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Hammersmith Odeon (album)
''Hammersmith Odeon'' is a triple album by Frank Zappa, recorded on January 25, 26 & 27, 1978 and February 28, 1978, and released posthumously in 2010 by the Zappa Family Trust. It is the fifth installment on the Vaulternative Records label that is dedicated to the posthumous release of complete Zappa concerts, following the releases of '' FZ:OZ'' (2002), '' Buffalo'' (2007), '' Wazoo'' (2007) and ''Philly '76'' (2009). History Frank Zappa played London's Hammersmith Odeon five times in 1978: on 24, 25, 26 & 27 January 1978 and on 28 February 1978. The 25, 26 & 27 January 1978 and 28 February 1978 concerts provided the source for the basic tracks for Zappa's 1979 album ''Sheik Yerbouti''. The ''Hammersmith Odeon'' 3-CD set was designed to celebrate Frank Zappa's 70th birthday on 21 December 2010. Mixed in NYC by Frank Filipetti, none of the tracks have been previously released and the track listing mirrors and/or parallels the set lists of the concerts. Track listing ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frank Zappa
Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American musician, composer, and bandleader. His work is characterized by wikt:nonconformity, nonconformity, Free improvisation, free-form improvisation, sound experiments, Virtuoso, musical virtuosity and satire of American culture. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa composed Rock music, rock, Pop music, pop, jazz, jazz fusion, orchestral and ''musique concrète'' works, and produced almost all of the 60-plus albums that he released with his band the Mothers of Invention and as a solo artist. Zappa also directed feature-length films and music videos, and designed album covers. He is considered one of the most innovative and stylistically diverse musicians of his generation. As a self-taught composer and performer, Zappa had diverse musical influences that led him to create music that was sometimes difficult to categorize. While in his teens, he acquired a taste for 20th-century classica ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peaches En Regalia
"Peaches en Regalia" is an instrumental jazz fusion composition by Frank Zappa. It was released on Zappa's album ''Hot Rats'' in 1969 and has been recorded many times since. It was also released as a single in 1970, with "Little Umbrellas" as the A-side and B-side, B-side.François Couture: [ Peaches en Regalia review] on AllMusic—retrieved on March 14, 2009 Zappa used the piece on many of his tours, often as either the opening or the encore of a show. "Peaches en Regalia" has been included in the "underground" version of ''The Real Book'', despite being compositionally more complicated than typical jam session tunes. Having a song included in the book has been described as "the ultimate insider credential for a jazz composer". The tune is used as instrumental background music on the BBC London radio programme presented by Danny Baker, as well as the ''Elis James and John Robins'' show on BBC Radio 5 Live. It was also the theme tune for the early 1970s BBC Two, BBC2 show ''One M ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ed Mann
Ed Mann is a musician who has been "a drummer and piano dabbler since childhood." He is best known for his mallet percussion performances onstage with Frank Zappa's ensemble from 1977 to 1988, and his appearances on over 30 of Zappa's albums, both studio recordings and with Zappa's band live. Mann also has released a number of CDs as a bandleader and composer. Career Mann formed a band with Tommy Mars in mid 1973. By the end of that year he was studying with John Bergamo at CalArts. In 1977 Frank Zappa asked Bergamo to do some overdubbing on the ''Zappa In New York'' album and Bergamo in turn recommended Mann. A few months later Ruth Underwood told Mann that Zappa was looking for a second keyboard player. When Mann called to recommend Tommy Mars ("At midnight, the only time when you could reach Frank by phone"), Zappa invited him to come to his house. Mann went to the house, where Terry Bozzio, Patrick O'Hearn, and Adrian Belew were jamming with Zappa. By 2:00am Ed was in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Terry Bozzio
