Father Of Invention - Revision history

Spider of Destiny at 21:35, 6 June 2026

2026-06-06T21:35:53Z

Jason.Kreitzer at 03:26, 27 September 2021

2021-09-27T03:26:07Z

Jason.Kreitzer at 18:46, 17 September 2021

2021-09-17T18:46:44Z

Jason.Kreitzer at 15:06, 4 August 2021

2021-08-04T15:06:20Z

Jason.Kreitzer at 22:18, 21 July 2021

2021-07-21T22:18:37Z

Spider of Destiny at 20:02, 17 November 2020

2020-11-17T20:02:12Z

Spider of Destiny at 18:24, 2 May 2011

2011-05-02T18:24:12Z

Maroual at 22:54, 31 January 2007

2007-01-31T22:54:03Z

Propellerkuh at 21:06, 31 January 2007

2007-01-31T21:06:21Z

Propellerkuh at 21:05, 31 January 2007

2007-01-31T21:05:08Z

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 "...I won't say I've heard it all, but I've heard all the stuff I like. There may be some other little surprises lurking out there, but I haven't been too assiduous in tracking them down.
-"I like [[Bulgaria]]n music, I like [[India]]n music, I like Arab and Tibetan and French Renaissance dance music. I like recordings of lute music, and most of the early 20th Century composers, until economics took over and we wound up with minimalism. I'm not too fond of that. I'm not enthusiastic about cowboy music. Early heavy metal I like – early [[Black Sabbath]] and rhythm 'n' blues. I even like some disco music, when it's clever and the production is fantastic. I'm not crazy about the stuff they have on MTV; it's not much to listen to. But some of the pictures are nice."
+"I like [[Bulgaria]]n music, I like [[India]]n music, I like Arab and Tibetan and French Renaissance dance music. I like recordings of lute music, and most of the early 20th Century composers, until economics took over and we wound up with minimalism. I'm not too fond of that. I'm not enthusiastic about cowboy music. Early heavy metal I like – early [[Black Sabbath]] and rhythm 'n' blues. I even like some [[disco]] music, when it's clever and the production is fantastic. I'm not crazy about the stuff they have on MTV; it's not much to listen to. But some of the pictures are nice."
 Well, if Frank Zappa's plans to put out a clay animation video for one of the tracks from [[Jazz From Hell]] materialise, there will be plenty to listen to.

← Older revision		Revision as of 03:26, 27 September 2021
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	And what are the [[Mystery Disc]]s that are included in the Old Masters sets?		And what are the [[Mystery Disc]]s that are included in the Old Masters sets?

−	'''"The Mystery Discs are items''' of interest from the era from which the other masters are drawn. For example, the Mystery Disc in Box 2 is really fantastic. It's got one side, about 22 minutes, of an unreleased, never before heard, live concert with the original Mothers of Invention and the members of the [[BBC Orchestra]] recorded in London in 1968. The members of the band are doing a play, and the orchestra is backing them up. And the play is about why everybody wants to quit the group. It's really funny. On the other side there are odd little things like the origin of the story of [[Willie The Pimp]]. There's a cassette recording of an interview that I did with these girls from Coney Island; they're talking about one of the girls' father, calling him Willie the Pimp, from the Lido Hotel. You can see where the song came from."	+	'''"The Mystery Discs are items''' of interest from the era from which the other masters are drawn. For example, the Mystery Disc in Box 2 is really fantastic. It's got one side, about 22 minutes, of an unreleased, never before heard, live concert with the original Mothers of Invention and the members of the [[BBC Symphony Orchestra\|BBC Orchestra]] recorded in London in 1968. The members of the band are doing a play, and the orchestra is backing them up. And the play is about why everybody wants to quit the group. It's really funny. On the other side there are odd little things like the origin of the story of [[Willie The Pimp]]. There's a cassette recording of an interview that I did with these girls from Coney Island; they're talking about one of the girls' father, calling him Willie the Pimp, from the Lido Hotel. You can see where the song came from."

