radio station at the time in Philly. I remember when I first heard Eric Dolphy's name and music on the jazz station, I thought "The Eric Dolphy Memorial Barbecue! That's the guy!". Listening to Ian Underwood Whips It Out on Uncle Meat, you can really hear the Dolphy influence in his playing. I suspect my enthusiasm for Dolphy's playing comes from hearing about him through Zappa's albums. One of them, I can't remember which, lists him and others (including Mingus I think) as musical influences. I seem to remember a disclaimer something like "Please don't hold it against them".
It seems that in the mid '80s when CD came out, there may have been more pressure on artists to produce more commercial music because of the high costs of producing CD at the time. Many excellent recordings from LP never seemed to make it to CD. Heck, you can't even get Laura Nyro's Nested on CD even today, and she was a mainstream pop artist. From my perspective, there was a decline in the music that hasn't reversed itself yet. Although it could just be me getting older and less receptive to new things than I once was. But I rarely hear anything on the radio that I like that I haven't heard before. It all seems to be just formula stuff. Have you had a better experience than me in this regard, and if so, could you recommend some music that might be of interest?
"The modern day composer refuses to die".
Sounds like we're almost exactly the same age. I was the youngest in my family, so back in the late '60s and early '70s I was exposed to all sorts of crazy music by my older siblings. I became a jazz nut in about '73, mainly due to a great radio station at the time in Philly. I remember when I first heard Eric Dolphy's name and music on the jazz station, I thought "The Eric Dolphy Memorial Barbecue! That's the guy!". Listening to Ian Underwood Whips It Out on Uncle Meat, you can really hear the Dolphy influence in his playing. I suspect my enthusiasm for Dolphy's playing comes from hearing about him through Zappa's albums. One of them, I can't remember which, lists him and others (including Mingus I think) as musical influences. I seem to remember a disclaimer something like "Please don't hold it against them".
It seems that in the mid '80s when CD came out, there may have been more pressure on artists to produce more commercial music because of the high costs of producing CD at the time. Many excellent recordings from LP never seemed to make it to CD. Heck, you can't even get Laura Nyro's Nested on CD even today, and she was a mainstream pop artist. From my perspective, there was a decline in the music that hasn't reversed itself yet. Although it could just be me getting older and less receptive to new things than I once was. But I rarely hear anything on the radio that I like that I haven't heard before. It all seems to be just formula stuff. Have you had a better experience than me in this regard, and if so, could you recommend some music that might be of interest?
"The modern day composer refuses to die".
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