Terry John Bozzio (born December 27, 1950) is an American drummer best known for his work with Missing Persons and Frank Zappa. He has been featured on nine solo or collaborative albums, 26 albums with Zappa and seven albums with Missing Persons. Bozzio has been a prolific sideman, playing on numerous releases by other artists since the mid-1970s. He was inducted into the ''Modern Drummer'' Hall of Fame in 1997. His son and stepdaughter are also drummers with the latter, Marina, being a member of the band Aldious. Biography Terry Bozzio was born on December 27, 1950, in San Francisco, California. He started at age 6 playing makeshift drum sets. At the age of 13 he saw the Beatles' premiere performance on ''The Ed Sullivan Show'' and begged his father for drum lessons. In 1968, Bozzio graduated from Sir Francis Drake High School in San Anselmo, California, where he received a music scholarship award, and later went on to the College of Marin. During this time he studied concu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Patrick O'Hearn
Patrick John O'Hearn (born September 6, 1954) is an American multi-instrumentalist, composer, and recording artist. Known primarily as a bass guitarist and keyboardist, O'Hearn came to prominence with Frank Zappa and co-founded the early 1980s new wave band Missing Persons with several other veterans from Zappa's bands. O'Hearn's musical repertoire spans a diverse range including new-age. In addition to solo albums, he has composed soundtracks for movies and television. Biography Formative years Born in Los Angeles, California and raised in the Pacific Northwest, O'Hearn began his professional music career at age 15 when he joined the Musicians Union and began playing night clubs in Portland, Oregon. Upon graduating from Sunset High School in 1972, he moved to Seattle, Washington. There, he briefly attended Cornish College of the Arts and, as well, studied privately with bassist Gary Peacock. In 1973, he moved to San Francisco, California and soon became involved in the Bay ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peter Wolf (producer)
Peter F. Wolf (born August 25, 1952) is an Austrian composer, producer, songwriter and arranger. In 2002, he was awarded the Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art, 1st class (''Österreichische Ehrenkreuz für Wissenschaft und Kunst''). Wolf is married to fashion model and songwriter Lea Wolf-Millesi. Career Wolf studied classical piano at the Conservatory of Music in Vienna. At the age of 16, he won the European Jazz Festival as a solo pianist. Twice he won the Deutscher Schallplattenpreis, a German award, for his work with André Heller and Erika Pluhar. Wolf moved to America in his early twenties. He worked with bassist Neal Starkey and guitarist Bill Hatcher in Atlanta, Georgia, and with drummer Steve Sample Jr. and keyboardist, guitarist, and vocalist Ray Reach in Birmingham, Alabama. After his time in the southeastern United States, Wolf moved to Los Angeles, where he played keyboards for Frank Zappa in the late 1970s. In 1987, he joined Terry Bozzio, Mark Isham, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tommy Mars
Tommy Mars (born Thomas Mariano on October 26, 1951) is an American keyboard player known for his work with Frank Zappa. Mars began piano lessons at age eight, and later his instrument range expanded to various keyboards and synthesizers. Mars graduated in 1972 from the Hartt College of Music in West Hartford, Connecticut. From there he struggled to hold a variety of musical jobs including choirmaster, church organist, movie accompanist and more. In a 1980 interview in ''Keyboard'' magazine, Mars described one of the more unusual jobs he had as follows - "I was working in this revolving organ bar in Kodiak, Alaska, with Japanese and Russian fishermen kicking me in the back if I couldn't play an ethnic folk song to their drunken satisfaction". Knowing nothing about Zappa except for the songs "King Kong" and "Peaches en Regalia", Mars was asked to audition for Zappa's band with the help of percussionist Ed Mann, also a member of Zappa's group. Zappa hired Mars based on Mars' syn ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Adrian Belew
Robert Steven "Adrian" Belew (born December 23, 1949) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. A multi-instrumentalist primarily known as a guitarist and singer, he is noted for his unusual and impressionistic approach to his guitar tones (which, rather than relying on standard instrumental tones, often resemble sound effects or noises made by animals and machines). Widely recognized as an "incredibly versatile player", Belew is perhaps best known for his long career as singer and guitarist in the progressive rock group King Crimson between 1981 and 2009. He has also released nearly twenty solo albums for Island Records and Atlantic Records in a range of blended or alternated styles including art rock, New Wave, Beatles-inspired pop-rock, progressive rock and experimental noise. In addition, Belew has been a member of the intermittently active pop band the Bears, and fronted GaGa in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Belew has worked extensively as a s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Muffin Man (song)