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 As ever, Frank Zappa continues to be one of the most prolific and hard-working composers around. So much so, in fact, that even he seems to have a little trouble calling to mind his current and future plans.
-'''"I did some wind quintet pieces''' for the [[Aspen Wind Quintet]], and there was a bunch of material that preceded that. It's been sitting around for years, and I pulled out one of those disks a couple of days ago, put it in and listened to it, got fixated on it, and decided to go back to work on it. That's what I was working on this morning.
+'''"I did some wind quintet pieces''' for the [https://www.discogs.com/artist/2780951-The-Aspen-Wind-Quintet Aspen Wind Quintet], and there was a bunch of material that preceded that. It's been sitting around for years, and I pulled out one of those disks a couple of days ago, put it in and listened to it, got fixated on it, and decided to go back to work on it. That's what I was working on this morning.
 "There's tons of stuff planned for future recordings. [[You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore]] is a ten-record box – a live collection that I've been working on for the last 22 years. I have a huge collection of tapes and stuff, and I've been going through the final examples of strange stuff that happened on stage with all the different bands.
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 As synth players with their own sound library already know, keeping track of sounds on floppy disk is just as important as storing them in the first place. And just as synth players find the keeping of patch charts for all sounds in their libraries an unnecessary and time-consuming endeavour, so Frank Zappa finds keeping printouts of all his compositions, even with the score-printing option on the Synclavier.
-'''"It takes too long''' to print them out. I had that commission by the [[Aspen Wind Quintet]] to write something for them, and I put it on the Synclavier, so I printed out the score and the parts on the Synclavier. I just have a graphics printer. Without a laser printer, it's an interminable, tedious job to print out a score.
+'''"It takes too long''' to print them out. I had that commission by the [https://www.discogs.com/artist/2780951-The-Aspen-Wind-Quintet Aspen Wind Quintet] to write something for them, and I put it on the Synclavier, so I printed out the score and the parts on the Synclavier. I just have a graphics printer. Without a laser printer, it's an interminable, tedious job to print out a score.
 "I got a call today from a group in Boston. They wanted me to supply them with something, but I can't do it. I just don't have the time. There is plenty of music I've already written that's sitting on the shelf and has never been played. I really don't have any intention of going back to manual labour, after I've been used to this stuff.

← Older revision		Revision as of 15:06, 4 August 2021
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	"The other thing it works against is the ideas of ten years ago, when I would go out and do a whole tour based on new material, and throw in a few songs off albums. I would develop the material on the road. I stopped doing that because people usually bootlegged it, and they'd have it out in the market before I'd even have an album out. Now if I do it, there is very little unreleased material included in the show. It takes the fun out of it for me, but I'm not going to make life any easier for bootleggers.		"The other thing it works against is the ideas of ten years ago, when I would go out and do a whole tour based on new material, and throw in a few songs off albums. I would develop the material on the road. I stopped doing that because people usually bootlegged it, and they'd have it out in the market before I'd even have an album out. Now if I do it, there is very little unreleased material included in the show. It takes the fun out of it for me, but I'm not going to make life any easier for bootleggers.

−	"I've had an independent label since 1968. First it was called [[Bizarre Records\|Bizarre]], then it was [[DiscReet Records\|DiscReet]], then [[Zappa Records]], then [[Barking Pumpkin]]. Each one had a different major label as a distributor. Capitol is the current distributor."	+	"I've had an independent label since 1968. First it was called [[Bizarre Records\|Bizarre]], then it was [[DiscReet Records\|DiscReet]], then [[Zappa Records]], then [[Barking Pumpkin Records\|Barking Pumpkin]]. Each one had a different major label as a distributor. Capitol is the current distributor."

