Listening to Zappa's Joe's Garage: Act 1, Side 2
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- Опубліковано 21 сер 2024
- Ok.... here goes side 2!
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Watching your shock, makes us laugh... we expected the shock, and knew when to watch. This music was designed for the exact effect you experienced. Zappa was a master in Music and Story telling....
Glad to entertain you!
I was fortunate to see him 9 times in concert. The best guitarist ever
Never a need to apologize for a reaction, that's what a reaction channel is for.
Hope you do the rest soon, sure you'll enjoy it .
Jim I appreciate your honesty and no apologies are necessary. Fantastic reaction as always!😎
Ah the British, sensitive ya noah
@@lesblatnyak5947 Like all those British bands? Lol.😎
Been listening to FZ for 40 years and his lyrics are almost parables left to each listeners place in life. His creativity and imagination are unparalleled. And he is an incredible guitarist. Like that you are smiling through his side.
The solo guitar in wet t-shirt contest is the reason why even if Frank's lyrics were talking about killing babies I would still listen just for guitar solos like that!!!😁😁😎😎😎
I will be excitedly waiting patiently for Act 2. 😉 Thanks Jim!
Maybe we should get him a dozen towels...
Nice to listen to this favourite album together and thanks for the genuine reaction. Waiting for the rest, don't miss it, because it's brilliant, all of it, and be prepared for more awkward lyrics but what really matters is the music... you'll hear: Music is the best!
Nice one Jim! Check out Vinnie C, the drummers' drummer, he's played with most of the greats and was Zappa's favourite out of many. There's a funny story about his audition for the band worth looking up. You may enjoy his stint with Jeff Beck and the gig at Ronnie Scott's is worth checking out. Loads of advanced jazz/fusion stuff and fine work with Mr Sting, check out the crazy time signature on 7 days.
Cool
Hey Jim! Here we go. Side 2. 3, 2, 1, bosh!😎
Well done Jim I knew you'd get it. Take a bow Frank RIP.
😎
Best two Zappa reactions ever. You didn't fake your reaction it on side 1 but you're starting to see the genius. Acts II and III are more challenging and bizarre but possibly his greatest guitar solo is yet to come. The very last track - I have no idea what it's doing on the album. Maybe you can explain it.
I'll wait until you've heard it all. Love Zappa 👍
Packard Goose. such a great song. The stand out on the album IMO.
On a first play through I tell my friends to ignore the lyrics but just listen to the music, then they're ready for the second when they can focus on the lyrics. A lot of people just pay attention to the "silly/rude" words and the musical complexity gets lost in the lyrical noise.
"Shut Up And Play Your Guitar"....
You sir are a man of taste, what a number!
Good choice, I love the whole of part 1 to be honest the rest is good but nothing can compare to Watermelon in Easter Hay.
The story is fiction alright, but album's main plot (Scrutinizer, "The Law" and ban of music) is based on Zappa's time in prison, where he ended up because of a local conspiracy against him and his musical expression. It happened in 1965 during his early period in his Studio Z in Cucamonga, where local cop, dressed undercover as a car salesman, bribed Zappa for $100 in order to produce him some pornographic audio tape. Which he did and when cop came for the material, Zappa was arrested and ended up in local prison for ten days. This event somehow had deep impact on all of his work as a musician, politician, philosopher and if I may say so, a prophet ...
I dont think it is fiction. The whole thing is happening today. I see as a prophetic story.
this is so cool
While on tour in '78, a member of the road crew, travelling with the band thought it would be funny to run to the loo in the back of the tourbus and then screaj:"Why does it hurt when I pee?"
As FZ had his bands rehearse 2hrs a day, 5 days a week while on tour, he had the band learn a new song with that title.
Several band members told that guy to never do that again.
Within the context of the rockopera Joe hooked up with Mary who gave him an std, hence the title.
It helps to follow the storyline to appreciate the lyrics more.
Part of the story was inspired by Iran's ban on music at the time.
"Ain't this what living is really about?" Perhaps the greatest lyric ever...
Funny you've mentioned The Wall. To me these two albums are a "parallel universes" thing. Both released in Autumn of 1979, both rock operas about a guy and a cruel world around him and lack of mutual acceptance, both containing the greatest guitar solo in the world (Comfortably Numb vs Watermelon - the latter being the only solo on JG which is not a xenochrony thing, so you were right about Toto Line)...
There are many more parallels, like the "my place" scene (One of my Turns vs Cy Borg), the trail vs prison without a trial.. There are teachers and preqchers... Yet I'm sure neither Zappa nor Waters knew about each others' work at the time..
