Word: zappa
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...recent Overnite Sensation an even greater effort to reach the larger record-buying public. In the process Zappa forsakes musical complexity for standard four-beat rhythms, heavymetal guitar runs and scatalogical excesses not unlike Harvard Lampoon humor. Apostrophe' offers more of the same, including "Don't Eat Yellow Snow." Perhaps the only redeeming feature of these two albums is the tight ensemble playing that is typical of the Mothers...
...ORPHEUM last weekend, during the first one-and-a-half hour show Zappa played "commercial," responding to screams from teenyboppers for recent tunes like "Yellow Snow" and "Penguin in Bondage" and established a fine rapport with what was basically a rock and roll crowd. His newer, funkier melodies flowed together in an extended medley which included a few unrecorded instrumentals and vocals ("Pajama People") and some songs for the "old folks" ("I'm Not Satisfied" and "Dog Breath...
...Zappa changed directions in his second show, however, which ran an hour longer than the first. This time he seemed annoyed with audience requests, particularly one boisterous command of "let's boogie." It was an insulting remark; asking Frank Zappa to boogie is like asking Igor Stravinsky to write a Broadway musical...
...second set temporarily relieved me of my fears that Zappa would eventually sell out to commercialism. He played heavy metal, but only in the context of a parody ("Ladies and gentlemen," he said, "Watch carefully as we demonstrate our Blue Oyster Cult choreography...
...hour of free-flowing improvisation and older tunes like "Idiot Bastard Son" and the classic "Oh No" made it clear that Zappa has not lost the skill of synthesizing a variety of musical thoughts into pure Zappa-esque composition. At the concert he also showed his remarkable skill in keeping the players in firm control while allowing them golden moments of freedom to explore their own musical ideas. His second set, unlike the first, undisputably displayed the real Zappa--a Zappa that was not present in Overnite Sensation or Apostrophe...