Joe's Garage
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Joe's Garage
''Joe's Garage'' is a three-part rock opera recorded by American musician Frank Zappa in September and November 1979. Originally released as two separate studio albums on Zappa Records, the project was later remastered and reissued as a triple album box set, ''Joe's Garage, Acts I, II & III'', in 1987. The story is told by a character identified as the "Central Scrutinizer" narrating the story of Joe, an average adolescent male, from Canoga Park, Los Angeles, who forms a garage rock band, has unsatisfying relationships with women, gives all of his money to a government-assisted and insincere religion, explores sexual activities with appliances, and is imprisoned. After being released from prison into a dystopian society in which music itself has been criminalized, he lapses into insanity. The album encompasses a large spectrum of musical styles, while its lyrics often feature satirical or humorous commentary on American society and politics. It addresses themes of individualism, ...
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Watermelon In Easter Hay
"Watermelon in Easter Hay", full name "Playing a Guitar Solo With This Band is Like Trying To Grow a Watermelon in Easter Hay", by Frank Zappa, is the penultimate song on the 1979 concept album ''Joe's Garage.'' The main character from this three-part rock opera is faced with the banning of all music after being repeatedly raped in prison, and copes after his release by imagining guitar solos in his head for the entire third act of the album. As he "begins to feel depressed now, he knows the end is near", this song acts as the character's final goodbye to music as he moves on with his life, detailed in "A Little Green Rosetta", the next and final song of the album. The song is introduced by opening narration by Zappa as the Central Scrutinizer, which then gives way to a guitar solo. This guitar solo is the only guitar solo specifically recorded for the album, as every other guitar solo was xenochronous—overdubbed from older live recordings. The entire song consists of two alte ...
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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 ...
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Xenochrony
Xenochrony is a studio-based musical technique developed at an unknown date, but possibly as early as the early 1960s, by Frank Zappa, who used it on several albums. Xenochrony is executed by extracting a guitar solo or other musical part from its original context and placing it into a completely different song, to create an unexpected but pleasing effect. He said that this was the only way to achieve some rhythms. Etymology The word derives from the Greek words ξένος (''xenos''), strange or alien, and χρόνος (''chronos''), time. Examples One of the most prominent examples of xenochrony can be found on Zappa's rock opera ''Joe's Garage'' (1979), on which the guitar solos are all xenochronous (with the exceptions of "Watermelon in Easter Hay" and "Crew Slut"). In the words of Zappa himself: A classic "Xenochrony" piece would be "Rubber Shirt", which is a song on the ''Sheik Yerbouti'' album. It takes a drum set part that was added to a song at one tempo. The ...
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Individualism
Individualism is the moral stance, political philosophy, ideology and social outlook that emphasizes the intrinsic worth of the individual. Individualists promote the exercise of one's goals and desires and to value independence and self-reliance and advocate that interests of the individual should achieve precedence over the state or a social group while opposing external interference upon one's own interests by society or institutions such as the government. Individualism is often defined in contrast to totalitarianism, collectivism and more corporate social forms. Individualism makes the individual its focus and so starts "with the fundamental premise that the human individual is of primary importance in the struggle for liberation". Anarchism, existentialism, liberalism and libertarianism are examples of movements that take the human individual as a central unit of analysis.L. Susan Brown. '' The Politics of Individualism: Liberalism, Liberal Feminism, and Anarchism''. B ...
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Utility Muffin Research Kitchen
The Utility Muffin Research Kitchen (UMRK) is a recording studio built in 1979 by musician, composer, songwriter, and bandleader Frank Zappa at his home in Los Angeles, California. The home and recording studio has been owned by Lady Gaga since 2016. History Frank Zappa built the studio in his 6,759-square-foot home in Laurel Canyon, completing it on September 1, 1979. The studio was custom designed by Rudy Brewer with input from Zappa and his technical staff. The estimated construction costs ranged between $1.5 and $3.5 million. Soon after the studio was completed, Ken Scott engineered the four song debut EP by ''Missing Persons'' at UMRK. In 1982 two tracks from the EP were re-issued on the band's debut studio album, ''Spring Session M''. In July, 1980, Zappa began recording at the UMRK several songs that were eventually released on the album ''You Are What You Is''. Zappa would utilize the studio regularly until his death in 1993. In 2016, Lady Gaga purchased the Zappa ...
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Vinnie Colaiuta
Vincent Peter Colaiuta (born February 5, 1956) is an American drummer who has worked as a session musician in many genres. He was inducted into the ''Modern Drummer'' Hall of Fame in 1996 and the ''Classic Drummer'' Hall of Fame in 2014. Colaiuta has won one Grammy Award and has been nominated twice. Since the late 1970s, he has recorded and toured with Frank Zappa, Joni Mitchell, and Sting, among many other appearances in the studio and in concert. Career Colaiuta was given his first drum kit when he was seven. He took to it naturally, with little instruction. When he was fourteen, the school band teacher gave him a book that taught him some of the basics. Buddy Rich was his favorite drummer until he heard the album ''Ego'' by Tony Williams, an event that changed his life. Colaiuta was also listening to organ groups, notably Jack McDuff, Jimmy McGriff and Don Patterson. While a student at Berklee College of Music, when jazz fusion was on the rise, he listened to and ...
