Obsession

I have been listening to Thing Fish non-stop. Basically every time I'm in the car which is quite a lot. Joe Delaney sent me video of the UK stage adaptation and that REALLY got me thinking. I've slowly been developing my own adaptation in my mind of this material.

However, I keep coming to the same conclusion-

Thing Fish, in any form, would be the most mind-numbing piece of entertainment on Earth. With the wrong crowd, people would go home and kill themselves because of how boring they are.

It's rough. Real rough. There's no plot and the dialog, ESPECIALLY in Act II, is probably how normal conversation transpire on Mars or Neptune.

But I'm somehow sickly dedicated to seeing it through on stage.

And I like the Old Masters remixes and the '84 touring group. I'm fucking hopeless.

End of Summer Mix

1) Eric Clapton- Breaking Point

I'm home. I missed you a lot. Did you miss me?



2) Pat Metheny- Facing West

This is a once in a lifetime opportunity! I need to go up there! This is what I've always wanted! I'm going out on a limb and I'm ready for adventure!



3) Rod Stewart- Every Picture Tells A Story

Whitey Bulger captured? Can I please go down to the courthouse? What's that? Recipes for cooking the best lobsters? OK GBH...I guess that's just as good...



4) Foster the People- Pumped Up Kicks

"Look over there. Pretend they're the audience. I now pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss the bride."



5) The Avalanches- Since I Left You

I'm hung over and it's so bright in Brighton and I love everyone I can see.



6) Roy Orbison- In Dreams

You're just like me.



7) Vampire Weekend- Oxford Comma

Hiding in Nantucket. Everyone is so beautiful I want to cry.



8) Frank Zappa- Jesus Thinks You're a Jerk

"What if Pat gets into the White House?"
"No fucking way, Ike! Hahaha, you know what I mean? HA!"



9) Okkervil River- Mermaid

She's pretty, I think...



10) Steve Winwood- Wake Me Up on Judgement Day

Gotta keep pressing on...

How to Condense Text and other stories

Original sentence:

I drove over the Sagamore Bridge into a patch of fog.

Condensed sentence:

I drove over the Sagamore Bridge into a metaphor.

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There's no part of junior high health class that discusses this. Just act like the dining room table is a subway car. First avoid eye contact. Second, you may think of something to say, but honestly, how can you say it?

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Has anyone really listened to Christian rock music? It popped up on my dial and it felt right so I didn't change. Sure they're just rejected Creed love songs but with Jesus jammed in it, but they're pretty convicted. Maybe because they're talking about something bigger than going steady.

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Dear anybody who wants to make a compilation album, listen to Mothermania. You have a nerdy fan base? Just use another take, remix, repackage, and give it a goofy title.

Argument Against Snobbery No. 1

Most people will not give the original mixes of M.O.I's We're Only In It For The Money and the Beatles' Let It Be time of day. The former is overly censored and the latter has a Phil Spector slickness that was originally called "a cardboard coffin for the greatest band in the world."

I just listened to them back to back and I feel like I'm back on Bank Street.

We're Only In it will always be Summer 2006. Turning 16. Starting to gain a little independence. Starting to explore video work. Being in love. Acting in a radio play. The sun warming my face.

Let It Be will always be my Mother's favorite album and that means a lot.

If We'd All Been Living in California...

This past week I bought three LPs (technically four, but I'll get into that some other time). First, two Zappa albums. Orchestral Favorites and Uncle Meat on Tuesday. Then on Wednesday, Joseph and I landed the last two copies of The Strokes' new album Angles which became yet another mild drug that kept us going through our all-night writing session. We probably listened to the thing three complete times, the did all our favorite cuts, then by luck, watched them perform "Taken for a Fool" on Leterman. I love the fact this 80s-power pop thing is back. Gotta dust off my Cars albums and what not.

We continued to keep the stereo on all night and I put on Orchestral Favorites when the sun was coming up. At that point, my blood had been replaced with shitty Mexican coffee so the album seem to last about eight minutes. Granted, it's not suppose to be one of his best. It was one of the unauthorized albums Warner Brothers put out instead of Zappa's Läther box set. To show the album had no input by the big cheese, not one of the members of the The Abnuceals Emuukha Electric Orchestra was credited. But for what it's worth, best version of "Strictly Genteel" around.