"Muffin Man" is a song recorded live by Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention. It appears on his 1975 mostly live album ''Bongo Fury'' made with Captain Beefheart (Don Van Vliet). Background The song begins with studio-recorded spoken word lyrics delivered by Zappa and is followed by the chorus. The song was inspired by the traditional nursery rhyme, The Muffin Man. The song closes the album, as well as the 1995 compilation ''Strictly Commercial,'' and was also used as a finale in concerts for many years afterwards. The song's tone was compared to Jimi Hendrix's style. An alternative live version of "Muffin Man" appears on disc one (track 22) of the 1992 compilation '' You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 6''. This song also appears on the 2009 album released by the Zappa Family Trust ''Philly '76,'' the 2002 album '' FZ:OZ'' and the 2003 album ''Halloween.'' Frank Zappa's son, Dweezil, along with his Zappa Plays Zappa (ZPZ) band, have featured "Muffin Man" on many conce ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Camarillo Brillo
"Camarillo Brillo" is a song by Frank Zappa and The Mothers and was first included on his 1973 LP ''Over-Nite Sensation''. The song's lyrics include many colloquialisms and made-up words. The title itself is a pun; Zappa mispronounces Camarillo, the name of a city in California, to rhyme with brillo, "shining" or "brilliant" in Spanish. "Camarillo Brillo" is in the key of E major, though the key briefly changes to D major during the chorus. The arrangement includes liberal use of brass instruments and a wide range of percussion techniques. It ends with a short coda played on piano. There are two versions of this song, the first being in a slower tempo and the second being a much shorter up tempo version played later in Frank Zappa's career. The shorter version can be heard on '' You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 6''. The reason for changing the song's pace was discussed in an interview with Zappa in which he states that the song was "boring" so they sped it up in future per ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Disco Boy
"Disco Boy" is a single composed by musician Frank Zappa from his 1976 album ''Zoot Allures''. It was featured on Frank Zappa's best of album ''Strictly Commercial''. A sped-up version of the song appears in both the film ''Baby Snakes'' and its subsequent soundtrack, as well as best of album '' Son of Cheap Thrills''. Structure and meaning The song's structure is similar-sounding to previous work by Zappa. However, in this particular song, Zappa satirically added a more pop feel to it to go along with the theme of the song. The song addresses the stereotypes affiliated with the disco era. The vain tone of the song is set by the lyrics, "Leave his hair alone, but you can kiss his comb." The lyrics, "Disco boy, do the bump every night, 'til the disco girl who's really right, gonna fall for your line, and feed you a box full of Chicken Delight" indicate that the disco boy is not looking for love, but just a one-night stand. The lyric "but thank the lord that you still got hands, to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bobby Brown (song)
"Bobby Brown (Goes Down)" is a song by Frank Zappa released on his album ''Sheik Yerbouti'' in 1979. One of his best known songs, it was hugely successful in Europe. It was a number-one-hit in Norway and Sweden and placed at number 4 in the German charts, where it sold more than 250,000 units. This song was more successful in Europe than America (the song's pervasive sexual content made it unfit for broadcast on U.S. radio) and this is why it is only featured on the vinyl and European CD version of Zappa's best of compilation, ''Strictly Commercial''. Synopsis The song describes a wealthy, misogynistic student named Bobby Brown, "the cutest boy in town", whose life is the archetypal American Dream until a traumatic sexual encounter with "Freddie", a dyke involved in the women's liberation movement, leaves him questioning his sexuality. Bobby transforms into a leisure suit-wearing closeted homosexual working in radio promotions; by the end of the song, he and "a friend" (later impl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