I sometimes say people are divided to those that think The Wall is the greatest album ever, and those who think so about Joe's Garage. I'm the latter. I think it is a real story for the grownups, while The Wall is nothing more, than a children's fable ;).
No point censoring yourself Jim. Well done for carrying on...I hope you can do all the Joe's Garage acts...it's worth it. I do think despite Zappas all important ego he was also autobiographical and almost like a reporter too....he'd probably argue novelists go there (Stephen King anyone?) in their depictions of different sides of human nature...so why can't he in his work?....which is how I see the whole thing....it's excellent.🦆
Hope you do the rest sooner rather than later Jim, one of FZ's most epic moments is waiting for you. Either way it's been too long since I listened to this from start to finish so thanks for doing this, I'm off to listen to the rest of it right now!
Thanks Jim. Subscribed funny enjoying your Btritish civilized ...smugness ❤️
"Oh my goodness LOOK AT HER GO"🤣
Appliantology is a satire on Scientology, and in the next part Joe's behaviour gets even more debauched. And silly.
Got to finish it
This whole album has a new meaning after the age of 2020 censorship
First time I herd this whole opera it brought me to tears - I’m getting choked up just writing this
I will
A longer version of the solo in Toad-O Line/On The Bus (whichever title appears on the album cover) is called Occam's Razor, is a early '79 solo in Inca Roads.
Toad o line is possibly my favourite solo by him. Or is it watermelon in Easter hay?maybe it's the one on inca roads, or possibly zoot allures. So many choice ones
I’d also add his solo on Yo Mama.
"An amazing tone on that guitar!" I think it sounds like Santana. Unexpected, coming from Zappa.
Check out Joe's Garage play by Pat Towne. It was an amazing experience 2008
I like where this is going. Well done so far Jim.
Back in the 80's, my friend was a DJ at a local bar and once a year, they'd have a wet T-Shirt contest. He always borrowed my copy of Joe's Garage to play Wet T-Shirt Night in the background.
The summer after high school, a waterbed, this record… only a few years old at that point, but my first fresh Zappa LP …after finding a copy of Weasels Ripped my flesh , in the Free box outside Wazoo.😎🤪👍
The genius on display here overwhelmed political correctness in real time. Exactly the reaction Frank was going for.
Still love this album
Once upon a time, I lived in Canoga Park.
It's alright Jim, I wish I could play drums at an acceptable level 😉
There are some great musical jokes on this album. "Why Does it Hurt" mocks Genesis at 13.06.. And I'm pretty sure there's some Eagles and Doors parody in the Wet Tee Shirt song. "Lucille" is one of Frank's loveliest songs. The reggae treatment suits it very well.
I agree on Lucille, one of Ike Willis' best lead vocals. It's a remake of a song Zappa donated to a solo album from one of his former sidemen Jeff Simmons in the early 70's as a way to say no hard feelings when Jeff left right before the filming of 200 Motels.
@@ChromeDestiny I did not know that. I think Ike is a wonderful vocalist too.
"good golly what a mess!"
One of my favorites this album can really drive you out for some serious melodic absurdities.
A real masterpiece by this "black musician" as far as I remember.
Love it (and yes I still have the LP too)
The xenochrony on this album is spectacular... Toad O Line is an Inca Roads solo played over a different new rhythm section...
I played this for my mum and she was not impressed 😂 your reaction to side one was understandable. My first reaction was awe and convulsion. Good stuff.
I'm with you on the lyrical content. It's not easy to justify enjoying the genius level music, wry humor, etc al while considering how my daughter would receive the lyrics.
Yep, I agree. Music's great but the lyrics are pretty woeful towards women. I don't think Frank had a clue what women were all about. The song Dina Mo Hum from the Overnight Sensation album is another song where he exchanges money for sexual favours. I mean it's 'Not Another Love Song' thats for sure.
@@ZuShin Do you ever listen to rap?
Acts 2&3 get a lot more experimental with a lot more great guitar work and the magnificent Watermelon in Easter Hay. 👍
Watermelon in Easter Hay has got to be one of the most calming and soothing and put you in an ethereal Place guitar solos ever!!!
Better with context
Loved it for a long time
- finally herd it as the end of this opera and it brought me to tears
I’m getting choked up just writing this
This whole album has a new meaning after the age of 2020 censorship
@@poetguillaume659 like much of Frank's operatic stuff it sort of falls apart towards the end. But"Watermelon" is exquisite. "Rosetta" is just silly.