Uncle Meat was the one I looked forward to the most. As with nearly all of his older LPs, Zappa did major remastering for both the Old Masters projects and the 1987 release of his back catalog (see Ask for Record at Counter) The 1968 mix shows all the problems with digital compression. When CD mastering technology first came out, one of the main objections was to get rid of the hiss picked up from the original tapes. High pass filters were installed. Add that to compression, lots of high frequency sounds on the recording suffer. As a result, the percussion on the original LPs sounds DYNAMITE. Tunes like "Nine Types of Industrial Pollution," which on the CD sound like fuzzy sonic ramblings, end up having wonderful texture. The drumming on "Cruisin' for Burgers" is so freaking heavy on the LP, it's wonderful. Wonderful wonderful wonderful wonderful wonderful it really makes it.

Also the album on whole flows a lot better. It's more more cohesive- like a fluid stream of consciousness instead of a rushed group of loosely related tunes. This is probably because the '87 mix has an obnoxious amount of reverb. I can't wait to get my hands on a vinyl copy of Lumpy Gravy now.

ZAPPA LP COUNT- 20*
LEFT TO GO- 31**

*Including Mystery Disc 2
**Up to 1988 and not counting The Old Masters Box Two and Three.

You Can't Do That In Andover Anymore! Vol. 2

To get my mind off things, I think of The Old Masters Box One. I will own it before the year is over. Before my birthday. There. So it is written. So shall it be done. Take me to Booty City

You Can't Do That In Roxbury Anymore! Vol. 1

There's a lot that can be said for the past 48 hours of my life. I doubt any account at three in the morning can truly do it justice...that or it would do it perfect justice. The roast went off without a hitch. I don't think I've laughed that hard in a very very long time. That shit is gonna resurface somewhere on the internet and oh my will it be entertaining. Bailey and Julia are here...and I'm too excited and happy for words. So yeah.

On a rampant Zappa kick recently, specifically guitar work. It's a genre of his that has taken me a while to get into. It's the perfect fusion of disciplined jazz structure and balls to the wall rock 'n' roll execution. A lot of his solos were extracted from live performance of other songs then released as separate pieces, usually with a wonderfully goofy title. Here's some of my new favs (along with rediscovered gems):

"The Ocean is the Ultimate Solution" from Sleep Dirt
Total jam fest here, a throw back to Hot Rats.

"Heavy Duty Judy" from Shut Up and Play Yer Guitar
The horns SO freaking make it.

"But Who Was Fulcanelli?" from Guitar
This is from the song "Drowning Witch" which is probably Zappa's most unsung later masterpieces. Not only was the original track wonderful but it also spawned this solo and the beautiful "St. Etienne." (Video from 1987's Video from Hell)

"For Duane" from Guitar
Zappa plays Allman. The variation on the timing of the classic blues progression is fucking amazing.

"Ask Dr. Stupid" from Trans-Fusion
I don't even know how he makes his guitar sound like that. I mean I have an idea but it must be twice as hard.

Probably not this weekend, but soon I'm gonna do a bit about YCDTOSA Vol. 1. No one cares but me. La de da.

Ask for Record at Counter

What with the snow day tomorrow, I've decided to kick back and transfer some LPs thanks to Joseph's nifty Ion MixMeister. First up is Frank Zappa's Hot Rats. This album was originally released in 1969 and  was remixed in 1987 for a CD release. Once I finally bought a copy of the original LP at Nugget's in beautiful Kenmore Square, I promptly sold my CD copy. It's that good.

It's very pretentious and cliché to claim an LP sounds warmer than a CD (all be it true). If anything, the '69 mix sounds stripped down. Zappa sounds like he's actually playing with a band instead of just multi-tracking the hell out of it. (For a frame of reference, at the same time Zappa was recording this in LA with a 16 track mixer, the Beatles were living in the stone age with an 8 track mixer.) The drums are much richer on this recording and "Peaches en Regalia" is too wonderful for words. The horns have space to breath as opposed to the constricting '87 mix. Same goes for "Little Umbrellas" on side two.

In '87 mix, he mainly turned up and re-EQed the guitar parts, but that doesn't make it completely worthless (or vain). I like the groovy lead-in he added on "The Gumbo Variations." The old mix starts quite suddenly following the calm "Little Umbrellas." Also the '87 mixes of "Willie the Pimp" and "Son of Mr. Green Genes" seem like Zappa's original intention was restricted by the technology at the time. "Willie" sounds way tighter and "Green Genes" has more excitement in it. I remember when I first heard it in high school and I was FLOORED by the time Zappa's guitar solo came in. The '69 mix sounds more relaxed; keeping with the jazz fusion theme and less balls-to-the-wall.

Both are great versions. It's the music that really matters in the end. It's widely considered Zappa's best and I'm inclined to agree even though I know my answer will change dozens of times after I post this. Also remember to register to vote, would you please?