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 [[Image:MT_87-02.jpg|frame|© 1987 Music Technology]]
-Twenty-two years and fifty-odd albums into his musical career, [[Frank Zappa]] still finds new ways to astonish with his unique brand of music. Now he takes a break to discuss exactly what he's been up to all these years.
+Twenty-two years and fifty-odd albums into his musical career, [[Biography|Frank Zappa]] still finds new ways to astonish with his unique brand of music. Now he takes a break to discuss exactly what he's been up to all these years.
 Whe the first [[The Mothers|Mothers Of Invention]] album, [[Freak Out!]], came out in 1966, it was so unlike anything ever to appear on vinyl before, reactions to it – and the band, led by Frank Zappa – were polarised. People either loved it or hated it. Still, the reaction to the album was strong enough to lead to more [[The Mothers|MOI]] albums on the Verve label, including [[Absolutely Free]] and [[We're Only In It For The Money]], and led eventually to dozens of albums bearing the mark of Frank Zappa.
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 The two aforementioned albums exhibited Zappa's ability to rip his songs' targets apart with uncompromising, satirical lyrics and biting delivery which many listeners found hard to take. Zappa pulled no punches, and everyone, from politicians to high-school drop-outs and hippies (many of whom formed part of the MOI audience), was fair game. In that sense, little has changed in Zappa's music in nearly 22 years.
-Much later, an album called [[Frank Zappa Meets The Mothers Of Prevention]], marked the beginning of Zappa's public opposition to the Parents Music Resource Center ([[PMRC]] – a US organisation whose members want to "clean up" rock music, among other things) and their goals. The '[[Porn Wars]]' track was 12 minutes of digitally generated music concrete, using recordings of PMRC senate hearings as source material which Zappa twisted, stretched, and otherwise mutilated using his [[Synclavier]]. Since the time of the PMRC hearings, Zappa's face has appeared in American television interviews concerning the PMRC, and other topics such as proposed mandatory drug testing of federal government employees.
+Much later, an album called [[Frank Zappa Meets The Mothers Of Prevention]], marked the beginning of Zappa's public opposition to the Parents Music Resource Center ([[Parents Music Resource Center|PMRC]] – a US organisation whose members want to "clean up" rock music, among other things) and their goals. The '[[Porn Wars]]' track was 12 minutes of digitally generated music concrete, using recordings of PMRC senate hearings as source material which Zappa twisted, stretched, and otherwise mutilated using his [[Synclavier]]. Since the time of the PMRC hearings, Zappa's face has appeared in American television interviews concerning the PMRC, and other topics such as proposed mandatory drug testing of federal government employees.
 Frank Zappa's concern with what is going on in the world was made very clear as soon as we met at his home in Hollywood. No sooner had we been introduced, than he asked that we hold off on the interview until a news report on the Contra arms deals was over.

← Older revision		Revision as of 20:02, 17 November 2020
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	Well, if Frank Zappa's plans to put out a clay animation video for one of the tracks from [[Jazz From Hell]] materialise, there will be plenty to listen to.		Well, if Frank Zappa's plans to put out a clay animation video for one of the tracks from [[Jazz From Hell]] materialise, there will be plenty to listen to.
		+
	[[Category:Interviews with Zappa]]		[[Category:Interviews with Zappa]]
		+	[[Category:1987]]

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 While discussing use of the Synclavier on Mothers of Prevention, I mention 'Revolution 9'.
-'''"What's 'Revolution 9'?"''' responds Zappa. "I never heard it. I didn't like the Beatles. They sang about love and stuff – not my ''style."''
+'''"What's 'Revolution 9'?"''' responds Zappa. "I never heard it. I didn't like [[The Beatles]]. They sang about love and stuff – not my ''style."''
 So what does Frank Zappa listen to, other than his own compositions?
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 "...I won't say I've heard it all, but I've heard all the stuff I like. There may be some other little surprises lurking out there, but I haven't been too assiduous in tracking them down.
-"I like Bulgarian music, I like Indian music, I like Arab and Tibetan and French Renaissance dance music. I like recordings of lute music, and most of the early 20th Century composers, until economics took over and we wound up with minimalism. I'm not too fond of that. I'm not enthusiastic about cowboy music. Early heavy metal I like – early Black Sabbath and rhythm 'n' blues. I even like some disco music, when it's clever and the production is fantastic. I'm not crazy about the stuff they have on MTV; it's not much to listen to. But some of the pictures are nice."
+"I like [[Bulgaria]]n music, I like [[India]]n music, I like Arab and Tibetan and French Renaissance dance music. I like recordings of lute music, and most of the early 20th Century composers, until economics took over and we wound up with minimalism. I'm not too fond of that. I'm not enthusiastic about cowboy music. Early heavy metal I like – early [[Black Sabbath]] and rhythm 'n' blues. I even like some disco music, when it's clever and the production is fantastic. I'm not crazy about the stuff they have on MTV; it's not much to listen to. But some of the pictures are nice."
-Well, if Frank Zappa's plans to put out a clay animation video for one of the tracks from Jazz From Hell materialise, there will be plenty to listen to.
+Well, if Frank Zappa's plans to put out a clay animation video for one of the tracks from [[Jazz From Hell]] materialise, there will be plenty to listen to.
 [[Category:Interviews with Zappa]]

