On Sunday (18 October) I attended one of the most enjoyable and entertaining concerts I have been to for a long time when I saw Zappa Plays Zappa at Birmingham Town Hall. Dweezil Zappa and the band played a masterful set of Frank Zappa music in a gig I would have filmed a lot more of if my battery hadn't run out.
I was watching Dweezil play on a stage I had seen his father perform on more than 39 years ago..... I could never have imagined this situation back in 1973 when I watched Frank and the band play an uninterupted two hour set, just as ZPZ did on this occasion.
Both father and son were accompanied by excellent musicians, i.e. Frank by the likes of Ian and Ruth Underwood and Dweezil by the amazing multi instrumentalist and vocalist Schiela Gonzalez.
Here is a hand held record of the band playing The Idiot Bastard Son by a son who is neither an idiot or a bastard to the best of my iknowledge the song was originally from the Mother's of Invention 1968 album We're Only In It For The Money one of the all time greats in my view.
detail- We're Only In It For The Money cover
Aardvark Hand Held Images Presents Zappa Plays Zappa - Enjoy!
Featuring Ben Thomas on lead vocals
You want more? Well here's more
(click on link)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9y0ezdo4go
You want more? Well here's more
(click on link)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9y0ezdo4go
thanks for posting, bet you had a great time, can't help thinking how much like his father he sounds. Unfortunatly, all of my Zappa albums ended up in the other half of the vinyl collection and I've not seen or heard them for more than 10 years now. The song I always remember is Catholic girls.............no idea why this one has stuck in my mind but it has.
ReplyDeleteYou do seem to get to some good gigs ........:-)
Shame about your Zappa albums Loretta, all I can do is post the occasional reminder like the chorus from Catholic Girls here:-
ReplyDelete"In a little white dress
Catholic Girls
They never confess
Catholic Girls
I got one for a cousin
I love how they go
So send me a dozen
Catholic Girls
OOOOOOH!
Catholic Girls
OOOOOOH!"
(etc.)
The band were excellent, they help to keep Frank's music alive and Dweezil is a great guitar player like his dad, but I think that is where the similarity stops. ZPZ turned up in their street clothes and played a great gig, the last on the UK leg of their European tour....I'd definitely go and see them again. They play different sets at each gig so it is definitely good to try to catch them anywhere they may appear.
The Zappa legacy lives on! This song reminds me the more things change the more things stay the same, but it becomes harder to afford the petrol. Thanks AA!
ReplyDeleteA legacy indeed Doug. . The Rolling Stone Album Guide (2004) states: "Frank Zappa dabbled in virtually all kinds of music—and, whether guised as a satirical rocker, jazz-rock fusionist, guitar virtuoso, electronics wizard, or orchestral innovator, his eccentric genius was undeniable."
ReplyDeleteAnd so it is true. Dweezil is a skilled guitarist, but we can never lose sight of the fact that ZPZ is really a FZ tribute band, although it is one of the best I think.