Your modern perspective is valid and Frank would be happy that his work is inspiring dialogue
After this Can you do Joe's garage acts 2and 3
For Xenochrony try "Rubber Shirt" form "Sheik Yerbouti"
Yes, all the solos on this album are done using xenochrony, except for the final solo on Watermelon in Easter Hay, which is on Act III. Frank would lift the isolated guitar track from concert, compose a new rhythm piece around it, and that's the song. This way it sounded both spontaneous and composed at the same time. Utter genius!
Clever stuff indeed!
Can't wait to see your reaction to part 2 & 3
You mentioned xenochrony, I read an interview with Frank talking about his album Tinseltown Rebellion where he said he had recorded the entire tour where he played the new songs off the album before its release, then he went into the studio and took for example the vocals from one venue drums from another and guitars from another and mixed them to form the album from what he considered the best performances. Listening to the album you would never know!!
There's constant reference to toto hold the line in toad a line, hilarious.
Do more of him.
Yes. One Size Fits All, Overnight Sensation, Apostrophe and Roxy. There are many, many others, but those are the most accessible and fun.
In his autobiography Arthur Barrow who played bass on this said that he suggested the dramatic middle section of Why Does it Hurt When I Pee as way to parody Prog Rock. There's also an interval in Wet T-Shirt Nite that leads into the final section that reminds me of the interval that leads into the drum/ percussion/ synth noise section of Yes' Ritual.
Jim, I really enjoy your channel and how genuine you are in your reactions. Keep up the great work!. I want to add a context summary here to all the other comments about how you've reacted to Frank's lyrics on this album. At the time of this release, there was serious talk in the US of sensoring album content because some conservative groups deemed it was as harming children. This was Frank's middle finger to all that. I'll never forget this comment he made during a congressional hearing on the subject in 1985. Zappa confronted the Congressmen with a counterpoint to their concerns that lyrical content was causing a rise in teen suicides. He said if music lyrics have such an impact on kids why isn't there more love in the world since most songs on the radio are love songs? This was 1985 and yes most songs on the radio were love songs. That comment made so much sense to me and I've never forgotten it. Frank went all out on this record politically (in the way only he could do, God love him) to not only tell a story of a society that has banned all music (Saudi Arabia had basically done that) THEN on top of that message/storyline he threw in a lot of red meat for the conservative right to get ruffled feathers over. This is a brilliant (if not a bit bonkers too) album that hits on 2 levels first being the storyline itself AND then with the lyrical content that those who see themselves as holier than thou would be outraged over, for me that makes Frank a true badass and I love him for it. Just a word as you go forward with Zappa's incredible music, his lyrics for the most part are either very clever social satire or just tongue-in-cheek stuff. so don't get too involved with them. Ok, that's my 2 cents, and like I said from the start I really enjoy your channel and just keep on doing what you're doing.
Thanks Ron. I went onto Side two much happier having had a lot of context revealed to me by the audience. I’m cool with it now, and actually really looking forward to Acts 2 and 3!
Thank you for taking the time to connect and comment 👍🏼
cant wait to get to stick it out and see your reaction
Yeah this album is still great 44 years after it 1st came out This album is better with the 2CD version with all 3 acts on 2 disks
If you Are shocked from side 1- just wait for the rest😄. Zappa for president!
Vinny Colaiuta is name-checked in 'Catholic Girls' as one of the Catholic boys. Also, the girl in 'Wet t-shirt nite' is/was Vinny's real-life wife.
Close.
The girl is Dale Bozzio and she was married to Zappa's drummer right before Vinnie - Terry Bozzio.
There is a motif in Wet T-Shirt Night that becomes more important, in side 4 of the 6. He introduced it here, musical foreshadowing. Frank was a brilliant guitarist, this album suite being one of the best examples with the solos describing Joe's emotions.
Lucile is a Zappa Do-wop blues fest, there's a lot of it in his catalog! Amazing versatility.
Start of vid laughing my ass off. Hilarious!
I think there's something oddly refreshing about seeing someone get genuinely disturbed and off-put by the lyrical content of the album (I mean, Zappa was *deliberate* in being crude and gross), because our present culture has kinda pushed people into either being "outraged" on a "moral" level against the album, or to attack those who are offended as being either "snowflakes" or "censors of free speech". I mean, if the album bothered you, it's because that's what Zappa intended.
Oh that’s good then! 😜
Jim , Vinnie (Drummer ) has done it all , with everybody , did most of Jeff Beck live stuff amongst others.
It's quite real concerning all the #meTo going on in for instance the Netherlands. Abuse is everywhere. Just sing about it to get it noticed.
Thanks for this sticking with this and enjoyed your reaction as usual. Definitely lyrically cringe worthy at parts, but that was his point as you now know.