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Mix (magazine)
''Mix'' magazine is a periodical, billing itself as "the world's leading magazine for the professional recording and sound production technology industry". The magazine is headquartered in New York City and distributed in 94 countries. Its Korean version, ''Mix Korea'', was started in 2007. NewBay Media bought it from Penton Media in 2011. Future The future is the time after the past and present. Its arrival is considered inevitable due to the existence of time and the laws of physics. Due to the apparent nature of reality and the unavoidability of the future, everything that currently ... acquired NewBay Media in 2018. References External links See alsoInterview with founder, David SchwartzNAMM Oral History Library, January 14, 2011 Monthly magazines published in the United States Music magazines published in the United States Magazines established in 1977 Magazines published in New York City Professional and trade magazines 1977 establishments in New Yo ...
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One Size Fits All (Frank Zappa Album)
''One Size Fits All'' is the tenth studio album by Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention, released in June 1975. It is the band's last studio album. A special four-channel quadraphonic version of the album was advertised but not released. Band The album features the summer/fall 1974 lineup of the Mothers of Invention, with keyboardist/vocalist George Duke, drummer Chester Thompson, percussionist Ruth Underwood, bass guitarist Tom Fowler and saxophonist/vocalist Napoleon Murphy Brock. “Can’t Afford No Shoes” features James Youman instead of Fowler. When Fowler had broken his hand while on tour, Youman temporarily replaced him. Album content The album features one of Zappa's most complex tracks, "Inca Roads". One of Zappa's heroes, Johnny "Guitar" Watson, guests on two tracks ("flambé" vocals on the out-choruses of "San Ber'dino" and "Andy"). Captain Beefheart also appears under a pseudonym. Zappa stated in the liner notes that the album was recorded simultaneously wit ...
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Jam Session
A jam session is a relatively informal musical event, process, or activity where musicians, typically instrumentalists, play improvised solos and vamp over tunes, drones, songs, and chord progressions. To "jam" is to improvise music without extensive preparation or predefined arrangements, except for when the group is playing well-known jazz standards or covers of existing popular songs. Original jam sessions, also called "free flow sessions," are often used by musicians to develop new material (music) and find suitable arrangements. Both styles can be used simply as a social gathering and communal practice session. Jam sessions may be based upon existing songs or forms, may be loosely based on an agreed chord progression or chart suggested by one participant, or may be wholly improvisational. Jam sessions can range from very loose gatherings of amateurs to evenings where a jam session coordinator or host acts as a "gatekeeper" so that appropriate-level performers take the stage ...
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Sheik Yerbouti
''Sheik Yerbouti'' is a double album by Frank Zappa, released in March 1979 as the first release on Zappa Records (distributed by Phonogram Inc.) It is mostly made up of live material recorded in 1977 and 1978, with extensive overdubs added in the studio. In an October 1978 interview, Zappa gave the working album title as ''Martian Love Secrets.'' It was later released on a single CD. ''Sheik Yerbouti'' is Zappa's biggest selling album with over 2 million units sold worldwide. Inspiration Zappa appears on the cover in character in Arab headdress. The title is a play on words and is pronounced like the 1976 disco hit " Shake Your Booty" by KC and the Sunshine Band. The album has some of Zappa's most satirical and controversial lyrics. "Bobby Brown" was banned from US airplay due to its sexually explicit lyrics. " I Have Been in You" pokes fun at Peter Frampton's 1977 hit "I'm in You" while emphasizing an explicit meaning. " Dancin' Fool", a Grammy nominee, became a ...
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Album
An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual Phonograph record#78 rpm disc developments, 78 rpm records collected in a bound book resembling a photograph album; this format evolved after 1948 into single vinyl LP record, long-playing (LP) records played at  revolutions per minute, rpm. The album was the dominant form of recorded music expression and consumption from the mid-1960s to the early 21st century, a period known as the album era. Vinyl LPs are still issued, though album sales in the 21st-century have mostly focused on CD and MP3 formats. The 8-track tape was the first tape format widely used alongside vinyl from 1965 until being phased out by 1983 and was gradually supplanted by the cassette tape during the 1970s and early 1980s; the populari ...
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Phonogram Records
Phonogram Incorporated was started in 1970 as a successor to Philips Phonographic Industries, a unit of the Grammophon-Philips Group (GPG), a joint venture of Philips N.V. of the Netherlands and Siemens A.G. of Germany. Phonogram was the name of a parent company that owned and or distributed many different record labels. Phonogram was never a record label as such, but a holding company for labels which included Philips, Fontana, Vertigo and Mercury and many other licensed labels. History In 1972 Grammophon-Philips Group was reorganized as The PolyGram Group. Following PolyGram's acquisition of Mercury in the United States, the corporate name was changed from Mercury Record Productions, Inc., to Phonogram, Inc. In the U.S. Phonogram artists were generally released on Mercury Records, but the label is independent from its U.K. counterpart. By 1982, Mercury and all other PolyGram owned labels including, RSO, Polydor, Total Experience and Casablanca carried the following wor ...
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