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-Interestingly enough, even as new recordings are being released, Zappa is releasing the second boxed set of re-mastered albums, [[The Old Masters, Box II|Box 2 of The Old Masters]]. Together with [[The Old Masters, Box I||Box 1]], The Old Masters contains all of the Mothers of Invention and Zappa albums from [[Freak Out!]] to [[Just Another Band from L.A.]]
+Interestingly enough, even as new recordings are being released, Zappa is releasing the second boxed set of re-mastered albums, [[The Old Masters, Box II|Box 2 of The Old Masters]]. Together with [[The Old Masters, Box I||Box 1]], The Old Masters contains all of the Mothers of Invention and Zappa albums from [[Freak Out!]] to [[Just Another Band From L.A.|Just Another Band from L.A.]]
 The original releases have become increasingly difficult to locate in record shops – an unfortunate situation, considering Zappa's music does not reach its public as quickly as, say, rock music crafted to please a designated audience. Instead, the early Zappa and Mothers recordings take time to settle in, and the Old Masters present a great opportunity either to become familiar with albums like [[We're Only In It For The Money]] and [[Weasels Ripped My Flesh]], or to replace old, played-to-death pressings. Word has it that new parts have been added to the originals. Is that the case on all of the albums?
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 This is a pity, for the techniques Zappa has employed throughout his career have always been far beyond those used in the mainstream. The last track on [[We're Only In It For The Money]], for example, showcased electronic sound effects in rapid-fire succession as you're not likely to hear anywhere else.
-'''"Oh, '[[The Chrome-plated Megaphone Of Destiny]]'?''' The percussive-type noises, the thing that sounds like little squirts and explosions, was done by using a box that we built at a studio called the Apostolic Vlorch Injector. It was a little box this big", (Zappa holds an imaginary small box with both hands) "with three buttons on it. The console at the studio in New York where we used to work, Apostolic, was unique. In the sixties the audio science was growing, and people were trying all kinds of different things, and there was a lot of non-standard equipment around. This particular console didn't have a stereo fader; it had three master faders – a separate fader for the left, the centre and the right, so you could fade out the centre and leave the left and right, or whatever. So these three buttons on this box corresponded to inputs to the three master faders, and you could play it rhythmically.
+'''"Oh, '[[The Chrome Plated Megaphone Of Destiny|The Chrome-plated Megaphone Of Destiny]]'?''' The percussive-type noises, the thing that sounds like little squirts and explosions, was done by using a box that we built at a studio called the Apostolic Vlorch Injector. It was a little box this big", (Zappa holds an imaginary small box with both hands) "with three buttons on it. The console at the studio in New York where we used to work, Apostolic, was unique. In the sixties the audio science was growing, and people were trying all kinds of different things, and there was a lot of non-standard equipment around. This particular console didn't have a stereo fader; it had three master faders – a separate fader for the left, the centre and the right, so you could fade out the centre and leave the left and right, or whatever. So these three buttons on this box corresponded to inputs to the three master faders, and you could play it rhythmically.
 "The input to the box would be any sound source cranked up to the level of gross square-wave distortion. Any noise. You'd crank it up so that if it was printed non-stop on a piece of tape, you couldn't stand to listen to it. It would be trashed distortion. But as short little bits you'd get very complex, technicolor noise. When you hit the button and open up a little window of time, the structure of the distortion was a complex waveform, and that's where the bumpy, crunchy stuff comes from.
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 '''"It fits into a hole.''' There's the arrangement, and then there's a blank space in the arrangement and it says, 'solo goes here'. That's where the improvisation goes, and the arrangements are absolutely nailed down. They have to play them exactly the way they're supposed to be played.
-"We had this thing called meltdown, where, depending on what's in the news that day, or what happened in the audience during the show, I'd start talking in a singsong tone of voice and then Tommy Mars would chop changes behind it. Now that's very freeform, kind of like the '[[Dangerous Kitchen]]' or '[[Jazz Discharge Party Hats]]'; those are both meltdown events. In the case of 'Dangerous Kitchen', it's a fixed set of lyrics that has variable pitches and variable rhythms. In the case of the 'Jazz Discharge Party Hats', it was completely spontaneous, 100% improvised by me and the band. It ended up right on the spot in this concert in Illinois.
+"We had this thing called meltdown, where, depending on what's in the news that day, or what happened in the audience during the show, I'd start talking in a singsong tone of voice and then Tommy Mars would chop changes behind it. Now that's very freeform, kind of like the '[[The Dangerous Kitchen|Dangerous Kitchen]]' or '[[The Jazz Discharge Party Hats|Jazz Discharge Party Hats]]'; those are both meltdown events. In the case of 'Dangerous Kitchen', it's a fixed set of lyrics that has variable pitches and variable rhythms. In the case of the 'Jazz Discharge Party Hats', it was completely spontaneous, 100% improvised by me and the band. It ended up right on the spot in this concert in Illinois.
 "So that type of rampant behaviour is good as a contrast, but I think that for today's audience you can't go out and do a whole evening of random behaviour. They're not going to tolerate it; they want to see a structured show. It's been my experience that most people want to have any band go on stage as a human jukebox and just puke out whatever it was they put on a record.