Congrats on getting over the edge. No apologies required. Zappa is not an easy listen. Try listening to Shut Up and Play Your Guitar. He is an amazing guitar player.
Appliantology as a noun is a combination of the words "Scientology" and "Appliance".
"The First Church of Appliantology" is the fictional religion founded by the fictional character L. Ron Hoover (which in itself combines the names of the founder of "Scientology", L. Ron Hubbard and the brand name of vacuum cleaners "Hoover".
"The First Church of Appliantology" and L. Ron Hoover appear in FZ's album Joe's Garage after the Central Scrutinizer gives Joe the advice to "... stick closer to church-oriented activities."
Me too🎸.....my technical skills are terrible...anyway this album is full of gems.....listening to Bowie's Outside recently and KGATLWs Murder of the Universe....there's a nice connection with the voice intermissions...all of them work for me but Zappas is soooo cool. He's talking through a tube I think....saw it in documentary...
I keep trying. Never seem to get any better….
@@JimNewstead I played for years with just 3 strings in my painting studio...infact my first recordings were under the name 'Three Strings On My Guitar'🤠 how's that for making a connection 🤣....anyway I played it most the time in a meditative state which evolved over several years. So I never had formal training but I guess I evolved to a point that enabled me to write music....
Oh and last year I learned how to play Persephone by Opeth....by ear....badly!!! But for me that's pretty good going.
'Lucille...' is pure Steely Dan. Who would have thought?
If you wanna graduate fast on Zappologie:
Roxy & Elsewhere
FZ live in New York
Sheik Yerbouti
Cheers...!
Vinnie is one of the best drummers for Zappa, like Terry Bozzio, due to their sight reading skills.
I like side two more than side one personally. Some Captain Beefheart wouldn't go amiss either, hint hint.
Jim, just incase you don't know the reference. "The white zone" This was an announcement at LAX in the 70's. His reference was that after so many genres of music that we would soon be dancing to that announcement.
Can't wait for the next. Having fun watching.
Musically brilliant. Zappa often melded great musicianship with satirical lyrics that could be seen as crude or base. He definitely had a critical view of society and wasn't afraid to express it in a way that got attention. It seems to me he isn't celebrating the behaviour in the lyrics but mocking and criticizing it. I loved the 70's because adults back then were less afraid to explore tough issues. People seem so afraid of so many things these days that society stagnates. JMO.
Zappa was happily married till he died. This album was mirror of what most bands get into. Call it a wake up call to all those involved.
Listen to act 2!
That damn toilet seat!🤢 The next time you get a rash people....you've been warned...🤣🙅👨🎤
lol!
Even though it's an example of xenochrony, Toad-O Line (aka On the Bus) is one of my top 3 FZ solos. And this is probably my favourite (FZ) album of all time.
Thanks for these videos. Music is the best.
Music IS the best!
Act 2 and 3 have a couple of great guitar solo.
-79 a time when we still were free and not filled with guilt, hate, shaming, contolling. A time when humor was funny (forget Monty Python now) This album like the song "Who are the Brainpolice?" showed how long Frank was a head of his time ...
Frank's voice in this reminds me of Maynard in Rosetta Stoned
Watch ,”Does Humor Belong in Music” video of a live Zappa concert . Incredible quality in both audio and video !
That solo after wet t-shirt is insane. Yuo won't see anything like that.
The keyboards on this album were played by Peter Wolf who went on to produce the Commodores classic song "Night Shift" with Vinnie Colaiuta on drums...
There are lots of Frank’s fans who feel mixed about some of the lyrics. You and I feel that way too. My only advice is to remember that Frank is a damn musical genius and don’t let it keep you from experiencing it. Most FZ albums (100+) don’t have the nasty words anyway.
Lucille is not Zappa tune, its Jeff Simmons who wrote it. Look for the the JS album for the original 😊
Zappa wrote it for Simmons to put on his album Lucille, played lead guitar on the track and Zappa produced the album.
It's okay being shocked. I guess it just means you're really responding to it. How many people like his "Bobby Brown" without ever having listened closely to the lyrics?
As said earlier, now that I am not a teen anymore, some of Zappa's lyrical approaches are too crass and not really witty for me, and sadly it easily can distract from how tasteful and intricate some of this music is, but I guess that was needed to get across what he was aiming for.
Guess how shocked I was when I finally understood the lyrics to "Stick it out" or "Keep it greasy" 🙈🙈
At least Ike sang the words in German, to soften the blow.