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 "So basically your chances, as a composer writing for human beings, of getting your idea accurately performed are really not too good. Not good at all, unless you write very simple music, which I do not. So I said, well, I'll just go on using the Synclavier.
-"If you have a band, you can't ask the band to do something it can't do. For example, if you've got a band like the one with [[Flo & Eddy]], you can't get them to do something like '[[The Black Page]]'. It's not their style. So whatever you write for that particular band has to be engineered for their assets and liabilities. You design the show around them As people, and the show is a product of who's available to be in the band at the time, and what their level of competence is at the time the tour takes place. Because the longer the guys stay in the band, the better they get musically, and I doubt there's any question that the people in the band have benefitted from it."
+"If you have a band, you can't ask the band to do something it can't do. For example, if you've got a band like the one with [[Flo & Eddie]], you can't get them to do something like '[[The Black Page]]'. It's not their style. So whatever you write for that particular band has to be engineered for their assets and liabilities. You design the show around them As people, and the show is a product of who's available to be in the band at the time, and what their level of competence is at the time the tour takes place. Because the longer the guys stay in the band, the better they get musically, and I doubt there's any question that the people in the band have benefitted from it."
 Faced with a choice between musicians and a machine, Zappa shows no hesitation when he states which he prefers to work with.

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 Faced with a choice between musicians and a machine, Zappa shows no hesitation when he states which he prefers to work with.
 '''
-"With a machine.''' No question. No contest. The problem with doing anything with live musicians is that they're entitled to earn a living, so you have to pay them. And it gets expensive. When a tour is over, the band is free to go out and do whatever other things they can get in their spare time. I don't keep them on salary all the time – I can't afford them. So the best way to do music is by typing it in, pushing the button and listening to it play back correctly."
+'''"With a machine.''' No question. No contest. The problem with doing anything with live musicians is that they're entitled to earn a living, so you have to pay them. And it gets expensive. When a tour is over, the band is free to go out and do whatever other things they can get in their spare time. I don't keep them on salary all the time – I can't afford them. So the best way to do music is by typing it in, pushing the button and listening to it play back correctly."
 And there's the fact that, if he replaces musicians with a piece of modern technology, Frank Zappa has a door to a completely new world of sound – a door he's opened wide in recent years. A listen to [[Jazz From Hell]] and [[Frank Zappa Meets The Mothers Of Prevention]] exposes listeners to sounds they have probably never come across before.