@@2wayplebney 😄 'unfortunately' German is my native language 😆
Why does it, why does it..... 😂
Yes, Toad-O-Line is a fine example of xenochrony. You can listen to the original solo here: ua-cam.com/video/dp93bcp4HCM/v-deo.html. It cites "Hold the Line" by Toto. Suddenly "Toad-O" makes sense.
Haha you looked a bit more relaxed this time! It's all about the context with Zappa but I'll admit it's hard for people to get past sometimes 🙂. I can be a bit evangelical about Zappa so I've plenty of experience of the faces you were pulling on side 1! Keep at it, there's so much to explore ✌. Anyway, I've subscribed now so you have to...
Haha! Ok, that’s a given! Its of course I’ll keep going. Thanks for the sub 👍🏼
Whilst knowing Act II very well, I had never heard this or Actotum du Trois before, and so this is a shared adventure. Not sure why I started with II, but I did, and I hope you enjoy that as well. There are some epic parts, and some NSFW parts as well. Shield the jongens. Und der kip.
Hope I didn't offend with my former comment. Hard to imagine being mad at Monsieur. Thou art a pleasant oasis who also happens to have great taste in music. Saw the Mothers in Charlotte in the '70s at a smallish venue, and live, they burn rubber. And IUD. They git a wheel. On pavement. But y'all probably don't know English ovair. Wachawspeek? Zapped, sari. Side 2 ruled.
There is an upcoming song called Stick It Out which is beyond silly and gross but at the same time it's funny as hell in my books. Especially when they switch from German to English. 😀
As a Zappa fan since 1975, I kinda agree with you about the lyrics. They are the huge obstacle that Frank deliberately put between himself and a potential wider audience.
The three acts of JG are a real low in that regard. Still to come in acts 2 and 3 you have sex with household appliances and a**l sex.
There are many videos and written texts where these lyrics are discussed, and I'm sure in Frank's mind he was just dishing out the opprobrium to the sexes in equal measure. Indeed, he was on record saying that women and men were equally stupid, therefore his descriptions of female "stupidity" (such as wet T-shirts and crew sluttishness) were justified. That is arguable, but what is not is that the lyrics immediately alienated many potential listeners.
His last great album (IMHO) was You Are What You Is (1981), and there the lyrical content was much more Dadaist (as it had been on earlier albums). But from YAWYI onwards Frank gave up any real attempt to win a populist audience. The eighties was a tough time to be a Zappa fan.
If the lyrics bother you, maybe listen to: Shut Up and Play Your Guitar, Shut Up and Play Your Guitar Some More, and The Return of the Son of Shut Up and Play Your Guitar.
Ha, no I’m fine with them.
Vinnie Colaiuta kinda young kinda wow, no that was Warren Cuccurullo
Say what you will about the lyrics, but the music is top notch. This tour was the only time I saw Frank and this great band live. Frank turned his back to the audience for most of the show. Miles Davis was the only other musician I saw live who did the same. Miles crouched down, ass to the audience. Didn't get it then or now.
You should listen to One Size Fits All.
Still musically stunning, but much less confrontational lyrically
My gods
I though it was later
Frank is showing the pitfalls of life for the child who leaves school and ends up lost in the world...He is showing you the way to avoid this pitfalls....guitar on toad o line is from a live concert and frank is dropping it on the drum and bass track.
Most songs from 50's onward were innuendo about sex and Frank cuts to the bone and says it...Frank is deep art...it is not juvenile or childish....It is social anthropology and very deep art...After Frank there are few artist...People don't realise he was visual/audio. A creator of unheard rhythms in popular music and some he fashioned himself...Believe me Frank is along the James Joyce form in lyrics and people think he is being silly...everything is measured and has meaning....Lucille is the greatest reggae tune i believe I've heard....
"Shut Up and Play Your Guitar" you might enjoy more.
No need to apologize mate...
Reality is reality... there are people living outside what most consider morally acceptable...
This is a somewhat sarcastic, tongue in cheek look at that...
I'm going to be interested to see your reaction to Act 2, with Frank satirizing the musicians who moved into guru worship after leading hedonistic lifestyles, and having a dig at L Ron Hubbard's Scientology cult
Advice...When listening to Zap ....lose the PC...he hated that and it's clear in his songs.
Tipper Gore and her ilk were no match for Frank.
Too bad he didn't do a version of this album sans lyrics.
Yup.
Poor Jim is less the gatekeeper of music and more the Penny-Man with this album.
Applientology and L Ron Hoover are a send up on L Ron Hubbard and Scientology, you really need to do Acts 2 & 3 and get acquainted.
You had a problem with the lyric on act 1?
What happened when you got to act 2 ??